The biggest games of the Pac-12 football season aren’t hard to identify: USC-Utah, USC-Washington, USC-Oregon, Washington-Oregon, and others. However, there’s a bigger point to make about the schedule as a whole. If you look at the top four (projected) teams’ schedules, one detail stands out very sharply.
You will notice that among USC, Utah, Washington, and Oregon — the four teams likely to be in the top four of the Pac-12 preseason media poll, not to mention the national polls — all four teams play each other this season. No one escapes the other. USC did not play either Oregon or Washington last year.
Essentially, then, the top four (projected) teams in the Pac-12 will each have three games against the others. Any team which goes 3-0 in these three games is a virtual lock for the Pac-12 Championship Game. Teams which go 2-1 are highly likely to get in. Teams which go 1-2 or worse are almost certain to miss the trip to Las Vegas in December.
We talked about this detail and other nuances of the Pac-12 schedule on Trojan Conquest Live with Tim Prangley and Rick Anaya at The Voice of College Football:
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