Games like USC-Michigan help college football fans adjust to the demise of the Pac-12.

The 11th-ranked Trojans and the 18th-ranked Wolverines played their first regular-season game in 66 years, an instant Big Ten classic.

With no functional passing game, Michigan defeated their new West Coast rival 27-24 in the Big House.

“I think it was just a classic, back-and-forth battle,” USC coach Lincoln Riley told reporters after his team played strong but couldn’t quite beat the reigning national champions.

When congressional officials and television executives came up with the idea of ​​a Big Ten West Wing, this was exactly what they had in mind.

“I can’t believe we’re stuck with this game when we could have watched SC play Cal in front of 40,000 empty seats,” said Fox Sports President Michael Mulvihill. posted on X.

Fox shares the rights to the Big Ten with CBS and NBC.

USC-Michigan was on CBS and undoubtedly drew a huge audience, making the network’s broadcasters very happy with their $350 million-a-year investment.

But here’s how they get you: USC vs. Michigan, taking the stage on a sunny Saturday before 110,000 fans. No. 6 Tennessee vs. No. 15 Oklahoma in the Sooners’ first game in the Southeastern Conference, played later Saturday night.

It’s cold but true. The games always seem to deliver.

More than a year after the Pac-12 broke up and its traditional members dispersed to other major conferences, this realignment is producing strange results.

On Friday night, Stanford made the trip to Syracuse to play its first game as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

It is fair to ask: what is the point of all this?

Then the Cardinal and the Orange play a thrilling game, which Stanford wins with a walk-off field goal. The absurdity of it all disappears, and fans forget about the greedy and destructive off-field decisions that the people who run college football so often make.

Around the country

No. 7 Missouri was pushed to the brink by Vanderbilt and escaped with a double-overtime win that ended with a missed short field goal by the Commodores that could have tied it and kept the game going. … Florida was coming off a win at Mississippi State that could buy coach Billy Napier at least a few extra weeks. The school doesn’t have a president, and there’s not much upside to be gained by firing a coach in September and opening a transfer window for players. The Gators do have an open week before their next game against UCF in the Swamp on Oct. 5. As for the Bulldogs (1-3), they appear to be starting fresh in Year 1 under coach Jeff Lebby. … Since dropping Georgia in Week 1, No. 21 Clemson has been unstoppable. The Tigers bounced back from that humiliating loss to outscore Appalachian State and NC State by a combined 101-20 — in the first half. Even considering the difficulty level, Clemson’s offense and QB Cade Klubnik are unrecognizable from last season. Before kicking a field goal on the final play of the first half against NC State, the Tigers had scored touchdowns on 14 of 15 first-half possessions in the last two games. … Both the longtime coach at James Madison and JMU under a new coach remain undefeated. Former Dukes coach Curt Cignetti has Indiana going 4-0 for the first time since 2020 after another blowout, this time against Charlotte. The Hoosiers have outscored opponents 150-23 so far this season. Meanwhile, JMU went 3-0 under former Holy Cross coach Bob Chesney after scoring 53 first-half points against North Carolina, the most the Tar Heels have ever allowed in a half.

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Follow Ralph D. Russo on https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP

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