Probably no big surprise that the PAC-12 teams with two of the top three QB’s in college football last year were picked to come in 1st and 2nd in the conference this year. USC, with returning Heisman QB Caleb Williams, got the nod during PAC-12 Media Day on July 21st in Las Vegas as this year’s favorite while the Washington Huskies with QB Michael Penix-Jr, who actually ranked one notch above Williams regarding total yards, are expected to finish second. I imagine after winning back-to-back PAC-12 titles Kyle Whittingham, who is starting his 30th year coaching at Utah—19th as head coach—is starting to feel a bit like Rodney Dangerfield as the Utes were selected to finish third. And then you’ve got Jonathan Smith and Oregon State, seemingly always overlooked and under appreciated, picked to come in fifth, behind the Oregon Ducks led by QB Bo Nix who actually had a better completion percentage than either Williams or Penix-Jr.
Looking at last year’s stats one thing for sure stands out, Oregon and Washington both do a much better job at protecting their QB with Bo Nix and Michael Penix-Jr only getting sacked a total of five times each all last season while Caleb Williams hit the pavement 30 times—and that’s just on the offensive side of the ball for USC whose defense barely hung on for four of last year’s wins where they edged out their opponents by an average of just five points. Their 5th best national standing in take-aways had a lot to do with winning those close ones. They only lost to Utah by one point during the season but got beat by 23 in the PAC-12 Conference Championship game. We still seem to still be in the honeymoon faze with Lincoln Riley at the helm, but for them to actually realize their goals it’s going to come down to an improved offensive line and a much improved defense.
Speaking of much improved defenses, look for Oregon State to exceeds expectations again this year with a defense that allowed only 6 yards per game more than conference leader Utah while holding their opponents to 20 points a game—best in the PAC-12 and 8 points less than the prior year. On top of that the Beavers will have arguably the best offensive line in the conference for a team that averaged 32 points per game. Look for teams like Oregon State and UCLA to take full advantage of the new rule that keeps the clock running after achieving a 1st down. Moving the chains with a running game and eating up the clock will shorten the length of time their opponents, especially those whose main focus will be the pass, can get on the field and put points up on the board. Look for Running Backs Bucky Irving for Oregon, Carson Steele via the transfer portal from Ball State for UCLA, and Oregon State’s Damien Martinez to have huge years.
The 2023 Pac-12 Football Championship Game returns to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for the third consecutive year on Friday, Dec. 1. This will be the second year since the conference expanded to 12 teams in which the teams are not split into divisions with the two teams with the best conference record facing off in the conference championship. It will be the final season in the PAC-12 for USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington who have opted to join the Big Ten Conference as well as for Colorado who recently voted to join the Big 12 along with Utah, Arizona, and Arizona State.
For a brief look into each PAC-12 team, check out comments from the head coaches at the following links below:
Kyle Whittingham Head Coach of Utah: https://pac-12.com/videos/kyle-whittingham-press-conference-2023-pac-12-football-media-day-utah
Lincoln Riley Head Coach of USC: https://pac-12.com/videos/lincoln-riley-press-conference-2023-pac-12-football-media-day-usc
Troy Taylor Head Coach for Stanford: https://pac-12.com/videos/troy-taylor-press-conference-2023-pac-12-football-media-day-stanford
Jedd Fish Head Coach for Arizona: https://pac-12.com/videos/jedd-fisch-press-conference-2023-pac-12-football-media-day-arizona-1
Jake Dickert Head Coach of Washington State: https://pac-12.com/videos/jake-dickert-press-conference-2023-pac-12-football-media-day-washington-state
Jonathan Smith Head Coach for Oregon State: https://pac-12.com/videos/jonathan-smith-press-conference-2023-pac-12-football-media-day-oregon-state
Karen DeBoer Head Coach of Washington: https://asaptext.com/asap_media/media/1078/1300/transcripts/135227.pdf
Dan Canning Head Coach of Oregon: https://pac-12.com/videos/dan-lanning-press-conference-2023-pac-12-football-media-day-oregon
Kenny Dillingham Head Coach of Arizona State: https://pac-12.com/videos/kenny-dillingham-press-conference-2023-pac-12-football-media-day-arizona-state
Justin Wilcox Head Coat for Cal: https://asaptext.com/asap_media/media/1078/1300/transcripts/135237.pdf
Charles Kelly Defensive Coordinator for Colorado: https://pac-12.com/videos/charles-kelly-press-conference-2023-pac-12-football-media-day-colorado
Chip Kelly Head Coach of UCLA: https://pac-12.com/videos/chip-kelly-press-conference-2023-pac-12-football-media-day-ucla