The way I see it there are two ways to look at the PAC-12 this year. Either you're a believer in Washington and see them running away and hiding, or you don't believe in them and think the season is going to be topsy-turvey with twists, turns and upsets galore.
I choose the latter.....
| Conference
Standings: |
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| North |
W |
L |
South |
W |
L |
| Washington |
10 |
2 |
USC |
10 |
2 |
| Oregon |
10 |
2 |
Arizona |
7 |
5 |
| Stanford |
9 |
3 |
Utah |
7 |
5 |
| Washington State |
9 |
3 |
Colorado |
6 |
6 |
| California |
4 |
8 |
Arizona State |
5 |
7 |
| Oregon State |
2 |
10 |
UCLA |
4 |
8 |
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| Won division |
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Won division |
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| Conference
Championship: |
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Washington over USC |
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| Bowl Teams: |
8 |
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| CFP: |
None |
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| Big 6: |
USC |
Washington |
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| CFP 2: |
None |
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| Others: |
Oregon |
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Stanford |
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Washington State |
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Arizona |
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Utah |
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Colorado |
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| Most Underrated: |
Oregon |
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| Most Overrated: |
UCLA |
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| Coaches on Hot Seat: |
None |
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And here's my Team by Team:
1. Washington: Despite not believing in their ability to go undefeated and make the CFP, I still think you have to respect the talent possessed by the Huskies and I still think they're the best team in the PAC-12. Jake Browning is in his final year, as is RB Myles Gaskins and I'm fully expecting big years from them both. Offensively this team is going to be just fine. Defensively is where I think the questions lie as they have young players stepping in to fill huge shoes. That game against Auburn to start the season probably knocks them down in terms of CFP contention but I really think it's the game at Eugene that does them in.
2. USC: Head coach Clay Helton has a ton of offensive firepower to replace this year, starting with Sam Darnold. They're going to lean on True Freshman JT Daniels it seem to try and do it. This offense is YOUNG, but talented, fortunately they start the season against UNLV, unfortunately they run into Stanford in week 2, then Texas in week 3. After that however I think they get their sea-legs underneath them and go on a roll to finish atop the South.
3. Oregon: Mario Cristobal takes over the coaching reins from here and gone again Willie Taggert and the good news is that QB Justin Herbert seems to be healthy to start the season. This is an offensively talented Ducks team that might need a minute or two to grow into their defense. They start the season off with three easy games so by the time Stanford comes to Eugene they should have it figured out. I think they'll be good this year, but not quite good enough to win the title.
4. Stanford: As long as David Shaw is the head coach Stanford is never going to be "bad". They also have Bryce Love back at RB running behind a good offensive line so they're going to be a handful on offense. Defensively they bring almost everyone back and are loaded with experienced upper classmen. Stanford will play everyone tough, but they're a little different team on the road than they are at the Farm and I think they stumble when traveling a few too many times this year.
5. Washington State: Mike Leach is a national treasure and one of the best offensive minds in the game. Yes, there's a huge question of who's going to be the quarterback but offensively this team has talent to spare. Defensively I expect them to be at, or slightly above last year's level which is not that bad. Because of Leach's track record I'm placing Washington State on the high end of their scale. IF the QB situation isn't resolved they could well underperform however.
6. Arizona: After his quarterback issues at Texas A&M, new head coach Kevin Sumlin had to look at Khalil Tate and immediately send Rich Rodriguez a thank you card. Add to that WR Shun Brown, RB JJ Taylor and Arizona is loaded at the skill positions. Their big problem offensively? A young, and questionable O-line that's going to have to get good in a hurry since they open the season at BYU. I think they make a bowl, I think they beat Houston, but I don't think they're ready yet to truly challenge the top-tier.
7. Utah: Someone on Twitter, sorry, I don't remember who, said that Utah was one of those teams that you might play and beat but wish that you hadn't after the game. Head Coach Tyler Wittingham's teams are always physical, and with QB Tyler Huntly and RB Zach Moss they have a great offensive backfield. Their O-line and D-line are big and physical, and their LB's make up ground and hit hard. I do worry a little bit about their DB's, but overall this is going to be a tough team to play. Just not enough talent across the board to win consistently against the big teams. Don't be surprised to see them pull an upset here and there however, especially at home.
8. Colorado: Last year the Buffalo took a stop back but I think they pull back into bowl contention this year. Quarterback Steven Montez is back and he finally should have a running game to take the pressure off of him in the person of SR Transfer(Virginia Tech) RB Trayvon McMillan. How far they can go however depends on an O-line that needs to improve from last years showing. Defensively they're relying on a lot of transfers, some who have been with the program for a couple of years now, to try and stop some of the high powered offenses they'll be seeing week in and week out in conference play.
9. Arizona State: There are two ways that this season can go for Arizona State, they can either surprise everyone and be pretty good, or they can collapse. I think they have enough talent left over from Graham to avoid a total collapse, but the Herm Edwards hiring is not going to work out for them long-term. Enjoy this 5-7 season Sun Devils fans, because I think it's going to get a LOT worse before it gets better.
10. California: I expect the Bears offense to be one-handed at the start of the season, fully relying on Sr RB Patrick Laird running behind a very experienced offensive line as the passing game tries to gel. The defense has a lot of upper-classmen leadership but I think a lack of quality depth is going to find them wearing down against pass-happy PAC-12 offenses as games go on. There's a fault-line famously through their stadium. By the end of the season some might be praying for an earthquake.
11. UCLA: Easily the most over-hyped and overrated team in the PAC-12, largely due to new head coach Chip Kelly. The problem for Kelly is that he really doesn't have a good answer at QB to replace Josh Rosen, and he's going to have to rely on young guys to grow up in a hurry on both offense and defense facing some tough units across the ball. A big game for them is Week 3 at Fresno State, who has a good team. This team is going to struggle this year, but things are looking up.
12. Oregon State: Head Coach Jonathan Smith just doesn't have a whole lot of talent to work with, as the struggles for the Beavers appear to be continuing. Unfortunately the Rodgers brothers aren't walking through the door so Smith is going to have to rebuild the old fashioned way. Hopefully the administration is patient because this is a deep, dark hole they find themselves in and constantly churning coaches will not be the way to dig out of it.
Next Up: we move to the Group of 5 (not not the P6WER) and take a look at the American Athletic Conference.
