The Pac-12 conference might not even exist after the 2023 season, but here are five Pac-12 football teams that could win the league title this season.
It’s wild how quickly things have unraveled for the Pac-12 conference. Pac-12 football teams are heading out the door and only four remain in the conference beyond this season. They are Oregon State, Washington State, Stanford, and Cal.
Having six teams depart within a week or so is pretty crazy but that’s the new world of college football. It’s also going to make the 2023 Pac-12 football season really interesting.
Utah is the two-time defending champion but the Utes star quarterback is coming off a serious injury. USC might be the preseason favorite after reaching the Pac-12 football title game in 2022, but there’s a handful of legitimate contenders, and with the season a few weeks away, here are five Pac-12 football teams that can win the conference title in 2023.
5. Oregon State
DJ Uiagalelei to Oregon State could wind up being one of the most under-the-radar transfer additions in all of college football.
The Beavers won 10 games in 2022, and Jonathan Smith’s team beat both Oregon and Florida down the stretch. Damien Martinez gives the Beavers a solid running back to rely on, sort of like what Uiagalelei had at Clemson.
In a place with less pressure though, Uiagalelei should shine. The former five-star prospect had his moments with the Tigers and he can run too.
Uiagalelei threw 22 touchdown passes last season compared to seven interceptions. He also rushed for 545 yards and seven scores. He accounted for over 3,000 total yards and if he can play better than that, the Beavers might have a shot to win the Pac-12 title.
Oregon State did lose Omar Speights in the transfer portal to LSU, but if the Beavers can be solid on defense, they’ve got a shot.
4. Washington
Another Pac-12 football title contender heading into the 2023 season is the Washington Huskies who will be led by Michael Penix Jr.
Kalen DeBoer brought Penix Jr. to Washington last season and it was one of the best transfer portal pickups in all of college football.
The Huskies averaged 39.7 points per game and Penix Jr. threw 31 touchdown passes on his way to finishing eighth in the Heisman Trophy race.
Washington brings back Rome Odunze and Jalen McMillian after they had productive seasons catching the ball from Penix Jr. So the offense should be stellar, as long as the offensive line, which will have three new starters, can hold up.
The defense will also be key. That’s probably the biggest reason why the Huskies didn’t have a shot to play for the Pac-12 football championship in 2023. A favorable schedule will help though as Utah and Oregon will head to Seattle.
I’m skeptical about the defense though, so we’ll see if the Huskies can answer that question.
3. Utah
If someone wants to beat the Pac-12 football champion in 2023, they are going to have to pry the championship trophy out of the hands of the Utah Utes.
USC looked like the best team in the Pac-12 last season, but the Utes swept the Trojans and dominated them in the Pac-12 title game.
Rising is recovering from an ACL injury and it’s hard to know how effective he’ll be early in the season or even near the end. It takes most players a year to be back to being 100 percent, but Rising is a winner and Utah also has a stellar defense.
Ja’JQuinden Jackson is poised for a breakout season at running back after nearly 600 yards last season. Utah wins with great play along the line of scrimmage and really solid defense.
That formula should allow Utah to win 9-10 games once again during the 2023 season and if Rising is his normal self by the time the thick of the Pac-12 football title race is taking place then the Utes will have as good a shot as anyone.
One issue is the schedule which features road games against three of the other four teams on the list: Oregon State, Washington, and USC.
2. Oregon
Say what you want about Bo Nix, but he showed what kind of quarterback he can be in 2022 as he accounted for more than 4,000 total yards last season for the Ducks, as well as 44 touchdowns.
Nix threw 29 touchdown passes and ran for 15 more, as well as more than 500 yards. However, in some key games, Nix struggled with some turnovers.
Still, getting Nix back was massive for Oregon, which was knocking on the door of a Pac-12 title game berth in 2022. There are several new starters on the offensive line, but most of the starters are back on defense.
The combination of a Dan Lanning defense and Nix playing at a high level is a scary prospect for the rest of the Pac-12 and it’s a good reason why Oregon can win the league in 2023, before leaving for the Big Ten with USC, UCLA, and Washington.
1. USC
Adding Lincoln Riley as the head coach made the USC Trojans instant Pac-12 football title contenders last season and if Caleb Williams was healthy for the Pac-12 championship game, things could have gone differently.
That’s nothing against Utah, which beat USC twice, but Williams wasn’t the same player after getting hurt in that game.
The Heisman Trophy winner will be aiming to be the best player in college football once again, however, the defense and play in the trenches will decide if the Trojans win a conference championship in 2023.
Riley certainly did his part to address those issues in the transfer portal. Bear Alexander from Georgia was a key addition and one of the top transfers on the market. Anthony Lucas from Texas A&M was another, plus Emmanuel Pregnon, an elite O-line transfer from Wyoming that just about every college football program in the country wanted.
Zachariah Branch and Duce Robinson are elite freshmen at wide receiver, and tight end respectively, plus Dorian Singer came from Arizona to help fill the void left by Jordan Addison, as well as landing former South Carolina back MarShawn Lloyd, who averaged 5.2 yards per carry and rushed for 573 yards in nine games for the Gamecocks in 2022, not to mention former five-star running back Raleek Brown.
All the pieces are there for USC to win the Pac-12 football championship. The Trojans even get Utat at home in the regular season. Washington also has to take a trip to the Coliseum.
A trip to Oregon looms on the schedule for USC, but this team should be a playoff contender once again this season. Anything short of that will be a disappointment.