[CardinalSagehen]

If you want a purely utilitarian approach that does not take into account the effect of other teams winning on recruiting, and we are already Pac-12 north champions (or likely to be P12N Champs):
1) if one of the teams is in contention to make the playoffs, then we root for that team to lose

2) if neither is a playoff contender, if we played (or are playing) one of the teams but not the other, root for the team we played
3) If we played both teams and one or both is ranked, root for the more highly ranked team (or the team you expect to be more highly ranked at the end of the year)
4) If both teams are unranked, or their rankings are very close, root for the Pac-12 team since it affects perceptions of the  conference as a whole
5) If the match features two Pac-12 teams, root for the Pac-12 North team, unless it impacts our chances of making the Pac-12 championship.
6) If all else fails, root against Cal, USC, and Notre Dame

I'd pretty much stick with #6 since everything else is pretty much in the weeds. 

I'd note that my 10 year old has already anointed those three the "axis of evil" - which not only makes me proud but also makes me wonder how a 10 year old knows how to play off G.W. Bush quotations.

Nice to see that powerful rhetoric applied to something lighthearted, for a change!

As for CFP rooting interests, although it’s too soon to say, as of now it seems to boil down to BC’s #1 above.  Root for Clemson and Oklahoma to lose twice (not happening), Auburn or just one great team to lay waste to the rest of the SEC, and chaos in the Big Ten (ideally wins by Nebraska or MSU against OSU / Wisc / PSU).  Everything else, including my original question, is almost certainly in the noise. 

But that’s one thing to love about college football - you can find some sort of oblique rooting interest in just about every Power 5 game!

[CardinalSagehen]

If you want a purely utilitarian approach that does not take into account the effect of other teams winning on recruiting, and we are already Pac-12 north champions (or likely to be P12N Champs):
1) if one of the teams is in contention to make the playoffs, then we root for that team to lose

2) if neither is a playoff contender, if we played (or are playing) one of the teams but not the other, root for the team we played
3) If we played both teams and one or both is ranked, root for the more highly ranked team (or the team you expect to be more highly ranked at the end of the year)
4) If both teams are unranked, or their rankings are very close, root for the Pac-12 team since it affects perceptions of the  conference as a whole
5) If the match features two Pac-12 teams, root for the Pac-12 North team, unless it impacts our chances of making the Pac-12 championship.
6) If all else fails, root against Cal, USC, and Notre Dame

I'd pretty much stick with #6 since everything else is pretty much in the weeds. 

I'd note that my 10 year old has already anointed those three the "axis of evil" - which not only makes me proud but also makes me wonder how a 10 year old knows how to play off G.W. Bush quotations.

Nice to see that powerful rhetoric applied to something lighthearted, for a change!

As for CFP rooting interests, although it’s too soon to say, as of now it seems to boil down to BC’s #1 above.  Root for Clemson and Oklahoma to lose twice (not happening), Auburn or just one great team to lay waste to the rest of the SEC, and chaos in the Big Ten (ideally wins by Nebraska or MSU against OSU / Wisc / PSU).  Everything else, including my original question, is almost certainly in the noise. 

But that’s one thing to love about college football - you can find some sort of oblique rooting interest in just about every Power 5 game!