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PAC 12
College Football Playoff

For Pac-12 football, how strong is too strong?

Dan Wolken
USA TODAY Sports
Stanford coach David Shaw says he wouldn't be surprised if the Pac-12 champion has two losses this season.

BURBANK, Calif. — There are perceptions, and then there are scoreboards. The former would insist that very little has changed in the hierarchy of college football, that the SEC's power has not faded despite championship outliers in Tallahassee, Fla., and Columbus, Ohio. The latter would tell a much different story, with plenty to suggest that the Pac-12 is on the verge of supplanting the SEC as the nation's top conference — if it hasn't already.

Still, as the Pac-12 gathered on a Warner Brothers Studios set Thursday for its two-day preseason media event, even commissioner Larry Scott acknowledged his league is yet to cross that rubicon in the eyes of the nation.

Despite last winter's 6-2 showing in bowl games and 13-5 season total against teams in the other Power Five conferences — far better than the SEC's mediocre marks of 7-5 in bowls and 11-11 against the power leagues — the Pac-12, fair or not, still lacks the credibility boost that comes with producing a national champion.

"The facts spoke for themselves, and we have a lot of momentum coming into this year and we look really strong again," Scott said. "But until we win the national championship, I don't think we will get the recognition nationally that we're looking for, and that's fair to an extent. That's just the way our culture is. To the winner go the spoils."

Oregon has been at the doorstep twice in the last six years. If the College Football Playoff had been in place prior to last season, Stanford might have had a crack or two at it.

Instead, since the last time a Pac-12 team won the title — 2004, which was later vacated when NCAA violations were found at USC — the SEC racked up seven in a row. Even as much ground as the Pac-12 has made up in the past four years, it is an undeniable hole in the league's resume.

"I think it would make a big difference in the national overall perception," Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre said. "I still think we're the best conference top to bottom, but that sort of validates it, puts a stamp on it."

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That will be easier said than done, especially because the Pac-12 could face a very SEC-like problem. With six teams in the preseason Amway Coaches Poll and another lurking just outside, the league may be so competitive and so deep that it cannibalizes itself right out of College Football Playoff contention.

"I wouldn't be shocked if this is the year we have a conference champion with two (league) losses," Stanford coach David Shaw said.

No two-loss teams made the College Football Playoff in its inaugural year, so the Pac-12 might have to hope its strength will be rewarded regardless of the champion's record. In prepared comments to open the event Thursday, Scott stressed that the Pac-12 is the only power league that plays a nine-game conference schedule and a championship game.

"I see it as an advantage because of the way the playoff has been structured and the way the committee has been instructed," Scott said. "I don't think it's a guarantee every year you'll get in, but over time I think it will help us more than it will hurt us. Short-term, I don't mind that other conferences aren't scheduling as tough as we are because I think it will help us competitively."

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The Pac-12's rise, ironically, has come during the period immediately after Scott tried and failed to poach Texas and Oklahoma among others from the Big 12 and instead settled for Colorado (10-39 overall since joining the league) and Utah, which initially struggled transitioning from the Mountain West.

Rather, a series of coaching changes following the 2011 season at Arizona (Rich Rodriguez), Arizona State (Todd Graham) and UCLA (Jim Mora) added a new layer of national competitiveness to a league that for awhile had just USC at the top, then USC and Oregon with Stanford later joining the top tier.

"Obviously the next step for us is to win a national championship and I think that's in our near future, but the big challenge is no one goes through this league undefeated because of the parity," Graham said. "I think this league is going to be a lot better this year than it even was last year."

Arizona State coach Todd Graham (right) with players Mike Bercovici and Jordan Simone, sees a national championship in the Pac-12's near future.

There's reason to believe that may indeed be the case. Graham's team returns nine defensive starters, a glut of offensive skill and an experienced quarterback in Mike Bercovici. Oregon has the personnel to stay in the national conversation. Arizona, which won the South division last season, has legitimate stars on both sides of the ball and an established offensive system that puts up points against everyone. UCLA has the bulk of a 10-3 team back and could go even higher if quarterback Josh Rosen, the top incoming freshman prospect in the country, is as good as advertised. Utah, almost an afterthought, should have its best team since the 2008 squad that went 13-0 and beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Meanwhile, USC was picked to win the league due largely to its top-end talent and the presence of senior quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Cody Kessler.

"You're going to lose a game to a really good football team and somebody's going to say, 'You shouldn't have lost to them,' and three weeks later that team is going to be in the top 15, top 10," Shaw said. "Thats just the way this conference is going to be. If you can navigate your way to the top of this conference you're going to have a resume that the committee is going to look at and say, they're deserving of this four-team playoff."

Still, for all its depth, this is a league without a team that jumps out as a national title contender. One may develop over the course of the season, but until it does, claims that SEC supremacy has been usurped may go unheard outside of the West Coast.

"Whoever comes out of the Pac-12 will have earned it day in and day out because it's going to be as challenging as it gets," Mora said. "They'll be battle hardened and ready for whatever's next."

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