Bob's Picks - Pac-12 adds four schools as college football shake-up continues

This week watch out for Cal and Oregon, and will someone please wake up Touchdown Jesus?

Before we get to this week's fearless - and sometimes futile - forecast, there is big breaking news in the world of college football.

The Pac-12, reduced to just Oregon State and Washington State with the recent defection of 10 teams to the Big Ten, the Big 12 and the ACC, announced today that it is adding four teams from the Mountain West that will all begin play in the 2026 football season. The Pac-12 still needs two more teams by 2026 to reach the NCAA minimum of eight teams to qualify as a conference.

The four additions - Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Colorado State - represent the cream of the crop from what was until now a 12-team football league.

Boise has long been a national power, enjoying great success under head coaches Dan Hawkins and Chris Petersen, both of whom played at UC Davis.

Fresno State and San Diego State have usually competed near the top of the conference as well, while Colorado State may not have had as much recent success as the other three in football, but is still highly regarded.

Those remaining in the Mountain West for football are Air Force Academy, Wyoming, San Jose State, New Mexico State, Nevada, UNLV, Utah State and Hawaii.

Whether the Pac-12 will find the other two schools to reach the minimum of eight remains to be seen, but there is speculation that Cal and Stanford may eventually decide to return to the fold, but that seemingly wouldn't happen by 2026. There are many options, however, and it seems certain the Pac-12 will reach eight soon or the four Mountain West schools wouldn't have come aboard without such an assurance.

Some folks have suggested there might be a spot for UC Davis, but given the Pac-12's desire to remain a Power 5 conference, the chance it would add an FCS school at this point is remote.

The Mountain West, however, is now in full panic mode knowing that the crown jewels will soon reside elsewhere. The Mountain West has previously made overtures to Big Sky members Montana and Montana State, perennial FCS powers South Dakota State and North Dakota State and several others, but all such offers have been declined. So far, at least.

This week there are several Defectors vs. Protectors games as Oregon battles Oregon State, and Washington State takes on Washington.

Another intriguing matchup featuring a team that left and one that is about to leave features Colorado and Colorado State.

Be that as it may, this week's picks are as follows:

(All of last week’s picks are available here)

CAL over SAN DIEGO STATE ... The Bears shocked the college football world by going down to Alabama and handling Auburn with ease, serving notice that they will not be anyone's also-ran this time around.

TEXAS A&M over FLORIDA ... Two teams in desperate need of a quality win. Only one will get it.

NOTRE DAME over PURDUE ... The Irish had many questions and no answer in a shocking home loss to Northern Illinois that surprised even Touchdown Jesus.

ALABAMA over WISCONSIN ... Finally playing someone their own size, the Tide still rolls at raucous Camp Randall.

MICHIGAN over ARKANSAS STATE ... How bad did the Wolverines look against Texas? Let me count the ways. 

OREGON over OREGON STATE ... After two skin-of-their-teeth wins over the best the state of Idaho has to offer, the Ducks should finally put it all together in the first non-conference game between these two in 108 years. And yes, it's still okay to call this one the Civil War.

COLORADO over COLORADO STATE … If Coach Prime doesn’t beat the Rams, this may be his last season in Boulder.

FLORIDA STATE over MEMPHIS ... To say the Seminoles have fallen short of expectations is a gross understatement. Win this one or else.

NEBRASKA over NORTHERN IOWA ... The Return to Glory Tour continues for the once-mighty Cornhuskers.

UTAH over UTAH STATE ... The Battle of the Beehive State is strictly no contest. They'll call this one before they get to "Rockets red glare" in the National Anthem.

UPSET OF THE WEEK: WASHINGTON STATE over WASHINGTON ... The Cougars' offense is a sight to behold. (Upset record: 1-1).

ROUT OF THE WEEK: TENNESSEE over KENT STATE ... Bet your retirement savings on this one. (Rout record: 2-0).

DON'T BET ON IT, BUT: UCLA over INDIANA ... The Bruins, believe it or not, are a slight underdog as they head into their first Big Ten encounter. (Don't bet record: 2-0).

FIVE EASY PICKS: Texas (over Texas San Antonio), Arkansas (over Alabama-Birmingham), Auburn (over New Mexico), Georgia (over Kentucky) and Miami, Fla. (over Ball State). (FEP record: 10-0).

AGGIES over SOUTHERN UTAH ... A tough early season road test for an Aggie team that has shown flashes of greatness but still needs to play a complete game. Take the Ags by 10.

OTHER GAMES: Arizona State over Texas State, Kansas State over Arizona, Kansas over UNLV, Oklahoma State over Tulsa, LSU over South Carolina, North Carolina State over Louisiana Tech, Cincinnati over Miami (Ohio), Texas Tech over North Texas, Missouri over Boston College, Coastal Carolina over Temple, Oklahoma over Tulane, Michigan State over Prairie View, Minnesota over Nevada, Georgia Tech over VMI, Iowa over Troy, Duke over Connecticut, North Carolina over North Carolina Central, Virginia Tech over Old Dominion, Liberty over UTEP, Georgia Southern over South Carolina State, Charlotte over Gardner-Webb, Ole Miss over Wake Forest, San Jose State over Kennesaw, Mississippi State over Toledo, Northwestern over Eastern Illinois, Houston over Rice, Brigham Young over Wyoming, Fresno State over New Mexico State, Montana over Morehead State, South Dakota State over Augustana, Northern Arizona over Utah Tech, and Sacramento State over Nicholls.

Last week: 49-8, season: 117-10, percentage: .921.