Is Southern Cal the flavor of the month in this upcoming Pac-12 football season? The Saturday Blitz staff makes their conference picks.
With the rise of the ACC and the drama ever-present in the Big Ten the nation might have been sleeping on the Pac-12. Playing a good portion of their games during #Pac12AfterDark hasn’t helped, but that doesn’t devalue the quality of the competition.
The USC Trojans made a statement on the national stage with a thrilling Rose Bowl victory over Penn State last season. Will they continue their ascent to the Pac-12 title or will reigning champ Washington have something to say about that? Our staff has submitted their ballots. Here’s how things turned out.
Pac-12 South
| USC | 1 |
| Utah | 2 |
| UCLA | 3 |
| Colorado | 4 |
| Arizona State | 5 |
| Arizona | 6 |
The season has hardly even started and it feels like Sam Darnold has already won the Heisman trophy and the USC Trojans are already in the College Football Playoff. There’s a long ways to go before we reach that point of the season and there are way too many variables to lock the Trojans in this early.
For one, USC doesn’t have a bye week. They’ll play the full length of their schedule without a week to rest. That doesn’t sound so bad now, but a road trip to play Notre Dame is a bit more daunting when you’ve been grinding with no time off.
More: Game by game predictions for USC in 2017
Utah might be the most intriguing team in this half of the conference. The Utes have never won a Pac-12 South title, despite coming close several times. The loss of senior running back Joe Williams isn’t going to help, but adding stud Oregon transfer Darren Carrington will be a huge boon to their offense in 2017.
After Utah the rest of the field is a bit more murky. Colorado won the division a year ago with an 8-1 conference record, but quarterback Sefo Liufau has left for the NFL and the rest of the roster looks to have too many holes to be a real title threat. UCLA has Josh Rosen and not much else. Regardless, watching him duke it out with Darnold in the season finale is going to be fun to watch.
Then there’s the Arizona schools. Both teams are officially in win-now mode with coaches on the hot seat. Rich Rodriguez at Arizona hasn’t had a decent season since going 10-4 in his first year with the Wildcats in 2014. Todd Graham at Arizona State is in the same boat after posting back to back sub-.500 seasons. This division looks like USC’s to lose.
Pac-12 North
| Washington | 1 |
| Stanford | 2 |
| Oregon | 3 |
| Washington State | 4 |
| California | 5 |
| Oregon State | 6 |
In 2016 the Washington Huskies claimed their first Pac-12 North title, breaking into the back-and-forth between Oregon and Stanford. They won’t catch anyone off guard this year, but it might not matter if anyone else sees them coming. Quarterback Jake Browning and receiver Dante Pettis connected for 15 touchdown passes a year ago. Losing John Ross to the NFL Draft is going to be felt, by Pettis is going to fill the gap nicely.
More: Game by game predictions for Washington in 2017
Beyond the Huskies, both Stanford and Oregon are real threats to retake the top spot in the Pac-12 North. Stanford loses running back Christian McCaffrey, a first round selection like Ross, but seems almost immune to roster turnover. Since David Shaw took over for Jim Harbaugh in 2011 the Cardinal are 64-17. They have one season of fewer than 10 wins in the past six years.
Another consistently strong team, the Orgeon Ducks are coming off an off-year in 2016. Willie Taggart is in as the new head coach and will bring an offense that leans heavily on the power running of Royce Freeman. They’ll spread things out too, but Ducks’ quarterback Justin Herbert isn’t the dynamic playmaker that Taggart had under center at USF.
Luke Falk at Washington State could outgun any of those guys in a one-off game. Look for the Cougars to spoil someones chances at the division crown, and maybe have an outside chance at hanging around in the race into November.
Pac-12 Champion – USC (10 first place votes)
Also receiving votes – Washington (5), Stanford (1)
Southern Cal has had some rough seasons by Trojan standards since the departure of Pete Carroll in 2009. The Lane Kiffin experiment didn’t work out and Steve Sarkisian had problems of his own. New head man Clay Helton has held this team together and now they’re finally ready to take the next step.
There might not be a more hyped up team in the country than the Trojans. USC has plenty of reasons to keep their expectations high. Their offense is going to be electric and their division is arguably one of the easier groupings in college football. They’ve already “been there and done that” against the Washington Huskies. Why not the Trojans?
More: Projecting the 2-deep depth chart for the USC Trojans in 2017
For one, Sam Darnold hasn’t proven he can survive the grind of a full season. The young quarterback stunned the college football world a year ago, but guys like Jake Browning have gone through the highs and the lows and come out on the other side stronger. How will Darnold handle adversity?
Stanford garnered one first place vote, but Washington is the team that feels the most slighted. They don’t have the brand name cache’ that the Trojans do. So, despite being the reigning conference champions, they’ll be playing from behind until the Trojans stumble.
Next: Top 50 CFB breakout candidates in 2017
What do you think? Are the Trojans a lock or will a more experienced quarterback guide his team to the top of the Pac-12? If someone new will emerge, who do you think that will be? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter.