College Football Plus: Pac-12 in Spotlight

USC is lurking, Washington, Oregon and Utah are all proven commodities, UCLA is in the shadows waiting for its chance and, well, Colorado, is about to begin a two-week tour which will either make Coach Prime and his entourage mega stars or also rans.

Welcome to the Pac-12''s good-bye tour as a major conference, or maybe any kind of conference at all.

The fire-sale of Pac-12 franchises has been headline news for months. First, UCLA and USC's departure for the Big Ten, which was eventually followed by Oregon and Washington being added to the mix.

That was joined by the Big 12, grabbing Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State in its expansion move.

That was followed by the Atlantic Coast Conference's expansion to the Pacific-Coast with the addition of California and Stanford.

Which left, Washington State and Oregon State as the orphans in the once proud "Conference' of champions.

The 2023 college football season is two weeks old and already there are trends as the sport moves closer to its version of NFL-lite with next year's expansion to a 12 team playoff with 4 mega-conferences.

The once proud and mighty SEC shows signs of weakness in more than a few spots, including Alabama.

The Big 12 with its first bash of expansion schools--UCF, BYU, Houston and Cincinnati--as well as lame duck members Oklahoma and Texas, doesn't look all that strong other than Texas, which left a footprint with last week's win over Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

The Big Ten remains anchored to Michigan, Ohio State and perhaps Penn State as it's cornerstones.

The ACC has a new tough kid on the block in FSU--not counting Saturday's narrow escape from Boston College, and perhaps a revitalized Miami.

But all of the conferences have shown flaws.

Thus far, the Pac-12 has not, which is the ultimate irony. The Pac-12 in its final year (as know it) may be having its best season.

USC and UCLA are unbeaten, so are Washington and Oregon AND Washington State and Oregon State AND Colorado and Utah.

That will change of course, beginning with the Colorado-Oregon match up and the battle between Washington State and Oregon State.

Colorado and Deion Sanders have been THE story of college football thus far.

Coach Prime is EVERYWHERE, from Game Day to Sixty Minutes.

The double overtime victory over Colorado State on Saturday night/Sunday morning was a keeper for college football which never disappoints in its ability to create drama, no matter what the match up.,

But the real star may be Prime Time 2, Shadeur, Deon's son who is also the Colorado QB.

He is the real deal folks, which I think will become evident if he continues his magic against Oregon and USC the next two weeks.

Who's Hot

Colorado. I know, it's too much Prime Time. But the Buffs, who won 1 game a year ago are a solid and entertaining 3-0 and yet still get no respect. They are a 20 point underdog at Oregon on Saturday. But Shadeur Sander is the X factor and I wouldn't discount another CU surprise.

Missouri

The Tigers knocked off No. 16 Kanas State on Saturday with a 61-yard field goal at the end of the game (the longest in SEC history). That put them at 3-0 and also made them the only SEC team to beat a ranked team in non-conference play.

Notre Dame

Hard to label ND as a "sleeper'' team, but the Irish have climbed steadily in the Polls and a win against Ohio State on Saturday will put them close to the Top 5. The difference is QB Sam Hartman, who has given ND a quarterback who can move the Irish offense vertically using the pass.

Who's Not

The SEC

Alabama looks horrible, perhaps the worst looking Tide team in 12 years. Georgia has played Cupcakes and then looked sluggish in putting away South Carolina.

LSU was embarrassed in its opener against FSU. Tennessee just lost to Florida.

Texas A&M was spanked by Miami a few weeks ago.

Who's left which has won the national championship five of the last championships and has had a team in the game for the past 8 seasons.

It probably will work its way out for the SEC since we're not sure who is good outside of the Pac-12 right now, but it has been a rocky start.

Northwestern and Michigan State

Both schools have changed coaches because of scandals, both teams look like dog poop.

Boston College

The Eagles are 1-2, heading to Louisville after scaring FSU, which should be good sign. But a school record 18 penalties is a bad sign and needs to be fixed or coach Jeff Haffley will find his seat getting warmer.

Play it Forward (Games of Note this week

Colorado at Oregon--The loser will drop off the screen (especially if its Colorado)

Ohio State at Notre Dame--Buckeyes have not been overly impressive, Notre Dame has, although without being challenged. This is ND's chance to re-establish itself at the adult table in CFB.

Florida State at Clemson--Forget the effort vs. BC, FSU didn't show up mentally. A win in Death Valley, will establish the Seminoles as the new leader of the pack in the ACC.