After Oregon struggled to beat Washington State last week and Cal nearly upset Arizona, there’s a fear brewing among Pac-12 coaches that league parity might be to the conference’s detriment.
When the season started, all of the talk was about the dominance of Oregon and UCLA. How those teams had the best quarterbacks, dominant lines, defense and should be carry the banner for the rest of the league.
Well, while both teams are undefeated, neither has looked especially good doing so. UCLA has struggled offensively, especially on the offensive line, and now could be without starting quarterback Brett Hundley. Oregon needed a come-from-behind effort to beat Michigan State at home and also had to stave off a threat from a lowly Washington State team. Meanwhile, teams such as Washington, Oregon State, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah also are undefeated creating concern that the upcoming Pac-12 gauntlet could become a situation where teams are knocking each other out of playoff contention.
"Every game is scary," Shaw said. "No one had a lot of expectations for Cal, and there were moderate expectations for Arizona. And then you turn their game on and you say, 'Wow.'"
This situation isn’t unique to the Pac-12. The SEC seems to face a similar crisis on a yearly basis, but it’s become a hot topic among Pac-12 coaches more because the increased level of competition in the conference has come as a surprise. For many years the Pac-12 has been top heavy. Oregon or Stanford have often been in positions to compete for a national title and then lost a game that would knock them out of contention. However, this year there’s fear that the Pac-12 best team might not have one loss, but even two losses considering the schedules.
"That's what we don't know," Shaw said of how the committee will view the Pac-12’s parity. "To me, that's the biggest unknown. It all hinges, as we all know, on the committee. Imagine a two-loss Pac-12 champion that played a hellacious schedule. Do they get bumped for a one-loss or undefeated team that did not play the same type of schedule? That to me is going to determine where this playoff goes."
Right now, considering the way some of the nation’s top teams are playing, it would be difficult for the Pac-12 to make a case for one of its two-loss teams to get in, especially with Notre Dame surging and possibly taking one of the playoff spots.
"I can guarantee you there will be 12 coaches going to the commissioner and saying, 'Hey, we need to change our schedule,'" Shaw said. "If we're going to beat each other up and get left out, we need to do what everybody else is doing, schedule-wise, or at least what some other people are doing schedule-wise."
If Shaw is talking about getting rid of the Pac-12’s nine-game conference schedule, he’ll meet resistance because eliminating the nine-game schedule means getting rid of some of the historic rivalries. It also would force Pac-12 teams to replace that game with another from one of the Power Five conferences just to keep pace with other leagues.
Of course, all of this is still speculation. The Pac-12’s seven undefeated teams are more than any other major conference so there’s a strong possibility at least one could get through the conference schedule unscathed or with just one loss. That weeding-out process will begin Thursday night when undefeated UCLA faces undefeated Arizona State.
"I would rather everyone we play not be good," Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said this week. "Let's be honest. I don't like these tough games. I'd rather be really good in a crappy league, but it's not going to happen. That ship has sailed."
For more Stanford news, visit CardinalSportsReport.com.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday
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