As USC and UCLA move to the Big Ten and Oklahoma and Texas move to the SEC, the Pac-12 and Big 12 are losing some of their top-tier programs.
While many fans and analysts aren’t too happy with this reorganization, college football analyst Josh Pate suggested that these moves are the only way these schools can hope to compete for a national championship someday.
He said just earning a spot in the college football playoffs is “the top of the mountain” for the Big 12 and Pac-12.
“With all due respect to the Big 12 and the PAC-12, you’re making the playoffs, that’s your mountaintop,” Pate said. “You can’t go higher than that… They don’t have horses to compete with Alabama when they get there.”
Oklahoma is the only Big 12 school to receive a spot in the college football playoffs since the introduction of this format in 2015 — from 2018 to 2020. In each of these years, the Sooners did not reach the semifinals.
From the Pac-12, Oregon got a spot in 2015, and Washington made the trip in 2017. Oregon is the only Pac-12 or Big 12 school to reach the semifinals, eventually losing to Ohio State in the championship game.
