FishDuck Article Administrator No. 1 Share Posted November 28, 2023 The Pac-12 started this season with a whopping six teams ranked in the AP poll, and peaked at Week 4 with eight. This didn’t last, as Week 4 was the beginning of conference play, and though the Pac-12 may not be the best conference, it surely is the most competitive from top to bottom. The football season is long and ... Has Pac-12 Cannibalism Struck Again? FISHDUCK.COM The Pac-12 started this season with a whopping six teams ranked in the AP poll, and peaked at Week 4 with eight. This didn't last, as Week 4... 3 4 Two Sites: FishDuck and the Our Beloved Ducks forum, The only "Forum with Decorum!" And All-Volunteer? What a wonderful community of Duck fans! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikethehiker No. 2 Share Posted November 28, 2023 Yes, this happens every year and also to the BIG12 for playing nine conference games. Nine games will not hurt Michigan or Ohio St. because no other B1G team can throw a vertical pass. SEC and ACC skate by every year with one less conference game and 2-3 additional teams who are able to stay in the Top 25 with one less loss. Voters don't care, CFP committee doesn't care, and PAC-12 presidents didn't care enough to do anything about it. It's as predictable as it painful to know Gus Johnson is calling all our games next year. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haywarduck No. 3 Share Posted November 28, 2023 What separates the good from great is an ability to travel and perform, but it is difficult. This element is under appreciated and seldom discussed thoroughly. I think the schedule and travel differentiation between the SEC and the Pac is also misunderstood. Georgia has had 4 away games where they had to cross one state line, basically get on a bus for away games. The other away game was in state. That would be like Oregon having to travel to Idaho, Washington, Northern California and then Corvalis for their away games. Even these examples don't fully compare the distances out west as compared to the east, and south. Our schedule with 9 conference games is tougher, and our travel is tougher than the SEC. Next year it will be even more difficult, but we are lauding ourselves for playing on front of a larger audience. What we will see are tougher games, and potentially more cannabalism within the BIG because of the travel and 9 conference games. The fact that we eat our own is our own fault. It would be great if we better acknowledged the reasons why, and addressed at least the 9 game schedule. I do agree the refs aren't great, but an elite team should never put the refs into play. I think it is amazing we are recruiting and playing like an elite SEC team. We might even win it all this season, but if we want to continue on this road, we need to schedule like an SEC team too. 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 4 Share Posted November 28, 2023 Thanks, David. This happens when a conference has parity and plays 9 conference games. In the penultimate week of the regular season, there was not a North Alabama, Chattanooga, or a New Mexico State (ooops!,) on a Pac-12 team's schedule. There is a reason why no school that played 9 conference games has won the playoff. One being, that the path to the playoff is much more difficult. USC is a good team? I demur. SC was an average team this season and its all-world QB could not win every game by himself. In 2022, SC missed both Oregon and UW. Not the case in 2023 and it showed. We've seen Bill Belichick without Tom Brady. Lincoln Riley without Caleb Williams? With LSU, Michigan, Penn State, Notre Dame, and UW, on the 2024 schedule, best of luck. Utah was decimated by injury and it finally caught up to the Utes. UCLA opened with 3 cupcakes at home, missed Oregon and UW, and Chip still could not get the job done. Chip is now .500 in 6 seasons in LA. Looks like he will stay on with UCLA. Too big of a buyout for a tapped-out athletic department that has to come up with a Calimony payment in addition to UCLA rolling over for Cal in the regular season final game. Oregon State will be in the Committee's top 25 tonight but also played a weak OOC slate and did not win one of the big games vs. Oregon and UW. WSU received early love for defeating what turned out to be a mediocre Wisconsin team, beating OSU, and then although WSU did not quit it flamed out. CU was smoke and mirrors and disappeared after being trashed in Autzen. Spot on in regard to Arizona. Fifita is the QB and not the de Laura turnover machine and I think AZ wins in Starkville and without Caleb Williams, defeats USC. Along with Northwestern, AZ is one of the best CFB stories of 2023. Project the 2024 playoff using the Week 14 AP Poll and B12 champ Arizona would be the 4th seed. Of the 8 teams still in play for the final Final 4, tonight's 5 or 6 Oregon finishes the regular season with a SOS of 62, SOR of 9, and a Game Control (GC) ranking of 9. UW, likely 3, finishes with an SOS of 46, SOR of 2, and GC of 6. Playing MW co-champion Boise State and not Portland State helped UW"s SOS. In regard to GC, no comprende. UW has wins over 5 or 6 Oregon and ranked Arizona and Oregon State so I am not surprised with UW's better SOS. Thank you, David, for this article. No doubt that many of the conference teams, including UW, were not the same after playing Oregon this season. But Oregon is receiving lots of Eye Test love from the Committee. Beat UW and I'm confident that Oregon is in the final Final 4 unless Bama upsets UGA. Then, things could get interesting. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Ducky No. 5 Share Posted November 28, 2023 I can see the B1G cannibalism starting next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Marsh No. 6 Share Posted November 28, 2023 On 11/28/2023 at 10:12 AM, Just Ducky said: I can see the B1G cannibalism starting next season. I actually think that all the other conferences that have former Pac-12 teams are really going to regret the break-up of the west coast conference. B1G - Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA will take games off everyone in conference play next year. If Oregon is able to reload they may even make a run for the conference championship. Big 12 - Honestly.. Utah and Arizona (if Jedd Fisch stays) may end up running that conference. ASU is a year or two out from being a real problem and Colorado already plays Big 12 football with all offense and no defense. The Big 12 is probably going to be run by former Pac-12 teams for years to come. ACC - Cal is looking much better this year and if Wilcox stays around I can see them taking a bite out of ACC schools and making bowl games regularly. Travel time will be awful but that goes both ways and as for Stanford... well the ACC will have a lot of teams drop games to the Cardinal when they know they shouldn't. I don't see either California team owning the conference but I see them both making other teams in the conference miserable as I can see to the two California teams making bowl games and keeping others out of them. The Mountain West - even if the Beavers and Cougars aren't officially apart of the MWC next year they will deal everyone multiple losses. They will probably end up owning that conference for at least a few years, or at least until their banks run out. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 7 Share Posted November 28, 2023 Cannibalism in the B1G. Maybe? You have the 2 B1G behemoths, Michigan and Ohio State, and a Penn State team that cannot except on rare occasions, defeat the 2 B1G boys. Then a whole lot of 7-5, 6-6 teams that cannot defeat Michigan, tOSU, and Penn State. Michigan is losing a ton of experienced talent off of the 2023 team and that's before UM guys with eligibility left possibly leave for the NFL. And will Harbaugh be back? Oregon has the track record and the coaching staff to contend for a B1G title every season. By no means will it be an easy path but the Ducks will not be facing a tougher gauntlet than this season's Pac-12. Find the right pitcher to replace Bo and there are not that many B1G teams that will be able to keep up with Oregon on offense or better on defense. BTW, are these obnoxious pop-up kitty chow ads payback for all of Charles's great cat gifs? If I had a cat I'd looking for a pond. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuackyQuack No. 8 Share Posted November 28, 2023 On 11/28/2023 at 11:14 AM, Jon Joseph said: there are not that many B1G teams that will be able to keep up with Oregon on offense or better on defense. And on top of that with the playoff expansion it will not be the end of the season if a team drops 1 or even 2 games during conference play. With how much respect the B1G has nationally I am looking forward to having Oregon be a frequent flyer in the 12 team playoffs for years to come. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven A Moderator No. 9 Share Posted November 28, 2023 Sarcasm alert. . . Sorry David, you lost all credibility when you included the sentence "It’s a credit to Washington for being the only team to make it through the regular season undefeated this year." And shame on your editor for letting it fall through the cracks. Other than that, fine article. In addition to the demise of the Conference of Champions as we knew and loved it, just like when Tricky Dick resigned, the press won't have the Pac 12 to kick around anymore. So, I guess it is only fitting that the iceberg struck Pac12anic conference can best be described by the verb associated with one of the remaining teams, they "couged it". 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Marsh No. 10 Share Posted November 28, 2023 On 11/28/2023 at 12:33 PM, Steven A said: Sarcasm alert. . . Sorry David, you lost all credibility when you included the sentence "It’s a credit to Washington for being the only team to make it through the regular season undefeated this year." And shame on your editor for letting it fall through the cracks. Other than that, fine article. In addition to the demise of the Conference of Champions as we knew and loved it, just like when Tricky Dick resigned, the press won't have the Pac 12 to kick around anymore. So, I guess it is only fitting that the iceberg struck Pac12anic conference can best be described by the verb associated with one of the remaining teams, they "couged it". I should have added... "It's a credit to Washington with lots of help from the refs..." Because those refs have really protected the Huskies this year. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven A Moderator No. 11 Share Posted November 28, 2023 On 11/28/2023 at 12:39 PM, David Marsh said: credit to Washington You lost me at 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
