The Pac-12′s swan song has been exhilarating for college football fans

The Pac-12 Conference as we know it is staring down its final days.

By the time the 2024 college football season begins next fall, USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon will be members of the Big Ten. Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah will be members of the Big 12. Stanford and Cal, famously close to the Pacific Ocean, will be part of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

But before all those schools leave the century-old home for premier West Coast college athletics, they’re putting on a show. The Pac-12 has been the best and deepest college football conference this season, with six teams currently ranked and at least two teams that look like they can be national championship contenders in Washington and Oregon. The conference has serious star power — from Coach Prime to Caleb Williams — and is well-positioned to send a representative to the College Football Playoff for the first time since the 2016 season.

It is, however, terribly ironic and genuinely frustrating that the final season of the current Pac-12 is so exhilarating. If this kind of season had happened, say, two years ago, it stands to reason the Pac-12 could have secured a media rights deal lucrative enough to keep the conference intact.

But that’s a story for another day. This is a celebration of the fantastic football that is being played out west, some that takes place during normal hours and plenty that takes place #AfterDark, most of which ends in chaos. Earlier this season, the Pac-12 placed eight teams in the AP Top 25 for the first time, and four remain in the top 15 after Week 7.

Washington’s thrilling 36-33 victory over Oregon was correctly labeled an instant classic. The matchup between the nation’s two top offenses delivered in jaw-dropping plays and high-stakes drama. These two teams could meet again in December with the Pac-12 championship on the line, but there are plenty of teams left on the schedule that would love to play spoiler. Utah and UCLA boast terrific defenses. Arizona is surging. And USC’s offense should never be overlooked, even if it has looked more human than usual in recent weeks.

Williams, the quarterback of the Trojans’ high-octane attack, is the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, but there’s a very good chance that award goes to another passer on the West Coast. Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. has thrown for 20 touchdowns and more than 2,300 yards through six games. He’s clearly the leader at the midseason mark.

Here’s what else stood out as we close the book on the first half of the 2023 season and look forward to the stretch run.

There was no bigger sports story during the month of September than Colorado’s surprise 3-0 start, which captivated the country and set viewership records. Deion Sanders’ unconventional path to an FBS head coaching job and drastic roster overhaul attracted a great deal of curiosity, scrutiny and supporters, even for blowouts and games that kicked off late at night. Season tickets sold out, and the Folsom Field sidelines became the place to be, with celebrities, athletes and rappers all making appearances and adding to the hoopla.

Much of the excitement stemmed from the Buffaloes’ season-opening win over TCU, a team that had just played for a national championship in January. The Horned Frogs lost key personnel and changed offensive coordinators from the group that reached the title game, and six weeks later, it’s safe to say this isn’t nearly as good a football team as last season’s iteration. But at the time, it was a stunning result. Sanders’ hand-picked group had been tested — and passed with flying colors. Then Colorado smoked Nebraska, another program rebuilding under a first-year head coach. Then it beat Colorado State in a chippy double-overtime thriller.

But this roster is not built to contend for conference (let alone national) championships just yet. Even Sanders knows that, telling reporters this season that teams better take their shots at the Buffs now because this will be his weakest team. His teams will only get stronger, faster and deeper from here. Right now, the Buffs have issues on the offensive line. They’ve been worn down and/or exposed defensively by good quarterbacks. They have a few game-breakers, but they don’t have depth behind them.

And so Colorado came crashing back down to earth. They were blown out by Oregon and beaten by USC before squeaking by Arizona State. Then they blew a 29-point lead to a previously one-win Stanford team, losing 46-43 in double overtime. The Buffs now have five games remaining, a slate that includes three ranked opponents plus a surging Arizona, and they’ll need to win two of them to get bowl eligible. What once seemed inevitable after a 3-0 start now feels like a massive uphill battle. The Buffs’ bowl watch will be one of the most interesting second-half storylines to watch.

Georgia is trying to become the first program to win three consecutive national titles since Minnesota did it in the mid-1930s, yet no one is talking much about the Bulldogs. The reason: the Bulldogs haven’t really played anybody. Georgia’s schedule was supposed to include a nonconference game against Oklahoma, but the Sooners’ impending move to the SEC scuttled the plan. The Bulldogs avoid both Alabama and LSU in league play, Florida will be unranked ahead of their annual rivalry game in Jacksonville, and it’s very possible Missouri is the toughest team remaining on schedule.

Georgia has started slowly in almost every game this season. New starting quarterback Carson Beck doesn’t appear to be quite as efficient as Stetson Bennett was. The defense isn’t quite as suffocating as it was last year or the season before, but it’s still very good. And the Bulldogs’ best player, tight end Brock Bowers, hurt his ankle last weekend. This Georgia team is probably still one of the very best in the country, but no one has really seen this team at its peak against another national title contender. The earliest Georgia could face a test like that appears to be December, in the SEC championship game in Atlanta.

Michigan hasn’t faced any tough competition, either, but the Wolverines are built to win the Big Ten, contend for the CFP and perhaps beat Ohio State for the third consecutive year. They are loaded on defense, and they control the game well behind a veteran offensive line and a poised starting quarterback in J.J. McCarthy. Michigan’s offensive stats rarely overwhelm, but their games’ outcomes are also rarely in doubt. The Wolverines played a weak nonconference schedule, too — a cancelled home-and-home with UCLA removed one potential marquee matchup — and their Big Ten schedule is backloaded, with no encounters with any conference title contender until Nov. 11.

It’s hard to make sweeping judgments about either team before they’re pushed by a fellow contender, but both have shown peaks that put them among the best teams in the country. No one should be surprised to see the Bulldogs and Wolverines making up half of the four-team CFP bracket when all is said and done for the third consecutive year.

One of college football’s most enduring and frustrating tropes is the notion of a storied program being “back.” The measure of “back”-ness is hard to define and varies by program, but for simplicity’s sake, let’s just say it’s about being nationally relevant, contending for conference championships and CFP berths.

By those rules, we can definitely say that Florida State is back. The Seminoles picked up two massive wins early this season over LSU and Clemson, buoying belief in what Mike Norvell is building. Quarterback Jordan Travis has made big plays despite battling injury for a good portion of the first half, and Michigan State transfer receiver Keon Coleman has made a huge impact. The jury’s still out about the defense, but Florida State is well-positioned to play for its first ACC championship since 2014.

Oklahoma is also back. The Sooners weren’t down for long, but Brent Venables’ 6-7 debut season was a disappointment for a fan base used to Big 12 titles and CFP semifinal spots. Oklahoma fans also spent the 2022 season feeling jilted by coach Lincoln Riley and quarterback Caleb Williams, and Riley’s first USC team nearly won the Pac-12 and did earn Williams the Heisman. But Venables’ Sooners are much better than they were last year, thanks to a tenacious defensive front and a healthy Dillon Gabriel at quarterback. Oklahoma may no longer have Riley, but it may be better off with a coach interested in building a more complete team.

And yes, Texas is back, too. Despite their loss to Oklahoma in an epic Red River Rivalry game, the Longhorns appear to be a top-10 team. They have a great quarterback in Quinn Ewers, a terrific running back in Jonathon Brooks and improved line play on both sides. Texas’ Week 2 win over Alabama makes its resume look better by the week, and considering the state of the rest of the Big 12, it seems quite likely we’ll get an Oklahoma-Texas rematch in the Big 12 title game, with a CFP spot on the line, in both teams’ final year in the league.

USC has a magician for a quarterback, but the Trojans have one of the most disappointing defenses in the country. And even Williams can have a bad day, as evidenced by his first-ever three-interception performance in USC’s loss to Notre Dame. It has been clear for a few weeks that the Trojans’ defense would keep them from being a serious title contender, but the lopsided loss to the Irish closed the book on the idea for good. Riley has stubbornly stood by defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, and he’ll continue to field questions about Grinch’s job status as the season continues.

Miami is also probably not back. The Hurricanes have a formidable offense, led by quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, but Mario Cristobal’s program is just not ready for prime time yet. The embarrassing gaffes at the end of the Georgia Tech game will probably define their season: Instead of taking a knee that would have run out the clock, the Canes ran the ball and fumbled, setting up the Yellow Jackets’ improbable game-winning drive. Miami followed that up with a loss to North Carolina, a game that cemented the Tar Heels as ACC contenders.

The jury is still out on Notre Dame. The Irish have suffered two painful losses already, which essentially eliminates them from CFP contention. They lost to Ohio State on the game’s final play, with only 10 players on the field for a failed goal-line stand. They went to Louisville and lost in lopsided fashion. But then they turned around and thrashed USC at home, the biggest win of Marcus Freeman’s coaching tenure. The lows have been low, but the high of beating your biggest rival is a pretty significant one, and Clemson is still ahead on the schedule. If the Irish finish with a 10-2 record, it’s probably still considered a decently successful season.

The Big 12 added four new members in advance of this season, with BYU dropping its football independence to accept the league’s invite and three of the top teams in the American Athletic Conference jumping up from the Group of 5. Cincinnati, UCF and Houston had significant success in the AAC, highlighted by the Bearcats earning the first CFP spot for any G5 team. But past success at one level is not necessarily a predictor of future success in a more challenging situation.

The Big 12 newbies are are a combined 1-9 against incumbent schools, and the one win came on a last-second Hail Mary by Houston to beat West Virginia last Thursday. It has been a rough transition period, and it probably won’t be made any easier next year when four current Pac-12 schools come aboard.

In recent seasons, fans have gotten a lot of mileage out of jokes about how old certain players are. Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett (24 during most of the ‘22 campaign) was a popular punching bag last year, much like Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman (24) has this season. And although those players are genuinely old by college football standards, it’s not their fault: They were just taking advantage of the extra year of eligibility granted to all Division I college football players as a result of the pandemic-impacted 2020 fall season. Many football players essentially have had five seasons of eligibility. Add in redshirt years, and some soar past half a decade of time spent in the collective college football consciousness.

All that has led to some ultra-veteran players making their mark on this season. Hartman made his collegiate debut at Wake Forest in 2018, the same year Penix started his career at Indiana before suffering a torn ACL that led to him redshirting. Oregon’s Bo Nix played at Auburn as a true freshman in 2019. These are players maxing out their eligibility, and along the way they took advantage of loosened transfer rules to thrive at their new destinations. Some were coveted more than others when they entered the transfer portal, but they all found good fits.

Future college football seasons will feature players still utilizing the bonus year of eligibility, but there won’t be quarterbacks whom we remember starting games before the pandemic. This is the end of a college football era marked not just by the pandemic’s disruption but also an increase in player agency, with thousands switching schools freely with the ability to play right away and profit off their name, image and likeness rights. NIL money also helped some of these quarterbacks decide to stay in school instead of rushing to the pros and ending up a likely mid- to late-round draft pick.

So as this crop of quarterbacks heads into the final weeks of their pre-NFL careers, cheers to the signal callers who can show AARP membership cards to bouncer in lieu of licenses and the many, many, many rides on which they’ve taken college football fans.

— This article originally appeared in The Athletic.