Pac-12 Football: Who tops the 2018 preseason power rankings?

In hopes of keeping things as routine as possible, Stanford head coach David Shaw stayed in-house when filling his offensive coordinator position. Shaw promoted former Cardinal quarterback Tavita Pritchard, who has been with the team since 2006 as either a player or coach.

Pritchard replaces Mike Bloomgren, who was hired to be the head coach at Rice.

His first season will have an easy transition with running back Bryce Love electing to return. Love, the Heisman Trophy runner-up, ran for over 2,100 yards and scored 19 touchdowns last year. Quarterback K.J. Costello has complete control of the offense with JJ Arcega-Whiteside the top target.

Stanford features Alameen Murphy, Bobby Okereke and Alijah Holder on defense, with Jet Toner and Jake Bailey anchoring down special teams.

It all starts and ends with the health of Justin Herbert for the Ducks.

First-year head coach Mario Cristobal knows what he has in Herbert, as he was the co-offensive coordinator last year. He is also a former head coach at Florida International, along with stops at Alabama, Miami and Rutgers on his resume.

Oregon finished 7-6 last year, including fourth in the division, but had higher hopes before Herbert was injured. Now, the junior returns looking to build upon his first two seasons in which he posted a 32-to-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio, completed almost 65 percent of his throws and racked up 3,686 yards.

The schedule is also in favor of the Ducks, as they host Stanford, Washington and UCLA, and do not play USC this season.

Chris Petersen is quickly becoming one of the elder statesmen in the league, entering his fifth season with the Huskies.

Washington went 10-3 last year after reaching the College Football Playoff semifinals the season before. They claimed the division title and spot in the Pac-12 Championship game thanks to a head-to-head win over Stanford, eventually ending up in the Fiesta Bowl vs. Penn State.

Senior Jake Browning is back for another go-round along with running back Myles Gaskin, Chico McClatcher and Quinten Pounds.

Browning has led the Huskies to three bowl appearances in three years, throwing for almost 9,000 yards with 77 touchdowns. As a sophomore, he threw 43 scores and had 3,430 yards, numbers that dipped due to an injury last year to 18 and 2,451.

Washington will lean on Ben Burr-Kirven, Taylor Rapp, Greg Gaines and Tevis Bartlett to lead the way on defense.