4. Wipe Out Notre Dame
And hope the Irish win at Georgia on September 21st.
It didn’t help the Pac-12’s overall profile last season when the Irish took care of Stanford in South Bend and got past Stanford to finish 12-0. This year’s Notre Dame team isn’t as good, but there can’t be losses in the rematch games.
First, it would do wonders if there’s a shocking upset by Brian Kelly’s club at Georgia to up the buzz, and it would be wonderful if the Irish were 5-0 before hosting USC.
The Trojans need that game. Clay Helton needs that game. The Pac-12 needs that game.
Stanford gets the Irish in Palo Alto to close out the regular season, and there can’t be a slip. The Cardinal won’t get through the season unbeaten, but they might be just good enough to get to the finish at 10-1 if everything breaks right.
More than anything else, people will watch those two games against the Irish. The College Football Playoff selection process is still an opinion-based world – the more big Pac-12 wins, the better.
NEXT: USC Needs To Be USC Again