After Washington lost to Stanford, how is it possible for the Pac-12 to get their champion to the College Football Playoff?
If you didn’t stay up late on Friday night you didn’t see Stanford pull off the mild upset of Washington from The Farm. The game was a big one for Cardinal running back Bryce Love who had 166 yards and three touchdowns that should solidify himself as a Heisman finalist. But the loss was a big one for the Huskies and the Pac-12 conference who say their best chance at a playoff berth go away.
So how can the Pac-12 get a team in the four-team College Football Playoff?
They can’t.
It’s over for the Pac-12 who will have their conference champion have at least two losses. In the three-year history of the College Football Playoff, there has never been a two-loss team to make the field.
The Pac-12 was already facing an uphill battle before Washington lost. Chris Petersen’s team was ranked No. 9 in the second playoff rankings. Now, they are expected to drop a handful of spots so they’re clearly going in the wrong direction.
Washington State and Stanford are in the best position to win the North. The Cougars need to win out while the Cardinal need the Cougs to lose, and they still have to face Washington in the Apple Cup. But the best chance for the Pac-12 to get a team in is two-loss USC.
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But for that to happen, USC needs Georgia, Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson, Oklahoma, TCU, Wisconsin and Auburn to lose at least once, and to be safe, they’ll need at least half those teams to lose two times.
There just isn’t enough time left on the schedule and the caliber of opponent remaining on the schedules of all those teams to present a legitimate case for them to lose. Even if all those teams lose once, USC is still likely sitting at No. 8 in the playoff rankings.
And while Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott may wish to have an emergency injunction to make the case for an eight-team playoff, it’s just not going to happen.
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