Insta-reaction from Week 12 …

1. From three contenders in the North … to two.

Stanford’s victory over Cal eliminated Washington from the North race. The conference will have a new champion.

* Washington State wins the division with a victory in the Apple Cup.

* Stanford wins the division with a WSU loss in the Apple Cup.

* Of note: USC, the South winner, is done.

After playing 12 weeks in a row, the Trojans now have a fortnight to prepare for the conference title game on Friday, Dec. 1.

Full credit to USC for finishing 10-2/8-1 without a bye. But the North champ will be playing for the title on a short week.

For the Cougars, it would be back-to-back roadtrips with a short week against a team coming off a bye — a colossal disadvantage with the championship at stake.

Only in the Pac-12 …

2. The postseason comes into focus.

With victories by Oregon and Arizona State, the conference will have nine eligible teams.

Washington State, Washington, Stanford, Oregon, USC, Arizona and Arizona State are in.

So are the Cal-UCLA and Utah-Colorado winners.

The losers of those games are out, barring an invitation through the 5-7 loophole.

Oregon State is out, of course.

With nine eligible teams, the conference will fill its seven contracted slots and have two at-large options to fill vacancies in games not affiliated with the conference.

It’s always nice to meet the obligations, sure.

But a strong case could be made that the Pac-12 would be better off with two elite teams (one in the playoff, another in the New Year’s Six) and only six or seven eligible teams.

3. The Pac-12’s Heisman Trophy hopes are flickering.

Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield was the clear frontrunner as the weekend began, with Stanford’s Bryce Love and Arizona’s Khalil Tate seemingly at the head of the second tier.

Now … after three touchdown passes by Mayfield and subpar games by Tate and Love … the Pac-12 stars need a dramatic, almost unimaginable sequence of events.

Let’s be honest: Tate is done. Even 300+ yards rushing against Arizona State won’t do it. Maybe he makes it to New York for the ceremony, but I doubt it.

Love needs a huge game against Notre Dame on Saturday and another breathtaking performance in the Pac-12 title game … and that won’t be enough unless Mayfield stumbles badly.

The gap is that wide at this point.

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4. The case for Justin Herbert as Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year

Let’s start by acknowledging there is little chance Oregon’s quarterback will win the award (as voted by the coaches).

And let’s also note that POY and MVP can be interpreted differently — the former leaning heavily to performance/statistics and the latter to more nuanced excellence: Value doesn’t also equate to gaudy statistics.

That said, it’s difficult to name a more valuable player than Herbert, based on Oregon’s performance with him in the lineup and on the sideline.

(Sure, it required a broken collarbone, five missed games and no viable backup to prove Herbert’s value. But that’s all part of the calculation.)

With Herbert, the Ducks have averaged 50.2 points and are 4-1.

Without Herbert, the Ducks averaged 15 points and went 1-4.

(I’m excluding the Cal game, when the injury occurred — can’t place that in either category.)

Tate is an OPOY candidate, perhaps even the favorite. He played sparingly, or not at all, in four games.

Herbert missed five.

If there’s a case for Tate, shouldn’t there be a case for Herbert for any head coach who views value as a piece of the POY calculation.

5. The byes had it … almost (and what it says about Week 13).

Oregon had two weeks to prepare for Arizona and held Tate to 32 yards rushing.

Cal had two weeks to prepare and contained Love on 13 of his 14 carries.

This deep into the season, the rest is invaluable. So, too, is the extra time to prepare. As noted Thursday, the defensive coordinators have enough practice time that they don’t have to overload the players.

All of which would seem to bode well on Saturday for Colorado and Washington State, which were idle this weekend in advance of their rivalry games.

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