The West Coast is known for it’s beaches, sun, entertainment and amazing young football talent.
So why is the Pac-12 so irrelevant in the current college football landscape?
There’s a few reasons. Reasons that the Pac-12 better fix fast before they have to settle for playing games on Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s, like the MAC Conference, to gain any viewership. There is a huge shift taking place in college football and the Pac-12 is on the brink of being left out of the Cool-Kids-Club.
Here are our Top 4 Reasons why the Pac-12 is falling behind.
#1 Recruiting
Embarrassing. There really is no other way to explain the 2020 College Football Recruiting Rankings for the Pac-12. The first school to show up in the Rankings was Oregon at #12 according to 24/7 Sports. The thing that’s even more embarrassing is the fact that California had three of the top four high school Quarterbacks in the Country, and not one chose to play in the Pac-12.
Star Quarterbacks win National Championships. And the stars seem to be shining brighter in the SEC, Big 10 and ACC right now!
#2 College Football Playoffs
Since the inception of the College Football Playoffs six years ago. Only (2) Pac-12 schools, Oregon (2014-2015) and Washington (2016-2017) have participated. Bowl games are great. However, to be relevant in college football you have to play in the CFB Playoffs and Pac-12 programs rarely do.
#3 NFL Draft
Let’s not fool ourselves. 90% of the athletes who play Power 5 football will aspire to play in the NFL. However, the Pac-12 may be losing ground in this department as well. If the 2019 Draft was any indication. The Pac-12 had only (3) players drafted in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft, and the first one didn’t get taken off-the-board until pick #22.
Ironically, Mississippi State, who finished with a 6-7 record last year in the SEC, had (3) players drafted in the first round. That’s one school matching an entire Power 5 Conferences first round draft talent. Huge problem!
#4 Television and Money
Exposure determines the success of most businesses. College football is no different. If no one is paying attention to your product then it will struggle in the market place.
The money follows the audience, and the Pac-12 Network doesn’t come close to comparing to the TV revenue that the SEC and BIG-10 Networks rake in. The Big-10 Network has a joint venture with (FOX Sports) and the SEC Network has a joint venture with (ESPN). So both brands are highly distributed.
While the Pac-12 has it’s own network, with no distribution partner to help push their product to star athletes in the Midwest, South, and East Coast. But the West Coast players are consistently viewing SEC, BIG 10, and ACC football. This is a huge problem the Pac-12 and must be solved.
The Pac-12 Team to Watch: Arizona State
Arizona State is primed to take a huge leap into Pac-12 prominence and College Football Playoff contention. The Sun Devils have NFL coaching pedigree with Herm Edwards and Marvin Lewis, and amazing recruiters like Antonio Pierce and Dave Christensen. The cupboards are fully stocked at Arizona St. and the Sun Devils are ready to make a move.
Consistency from their young star quarterback Jayden Daniels, and the development of their Defense will be the key in defining if Arizona State is a pretender or legit contender.
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