Pac-12 Gets Huge Boost with Prime, Penix, Playoff and Power Move
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All we've heard around the Pac-12 football landscape since last summer are these two fateful words: "We're leaving."
When USC lost to Utah the first time in Salt Lake City, Trojans fans claimed the admittedly always one-step-behind officials played a role in the outcome and their team couldn't join the Big Ten soon enough.
We're really leaving. Gladly.
Well the conversation around the conference changed dramatically over this past week, with Pac-12 football suddenly looking a lot more attractive to those on the outside who have written it off, dumped on it and insisted it has become totally irrelevant when compared to those Southern and Midwestern pillars of power.
What we heard in a rapid-fire succession was the following dialogue from different precincts of the conference:
"I'm coming."
"I'm staying."
"I'm expanding."
"I won again."
We'll call it the four P's, then add in the conference name and it's five.
In order, a man called Prime, another named Penix, a long overdue expanded college football playoff system and a pure power play by Kyle Whittingham's hard-nosed team put the Pac-12 back on the map in a lot of ways.
With great fanfare, Deion "Prime' Sanders took over as head coach at Colorado and promised to be a lightning-rod leader.
"I'm coming," he told his inherited players over and over, dangling a few more P's in front of them.
Counter to Kalen DeBoer's softer approach, Sanders basically put all of those players sitting before him on notice — to either produce or hit the portal.
"I'm coming, this is for real," he repeated.
Hollywood might be deserting the Pac-12 with the defections of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten in 2024, but Hollywood has come to Boulder, Colorado.
All of a sudden, Oregon offers a football Disneyland while Colorado now has its gridiron Magic Mountain.
"I'm coming."
Whereas Sanders was offering that none too warm and cuddly introduction in the Mountain time zone, University of Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. secretly had the football media team put together a video that he played at the team banquet on Sunday night announcing his return to play for the Huskies in the 2023 season.
He's staying.
He's what?!!
The look on the unknowing DeBoer's face was priceless. The look on everyone's faces across the FBS and the Husky fan base was one of astonishment. With his size, savvy and superior arm strength, Penix had an excellent chance of becoming a first-round draft pick once he got through the bowl game and the combine — and he passed on it all. That simply doesn't happen. It did here.
Penix and Coach Prime give the Pac-12 major headliners and serious talking points for 2023, reasons to respect the league.
With this exciting and talented Husky quarterback, there will be no more excuses, alibis or geographical biases when it comes to his Heisman Trophy consideration. After all, how many times do you have to lead the nation in passing to get noticed?
Add to that CFP expansion from four to 12 postseason teams, which will help the have-not Pac-12 get a long-overdue representative in there. For that matter, USC and UCLA might find the path to the playoff becoming significantly tougher by moving from one league to the supposedly far superior other one. At least, they can enjoy all of that TV money.
And, finally, if there ever was a comeuppance worth remembering it was Whittingham-coached Utah — after hearing it didn't deserve to win its first game against USC and wouldn't stand a chance in the rematch in Los Angeles — stomping all over the Trojans for the entire nation to see as if Lincoln Riley's team didn't belong in the conference it is fleeing.
The Pac-12 is not dead. New life has been infused into the conference everyone likes to belittle. That heartbeat is real and strong. Prime, Penix, the playoff and pounding on the departing Trojans have seen to that.
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