Entering Week 11 of the college football season, No. 8 Washington State (8-1) is the Pac-12’s best – and likely only – College Football Playoff contender, and the Cougars’ playoff candidacy hinges on who they could potentially play in the Pac-12 Championship.

But if you’re trying to figure out who’s going to win the Pac-12 South, you might as well put the names of the six schools in the division in a hat, shake it up and blindly draw one. That would be as good of a guess as any in the division, where co-leaders Utah, USC and Arizona State have just a 1.5-game lead over last-place Colorado and UCLA, which are 2-4 in the Pac-12.

Yes, even the 2-7 Bruins can still win the Pac-12 South with a 5-7 record and potentially win the conference championship with a 6-7 record if they were to win out and a series of other Pac-12 teams lose the necessary games.

That’s life in the Pac-12, which was left out of the College Football Playoff last season, just like it was in 2016, and it now needs Washington State to have its best season in program history to avoid the same fate, and even that may not be enough.

Here’s how each team in the Pac-12 South could win the division:

Utah

• vs. Oregon (Nov. 10)
• at Colorado (Nov. 17)
• vs. BYU (Nov. 24)

 

The Utes have the same conference record as USC and Arizona, but they own a head-to-head win over both the Trojans and Wildcats. But they did lose to Arizona State, which means Utah needs to win enough to keep pace with USC and Arizona, while staying ahead of ASU.

If Utah beats Oregon and Colorado, and Arizona State loses at least one more game, the Utes can clinch the Pac-12 South.

USC

• vs. Cal (Nov. 10)
• at UCLA (Nov. 17)
• vs. Notre Dame (Nov. 24)

 

Since Utah would win the head-to-head tiebreaker with USC, the Trojans need to win at least one more Pac-12 game than the Utes this season. USC won at Arizona, which could prove to be a valuable head-to-head victory, but it lost to Arizona State, so it needs to stay at least one Pac-12 win ahead of the Sun Devils, too.

If USC beats Cal and UCLA, while Utah and Arizona State lose at least one more Pac-12 game each, then the Trojans will win the Pac-12.

Arizona

• at Washington State (Nov. 17)
• vs. Arizona State (Nov. 24)

 

Despite having the same conference record as Utah and USC, Arizona is behind the eight ball because it already lost to both schools. The Wildcats can win the Pac-12 South if they beat Washington State and Arizona State, and if the Utes and Trojans each lose one more Pac-12 game.

Arizona State

• vs. UCLA (Nov. 10)
• at Oregon (Nov. 17)
• at Arizona (Nov. 24)

 

Even though they’re in fourth place in the division with three games to play, Arizona State’s in a great position to win the Pac-12 South because they’ve already beaten Utah and USC, with a game remaining against Arizona. Two of the Sun Devils’ three remaining games are on the road, so their work is cut out for them.

If Arizona State wins out in November, it’ll win the division. Or, if it wins two more games, including its regular season finale at Arizona, while Utah and USC suffer one more loss apiece, Arizona State could win a potential four-way tie for first given its potential head-to-head tiebreakers.

Colorado

• vs. Washington State (Nov. 10)
• vs. Utah (Nov. 17)
• at Cal (Nov. 24)

 

Colorado is 1.5 games behind Utah, USC and Arizona and has already lost to the Trojans and Wildcats, so the Buffaloes would need to finish at least one game ahead of USC and Arizona. Colorado owns a win over Arizona State and hosts Utah in Week 12, so with a victory in two weeks, it would win the tiebreaker with the Sun Devils and the Utes.

Colorado would win the Pac-12 South if USC and Arizona both lose their two remaining conference games and the Buffaloes win out.

UCLA

• at Arizona State (Nov. 10)
• vs. USC (Nov. 17)
• vs. Stanford (Nov. 24)

 

Here’s where things get weird. Yes, a UCLA team that’s five games under .500, that started the season 0-5 and is currently on a two-game slide could win the Pac-12 South.

Here’s how:

• UCLA would have to win out, beating Arizona State, USC and Stanford; Wins over USC and Arizona State would give UCLA the tiebreaker over those schools
• Utah loses to Oregon and Colorado to go to 4-5 in Pac-12 play
• Arizona loses at least one more game; UCLA’s win over Arizona would give it the tiebreaker
• Colorado loses to Washington State or Cal (or both)

 

We have no idea what’s going to happen in the Pac-12 (and anyone who says they do is a liar), but we’re here for the chaos.