2023 Pac-12 winner odds, futures betting strategy: USC favored, but not best bet to win conference
Our preview of the 2023 college football season begins out west with the Pac-12
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There's nothing new about upheaval when it comes to football on the Pacific Coast. The pending departures of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten after the upcoming school year are hardly the first time the confederation has faced potential crisis or change. The forerunner of the modern-day Pac-12, the old PCC (Pacific Coast Conference), disbanded completely in the late 50s amid various scandals, re-emerging in five, six, and finally eight-team configurations by the mid-60s, with various labels (Big Five, Big Six, AAWU) before finally adopting the Pac-8 moniker in 1968. It can also be argued that the first shot across the bow for modern college conference realignment was fired by the Pac back in 1978 when it lured Arizona and Arizona State from the old WAC.
The question now is the future iteration of the loop, which into the summer is still trying to secure a new media rights deal sans the L.A. schools, while holding its breath that these are just rumors about the "four corners" schools (Arizona, ASU, Utah, and Colorado) jumping ship for the Big 12 after Oregon and Washington, apparently, were rebuffed by the same Big Ten that lured the Trojans and Bruins last summer. Meanwhile, there are reports of courtships perhaps involving San Diego State and SMU, among others, all with an eye to the TV markets. Regardless, for the moment it's an uncertain future without the anchors and flagships that have been the L.A. schools. Indeed, the underpinnings of the conglomeration have not seemed this unsteady since the late 50s, with possible extinction even one of the potential outcomes. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, the Pac-12 as we have known it for the past decade gets ready for a last spin around the track this fall, now seven years removed from the last time one of its entries (Chris Petersen's Washington) qualified for the playoffs. In recent years, Oregon, Utah, and, a year ago, USC all came close but ultimately fell short (in the Trojans' case last autumn, humbly so), and there is a thought this season that maybe the Huskies, now on Kalen DeBoer's watch, might have the best chance to get back to the Final Four since their predecessors from 2016. The storylines this fall must also make room for the bold experiment at Colorado, where Deion Sanders looms as more than a new coaching hire; it's more of a test-case for a quick rebuild via the transfer portal, another of those recent developments in college football.
More change is surely on the way for the Pac, but for one last time, we can at least analyze the league much as how we've known it for the past decade.
Odds per Caesars Sportsbook. Team total over/under picks linked.
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