Odunze on Pac-12's Upheaval, Display of Power: 'It's Like a TV Show'

Everyone playing Pac-12 football this fall should be walking around with tears in their eyes and a big lump in their throat.

Instead, they're approaching every game on the schedule so far as if there's no tomorrow — and, guess what, there is no tomorrow.

The Pac-12 has been told it has a terminal case of conference alignment, with only a few months left to live and no hope for recovery, and the league has never looked or sounded better.

These teams from Seattle to Tucson collectively have won every one of their first 13 football games so far and placed six league teams in the latest Associated Press top 25 poll.

Utah upended Florida without its starting quarterback.

Colorado made its messiah Deion Sanders a winner at TCU in his coaching debut.

Washington whomped Mountain West favorite Boise State by 37 points.

Oregon had to change the lights in its scoreboard after putting up 81 points on Portland State.

All of this is nothing more than gallows humor. In the middle of the Hollywood work stoppage, it's a new reality TV series writing itself.

"It's crazy from all the different aspects to it," said Rome Odunze, the talented Husky wide receiver and corresponding All-America candidate. "Even for us, Jen Cohen leaving and going to USC is like another aspect to all the drama in the Pac-12 right now. It's like a whole TV show."

On its deathbed, the Pac-12 has become the talk of Power 5 football for something other than simply packing up and riding off into the sunset by the end of the bowl season.

It's like the conference coaches, players and fans up and down the West Coast and throughout the Rocky Mountain states are having a good belly laugh at the expense of everyone else who takes this game seriously and treats it like religion — and effectively killed off their conference.

"The Pac-12 is arguably right now the best league in football and not going to exist next year, so it's interesting, man, but It's sad," Odunze said. "I guess all of the Pac-12 teams are trying to go out with a bang, for sure, knowing it's the last time you'll have Pac-12 on your jersey. It's exciting, man. I'm glad to be in this league, for sure."

It's Hard Knocks, the amateur version of the HBO cable TV offering, though there's nothing amateur about college football these days with NIL cutting checks left and right, as if there ever was.

Besides trainers and equipment managers always on the ready at practice for whatever urgent needs arise, the UW should have hair and makeup crews available at all times, as well as camera crews in place shooting from every angle and someone in a director's chair calling all the shots at each Husky practice.

You can almost hear some big deal with a megaphone barking out the following, "Kalen, could you turn your head just a little more to the right to remove the glare coming off the upper deck? Lights, camera, action, people!"

Meantime, the Huskies like everyone else in the Pac-12 will continue on trying to act as if nothing is different though everything is, in pursuing as many victories as they can, maybe securing another conference championship and even latching onto a playoff berth before becoming part of the Big Ten and the Pac-12 becomes obsolete.

Odunze, who looks and talks like a leading man, is enjoying himself as everything plays out in this weird manner. Of course, he'll be playing in a completely new league by this time next year, in the big show, on the ultimate stage, in the N-F-L, when change officially takes over in Montlake.

Meantime, the talented pass-catcher hopes someone considers documenting these most unusual times so everyone can some day look back at it all and have a good laugh or cry.

"Hopefully there's a '30 for 30' or something on this league one day," Odunze said, referencing ESPN's story-telling arm while still looking at the big picture. "It's fun, it's exciting, but not our main focus, for sure."

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Have a question, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter.