Pac-12 Football: Midseason Thoughts
This season seems to be an even more fascinating season that last year. The Pac-12 kind of flew by last season, similar to the first months on a job. This year, while not winning, Utah has felt like a part of it all. Everyday, I essentially talk about what the Utes are doing. So, today I thought I’d take a moment, look around the league, and see how everyone else compares to how I thought they’d do.
USC- I thought the Bruins would be a juggernaut. And they are good don’t get me wrong. But they aren’t invincible. I don’t know if there are cracks in what Kiffin is doing or the sanctions are taking hold. But ‘SC just feels like they’re missing something. That being said, Barkley, both receivers and Redd will all be earning NFL paychecks.
UCLA- My thought on the Bruins was, the coaching change was good but maybe the talent wasn’t there. UCLA having a solid season is even more of an indictment of what was going on there before. Their RS freshmen QB has solid talent.
Arizona St.- Isn’t what is happening with both schools in Arizona (we’ll get to the Wildcats in a second) almost shocking. I thought ASU would be dead this year. All the Erickson issues plus the hire seemed to be a total mess. And the Sun Devils switched to a new offense. Holy crap. And they’re pretty good.
Arizona- Now as amazing as ASU has been, Arizona is a couple of plays away from being 5-1. Yeah they got steamrolled by Oregon (still made six redzone trips). But they probably should have won both the OSU and Stanford games. They lack some talent on defense. But QB Matt Scott is having the best season no one is talking about. Hell of a job by Rich Rod.
Stanford- Shouldn’t they have come back to earth? They’re 4-2 and were screwed at Notre Dame. David Shaw has done what few coaches can do. Take a look and say, what the previous guy did really seemed to work, so I’m going to work really hard to just keep doing that.
Cal- Cal is so Cal this year. They lose to Nevada and then drop a couple of more Pac-12 games and just about the time all seems lost, they kick UCLA’s ass. Somehow you have to wonder if Tedford will do just enough to keep his job again.
Oregon- I thought Oregon might take a little step back this year and that USC would rule the roost. Instead, Oregon looks better and it seems that they have a defense. I’m going to stop waiting for Oregon to take a step back. It seems Chip Kelly knows exactly how to keep things rolling up there.
Oregon St.- Wow I did not see the Oregon St. thing coming. I thought this might be it for Mike Reilly. Instead this is like the best team in Oregon St. history (which doesn’t take much but still). If they can survive the games Sean Manning has to miss, well they could really be in bidness.
Washington- Depending upon what he does the rest of the way, you have to wonder if Sark isn’t on the beginning of a hot seat. Which is kind of where I thought he was headed. You can’t make the type of noise he makes and then not win. Washington stands at .500. I’m guessing that only gets him so far.
Washington St.- All the really smart people were saying and I stupidly got convinced by them, that Wazzu really might do something. Instead, I knew and didn’t trust myself that no amount of Mike Leach coachin’ em up is going to make up for all the I-AA talent there.
Colorado- Colorado is becoming who I thought they’d be this year. A very hard playing football team that simply doesn’t have the talent. I’m still a big Jon Embree fan and I hope the faithful at CU don’t panic and think they can just go get a name. Give this a chance.