BURBANK, Calif. — There are perceptions, and then there are scoreboards. The former would insist that very little has changed in the hierarchy of college football, that the SEC's power has not faded despite championship outliers in Tallahassee, Fla., and Columbus, Ohio. The latter would tell a much different story, with plenty to suggest that the Pac-12 is on the verge of supplanting the SEC as the nation's top conference — if it hasn't already.
Still, as the Pac-12 gathered on a Warner Brothers Studios set Thursday for its two-day preseason media event, even commissioner Larry Scott acknowledged his league is yet to cross that rubicon in the eyes of the nation.