How the Pac-10 Can Realign for a Conference Championship

The Pac-10 has recently applied for an exemption to host a conference championship game with only 10 teams. No doubt it will be declined, but perhaps the Pac-10 could work around the rules and still match up their two best teams on championship Saturday.

This past year, the Oregon-Oregon State Civil War game served as a de facto championship for the Pac-10, and it did not disappoint. But, having such a game on the last weekend of the regular season is a product of little more than sheer luck and mathematics.

One option the Pac-10 could consider is to wait to schedule the final weekend matchups until the week before, to have more control over which teams are paired.

 

The Schedule

Now, obviously, the sites of these five games would have to be pre-determined so that game tickets could be bundled with season ticket holder purchases. The solution is to have five teams each host one of the other five teams the final week in a division format.

To those of you who are curious, this will not be a 10th conference game for the Pac-10. Rather, the conference will drop its schedule back down to eight conference games (the national norm), with the first seven used to determine the final matchups.

With the final game guaranteed to match two teams from different divisions, it is important that a minimum of inter-division games are played, allowing the final games to have fresh matchup options. This means that before December, teams will only play three of the five teams in the opposite division.

 

Divisions? What Divisions?

The Pac-10 has options when it comes to dividing the teams. The option most in keeping with Pac-10 tradition would be for teams to play their main rival every year and alternate through the other teams six times in an eight-year span. This means also that divisions would change constituents every other year (paired rivals would stick together).

For last year, we will look at a simple geographic split; for 2010 the Oregon teams and Arizona teams, for example, might switch divisions to help keep schedules even over the years.

One Los Angeles-based team is placed in each division to ensure a final matchup occurs in LA. The opponents from the opposite division not yet played are listed in parentheses for each team.

Beast Division

(UCLA is always in this division)

(6-1) 9-2 Oregon (Arizona, California)

(5-2) 8-3 Oregon St (Arizona St, USC)

(3-4) 5-6 Washington (Arizona, Stanford)

(2-5) 6-5 UCLA (Arizona St, Stanford)

(0-7) 2-9 Wash St (California, USC)

Warrior Division

(USC is always in this division)

(6-1) 9-2 Arizona (Oregon, Washington)

(4-3) 8-3 California (Oregon, Wash St)

(4-3) 7-4 Stanford (UCLA, Washington)

(3-4) 7-4 USC (Oregon St, Wash St)

(2-5) 5-6 Arizona St (Oregon St, UCLA)

For each team, the games in parentheses were removed from last year's conference record and a single win was added to each team's overall record to reflect the addition of an easy out-of-conference opponent.

 

The Regular Season Shake-Down

The Pac-10 has flexibility in pairing teams in the final week. Oregon could play Arizona in a winner-take-all Championship Game (Oregon won the actual matchup in a 44-41 overtime thriller).

Or, because the Fiesta Bowl was in a position to lose its Big 12 tie-in, and with both teams being BCScontenders withtheir 9-2 records, Oregon and Arizona could have played California and Washington respectively; sending Oregon to the Rose Bowl with a win and Arizona, potentially, to the Fiesta.

Most likely the decision-makers will put in place an algorithm to "fairly" determine which matchups to play in the final week, but keeping the speculation open always generates more interest (see BCS). Below is my pick:

 

2009 Pac-10 Finale Weekend

California @ Oregon (Oregon plays for Rose Bowl)

Arizona @ Washington (Arizona plays for BCS appearance, Washington for bowl appearance)

Arizona St @ Oregon St (Arizona St plays for bowl appearance)

Stanford @ UCLA (bowl positioning, big Los Angeles game)

USC @ Wash St (easy win for fan favorite Trojans)

The team in bold is the team that won last year's regular season matchup. Notice that in this year the Beast division hosts the Warrior division. This will alternate every year.

 

All About The Roses

While my above pick does not place the top two teams in a bona fide Championship Game, it does enhance the conference's monetary opportunities, by sending more than one team to the BCS. After all, that is why the Pac-10 is pursuing a Championship game, more money.

And the Pac-10 still has full range in determining which team is sent to the Rose Bowl. It could be the winner of a particular game, or it could be the team with the best conference record, or perhaps the team is determined to manipulate the BCS selection system and send two teams to the BCS bowls.

While Beavers fans may baulk at dropping the Trojans from their season once every eight years, the reality is that the downside is minimal. This flexible final week is a 'win' for the Pac-10 in regards to television revenue as well as a 'win' to those particular teams hoping to gain access to the BCS. It is an opportunity for the conference to determine how best to position itself going into the bowl season.