The Pac 12 is Once Again Overrated

Within two weeks of college football being on I already have to eat crow. I expect this to happen from time to time, but never this early on. I mean, most teams have only played one game. But after the first full weekend of college football, and isn't it wonderful that it is back, I am already on the chopping block. It came quicker than I expected.

Why the crow for dinner? The Pac 12 is exactly who we all thought they were. I had faith in the conference this year. I thought they were going to be better. I thought they had a shot to get a team in the playoffs. I was almost certain that team was going to be either Utah or Oregon. I was very, very wrong. USC looked good. Stanford cruised. Arizona got a big win. Arizona State overcame some early struggles. The rest of the conference fared pretty well. But the two top dogs, the two preseason favorites, the two highest ranked teams in the Pac 12 both got beat.

Utah had a tougher game. It was on the road in Gainesville. I understand Florida is not the powerhouse they once were. But they have a new coach. I expect big things soon from Billy Napier. Gainesville is always a tough spot to play. Utah had a big time zone change. They had to wait all day to play. But still, they were the preseason number 7 team. They were coming off a Rose Bowl game they had every shot to win. They had a returning QB. They have a good run game and a solid defense. But they shot themselves in the foot. They let Anthony Richardson, who looks like a budding star, do whatever he wanted. They could not stop Florida in the fourth quarter. They never really got the run game going. And in the end, with a chance to win the game, they threw a pick. It was a cluster of bad things. Utah was under prepared, got outcoached and outplayed and got beat because of it. They pretty much have to run the table from here on out, winning big in every game, and they still might be on the outside looking in come playoff conversation time. Utah blew a golden opportunity.

Utah’s loss wasn't as bad as Oregon. Boy oh boy did they get absolutely annihilated. This game was never, not for one second, in doubt. Georgia is very, very good. I get that. I did not expect Oregon to win this game. Georgia is loaded on both sides of the ball still, even with all the talent from last season's title team in the NFL. But Oregon laid a total egg. They were lifeless. They showed no fight. They got down early and never fought back. They looked like they wanted to be anywhere else then on that football field. Their new head coach looked severely overmatched. The team was just listless. They looked like a freshman team playing a Varsity team. A bad freshman team at that. I mean, the final score was 49-3. I watched this same Georgia team dismantle Michigan in the playoff last season, but at least Michigan showed a little heart. Oregon was not only outmatched, they had nothing good come from this game. This is the type of blowout that can derail a season. Again, I expected Georgia to win, win comfortably at that, but for Oregon to make it feel a little closer. I thought Oregon could score some points and this game would catapult them to go on a long winning streak. I figured it would have them more than ready for Pac 12 play. I put them in the playoff. Now there is almost no shot they get in. You cannot take a beating like that and expect the committee to take you seriously. This was not a good look for the Pac 12, but it was even worse for Oregon. They are the Gonzaga of college football now. They are the paper champions. They always look good, but when they have to play a real team, they almost never show up. This was rough. I mean, I do not know how they recover from this. It is embarrassing. I have always kind of liked Oregon, they may be the only team besides Michigan I do not actively root against, and this was just a real tough watch.

We will see what the rest of the season has for us, but this is not a very good start for a conference that a lot of people are already writing off. Maybe USC or UCLA will go on a roll and save the conference. Right now though, Utah and Oregon have made it harder than it should be.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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