Clarity on the postseason emerged late last week when the Pac-12 announced the 10 departing and two remaining schools would continue to participate in the bowls affiliated with the conference in recent years, from the Alamo Bowl to the Independence Bowl and every game in between.
“They are pretending the Pac-12 is still a conference for the purposes of the bowl games,” said Nick Carparelli, executive director of Bowl Season, the organizing association for bowl games.
But one important detail was missing from the midsummer reveal: the mechanism for selecting teams.
Before the Pac-12 crumbled, conference record was used to determine the pecking order for teams to participate in the Alamo, Las Vegas, Holiday, Sun, LA and Independence Bowls.
But because the 12 teams will be scattered across four leagues in the upcoming season (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-12), the bowls plan to select their participants based on overall record, not conference record, according to Mark Neville, executive director of the Holiday Bowl.
“It would have been really hard to do conference record,” he added.
Neville indicated that the traditional framework will be applied with respect to protecting teams from getting jumped in the pecking order: Bowls can pass over one team for another as long as there is no more than a one-game difference in record.
“That part isn’t changing,” Neville explained.
“In my view,” he added, “this is the best solution possible. It’s what the original agreements called for.”
In the late 2010s, the Pac-12 finalized a six-year contract cycle with its bowl partners. There are two years remaining.
Keeping all 12 teams affiliated with the existing bowls for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, instead of jamming them into the various selection processes governing their new conferences, was the least disruptive approach.
Additionally, it allows fans of the Pac-12 teams to continue attending games in the western third of the country, limiting travel demands and costs.
“The contracts between the conferences and the bowl games were based on the membership at the time,” Carparelli said. “The dynamics have changed. But for all parties involved, it was best to try to simulate the way things have been for the last four years.”
There is one notable difference: The Rose Bowl is no longer affiliated with either the Pac-12 or the Big Ten. It’s part of the 12-team playoff and will host quarterfinal and semifinal matchups.
Teams that don’t qualify for the playoff but are bowl-eligible (i.e., at least six wins) will be placed in the Pac-12 pool, where the Alamo has the first pick, followed by the Holiday, Las Vegas, Sun, LA and Independence Bowls, plus a game selected by ESPN. (The Holiday Bowl picks ahead of the Las Vegas Bowl in even-numbered years.)
“It’s what makes the most sense for the bowls and the institutions,” Carparelli said. “It seems to mimic what was put in place.”
One thing doesn’t make sense in the bowl world: Rematches of games played during the regular season.
With the same pairings for the Pac-12 games, bowl executives will be on alert for matchups of teams that are now in the same conference.
For example, the Holiday Bowl pairs the Pac-12 against the ACC. If Cal were to fill the Pac-12’s side of the matchup, the bowl would not select an ACC team that faced the Bears during the season.
“We’re going to avoid rematches,” Neville said.
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