Stock report (bowl edition): ESPN mocks the Pac-12, Colorado draws Texas, the committee disses Cincinnati and more
Sunday morning brought the most anticipated moment of college football’s regular season: The playoff reveal on ESPN’s selection show.
The Hotline watched from beginning to end — from the opening segment at 9 a.m. through the analysts’ banter through the unveiling of the semifinalists through the interviews with participating coaches and through the subsequent, err, banter.
Over those two-and-a-half hours, neither the Pac-12 or any of its teams was mentioned. Not once.
The ACC, Big Ten and SEC dominated the discussion, thanks to their CFP participants (Clemson, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Alabama).
The Big 12 was mentioned when Oklahoma entered the discussion, courtesy of lead analyst Kirk Herbstreit.
The American Conference was heavily involved in the opening segment, thanks to Cincinnati’s hotly-debated position outside the top four.
The Sun Belt (Coastal Carolina) and Mountain West (San Jose State) were acknowledged.
The Pac-12?
Not a single utterance.
Not until the release of the CFP rankings and New Year’s Six matchups at 11:30 a.m. was the conference’s existence acknowledged.
And it wasn’t in flattering fashion.
As Oregon’s matchup against Iowa State in the Fiesta Bowl appeared on the screen, ESPN host Rece Davis introduced the Ducks and then offered a long pause before a lukewarm description of them as “the Pac-12 champions, you know.”
His colleagues, including Herbstreit, perhaps the most influential voice in the sport, all burst out laughing.
“Wow, you sold that one, Rece,’’ Herbstreit said amid the cackling.
“Well, I mean, there are a lot of champions there,” Davis responded. “There’s the division champion: Washington finished ahead of them. USC won the South.”
And so it goes for the Pac-12.
Its first mention on ESPN’s most prominent studio show of the season — two-and-a-half hours into the festivities — was accompanied by a moment of mockery.
And that’s not the only example of the Pac-12’s position within the current college football machinery.
It has no teams in the semifinals.
It won’t have a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.
It doesn’t have a finalist for the Broyles Award, which is given to the top assistant coach.
It only has two bowl teams after five eligible teams declined bids (USC, Washington, Stanford, Utah and Arizona State).
From a national perspective, there is little evidence the Pac-12 season even existed.
That’s largely a result of the decision by the presidents and chancellors to postpone the season, then start in early November — two weeks later than the Big Ten and Mountain West.
They wanted to be safe; they wanted access to daily testing; they had state restrictions to navigate; they wanted a unified start on Nov. 7, even though many teams could have played on Oct. 31.
With their actions, the presidents told the college football world that all the trappings typically valued — playoff appearances, bowl bids, individual awards, a place in the narrative — simply weren’t important.
That wasn’t right or wrong. It was just different, a response to unique conditions and motivations on the campuses and in the communities.
But none of that matters to the rest of the country — to the college football media machine, to recruits and fans, to the teams and executives.
College football has churned through the pandemic, for better or worse, with zero interest in the Pac-12’s well being or status as a power conference.
The conference will exit this crazy, tumultuous year noticeably more isolated than it was before the season began.
To the stock report …
Rising: Colorado. No team had more misfortune from a scheduling standpoint than the Buffaloes, who were healthy enough to play each week but had three games canceled and were left home, despite a No. 25 ranking, on the final weekend. They face Texas, a former Big 12 rival, in the Alamo Bowl.
Rising: Oregon. The 25th-ranked Ducks didn’t win their division, received a favorable bump from the conference office and took advantage in the championship game. As a reward, they will play No. 10 Iowa State in the Fiesta Bowl — an eminently winnable game. (ISU is favored by just four points.) The Ducks are living right.
Rising: ESPN. Clemson’s win over Notre Dame secured a playoff berth for the Tigers and the presumptive No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Add Alabama, Ohio State and Notre Dame, and the CFP has all the big names its broadcast partner could want.
Rising: The ACC. The conference sent two teams into the CFP for the first time and joins the SEC as the only league to accomplish that feat. (Of course, Notre Dame’s position as an ACC member is only for this season — or so we are led to believe.)
Rising: Big 12. Yes, it missed the playoff, but two teams in the New Year’s Six (Oklahoma and Iowa State) is the best the conference could have hoped for after those early-season losses to the Sun Belt.
Rising: San Jose State. The Spartans completed what might have been the most remarkable season in the country, defeating Boise State to clinch a perfect record (7-0) and win the Mountain West title. They’re headed to the Arizona Bowl to face Ball State.
Falling: CFP selection committee. We get the top four. But slotting undefeated Cincinnati in the No. 8 position — behind three-loss Florida — is bad for the overall health of the sport.
Falling: Group of Five. Cincinnati is the best team outside the Power Five in the CFP era. And yet based on the committee rankings, the Bearcats never stood a chance. The only solution is to expand to eight teams: The Power Five champs, a Group of Five representative, and two at-large berths. Whether the change comes before the current contract end in 2026 is anyone’s guess. But it won’t happen without the SEC’s consent, so direct your lobbying efforts there.
Falling: Notre Dame. The lopsided loss to Clemson has the Irish in a familiar position as they prepare to face Alabama in the semifinals: As a necessary but lesser member of the final four — similar to the role Oklahoma has filled in recent years. (Opening line: Alabama is favored by 17 points.)
Falling: The Rose Bowl Stadium. The game itself is alive and well but has relocated to Dallas for this year in order for fans to attend. The venerable stadium will be empty on Jan. 1 for the first time since World War II, when it moved to North Carolina for one year.
Falling: Bowl games. A dozen bowls have already been canceled because of lack of available participants — the list of opt-outs includes Nebraska, Florida State and Boise State. This pandemic thing is tough.
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