Despite very little common ground between them, the Pac-12 and SEC remain linked like parties in an arranged marriage who hardly know each other. And now after some of their most notable teams have suffered earlier-than-expected losses, they're the central players in yet another hot-button topic:
Can a two-loss conference champion earn a spot in the College Football Playoff, beating out a one-loss or unbeaten team from one of the other power leagues? And of these two leagues, which is more likely to end up having its best team finish with two setbacks?
Through three weeks of the 2015 season, the Pac-12 is down to just four unbeatens (Arizona, California, UCLA and Utah) while the SEC has six (Georgia, Florida, Missouri, LSU, Ole Miss and Texas A&M).