How to figure out who will win the Pac-12 South

Oregon is already locked into the Pac-12 Championship Game as champions of the Pac-12 North. Who lines up on the others side of the field representing the Pac-12 South is still anybody’s guess. With Arizona State upset at Oregon State late Saturday night, the entire Pac-12 South is still up for grabs, except for Colorado.

As noted last night, UCLA has control of the Pac-12 South due to a head-to-head victory against Arizona State and another against Arizona. The Bruins also play USC this week. Winning the final two games for UCLA would guarantee a trip to the Pac-12 Championship Game for the Bruins. But what if USC wins? A USC win over UCLA would put Arizona State back in a good position, thanks to a head-to-head victory over USC earlier this season. There will be plenty on the line in Pac-12 South games the next couple of weeks.

Here is how the Pac-12 South looks right now (conference records shown)...

1. 6-2 USC
2. 5-2 UCLA
2. 5-2 Arizona State
2. 5-2 Arizona
3. 4-3 Utah
4. 0-7 Colorado

The Pac-12 has a list of tiebreakers ready to be used if needed. A two-team tie is the easiest one to break. The head-to-head result would be used to determine the Pac-12 South representative in the conference championship game. But if multiple teams end the year with identical conference records, things start to get a little messy.

Per the Pac-12 website, the following tiebreakers are in place to determine a division champion between more than two teams;

Multiple-team ties If three or more teams are tied atop a division at the end of the season, the following criteria are used to eliminate teams until just two teams remain, at which point the two-team tiebreaking procedure is used.

1. 
   

   Head-to-head results (best record in games between tied teams)

   
   
2. 
   

   Record in inter-divisional games

   
   
3. 
   

   Record against the next highest placed team in the divison

   
   

   (based on the record in all conference games), proceeding through the division

   
   
4. 
   

   Record in common conference games

   
   
5. 
   

   Highest ranking in College Football Playoff poll entering the final weekend of the regular season

   
   

So, what does each team in the running need in order to win the Pac-12 South? Let’s try cracking this one. Here are the cleanest scenarios in place for each team in the Pac-12 South, except for Colorado. Colorado cannot win the division.

ARIZONA

Win final two games @ Utah and vs. Arizona State. UCLA beats USC, Stanford beats UCLA.

ARIZONA STATE

Win final two games vs. Washington State and @ Arizona. USC beats UCLA.

UCLA

Win final two games vs. USC and vs. Stanford.

USC

Win final Pac-12 game @ UCLA. Arizona State loses to Washington State or Arizona.

UTAH

Win final two games vs. Arizona and @ Colorado. UCLA beats USC. Stanford beats UCLA. Arizona beats Arizona State.

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