Happy Wednesday, sports fans! We made it past this week’s half-time, and with just 10 days left before the opening kickoff for the season, it’s time to review the conference with the 3rd most difficult schedule. And with a little bit of a heavy heart, because it is, most likely, the last pre-season post for the soon to be defunct Pac-12. Next year at this time, 8 of the current teams will be talked about in their new conference (either the Big Ten or the Big 12), The remaining 4, having fallen below the 8-team minimum requirement could either be a 4-team conference for a 2-year grace period (would they become the Pac-4 or join the Big’s in mismatched numbers?), join other conferences (so far the ACC has fallen through), or get other teams to join (money may become an object). But, that will become a topic for a later date.
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Today, we are exploring the Pac-12 in terms of their GCR Preseason Strength of Schedule (PS SOS). The 12 teams average a score of 8.1012 compared to a Power 5 average of 8.1979. Two schools have top 5 schedules and 3 more are in the top 30 (there are 69 Power 5 schools). They only have 2 teams with a ranking worse than 75. There are no scheduled neutral site games. In the table below (G) indicates a Group of 5 opponent and (F) indicates an FCS foe. Here they are from Colorado to Southern Cal:
| Team/ Conf Rank | PS SOS/ Rank | ’22 W-L/ SOS Rank | ’23 Opp’s W-L | Conf Home | Conf Away | Non-Conf Home | Non-Conf Away |
| Colorado (1) | 9.463/ 3 | 1-11/ 5 | 88-67 (.567) | (29-22) Southern Cal, Stanford, Oregon St, Arizona | (39-26) Oregon, Arizona St, UCLA, Washington St, Utah | (7-17) Nebraska, (G) Colorado St | (13-2) TCU |
| California (2) | 9.311/ 5 | 4-8/ 32 | 95-62 (.605) | (31-21) Arizona St, Oregon St, Southern Cal, Washington St | (43-22) Washington, Utah, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA | (14-12) Auburn, (F) Idaho | (7-7) (G) North Texas |
| Arizona St (3) | 8.513/ 21 | 3-9/ 48 | 90-62 (.592) | (34-30) Southern Cal, Colorado, Washington St, Oregon, Arizona St | (34-18) California, Washington, Utah, UCLA | (22-14) (F) S Utah, Oklahoma St, (G) Fresno St | — |
| Utah (4) | 8.400/ 25 | 10-4/ 54 | 86-67 (.562) | (27-35) UCLA, California, Oregon, Arizona St, Colorado | (37-15) Oregon St, Southern Cal, Washington, Arizona St | (16-10) Florida, (F) Weber St | (6-7) Baylor |
| Stanford (5) | 8.274/ 29 | 3-9/ 6 | 92-62 (.597) | (39-24) Arizona, Oregon, UCLA, Washington, California | (29-23) Southern Cal, Colorado, Washington St, Oregon St | (21-5) (F) Sacramento St, Notre Dame | (3-10) Hawaii |
| Washington (6) | 8.146/ 36 | 11-2/ 69 | 83-70 (.542) | (34-30) California, Oregon, Arizona St, Utah, Washington St | (29-22) Arizona, Stanford, Southern Cal, Oregon St | (15-11) (G) Boise St, (G) Tulsa | (5-7) Michigan St |
| Arizona (7) | 8.020/ 43 | 5-7/ 21 | 82-70 (.539) | (40-13) Washington, Oregon St, UCLA, Utah | (25-38) Stanford, Southern Cal, Washington St, Colorado, Arizona St | (8-15) (F) N Arizona, (G) UTEP | (9-4) Mississippi St |
| UCLA (8) | 7.781/ 52 | 9-4/ 56 | 80-72 (.526) | (15-34) Washington St, Colorado, Arizona St, California | (39-26) Utah, Oregon St, Stanford, Arizona, Southern Cal | (19-6) (G) Coastal Carolina, (F) NC Central | (7-6) (G) San Diego St |
| Oregon St (9) | 7.488/ 63 | 10-3/ 35 | 78-72 (.520) | (34-30) Utah, UCLA, Colorado, Stanford, Washington | (24-26) Washington St, California, Arizona, Oregon | (13-11) (F) UC Davis, (G) San Diego St | (7-5) (G) San Jose St |
| Oregon (10) | 7.448/ 65 | 10-3/ 39 | 75-77 (.493) | (33-31) Colorado, Washington St, California, Southern Cal, Oregon St | (27-24) Stanford, Washington, Utah, Arizona St | (7-17) (F) Portland St, (G) Hawaii | (8-5) Texas Tech |
| Washington St (11) | 7.193/ 79 | 7-6/ 55 | 69-79 (.466) | (19-30) Oregon St, Arizona, Stanford, Colorado | (37-26) UCLA, Oregon, Arizona St, California, Washington | (10-14) Wisconsin, (F) N Colorado | (3-9) Colorado St |
| Southern Cal (12) | 7.179/ 80 | 11-3/ 43 | 74-76 (.493) | (38-26) Stanford, Arizona, Utah, Washington, UCLA | (18-31) Arizona St, Colorado, California, Oregon | (9-15) (G) San Jose St, (G) Nevada | (9-4) Notre Dame |
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That’s it for today. Tune in Saturday for the penultimate PS SOS review. In the final week, we’ll publish the most challenged conference and preview the week 0 games. It’s still sweltering outside, but fall is around the corner. Thank you for reading and sharing with others, G
