I’m a big believer that if the Pac-12 Conference members had tens of millions of dollars more in revenue they’d have more competitive football programs.

Higher-paid coaches.

Retention of top assistants.

Better resources all-around, period.

That’s why what conference commissioner Larry Scott said on Thursday in Portland caught my attention. Speaking over breakfast at a gathering of business leaders at The Sentinel Hotel, Scott passed the buck to his football programs.

He said: “We don’t hire the coaches. We don’t recruit the athletes. We don’t coach them. We don’t take credit for the wins, but sometimes we get blamed for the losses.”

That quote will look like a grenade -- pin-pulled -- by the time the conference athletic directors and coaches hear it. Because it sidesteps the biggest issue on Pac-12 campuses: Scott’s leadership has fostered an era that leaves the conference members at a tremendous financial disadvantage vs. its peers.

It also raises a debate: Who do you blame for the under-performing Pac-12 football programs?

Scott basically said it’s not his fault.

The Pac-12 has been left out of the College Football Playoff in the last two seasons. Only two of the 20 teams that have participated in the playoff hail from what Scott likes to call, “the conference of champions.” Is it Scott’s fault that USC went 5-7? His fault that Oregon State lost to Nevada last season? His fault that Arizona got beat by Hawaii last week?

Or is that squarely on the teams?

I think his comment is another in a long line of Scott misfires. I’m beginning to wonder why he speaks publicly at all. Several of his staffers at the San Francisco conference headquarters have privately questioned why he continues to show up at football games and make himself to media at halftime. Scott rarely helps himself.

I understand what Scott is trying to do here. He’s trying to pass some blame, and hold the conference members accountable for performance. He’d like to view his role with wins/losses as non-linear. It’s a safer place to live for a conference commissioner. But I think it was a tone-deaf remark in an otherwise uneventful public speaking engagement. So let’s use it as a jumping off point to kick around wins and losses, you know, the stuff you and I care about.

If Oregon beats Auburn on Saturday, who gets the credit?

Certainly, Ducks’ coach Mario Cristobal and his players. For sure, the UO will take a victory lap. But I also think the Pac-12 would trot that victory out like a prized show horse, pointing out that its teams can play with the SEC teams on a national stage. And in that, the entire conference benefits.

I’d like to think that’s why the respective conference commissioner is invited onto the platform during the national championship trophy presentation.

You might argue that the Pac-12′s real emphasis needs to be in winning the majority of the swing games vs. other conferences in the coming weeks. Stanford plays Northwestern. Oregon State hosts Oklahoma State. UCLA faces Cincinnati. But I sort of feel like the best team in the conference becomes a flag bearer for the rest. If Oregon beats Auburn, I don’t think those other games will become the conference’s narrative.

I know SEC commissioner Greg Sankey makes public speaking appearances. But he’s not prone to beginning his talk by pointing out multiple times that he was the captain of his Harvard tennis team. Scott did. For one, Sankey got his bachelor’s degree from State University of New York College.

Humility is one of Sankey’s strongest attributes.

I’m told Sankey was on campus this week at Ole Miss, doing his job. I’m sure he sometimes talks to community groups, but I doubt if Auburn should get beat by Oregon, that the SEC commissioner would feel inclined to point out that he doesn’t recruit the players or coach them.

I think he’d just ask, “What can I do to help?"

That’s solid leadership.

The SEC has some real advantages, doesn’t it?

Large football stadiums. Fans that would throw molotov cocktails through the windows of DirecTV if they couldn’t see SEC games. Also, the SEC will distribute about $70 million more to each conference member vs. the Pac-12 during the current six-year distribution window.

Still, on a day like this, I’d argue there’s a bigger advantage: Sankey himself.