Who Needs a Blog Poll 2020: Man, what is up with the PAC 12?

The PAC 12 has gotten really adept at a new trick since the Playoff scheme began — scheduling tissue-soft OOC games and then still somehow eliminating itself in the first month of the season. Oh, sure, we’ve had to deal with the occasional undefeated team like Utah demanding a seat at the table — but that immediately takes us back to the first point. Someone like Portland State or UNLV on the schedule ain’t gonna impress anyone...even were they to run the table.

But, by far the most likely scenario is that the weak coaching in the PAC 12 manifests itself early (and often), whereby teams with far too much talent lose games they should not to teams that they should not in unacceptable manner. This week, I give you the perennially uber-talented Oregon Ducks, a team that just three years ago was among the Bottom 5 in the major conferences. All the Beavers did was unseat the Ducks at home. Utah, even with the formidable altitude advantage, is winless on the season. USC, for all of its talent, has almost imploded in half of their games this season. It is only a matter of time until the Trojans finish the drill. Washington, they of the dominant defense, have been screwing around with really weak teams and ignoring one entire side of the ball. All it will take is one offense getting hot for a quarter or two, or a few bad turnovers, and this team is also doomed.

Owing to their shortened season, the P12 won’t be seriously considered for the CFP chase. Such a shortened season has already cost Wisconsin a chance to play for the Big 10 Championship — that doomsday scenario is also staring Ohio State squarely in their beady, little dead piggy eyes. But if nothing else, this truncated season for the PAC 12 should wake administrators up to the awful coaching that permeates the conference. Even for half a dozen games, you can’t count on the conference luminaries to get their act together.

It’s a disgrace.

Speaking of awful coaches and talented teams looking like warmed over slop. you’ve been demoted Texas A&M (and I almost docked you even further, Florida). I did lower Cincinnati a notch. One of their marquee wins (road win over then-No. 17 SMU) looks far, far worse given the Mustangs’ decision to get trucked on the road by a 2-win East Carolina team. Ohio State lost ground too. You gotta’ play some games to be ranked, and even the ones they’ve faced (outside of IU) had aren’t so hot; hell, they’re not even respectable.

Some gaining ground include Coastal, who we’ve been stanning since Week 2 (you’re welcome, America), Iowa State — hey, even if Tom Herman’s impotence gave it to you, 7-game winning streaks aren’t to be disguised, and the Sooners who are by far the best of the B12 as of today. The rest of the blog poll should be self-explanatory, I would think.

I would close with a personal plea, though: If you’ve not seen Buffalo or Western Michigan play from the MAC, or San Jose State from the Mountain, definitely give them a shot. The contrast between Western’s high flying aerial attack, San Jose’s relentless defense and team football, and Buffalo’s ridiculously lethal ground game make college football so intriguing.