PAC12 Discussion Thread

[NewEnglandGuy]

Looked through prior threads and was surprised, but then again not really, there wasn't a Pac12 After Dark (for those of you who listen to Solid Verbal Podcast).

2020 mini schedule just got released:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">&#55357;&#57000; ANNOUNCED &#55357;&#57000; The 2020 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pac12FB?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Pac12FB</a> Schedule‼️&#55356;&#57288;<br><br>More info ➡️ <a href="https://t.co/is8iNnKAn8">https://t.co/is8iNnKAn8</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BackThePac?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BackThePac</a> <a href="https://t.co/EztU2bMgZe">pic.twitter.com/EztU2bMgZe</a></p>— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) <a href="https://twitter.com/pac12/status/1312399595654115333?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 3, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[NewEnglandGuy]

The 6 team divisions play all other members (5 games) with an additional cross over game. Like the B1G, the entire conference will also play a 7th game during conference championship week with another cross division game corresponding where teams finish within the division.

SC drew Washington St and Stanford got Colorado, two of the teams going through major transitions in the conference. Jimmy Lake is the only other first year head coach in the conference, moving up from DBs and DC at Washington the prior 6 years to take over for Chris Peterson.

Colorado's new head coach, after whiffing on former alum and Kansas City Chiefs Offensive Coordinator Eric Biemiemy, Karl Dorrell comes from the Miami Dolphins as their WR coach. He was a former Pac 10 Coach of the year at UCLA, his alma mater, in 2005 before getting fired in 2007 after submitting a 35–27 record including 1-3 in bowls.

With the Leach air raid now located at Miss St, WSU is lead by Nick Rolovich, formerly HC at Hawaii. His big splash was last year where they defeated a pair of Pac12 teams, Arizona and Oregon State, before losing to a ranked Washington team. He was named Mountain West Coach of Year after leading Hawaii to a 10 win season and a division title. Other notable games including upsetting BYU in the bowl, and going 0-2 vs Boise St.

 

[calvegas04]

pretty terrible schedule, Oregon should have to play Washington and sc. Those would be the only big games of the season for the Pac12

 

[NewEnglandGuy]

pretty terrible schedule, Oregon should have to play Washington and sc. Those would be the only big games of the season for the Pac12

An argument can certainly be made that the conference buffed the schedules for their front running teams to ensure possibly (two!) sets of 6-0 teams meet for the last cross division game during "conference championship" of the their mini season.

Oregon and Washington in the North and USC, Utah, and Arizona St in the south were either ranked or fringe Top 25 teams in the preseason. Phil Steele's rankings are close to most in the industry:

https://247sports.com/LongFormArtic...zona-State-Phil-Steele-149627510/#149627510_7

Oregon - UCLA
Washington - Arizona
USC - Wash St
Utah - Oregon St
Arizona St - Cal

--or--

N1 - S4
N2 - S5
(with Stanford and recent reputation save injury plagued 2019, possibly N3-S6)
S1 - N6
S2 - N5
S3 - N4

Convenient all 5 "ranked" teams miss the other 4...

 

[BobbyMac]

Oregon loses to Wazzu in Pullman Week 2 and the PAC is 100% out of the playoff race.

If they were ever remotely in it to begin with.

 

[zelezo vlk]

The Pac 12 hasn't even started yet and has already canceled 2 games. Pac 12 After Dark is in danger

 

[dublinirish]

Cal-ASU is off, ASU Head coach Herm Edwards has corona virus along with other staff and players

 

[Riddickulous]

Sounds like an absolute disaster at ASU

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The situation within the ASU football program is dire. The facility is closed. An entire side of the ball has it. 6-staff members are positive. And they’re just at the beginning of the outbreak. When asked to describe it I was told: “This is bad. Really, really bad.”</p>— Matt Barrie (@MattBarrie) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattBarrie/status/1327328647863291905?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 13, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[dublinirish]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We are here because we’ve been chosen. <a href="https://twitter.com/oregonfootball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OregonFootball</a>’s Ohana uniform. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Family?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Family</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoDucks?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoDucks</a> <a href="https://t.co/QBSNWXjptz">pic.twitter.com/QBSNWXjptz</a></p>— GoDucks (@GoDucks) <a href="https://twitter.com/GoDucks/status/1329468554467414022?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Legacy]

Colorado beat San Diego State 20-10 to improve to 3-0. Both teams did not find out they would play each other until Thanksgiving Day. Colorado originally was to play USC in a Pac 12 South showdown in LA, but USC was having Covid issues in their program. San Diego State had their game with Fresno State canceled earlier in the week. The Colorado AD had contacted the SD State AD to schedule the game as a contingency in case USC had to cancel. When they did, the Aztecs flew out to Boulder for the game, which was delayed for one hour as rapid testing was being completed for the SD St team.

The Aztecs were without their top RB, Greg Bell, who is averaging 113 yds per game, which is sixth in the nation for those who have played five or more games this year. Bell was a graduate transfer from Nebraska last year but did not play due to an injury and surgery. Colorado's game with Arizona State was canceled last week due to Covid in the ASU program. The Pac 12 revised their rules for teams to be able to play non-conference opponents should Pac 12 games be canceled though too late last week for Colorado to schedule an opponent then.

Colorado has two more games scheduled - Arizona and Utah - for at best a five game season. Neither the Arizona State nor the USC games will be played.

 

[Legacy]

Oregon was upset by Oregon State in the 124th game of their Civil War. Oregon State RB Jemar Jefferson ran for 226 yds and his ave/gm of 168.75 yds/gm is second in the nation. The game was played in such dense fog that the refs and announcers missed an interception.

https://fansided.com/2020/11/27/oregon-oregon-state-foggy-interception/

 

[Legacy]

Pac 12 schedule is a mess

Pac 12 schedule is a mess

With canceled games due to Covid,

Oregon (3-1) and Oregon State (2-2) are the only teams who have played all their scheduled games and on track to play all six.

Arizona State (0-1) has had three games canceled and has not played a game since their opener on Nov 7th.

Five teams (Wash, Colo, Utah, Wash St and Cal) have had two games canceled. The Conference has been able to match up eight conference opponents whose games were canceled to add four games completed. The conference waiving the requirement for conference only games allowed Colorado to substitute a non-P5 team for another game.

Yet bowl projections have five Pac 12 teams playing (now that the Sun Bowl has been canceled and a possible CFP berth eliminated) with only Oregon of the five playing potentially playing the full six. The Pac 12 has contracts for seven bowl tie-ins. Some projections have 0-1 Arizona State in the Las Vegas Bowl.

This year a semi-final CFP game is in the Rose Bowl, which will not have a Pac 12 team. Will it have a B10 team?

 

[Legacy]

Washington has paused all their football activities due to an increase in Covid 18 cases in the football team. If they have to cancel, the Huskies would win the Pac 12 North title by default.

A kicker is that King County has not adopted the CDC’s revised guidelines for contact tracing, which were lowered from a 14-day quarantine to 10 days or seven days with a negative test. That may impact UDub's ability to play for the Championship.

Further complicating matters, should three Pac-12 games not be played this weekend then the average number of games played would fall to four (when rounded down). In that case, the two teams with the highest conference win percentage regardless of division would play for the conference title, making USC vs. Colorado a possibility.

Unless the conference changes the rules...

Barring further bowl cancellations, the Pac 12 has four bowls to send its teams to, including the New Year Six bowl bid. USC, Washington, Oregon and Colorado at this point. Now, should UCLA upset USC this weekend in addition, Katy bar the door.

 

[Legacy]

On Thursday, Washigton had to cancel their game with Oregon becasue they could not field 53 players. They have 45 scholarship players that could have suited up with those positive and those quarantined. With the Colorado loss, USC wins the South. Washington (3-1) wins the North Division due to the cancelation over Oregon (3-2). According to Pac 12 conference rules, they will probably not be able to play the conference championship game. USC wins the Pac 12.

Pac-12 announces COVID-19 thresholds for cancellations, title game tiebreakers

 

[Irishize]

What a dumpster fire of a conference. They should’ve stuck w/ their initial decision to not play at all. Instead they lose respect & look petty trying to put together a season that was doomed from day one after seeing the SEC/ACC/B12 step up and navigate a full season.

 

[Irish YJ]

What a dumpster fire of a conference. They should’ve stuck w/ their initial decision to not play at all. Instead they lose respect & look petty trying to put together a season that was doomed from day one after seeing the SEC/ACC/B12 step up and navigate a full season.

Charmin soft... and bad.

The only team I like in the PAC is ASU. Just sad we didn't get to throttle USC this year. Their MyPillow cakewalk to an undefeated season will likely keep the fan base chippy.

Hope UCLA puts big wet dump on their plans tonight.

 

[Polish Leppy 22]

Charmin soft... and bad.

The only team I like in the PAC is ASU. Just sad we didn't get to throttle USC this year. Their MyPillow cakewalk to an undefeated season will likely keep the fan base chippy.

Hope UCLA puts big wet dump on their plans tonight.

They don't deserve it but please put USC into the playoff so we can hammer them by 40. 2020 USC is reason #80 I'm hardcore against expanding the playoff.

 

[Irish YJ]

They don't deserve it but please put USC into the playoff so we can hammer them by 40. 2020 USC is reason #80 I'm hardcore against expanding the playoff.

Wait, so you want to play them, but you don't want to expand the CFP so you can?

I'm good with 8 (5 P5 CCs +2 at large +1 highest G5)
More chances for us. Less chance schools can bitch.

This year you'd likely have
1 Bama vs IU
2 Clemson vs ISU/OK winner
3 OSU vs Cinci
4 ND vs TAMU

I'd take that all day long. Clark vs Elko. Battle for OH. IU just in the CFP. Huge O shootout with Clemson and ISU/OK. Fun stuff.

 

[Legacy]

Oregon replaces Washington as the North Division championship game. Washington reported to the conference they could not play the game due to Covid.

The league statement said:

"This decision was made under the Pac-12's football game cancellation policy and Football Championship Game policy due to Washington neither having the minimum 53 scholarship student-athletes available for the game nor the minimum number of scholarship student-athletes at a position group, in each case as a result of a number of positive football student-athlete COVID-19 cases and resulting isolation of additional football student-athletes under contact tracing protocols."

The Huskies don’t have any offensive linemen, scholarship or walk-on, available to play as of Monday due to cases of the virus and related contact tracing.

 

[ulukinatme]

Playoff needs to be expanded to 8 teams minimum. If not, we might as well join the ACC permanently because otherwise it will get tougher and tougher to get in each year. As conference champ you can get in with 1 loss easy. As Independent we pretty much have to run the table to guarantee a spot, 11-1 isn't a definite thing when you have 5 P5 champs at 12-1 or better. Gotta figure SEC champ and tOSU are a lock pretty much every season, that only leaves two spots with ACC champ usually having one. Conference realignment will happen again someday, and eventually USC will be a world beaters again too. That's why it's in our interest to expand the playoff or join the ACC.

 

[Wingman Ray]

Playoff needs to be expanded to 8 teams minimum. If not, we might as well join the ACC permanently because otherwise it will get tougher and tougher to get in each year. As conference champ you can get in with 1 loss easy. As Independent we pretty much have to run the table to guarantee a spot, 11-1 isn't a definite thing when you have 5 P5 champs at 12-1 or better. Gotta figure SEC champ and tOSU are a lock pretty much every season, that only leaves two spots with ACC champ usually having one. Conference realignment will happen again someday, and eventually USC will be a world beaters again too. That's why it's in our interest to expand the playoff or join the ACC.

And as much as I dont like joining a conference, the ACC has been good to ND. A heck of a lot better than the B10 which would be the only other conference location wise.

But what you have to be careful is scheduling yourself a nightmare. If you keep OOC games of USC/Stan/Navy combined with playing Clemson/FSU/Miami (they will get back up eventually), you put yourself in a major pickle that Bama isnt close to playing. OSU will never play a tough schedule ever. You basically screw yourself.

 

[pumpdog20]

Might have no choice to join the ACC... depends on what the new commish thinks.

 

[PANDFAN]

NCAA is investigating Arizona State for allegations related to the football program. The allegations include paying players, MAJOR recruiting violations, Covid violations, and other things that have left serious concern about the coaching staff being able to coach this season.

​​​​​​https://twitter.com/georgewrighster/...88750074814465

 

[zelezo vlk]

Say it ain't so Herm

Sent from my SM-J337U using Tapatalk

 

[Rogue219]

They cheated their way to 17-13 overall, 11-11 in conference under Herm Edwards. LOL.

Jack Wagon country we live in, I swear. Hope it was worth it.

 

[BobbyMac]

This has been brewing for a week. When Cali was shut down, half of SoCal was in AZ where stuff was still goin on including lots of 7v7 tournaments. So naturally some guys get on campus during dead periods because if you're a 17-18 year old, you're gonna end up on Mill Ave by ASU anyways cuz that's where the action is.

Question is, does this expand into other issues and if so, does the ASU staff bring down the rest of the cheaters in the gift card world of college recruiting?

Gonna be interesting to see who the snitch was, SC or UCLA? Could be Oregon I guess but if I were them, I wouldn't want them eyes on me... BUT Wrightster played at Oregon and is an LA guy who works out of LA.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

They cheated their way to 17-13 overall, 11-11 in conference under Herm Edwards. LOL.

Jack Wagon country we live in, I swear. Hope it was worth it.

haha. Amazing how bad some programs are even while they're (allegedly) cheating.

 

[Rogue219]

haha. Amazing how bad some programs are even while they're (allegedly) cheating.

Seriously. I mean, go big at least.

 

[Irish#1]

This has been brewing for a week. When Cali was shut down, half of SoCal was in AZ where stuff was still goin on including lots of 7v7 tournaments. So naturally some guys get on campus during dead periods because if you're a 17-18 year old, you're gonna end up on Mill Ave by ASU anyways cuz that's where the action is.

Question is, does this expand into other issues and if so, does the ASU staff bring down the rest of the cheaters in the gift card world of college recruiting?

Gonna be interesting to see who the snitch was, SC or UCLA? Could be Oregon I guess but if I were them, I wouldn't want them eyes on me... BUT Wrightster played at Oregon and is an LA guy who works out of LA.

I wouldn't get my hopes up too high. Oregon should have raised eyebrows a long time ago. How many times have we seen something like this and it usually dies at the school reported? The B-ball scandal a few years ago should have brought major sanctions against a ton of schools, but it hardly moved past Pitino.

It's sad when you cheat and barely break .500. Obviously Herm wasn't taking lessons from the SEC boys.

 

[IrishLion]

This has been brewing for a week. When Cali was shut down, half of SoCal was in AZ where stuff was still goin on including lots of 7v7 tournaments. So naturally some guys get on campus during dead periods because if you're a 17-18 year old, you're gonna end up on Mill Ave by ASU anyways cuz that's where the action is.

Question is, does this expand into other issues and if so, does the ASU staff bring down the rest of the cheaters in the gift card world of college recruiting?

Gonna be interesting to see who the snitch was, SC or UCLA? Could be Oregon I guess but if I were them, I wouldn't want them eyes on me... BUT Wrightster played at Oregon and is an LA guy who works out of LA.

Is this the "bombshell that will affect coaching legacies" that was being teased on Twitter earlier this week?

If so, I'm not gonna lie... I'm kind of disappointed. Allegations of recruiting violations and paying players are a wet-fart in today's media. All ASU has to do is deny, plead the 5th, and get players to refuse to talk about it. BOOM. You just got away with whatever you did, because that's how the game is played in these pre-NIL days.