Colin Cowherd suggests USC skips Pac-12 Championship if it qualifies

Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd suggested USC skip the Pac-12 Championship Game, if it could, late in the season. Yes, skip it in order to protect themselves to make the College Football Playoff.

If USC is that good, why play for a conference title in a league where the Trojans are leaving anyway; Cowherd explained it like that on his show. In this scenario, USC is 11-1 with its lone loss coming to one of Oregon, Washington or UCLA at the end of the season.

So at 11-1 on the season and potentially No. 3 in the country at the end of the year, Cowherd said no thanks to the Pac-12 Championship, if he were USC.

“Here’s a story that may not happen but it’s fascinating to think about,” Cowherd said on The Herd Wednesday. “So USC is going to be very dynamic offensively between Caleb Williams and Lincoln Riley. Okay, so they’re gonna move up the rankings very fast. They’re going to score 60 points more than once. They’re going to curry a lot of favor when it comes to the College Football Playoff rankings and their schedule is tough. So I don’t think they’re gonna go undefeated. 

“My guess is (one of) Washington, Oregon, UCLA …. knock them off, but because they will have built up so much credibility …  I think at the end of the year, there’s too many good games they’ll lose a game so they will be on the cusp of getting into the playoff with (the likes of) LSU, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Michigan.”

That’s where Cowherd proposed a scenario never done before in the modern era, at least to fulfill this plan.

“Here’s the question, Pac-12 Championship, they make it in, why would they play in it,” Cowherd said. “Why would I risk getting Caleb Williams hurt? Why would I play in it? The conference is disbanding. We’re leaving the conference. I’m going to skip the championship game and take my chances getting into the playoff. I think it’s a fascinating story.

“If you’re USC, you’re 11-1 and you’re ranked third in the country. Why would you play in the Pac-12 championship game? What do you benefit, there’s only a losing proposition. If you’re in and if you’re second or third, even if it turns off some of the people who would vote, you probably wouldn’t go second (to) out (or) third (to) out. Maybe if you’re fourth you play because there’s somebody breathing down your neck.” 

Cowherd cited the integrity of college football as a reason why USC should play. But he threw it out the window amid realignment in the sport.

“But just ask yourself, we’ll call it the integrity of college football, what are we talking about here,” Cowherd said. “They’ve already said we’re out of here. So it’s just a fascinating dilemma. I think if I was the coach, the quarterback, the AD and the school president, I’d be like we’re leaving the conference. I’m not gonna get my quarterback potentially hurt. I’m not gonna get injuries. We’re going to the playoff …

“I think it’s a fascinating proposition. I don’t think USC is gonna go undefeated … They’re going to get an ‘L’ somewhere in there and they’re going to be on the precipice, they’re going to be on that number three to four spot. They’re gonna have a decision to make that is fascinating to me.” 

Cowherd chalked up USC skipping the Pac-12 title game in this scenario as a final goodbye to the conference that essentially fell apart this summer.

“The loyalty,” Cowherd asked. “They already abandoned the conference. And by the way, I’ve heard all these Pac-12 schools saying we shouldn’t give them a payout, we shouldn’t do this, we shouldn’t do that. Well, USC has been listening to that. Maybe they shouldn’t show up for the Pac-12 championship.”