BYU is 4-0 against the Pac-12 South this season and will try to complete the five game sweep when it faces USC in its last game of the season.

BYU has been consistently ranked this year. But, with losses to Baylor and Boise State, running through its Pac-12 opponents hasn’t been a good look for the conference.

It’s an example of how the conference has become an afterthought when it comes to the power forces in the FBS. The conference is lacking bowl eligible teams going into week 11 and contains mostly below average programs. People might point to the Pac-12 “eating itself,” but the conference hasn’t fared well against out-of conference opponents either.

Out of the 10 FBS conferences, the Pac-12 has a total win percentage of 49% (58-60) — a figure that ranks eighth best, only better than the Conference USA and the Independents. Their non-conference win percentage is 47% (16-18), above only the Conference USA (43%).

Going into week 10, the Pac-12 had as many losses to a group of five opponents (eight) as the rest of the power five conferences combined. This doesn’t include the two FCS losses to Montana and NAU.

It’s taken the Pac-12 longer than any other conference to get bowl eligible teams too.

The Pac-12 has five bowl eligible teams in Oregon, Arizona State, UCLA, Oregon State and Utah. It’s the lowest total out of the Power Five conferences, as many as C-USA and the AAC and one fewer than the Mountain West, with six bowl eligible teams.

Washington State (5-5), Washington (4-6) and USC (4-5) are the only other Pac-12 teams with a chance to become bowl eligible. They need to reach six wins with two weeks left in the season. (USC will play three more because its game against Cal was postponed.)

The conference started out the first two weeks of the season with five ranked teams. Now, just two remain: Oregon (No. 4) and Utah (No. 25).

Inconsistency has been a driving force in the disappointing results. Bad losses have followed marquee wins.USC defeated WSU 45-14 ,then lost to Oregon State by two touchdowns the following week.

Only four teams have stuck with the same starting quarterback the entire season: Oregon (Anthony Brown), Colorado (Brendon Lewis), Washington (Dylan Morris) and Arizona State (Jayden Daniels).
With most teams changing up their starter, it can be hard to find rhythm.The conference doesn’t have a nationally recognizable star quarterback to point to either.

Another disadvantage for the conference is not having the revenue other conferences have to build up their programs and pay top tier salaries to coaches and coordinators.

At the line of scrimmage, the conference is also noticeably smaller than other Power Five conferences (SEC and Big 10 in particular). Oregon and UCLA are outliers, but as a whole the talent and size at the line of scrimmage is inferior to other Power Five conferences.
There are several reasons for the Pac-12’s struggles this season, but Oregon carrying the conference’s name has become a theme.

With poor overall records and non-conference records, the Pac-12 needs to win some bowl games to earn some respect back from analysts and recruits across the country.