Getty Image / David Madison
Over the last few months, things have been starting to look pretty bleak for the Pac-12.
The conference has run into some issues since USC and UCLA decided they would be leaving for the Big 10.
They have yet to find suitable replacements for the two California schools that.
As a result, they still have yet to negotiate a new deal for their media rights, with the current deal set to expire next summer.
They haven’t even extended an invitation to San Diego State because of their lack of a media rights deal in spite of SDSU’s recent run to college basketball’s championship game.
While there is currently plenty of speculation about the conference dissolving some time in the near future, it turns out one of their member schools may have something a bit bigger to worry about in the coming months.
The Pac-12 currently features the only Power 5 program expected to be an underdog in every single football game they play next season.
The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy revealed that his colleague, Collin Wilson, has only one Power 5 team projected as an underdog in every game based on his current power rankings and that team is Stanford.
Number of games projected as underdog in 2023 via @_Collin1 power ratings:
12-Stanford, Western Michigan
11-Charlotte, Colorado, FIU, Kent State, Nevada, ODU, UAB, UMass, Virginia Tech
10-Boston College, Cincinnati, Oklahoma State, Rutgers, Texas State, Tulsa, Vanderbilt…
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 5, 2023
The only other team in all of college football projected as an underdog in every game is Western Michigan.
Stanford being projected to struggle in the Pac-12 isn’t a huge surprise. They won just one game during conference play last season and lost their starting quarterback to the draft.
Their conference schedule also didn’t turn out too favorably for them as they have to play 5 of the 6 Pac-12 teams who finished last season in the top 25. However, they do get a home game against Cal, who went 2-7 in conference last year.
They also open the season against Hawaii, who went 3-10 last season while facing a Mountain West schedule. They even get a home game against an FCS opponent when they take on Sacramento State, whose head coach they lured away during the offseason.
There may be some chances for Stanford to overcome their underdog status during the season, but for now they hold the unfortunate distinction of being the only Power 5 team that is an underdog against every one of their opponents.