2. The Pac-12 teams will actually play each other
Of course it’s not time to spike the ball just yet and assume everything will be smooth come fall – even though the world has the ball first and goal on the four – but all signs point to things being a whole lot more 2019 than 2020.
No major conference will look and play and feel more different than the Pac-12.
In case you missed the 2020 Pac-12 college football season …
It was a go, and then it was cancelled, and then it came back in a conference-only form, and then a whole slew of issues hit and not everyone could play every game, and then Colorado couldn’t play USC to create a clean and true Pac-12 South champion, and Washington couldn’t play Oregon to create a clean and true Pac-12 North champion, and then Washington couldn’t play at all meaning Oregon went to play USC for the Pac-12 championship, and ….
It was fun, though, when the teams that could play got on the field.
However, Utah finally get to play its first game on November 21st. Several teams were starting to ramp things up just as the Utes were getting started.
Cal never seemed quite able to get going, Stanford was homeless for five of its six games, both Washington and Washington State were only able to get in four games – and none of them against each other – and on and on and on in the strange season that had no flow.
How weird was it? USC – not exactly some Little Engine That Could program – wasn’t going to have any real shot at getting into the College Football Playoff had it beaten Oregon to finish as an unbeaten Pac-12 champion.
Imagine how that might have played with the folks in Columbus if Ohio State was in that scenario.
And for our infinite patience we’re expected to get USC vs. Colorado this time around, and Washington hosting Oregon, and all the big games we missed in 2020.
On a national scale, the non-conference games are even bigger.
Oregon was supposed to host Ohio State, and now it gets to go to Columbus. Washington was expected to welcome in Michigan, and now it gets to go to Ann Arbor.
USC and Notre Dame are going to play college football again on October 23rd in South Bend. Just imagine how the 2020 season might have gone if those two were able to play and the Trojans pulled off the win.
Now, did the Pac-12 totally whiff by not scheduling USC against either Oregon or Washington? In terms of a national showcase, ya think? But after last year, the Pac-12 is back.
Hopefully.
– Pac-12 schedule winners and losers