By: Luke Maiers

Just like that, we are almost to the end of June and football season is another three weeks closer. A few weeks back I broke down the Big 12 Conference. I was high on Oklahoma and Iowa State. This week, I’m going to break down the Pac-12. This conference fell on some hard times last season as each team had at least two losses. Needless to say, the conference missed the College Football Playoff. However, this conference does have some teams on the turnaround, so the league will be way more competitive.

It seems like the conference is run by a different team every year. Oregon, Stanford, USC, Washington, and Washington State have all experienced success over the last handful of seasons. Different teams will be rising to the top this year as new coaches have flown into the league and started stirring stuff up.

Arizona State

Herm Edwards came back to coaching before last season as the Sun Devils head football coach. I’m not sure what most people expected, but Edwards’ experience helped this Arizona State team develop into a competitive squad. ASU took down two top 15 teams last season and ended the year with a 7-6 record. That’s not too shabby for a first-year head coach. A large piece of their success comes from the best back in college football that no one off of the west coast knows about. His name is Eno Benjamin. Benjamin is the running back for the Sun Devils who lit it up in his second year with the team. He had over 1,600 rushing yards last season with a 5.5 yards per carry average. Pair that with 16 touchdowns on the ground and you have the best skill player in the Pac-12.

UCLA

Staying on the trend of new head coaches, UCLA landed former Oregon coach, Chip Kelly, in the summer of 2018. Kelly was with the Ducks from 2009-2012 before getting offered to become the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Everywhere this many has gone, he has experienced success. His worst college season was in 2009 when his team won 10 games. That is great. He even had two, 10 win seasons in the NFL. UCLA needed a change to happen, so in Los Angeles fashion, they went out and signed the sexiest name available. Kelly is known for his quick offense and creative mind when his team has the ball. The Bruins only won three games last year, but I’m still interested to see if this project will work out. I’m sure UCLA will finish around 6-6, but it should be entertaining none-the-less.

Oregon

Last season’s Oregon team had nine wins, but they still left a lot to be desired. The team left several opportunities on the table as they had losses to Arizona, Utah, and a loss to #7 Stanford in overtime. All of those games are tough to swallow. Luckily for them, they are returning their veteran quarterback, Justin Herbert. It was thought that Herbert was going to leave the Ducks for the NFL Draft this spring, but that was not the case. He decided to come back Eugene, Oregon to give it one more shot. He slung the ball around for 3,151 yards last year with 29 touchdowns. His competition percentage wasn’t great, but he was a very good quarterback. Herbert did lose his top target, Dillon Mitchell, to the NFL, but I don’t think that will stall this team too much. I think Oregon is the clear favorite to win the Pac-12 this season. I’m not sure the conference will be good enough to make it to the CFP, but they’ll be in contention.



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