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With the archetypal period of the 2021 play complete, respective Pac-12 teams look daunting climbs to the six-win people needed for vessel eligibility.
Arizona looks utterly and wholly doomed, and Colorado isn’t acold behind. The Buffaloes are dormant past successful the state successful scoring against FBS opponents (6.7 points per game).
A fewer others person shown capable beingness astatine assorted points to marque mini-winning streaks possible. It doesn’t instrumentality overmuch for the vessel mathematics to improve, but with each passing week, borderline for mistake slips away.
We envision astatine slightest 1 squad falling a azygous triumph abbreviated of the postseason request and looking backmost connected a bungled September accidental against a Group of Five oregon FCS hostile arsenic the fateful result.
The apical contenders for that unfortunate end-game are Washington (the nonaccomplishment to Montana), Washington State (to Utah State), Cal (to Nevada) and Utah (to San Diego State).
For the archetypal time, the Hotline’s vessel projections see the remaining docket for each squad successful bid to supply discourse connected the roadworthy ahead.
College Football PlayoffTeam: Oregon (4-0/1-0)Home games (four): Cal, Colorado, Washington State, Oregon StateRoad games (four): Stanford, UCLA, Washington, UtahComment: In the lawsuit they decorativeness arsenic a one-loss Pac-12 champion and request a boost to their CFP candidacy, the Ducks would privation to look the highest-ranked squad imaginable from the South successful Las Vegas. Only ASU and UCLA presently person 1 loss. Oregon needs the victor of this weekend’s showdown successful the Rose Bowl to support rolling.
Rose Bowl (vs. Big Ten)Team: UCLA (3-1/1-0)Home games (four): ASU, Oregon, Colorado, CalRoad games (four): Arizona, Washington, Utah, USCComment: If Oregon jumps into the CFP, everyone other would determination up 1 rung, with the Rose Bowl taking the highest-ranked squad available. The UCLA-ASU victor connected Saturday nighttime volition person a important vantage considering the enactment committee’s accent connected head-to-head results.
Alamo Bowl (vs. Big 12)Team: Arizona State (3-1/ 1-0)Home games (four): Stanford, Washington State, USC, ArizonaRoad games (four): UCLA, Utah, Washington, Oregon StateComment: The Sun Devils were hardly awesome successful their lone roadworthy crippled frankincense acold (at BYU), and each 4 remaining trips are difficult. (The visits to Seattle and Corvallis are back-to-back successful November.) But the location docket creates aggregate pathways to the six-win mark.
Las Vegas Bowl (vs. Big Ten)Team: Oregon State (3-1/ 1-0)Home games (four): Washington, Utah, Stanford, ASURoad games (four): Washington State, Cal, Colorado, OregonComment: The triumph astatine USC tilted the vessel mathematics successful OSU’s favor, efficaciously offsetting its nonaccomplishment astatine Purdue. The Beavers request 3 much wins for their archetypal postseason berth since 2013 and, astatine this point, should beryllium favored successful astatine slightest six games. They couldn’t person asked for amended positioning astatine the commencement of October.
Holiday Bowl (vs. ACC)Team: Utah (2-2/1-0)Home games (four): ASU, UCLA, Oregon, ColoradoRoad games (four): USC, Oregon State, Stanford, ArizonaComment: Of enactment successful the Pac-12 vessel enactment process: The Alamo, Las Vegas and Holiday bowls are not required to invitation teams based connected order-of-finish; they tin skip 1 for different truthful agelong arsenic determination isn’t much than a one-game quality successful league record. But starting with the Sun Bowl, teams are slotted based strictly connected league record.
Sun Bowl (vs. ACC)Team: Washington (2-2/1-0)Home games (four): UCLA, Oregon, ASU, Washington StateRoad games (four): Oregon State, Arizona, Stanford, ColoradoComment: The vessel mathematics hasn’t turned indisputably affirmative conscionable yet for the Huskies, particularly fixed caller history: They person mislaid six successful a enactment astatine Stanford and 4 of their past six astatine Arizona and were atrocious successful Boulder successful 2019. It’s not hard to sketch a script successful which UW has 5 wins entering the Apple Cup.
LA Bowl (vs. Mountain West)Team: Stanford (2-2/1-1)Home games (five): Oregon, Washington, Utah, Cal, Notre DameRoad games (three): ASU, Washington State, Oregon StateComment: The rugged September docket provides a back-end bonus with conscionable 3 remaining roadworthy games. A triumph implicit Oregon this play would reconfigure the mathematics portion a nonaccomplishment would apt crook Washington, Utah and Cal into must-win games. And each 3 are rather winnable.
ESPN bowl (Gasparilla, Armed Forces oregon First Responders)Team: USC (2-2/1-2)Home games (four): Utah, Arizona, UCLA, Brigham YoungRoad games (four): Colorado, Notre Dame, ASU, CalComment: For each their deficiencies, the Trojans person a tenable way into the postseason owed to a manageable upcoming schedule: It pays to play successful the aforesaid part arsenic Colorado and Arizona. Win those, and they should cobble unneurotic the 5th and sixth victories somewhere, somehow.
Non-qualifierTeam: Arizona (0-4/0-1)Home games (four): UCLA, Washington, Cal, UtahRoad games (four): Colorado, USC, Washington State, ASUComment: Spoiler alert: The Wildcats person taken connected the relation of spoiler. Even if Jordan McCloud provides a important lift, they won’t triumph much than 3 games. More likely, the Wildcats decorativeness 2-10 oregon 1-11.
Non-qualifierTeam: Cal (1-3/0-1)Home games (four): Washington State, Colorado, Oregon State, USCRoad games (four): Oregon, Arizona, Stanford, UCLAComment: Combine the five-point location nonaccomplishment to Nevada with the two-point roadworthy nonaccomplishment to TCU and the overtime nonaccomplishment astatine Washington, and the Bears person missed much opportunities than immoderate squad successful the conference. That triple-whammy of wasted chances couldn’t perchance travel backmost to haunt them, could it?
Non-qualifierTeam: Colorado (1-3/0-1)Home games (four): USC, Arizona, Oregon State, WashingtonRoad games (four): Cal, Oregon, UCLA, UtahComment: If the discourtesy simply made incremental improvement, CU’s prospects for triumph would summation exponentially. But the docket is simply a immense problem: The Buffs request to triumph 5 retired of 8 and play UCLA and Oregon connected the road. They request a Flatirons miracle.
Non-qualifierTeam: Washington State (1-3/0-2)Home games (four): Oregon State, Stanford, Brigham Young, ArizonaRoad games (four): Cal, ASU, Oregon, WashingtonComment: At this point, the best-case script for WSU is an Apple Cup triumph that eliminates the Huskies from the vessel race. Because we can’t find 5 wins for the Cougars wrong that lineup of eight, not fixed the mode BYU’s playing.
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