College football's opening weekend started fairly well for the Pac-12 but then suddenly started to spiral into the muck. Instead of joining the trend of Overreaction Monday, let's be more systematic.

Draw a line down the center of your paper. On the left, write down the seven teams that won. On the right, write down the five teams that lost.

That is an unspectacular performance by the conference, particularly considering an 8-4, 9-3 or even 10-2 accounting seemed perfectly reasonable, based on Vegas viewing just three teams as underdogs.

Yet the mighty SEC needs Ole Miss to upset Florida State Monday night in order to avoid a 6-6 showing in nonconference play, which would include a pair of top-11 teams losing. Further, at least the Pac-12's two highest-ranked teams -- Stanford and Washington -- prevailed. The Big 12's overwhelming favorite, No. 3 Oklahoma, got dominated by Houston.

So on the left side write, "SEC, Oklahoma misery."

Now, to specific teams.

USC

On the left side, write #AllAboutBall.

This was USC's preseason mantra, the one adopted by coach Clay Helton and seemingly embraced by his players. No more Hollywood. No more off-field hullabaloo. Just blocking and tackling and discipline and grittiness, spearheaded by a no-frills coach void of pretense.

It was the right message for a once-great program that had lost its way.

On the right side of your paper, write 52-6.

That's the cold-blooded reality, delivered Saturday by an Alabama team that is, well, #AllAboutChampionships.

Wisdom and inspirational words are something to focus on up until the moment when action is required, but then the true measure of a thing is taken. There is no question that Helton and his Trojans massively failed to deliver on a big stage against the Crimson Tide in a historically bad defeat.

If USC had been #AllAboutBall, it would have competed on every play against Alabama, regardless of what the scoreboard said. Instead, when things started to go wrong, USC panicked and then seemed to surrender.

Augmenting USC's problems and further suggesting a culture change hasn't taken hold is two players being under investigation for sexual assault, something that is far more worrisome that anything that happens on the field.

Back on the field, things look precarious, with a dangerous visit from Utah State followed by rugged road games at Stanford and Utah. A 1-3 start is not unrealistic.

UCLA, Arizona

The Bruins, a slight underdog at Texas A&M despite being the only ranked team on the field, looked mostly awful for three quarters (right side) but mounted a spirited comeback in the fourth quarter (left side) before falling in overtime.

The Bruins wanted to rebrand themselves as a line-of-scrimmage team, but were out-rushed 203 yards to 125 and yielded five sacks while recording none themselves.

Further, no one thought USC would beat top-ranked Alabama, so the Bruins should pick up most of the tab for the Pac-12 going 0-2 against the SEC this year.

As for Arizona, a slight favorite against BYU, it too rallied in the fourth quarter only to lose in the last moments. The good news (left side) is the defense looked surprisingly solid, while the bad news is the offense (right side) was as bad as it's been under coach Rich Rodriguez.

Stanford, Washington

The No. 8 Cardinal was workmanlike in a decisive 26-13 win over a solid Kansas State team, while No. 14 Washington dominated in all phases in a 48-13 win over Rutgers.

Neither was a marquee win over a ranked foe, but they pushed the ledger in a positive direction head-to-head against other Power 5 conferences.

Arizona State, California, Oregon, Utah and, urp, Washington State

None of the first four looked particularly good against weak opponents, but they won, which the Cougars wish they could say after falling to Eastern Washington, the second consecutive FCS foe to embarrass them in a season opener.

Yet the Big 12 and ACC had teams also lose to FCS foes in week one, and Mississippi State lost to South Alabama, a program that was only established in 2009. Northwestern, which won 10 games a year ago, lost to Western Michigan.

Moreover, Washington State showed last year that an FCS loss doesn't doom a season when it ended up 9-4, including a 6-3 mark in Pac-12 play.

What's notable is the pending schedule uptick for these five. On Saturday, Arizona State plays host to pass-happy Texas Tech, California visits a rising San Diego State squad, Utah plays host to rival BYU and Washington State heads to Boise State. Oregon plays Virginia on Saturday then visits Nebraska on Sept. 17.

Winning those games won't gain the Pac-12 much national traction, but losing them would fall decidedly in that menacing right column.

Colorado, Oregon State

The Beavers played Minnesota tough into the fourth quarter, while the Buffaloes rolled over Colorado State in one of their most complete performances under Mike MacIntyre.

Drawing deep conclusions with the two teams most often rated at the bottom of the Pac-12 is risky after Week 1, but it's reasonable to say -- at the very least -- both looked like they'll be a tougher draw this fall than last.

So add up the columns and what do we get?

We get inconclusive math that only suggests the Pac-12 isn't much different from any of the other Power 5 conferences, where teams are furiously cogitating over their own inconsistent calculus while eyeballing Alabama, which fills its right column with random doodles and Tweets from offense coordinator Lane Kiffin.