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Glory, Colorado.
The Buffaloes' fight song captures the only bit of consolation for anyone trying to sort out the Pac-12 South football competition, as of mid-October. Colorado is improving, but not worth worrying about in this context. Everybody else remains in the discussion.
"I just think there's a lot of mayhem [to come] in college football, in general," said UCLA coach Jim Mora, whose team has two league losses. "I just think it's going to be wild. It's awesome for the fans. It's chaotic for the players and coaches."
There's a reasonable chance of a 6-3 conference record enabling a team to win the division title and play in the Pac-12 championship game. As long as Stanford is not the North contestant, the South schools should he happy the league adopted a neutral site for the 2014 title game, Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
A look at what's left for the South contenders, in my order of championship potential — keeping in mind that home teams are only 4-14 in Pac-12 games:
USC
Remaining schedule • Colorado, at Utah, at Washington State, California, at UCLA, Notre Dame.
Case for • The Trojans have knocked off Stanford and they don't play Oregon this year. If they beat Utah next week, they could be tough for anyone to catch, while owning a tiebreaker with Arizona.
Case against • USC would be in terrific shape if not for Arizona State's miracle finish in the Coliseum. The Trojans wore down against good opponents last season and still have some depth issues, resulting from NCAA sanctions.
Arizona
Remaining schedule • at Washington State, at UCLA, Colorado, Washington, at Utah, Arizona State.
Case for • The Wildcats' favorable position is like USC's, except they defeated Oregon and don't play Stanford. They blew a chance for a comeback win over USC at home, but the Wildcats proved they can win in any Pac-12 environment by beating Oregon.
Case against • Arizona is likely to end up needing help from somebody against USC, and may lack an adequate defense to win a division title.
Arizona State
Remaining schedule • Stanford, at Washington, Utah, Notre Dame, at Oregon State, Washington State, at Arizona.
Case for • The Sun Devils are capable of moving the ball and scoring points against anybody. ASU skips Oregon on the schedule and would have a tiebreaker over USC, thanks to an amazing rally.
Case against • Having to play Notre Dame in the middle of the conference schedule creates a seven-week grind for ASU. The Devils get Stanford and Utah at home, but they had trouble with those physical teams last season, losing twice to the Cardinal and barely beating the Utes.
Utah
Remaining schedule • at Oregon State, USC, at Arizona State, Oregon, at Stanford, Arizona, at Colorado.
Case for • The Utes have by far the toughest remaining schedule among the South contestants, but they could lose to Oregon and Stanford and remain in decent position. If they beat all their divisional opponents and there's a tie at the top with 6-3 records, the Utes would advance to the championship game. Utah is the South's best-equipped team to handle the power running schemes of USC and Stanford.
Case against • Utah is trying to piece together just enough offense to win Pac-12 games, with the help of defense and special teams. As the only South contender that still must play Oregon, Utah has less room for error.
UCLA
Remaining schedule • at California, at Colorado, Arizona, at Washington, USC, Stanford.
Case for • The Bruins get a chance to regroup by facing Cal and Colorado, and Oregon is behind them. They're still the team everybody liked coming into the season.
Case against • UCLA is the only team on this list with two conference losses, and has been truly impressive only once all season, against Arizona State.
"When you have a really good quarterback who knows what he's doing, he doesn't let the opposing environment worry him."
— Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre, on road teams' success in the Pac-12. —
Who's got the power?
Chances of winning all remaining games for Pac-12 South teams, according to ESPN's Football Power Index:
UCLA 7.5%
USC 3%
Arizona 1.2%
Arizona State 0.3%
Utah 0.2%
Colorado 0.0%
Note: USC and ASU will host Notre Dame.