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SALT LAKE CITY — The Pac-12 was poised for a potentially huge opening weekend. No. 6 Washington was taking on No. 9 Auburn in a battle of top 10 teams, with a chance to carve out an early front-runner spot in the College Football Playoff.
Two high-profile potential Heisman favorites were going against lower level defenses, looking to bring the award for college football’s best player back to the conference of champions. And several of college football’s biggest coaching names were making their debut on the west coast.
For the most part, the conference dropped the ball.
Most devastating for the Pac-12, though, was Washington’s loss to Auburn. The loss only reassures those who believe the conference has fallen significantly behind the other power conferences in terms of talent and ability to win big games.
This narrative started last season when Washington failed to make the College Football Playoff after losing in the conference championship and was followed up by a 1-8 record in bowl games from the conference overall. Utah was the only team to win their bowl game.
Although Washington kept the game competitive, falling 21-16 to Auburn, the conference doesn’t have many more opportunities to get big wins in non-conference games.
The Huskies have a senior quarterback who has been to the College Football Playoff, a senior running back who will likely own most of the rushing records at Washington by the time his career is over, and one of the most highly-touted secondaries in the nation. This was a bad loss for Washington.
Perhaps the conference’s second biggest draw behind Washington is the Heisman candidacy of Bryce Love and Khalil Tate. Love rushed for more than 2,000 yards last season and set NCAA records for yards per carry (8.1), and rushing touchdowns over 50 yards (13). But on Saturday, he recorded just 29 yards on 18 carries in Stanford’s win over San Diego State.
While the win is what Stanford needed as a top 15 team in the country, Love’s candidacy will grow with the success of the Cardinal. But Saturday's performance was not the high profile weekend Heisman voters needed.
Likewise, BYU not only shut down Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate, they may have given future defenses the blueprint for how to neutralize him. Tate threw for 197 yards and one touchdown on 17-of-34 passing against the Cougars. While that line alone isn’t anything to frown at, Tate’s poor rushing numbers are stunning.
The record-setting quarterback rushed for just 14 yards on eight carries — the worst output of his career as a starter. Equally harmful was the Wildcats' loss to BYU. The Cougars went 4-9 last season and had one of the country’s worst offenses.
Arizona now appears poised to wrestle away that title, aimlessly throwing the ball deep while failing to capitalize on Tate’s skills as a runner.
Arizona coach Kevin Sumlin was one of the highest profile coaching candidates looking for work this offseason. Sumlin was let go by Texas A&M despite a 51-26 record as their head coach, and was quickly scooped up by the Wildcats. Perhaps no coach in college football looked more hapless as BYU rode roughshod over Arizona on way to a 28-23 victory in Arizona. Neither Sumlin’s players nor coaches could do anything.
The only higher profile coach looking for a job this past summer was Chip Kelly, who landed at UCLA. Kelly’s Bruins jumped out to a 10-0 lead against Cincinnati before losing starting quarterback Wilton Speight. UCLA was forced to rely on true freshman Dorian Thompson-Robinson and surrendered 26 points in a 26-17 loss at home.
It was a bad opening weekend for the conference, finishing 8-4 overall and 1-2 in Power Five games (Oregon State was drubbed 77-31 by Ohio State). And, unfortunately, the road only gets tougher for the conference.
This weekend, Arizona State, one of the league’s bright spots after a 49-7 win over UTSA, hosts Michigan State to play a top 15 Spartans team. California heads on the road to play an energized BYU squad and UCLA faces a juggernaut in Oklahoma. More interestingly, though, USC travels to Stanford, where one of the league’s three top 25 teams will leave with a loss.
