7 college football bold predictions for the final month of the 2023 season

4. Oregon State, not Oregon, faces Washington in Pac-12 Championship Game

After watching the instant classic in Seattle in Week 7 with the Washington Huskies outlasting the rival Oregon Ducks in the Border War, virtually every college football fan had the same reaction: Man, I can't wait to see the rematch in Las Vegas for the Pac-12 Championship Game.

Make no mistake, I want that to happen too. On paper, these look like the two best teams and possible College Football Playoff contenders that the conference has to offer. Seeing a rematch between two high-caliber foes who appear as evenly matched as you can imagine is far from a bad thing.

I just, unfortunately, don't think we make it to that point.

Instead of Oregon facing Washington for the Pac-12 title, it will be rival Oregon State that ends up getting to Vegas to face the Huskies in another rematch -- just for a game that hasn't happened yet.

Oregon and Oregon State both currently only have one conference loss against them on the season. The Beavers' came against Wazzu at the end of September while the Ducks', as mentioned, was against Washington. Oregon State still has to play both Washington and Oregon in the final two weeks, but even if they lose the Huskies, they still have a path to the title game, namely beating their biggest rival in Eugene.

What I come back to with this, should it play out as such, is that Oregon's defense has one hole: the run game. We've seen teams be able to exploit that a bit and cause the Ducks problems. Oregon State, meanwhile, is probably the best rushing offense in the Pac-12 behind a great offensive line. Moreover, they have a defense to match it and could control that matchup from and X's and O's perspective.

There is a lot of chaos that could happen, but looking at the board and predicting a bit of a wild outcome that's entirely possible, this is what the Pac-12 will come down to. And if nothing else, it should create some absolute scenes in Eugene on Nov. 24.