Not pictured: SEC Champions
Photo by Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE

College football’s postseason future will soon be decided and everyone has an opinion on the best format. There’s the model endorsed by the Big Ten commissioner, the format preferred by the SEC’s strongest coaches, and variations in between.

As an admittedly biased citizen in Pac-12 country let me make this very clear: The SEC model is best.

Just not the SEC model they’re talking about.

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Tony Renda and Cal were shut down by Arizona pitching.
Photo by Deirdre Hamill/The Arizona Republic

Coach Andy Lopez and the Arizona Wildcats baseball team just completed their first sweep of a Pac-12 road series in three years and yet they’re in the same spot in the standings as when the weekend started. The Cats have to be wondering, What’s a team gotta do to gain some ground around here?

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James Farris and the Cats will be wary of those treacherous pickoff throws.
Photo by Andy Morales

The Arizona Wildcats baseball team was hoping this week would start the home stretch toward a Pac-12 championship. The UA instead has to play catch-up and Oregon is the team looking to pad its lead in the standings.

There are just three weeks left in the regular season with nine teams holding onto tournament dreams and five schools hoping to host a regional. They don’t call it hardball for nothing.

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Alex Keudell and the Ducks catapulted past Arizona.
Photo by Thomas Patterson/Statesman Journal

It took a while for the battle for first place to settle in. The Oregon Ducks and Arizona Wildcats each won handily in the first two games of the baseball series in Tucson.

The rubber match, however, was worthy of championship-level hype. The contest featured quality pitching, pressure-packed at-bats, and a Hi Corbett-sized helping of controversy.

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The standings say it all. First Place vs. Second Place. It’s the final time any of the four Pac-12 baseball contenders will meet this year and the winner of the series will be all alone in 1st.

And it all starts in Tucson tonight at 6.

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