Why Pac-12 Fans Deserved Better In the 4-Team CFP Era

Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (9) warms up before the Sugar Bowl CFP NCAA semifinal college football game between Washington and Texas, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024, in New Orleans.(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

By STEVEN VAUGHAN, 750 THE GAME

The Pac-12 finally gets the respect it deserves in the rankings. Washington will be playing in the national championship game against Michigan in what will be the final game of the Pac-12 as we know it.

The Pac-12 seemed to never get the respect they deserved in the CFP rankings. But this whole season the conference got its due. For a lot of the season Oregon was the top ranked one-loss team and Oregon State was the top ranked two-loss team in the nation. It’s too bad that now the conference gets the respect, it is going away.

John Canzano (afternoons 3-6 p.m.) says that the conference was excellent this season and has deserved all the praise.

“Looking at the Pac-12 and thinking, ‘Gosh, this was a really good conference this season’,” Canzano said Tuesday on 750 The Game. “It had great players. It had great teams. It had great coaching. Fan bases were remarkable. This conference deserved better than what it got.”

A lot of the country doesn’t respect football on the west coast. But Canzano says that because of the Michigan situation that a lot of the fans in the Pacific time zone will put their hatred for rivalries aside, and root for the Huskies.

“I think Washington is going to get a lot of people in the Pacific time zone and in the Pac-12 footprint who will root for them,” said Canzano. “Not just because it’s a Pac-12 team, but I think people in this part of the country have felt alienated by the College Football Playoff over the years. Oregon made the National Championship in 2015.Washington played against Alabama in a semifinal, but outside of those two appearances, the fans in the Pacific time zone have been left out of this thing.”

It’s also the final season for the four team playoff in college football. And Canzano says it’s great the the Pac-12 conference finally has a team in the playoff, but he thinks the fans deserved more.

“Finally, in its last year, this blasted four team invitational has given us a team in the Pacific time zone again competing for a national championship,” Canzano said. “I think Washington and Michael Penix Jr. will win the thing. But I also am left feeling a little flat about how the Pac-12 is going out. Is it going out with a bang? Or whimper? I don’t know. But I think you (the fans) deserve better.”

Listen to the full show of the Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano by clicking the podcast below. Catch the Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano weekdays 3-6 p.m. in Portland exclusively on 750 The Game.