Things were looking so great for the Pac-12 Conference about a week ago, weren’t they? Three teams ranked in the top 10 with a real chance at the College Football Playoff; 4 ranked in the top 12; 5 ranked in the top 25.
Things change quickly.
Of course, the overall top-25 standing still looks good out west, but with the Oregon Ducks and UCLA Bruins both suffering upset losses on Saturday, the Pac-12 now only has one team — the USC Trojans — in playoff contention, while everyone else fights for a spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game and an opportunity to make it to the Rose Bowl.
With such big losses at the top of the conference, the bowl picture suffered a big shake-up this week. No longer does it look like we will see multiple Pac-12 teams in New Year’s Six bowl games as we did a week ago. Everyone moved down a peg, with the likely winner of the conference championship taking the top spot in the Rose Bowl, rather than the CFP.
Take a look at this week’s crop of bowl predictions.