Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
The Pac-12 took an important strategic step Wednesday when it changed the process for determining the matchup for its football championship game.
No longer are the division winners guaranteed a berth.
Starting in 2022, the teams with the highest winning percentage in conference play (i.e., the best conference records) will meet for the title.
Our reaction to the news …
More change could come, soon
We know the teams with the best conference records will meet in the 2022 championship game, regardless of division affiliation.
And we know the Pac-12 will keep the conference schedule, which is based on division affiliation, in place for the 2022 season.
But will the divisions themselves remain intact?
Because they don't determine the championship game participants, their competitive value no longer exists. But the conference made no mention of their fate in its news release.
Instead, it focused on the schedule model: "The current Pac-12 conference football schedule, based upon two divisions, will remain in place for the 2022 season."
At this point, the divisions exist for visual purposes only, a manifestation of the underlying schedule rotation. You look at the standings and see a North and South.
We believe the elusive wording of the news release was telling: It's entirely possible the divisions will cease to exist before the first kickoff of '22.
The Pac-12 moved quickly for a reason
At 11:57 a.m. on Wednesday, the NCAA announced on Twitter that the Division I Council had removed restrictions on how conferences determined their championship game participants.
At 12:03 p.m., the Pac-12 blasted its news.
It only took the conference six minutes, folks — and with that speed came a message.
Commissioner George Kliavkoff has made football success the centerpiece of his platform since the day he was appointed (May 13, 2021).
Success starts with increasing Pac-12's participation in the College Football Playoff.
And Kliavkoff views changing the matchup in the conference title game as central to improving CFP access.
The speed with which the conference office reacted to the NCAA's policy change was Kliavkoff's way of showing the campuses, the fans and the sport itself that he intends to deliver on his vow to maximize CFP opportunities for the Pac-12.
The conference office cannot beat Florida in The Swamp on Sept. 3 (hello, Utah). Nor can it topple Georgia in Atlanta that same day (Oregon).
The role of HQ generally, and the commissioner specifically, is to create strategies and establish policies that provide teams with the resources and platform to thrive.
The move announced Wednesday is exactly that.
An early, obvious, forecast
It's not unreasonable to think the two best teams in 2022 will reside in the same division:
— Utah, the defending champion, should be the Pac-12's highest-ranked team when the season begins.
— USC, with coach Lincoln Riley and quarterback Caleb Williams, will be a top-25 team when the season begins.
The new policy clears the way for the Utes and Trojans to meet in Las Vegas with the conference title, and possibly a playoff berth, at stake.
Sure, it would be a rematch — that's not a problem. Conference championship games have rematches all the time. The Big 12's version is a rematch every year.
At least the Utes and Trojans meet in the middle of October, not the middle of November. Seven weeks will have passed from their scheduled duel in Salt Lake City to the possible showdown in Sin City.
To be clear: The policy change was coming regardless of early top-25 rankings, returning talent and newly-arrived star power.
In fact, football operations chief Merton Hanks and his team began working through the weeds on this issue long before Williams committed to USC.
But the timing couldn't have worked out better given the early forecasts for '22.
The New Year's Six factor
With all the attention on how the new policy might improve CFP access, we should note the potential impact on the Pac-12's ability to increase its New Year's Six presence.
There are three destinations for the conference champion: The CFP, the Rose Bowl and a New Year's Six game in the years (one of every three) when the Rose Bowl is part of the playoff.
But the loser of the Pac-12 championship game isn't guaranteed an at-large berth to the available New Year's Six games (Peach, Cotton or Fiesta). Those slots are based on the final CFP rankings.
By improving the quality of its championship matchup (i.e., the ranking of both teams), the Pac-12 has increased the likelihood of a NY6 berth for the runner-up.
The value play
Whether Kliavkoff had a USC-Utah duel in mind, we cannot say. But he assuredly considered the long-haul value that would come from creating a juicier matchup.
Over the course of 11 years, the Pac-12 championship game has paired top-10 teams only three times and included an unranked team twice.
Had the new model been in place, top-10 teams would have squared off five times; no unranked team would have ever set foot on the field.
The event is an essential piece of the Pac-12 football inventory — inventory that will be made available during media rights negotiations later this year (for the contract cycle beginning in 2024).
Now, Kliavkoff can get comfortable at the negotiating table with an upgraded matchup in his premier event.
But that's not the only broader benefit.
Better matchups increase ticket sales, which make for better TV visuals.
Better TV visuals enhance the Pac-12 brand, which helps fuel a virtuous circle that, potentially, lifts the conference out of its current football malaise.
The policy change was about the championship game itself, and so much more.
Most recent Hotline with Jon Wilner stories
Jon Wilner has been covering college sports for decades and is an AP Top 25 football and basketball voter as well as a Heisman Trophy voter. He was named Beat Writer of the Year in 2013 by the Football Writers Association of America for his coverage of the Pac-12, won first place for feature writing in 2016 in the Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest and is a five-time APSE honoree. You can follow him on Twitter @WilnerHotline or send an email at jwilner@bayareanewsgroup.com.
Pac-12 Hotline: Subscribe to the Pac-12 Hotline Newsletter. Pac-12 Hotline is not endorsed or sponsored by the Pac-12 Conference, and the views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Conference.
