The Pac-12 Missed Out on the Playoff Again
Mark J. Terrill, The Associated Press
The latest iteration of the College Football Playoff just took place, and for the fourth time in its six years of existence, the tournament designed to find the best team in college football went forward without a representative from the Pac-12.
Of the Power 5 conferences, the Pac-12 is the only one to be left without an invite to the party this often. The ACC, though woefully and historically bad from top to bottom, has at least had juggernaut programs at the top in Florida State the first year and Clemson in each year thereafter. The SEC, though always a bit overrated as a conference from top-to-bottom, undoubtedly creates at least one team that must be included, and even managed two teams in the tournament a couple years ago. The Big 12 has missed out twice thanks to a two loss Oklahoma in 2016, and the undeserving inclusion of Ohio State over TCU or Baylor after the 2014 season. (I say it all the time and will repeat it – winning a tournament does not justify inclusion in said tournament. Evaluators are in place to evaluate performance based on what has been done, not what they think said performer can accomplish. We can have this conversation later.) In essence, the Playoff hasn’t turned out to be what Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott thought it would be for his conference at the turn of the decade.
The good news for Scott and college football fans west of the Mississippi (sans the ones in Norman) is that expansion of the Playoff is inevitable. The tournament will certainly go to eight teams. The problem is that expansion is likely another five or six years away, when most of the major college football television deals are up. This season, the conference had an opportunity for a title game that would have created more buzz than any in its previous history. Unfortunately, Oregon laid an egg at Arizona State, then proceeded to embarrass Utah and Kyle Willingham’s roster as not ready for primetime. If this season taught Scott nothing else, he should walk away from the national title game on January 13 knowing he needs to find a way to help build some nationally relevant programs, and/or have the lone juggernaut he currently has finish that small leap back to national prominence that it enjoyed in the early part of the decade.
Retrieved from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/dan-wolken/2019/11/13/college-football-what-schools-can-learn-oregon-mario-cristobal/4183753002/
At present, Oregon and head coach Mario Cristobal are the only reasonable team that can expect to make a serious run at the Playoff anytime soon. The Ducks have long been a factory for skill players, especially at running back and cornerback, but it’s the two-deep depth Cristobal is building in the trenches, particularly on the defensive edge and offensive interior, that makes them the only team in the conference even capable of hanging with the likes of Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and Oklahoma. His focus on the offensive and defensive line, and his staff’s ability to recruit and develop them, makes me confident he and the Ducks will find themselves in at least one Playoff in the next four years.
The problem, however, is that having only one team talented and deep enough to compete nationally is a recipe for disaster in the college football realm, particularly as conferences gear up for the next major streak of realignment that is surely coming before the end of the next decade.
The ACC has Clemson, and with strong hires like Scott Satterfield at Louisville and Mike Norvell at Florida State, I expect all three of those programs to be elite for a long time. The SEC has Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Auburn. The Big Ten has Ohio State, Penn State and a fledging superstar coach in a state with a growing urban population in P.J. Fleck at Minnesota. Yes, the Pac-12 has USC, but they just retained Clay Helton, who is 40-21 in his four seasons in Los Angeles.
The markets are there (Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and a new entertainment cathedral in Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium to host any and all major Pac-12 events) but something is missing. Only Larry Scott really knows what that something is. He better get to fixing it quick.