Pac-12 gets football season off to a shaky start

By JOHN MARSHALL
AP Sports Writer

The Pac-12 opened the season with five ranked teams and was expected to have a competitive race to the conference championship, maybe even get a team into the College Football Playoff for the first time in five years. But the league stumbled out of the 2021 starting gate, becoming the first Power Five conference to lose six games on opening weekend since the SEC in 2016. All six were to unranked teams, too, second-most by a Power Five conference in 21 years. The biggest surprise in the Pac-12 was No. 20 Washington’s 13-7 home loss to Montana. The Huskies were expected to contend for the Pac-12 North title but sputtered throughout opening night.