SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- About an hour before the Pac-12 championship game kicked off, conference commissioner Larry Scott tried to make the case that USC still had a route to the http://www.espn.com/college-football/playoff/.
“When I look at the landscape this year, I don't think there is a one-loss, non-champion out there that would trump a two-loss champion from the Pac-12,” he said.
Put mildly, it was wishful thinking. USC came into the game ranked No. 10 in the playoff rankings – five spots behind 1-loss Alabama, which won’t play for the SEC title. To any casual observer, it was clear USC was stuck behind the Crimson Tide regardless of how it played against No.