Jon Joseph No. 1 Share Posted May 9, 2023 Below is 247 Sports, Via Ducks Wire, projection for the bowls Pac-12 teams will play in at the close of the 2023 regular season. Again, it's much too early but it is a long off-season, right? The Ducks Wire bowl projections are also displayed below. Oregon Football: 247Sports picks PAC-12 bowl game matchups. DUCKSWIRE.USATODAY.COM Even though there are 4 months before the college football season, it’s never too early to look at what Pac-12 bowl game matchups could look like. 2 trips to Texas for Puddles? This would be disappointing IMO. The conference needs to send its second or third-best team to a better bowl game within the conference footprint. Alamo Bowl? What sense does it make to reward one of your best teams with a trip deep into the heart of B12 country? I think that the Las Vegas Bowl should be where the conference's number 2 or 3 team is sent. Of course, once the playoff expands in 2024 The B1G/Pac-12 relationship with the Rose Bowl is likely to come to a close. I believe that come 2024 the first two rounds of playoff games should be played on campus. I also believe that come 2026 the top four champions will not receive a first-round bye. Last season, Clemson was blown out by Tennessee in its bowl game, and Utah was not competitive against Penn State in the Rose Bowl. Neither team deserved a first-round bye. In my opinion, it's time for the College Football Playoff to stop trying to serve two masters. Run a playoff without regard to the bowls. Bowl games are a tradition and in no way are the bowls vital to the playoff. I'd like to see all games played on campus up to the championship game. Weather concerns could be dealt with by playing games, if necessary, in the dome closest to the higher seed's campus. 247 has the Pac-12 out of the playoff and thus out of the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl is a playoff semifinal site. Thus, 247 putative Pac-12 champ Washington (BOO!) is projected to go to the Fiesta Bowl with USC returning to the Cotton Bowl. I do think the 2023 Pac-12 title will come down to Oregon, USC, and Washington. USC has the advantage of playing both Utah and UW in LA while Oregon has to trip to Seattle and Salt Lake City. I also believe that with the depth of the conference 7 and not 8 teams will go bowling. In addition to home games against top conference opponents, the conference gave SC a second idle week the week before the championship game. You can't make this stuff up. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDuck No. 2 Share Posted May 9, 2023 This stuff is worthless this early. Better stuff to read out there! I do agree the Pac bowl deals aren't so great 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Author No. 3 Share Posted May 9, 2023 On 5/9/2023 at 12:59 PM, JDuck said: This stuff is worthless this early. Better stuff to read out there! I do agree the Pac bowl deals aren't so great I agree with you but it is a loooooog off-season filled with predictions that will most likely not hold true come the regular season. See TCU in 2022. I do think that at least 7 teams from the Pac-12 will go bowling this season. Where do they go? Who knows and Who is often wrong? I do think that off-season predictions like that of SP+ are correct in terms of the 4 playoff teams coming from the 6 to 8 highest preseason-ranked teams. Again, TCU was big-time outlier in 2022. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tandaian No. 4 Share Posted May 9, 2023 I counted 41 bowl games then the tile game, which isn't a bowl game. Only the Holiday Bowl (Fox), Sun Bowl (CBS) and Arizona Bowl (Barstool Sports) game aren't shown on ESPN/ABC. When 92% of something is controlled by one entity, it is pretty hard to change things. SF, LA, San Diego and Las Vegas all need to do better to be a more attractive bowl game. Another problem is bowl games have their contracts and they don't all come up at the same time. The Pac 12 can't change their bowl game line up if there isn't another bowl game to take its place. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie No. 5 Share Posted May 9, 2023 (edited) On 5/9/2023 at 9:47 AM, Jon Joseph said: ...2 trips to Texas for Puddles.... The conference needs to send its second or third-best team to a better bowl game within the conference footprint. Alamo Bowl? What sense does it make to reward one of your best teams with a trip deep into the heart of B12 country? I think that the Las Vegas Bowl should be where the conference's number 2 or 3 team is sent. ... This! Edited May 9, 2023 by Annie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Author No. 6 Share Posted May 9, 2023 On 5/9/2023 at 4:34 PM, Tandaian said: I counted 41 bowl games then the tile game, which isn't a bowl game. Only the Holiday Bowl (Fox), Sun Bowl (CBS) and Arizona Bowl (Barstool Sports) game aren't shown on ESPN/ABC. When 92% of something is controlled by one entity, it is pretty hard to change things. SF, LA, San Diego and Las Vegas all need to do better to be a more attractive bowl game. Another problem is bowl games have their contracts and they don't all come up at the same time. The Pac 12 can't change their bowl game line up if there isn't another bowl game to take its place. Great take. So how about waking someone up in the Pac-12 office to get working on better bowl arrangements? Or, as I noted, have the conference send a lesser team to the Alamo Bowl. Having bowl agreements with 2 bowls in Texas, Alamo, and Sun. to me makes no sense. My guess? You'd have an easier task trying to wake Rip van Winkle. Spot on. Bowls for many mediocre teams exist to give ESPN inventory. The stands are usually devoid of fans and the match-ups do not move the needle except for CFB junkies. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
