PAC 12
North Division
1. Oregon: Last year, Mark Helfrich replaced Chip Kelly as the Ducks head coach, he won 11 games, beat Texas badly in their back yard at the Alamo Bowl, 30-7 and finished the 2013 season as the # 9 ranked team in the country. Yet, many of the UO fans were unhappy with Helfrich and wondered aloud if he was ‘the guy’ to lead their team after Kelly. The expectations at Oregon are simple; win the North Division, win the PAC 12 Championship Game and get to a BCS Bowl (now the final four will be the target). As good as Helfrich’s squad was last year, his first team did not meet any of these goals. Fair or not, this is the reality for the UO coach in the post Kelly Era! Helfrich has the weapons to lead his team to all three of those objectives in 2014. Marcus Mariota is one of the top three QB in the country, Bryan Marshall will be one of the best, if not the best, runners in the PAC 12, & all five starters return from the 2013 O-Line. This unit is led by 1st team preseason All American center, Hroniss Grasu . On D, the Ducks return five starters led by CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, a PreSeason All American and All PAC 12 LB, Tony Shaw. The two teams that beat the Ducks in 2013 come-a-calling, Arizona (42-16) on October 2nd, & Stanford (26-20) on November1st. These two games and the game at UCLA on on October 11th will decide Oregon’s fate in 2014 and right or not, go a long way in determining if Helfrich is “the guy’!
2. Stanford: Finally, Stanford lost a “fist fight”! The bullies of the PAC 12 came into the Rose Bowl looking to “beat up” another opponent, but this time it was Big Ten Champ, Michigan State, who were every bit as physical as the bad boys from Northern California . The Spartans beat the Cardinal, 24-20, in arguably, the most physical contest in all of 2013! Stanford returns 11 starters, 4 on offense & 7 on defense. Kevin Hogan is back at QB, where he has won 16 of his 19 starts and is a remarkable 10-1 against ranked teams. WR Ty Montgomery (61 catches, 958 yards, & 10 TDs) will lead a talented group which includes, Devon Cajuste & Michael Rector both deep threats. The RB position & O-line (4 of 5 are gone, although All American Tackle, Andrus Peat is back) will have to be rebuilt in 2014. The defense returns seven starters and will have to preform well early as the face USC, @ Washington, and at Notre Dame in their first six games. This will allow the young talent on offense to gain the needed experience to compete for a North Division Title. As difficult as the early schedule is, it will get tougher as the Cardinal will have to play @ both Oregon & UCLA in the second half of the season. Stanford’s defense has playmakers at each of the three levels, DE Henry Anderson & DT David Party, at LB, A.J Tarpley and CB Alex Carder. They will have to dominate early for the Cardinal to be in North Division race at the end!
3. Washington: Chris Petersen was 84-9 @ Boise going into 2013, when he went 8-5, those 5 losses were more than he had in the previous 4 years. From 2009 through the 2012 season, his Bronco Teams went 13-0 in 2009; in 2010, 12-1; did the same thing in 2011, 12-1; & in 2012, BSU went 11-2 … a total of 4 losses in the same # of years! The best record in all of college football during that time frame! Petersen inherents a Huskie team that went 9-4 in 2013 and returns 14 starters, 7 on each side of the ball. Peterson will have to replace QB Keith Price & RB Bishop Sankey, a task made easier as all 5 of the starters on the offensive line return. The defense is the strength of this team, on the D-Line, Danny Shelton will be 1st team All-PAC 12 and is getting Preseason All American recognition. LB, Shaq Thompson is one of the best backers in the country and will likely end up 1st Team All American & CB Marcus Peters will lead a secondary that will have three new faces! Washington should enter week 5 unbeaten @ 4-0 and set for Coach Petersen first major test … as Stanford comes-a-calling to Husky Stadium!
4. Oregon State: The Beavers enter 2014 led by one of the best coaches in all of college football, Mike Riley and one of the best QB’s in the country, Sean Mannion. That said, amazingly, Mannion is the 3rd best QB in the Pac 12 (Oregon’s Marcus Mariota & UCLA’s Brett Hundley are better) . This fact clearly speaks to the strength of the PAC 12 at the QB position. Two other standouts on offense are TE, Connor Hamlett & Center, Isaac Seumalo and both are ready to up grade their very good 2013 season’s. The defense features three returning starters @ LB, Dylan Wynn, D. J. Alexander, & Jabrel Johnson and an experienced secondary that also returns three starters! OSU first big test will come on September 27, when they travel south to LA to take on the Trojans in the Coliseum! OSU’s success in 2014 is clearly related to their opponents ability to stop Mannion, as he is the type of player whose decision making will not beat himself!
5. Washington State: Mike Leach’s team in year two should be fun to watch, as he has orchestrated a very quick “about face” in Pullman during year one! In the last four years the Cougars were 10-38 and had not been to a bowl game since 2003. Leach changed all of this in one year, going 6-6 and getting his team to the New Mexico Bowl. While WSU lost a wild one Colorado State 48 to 45, the fact is it took all of one year for Leach to bring back respectability. He returns 12 starters, 6 on each side of the ball including his QB, Connor Halliday. Washington State’s turn around was more related to Leach’s system than to star power on their roster. Leach will need to continue to add players that fit his system to get much beyond the 6 win total he achieved in 2013!
6. California: Sonny Dykes has not found California to be the Sunshine State, more like a rainy night in Georgia. Sonny is singing the Blues after going 1-11 in his first season in Berkeley. Their lone win was a, 37-30, nail biter against Portland State, a FCS team from the Big Sky Conference! Dykes’ defense gave up 44 or more points in 9 of their 12 games. The 1-11 record is actually worse than it looks as none of the loses were close. Cal returns 10 starters, 6 on offense & 4 on defense! The attitude in spring camp was simple, we have to and we will get better. I don’t think getting better is a problem as it may not be possible to get worse! Dykes’ staff will need to continue to build their roster within the talent rich California base, selling the idea to youngsters that “you can come here and play right away” should not be a problem! I, for one, am interested to see how the Golden Bears respond in Sonny’s second year!
Up Next: PAC 12 South Division
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