College Football Week: Day Five

It's the West and the East on the blog today! 

Enjoy!

PAC 12

North

1. Oregon 11-1 (8-1) – This team has lost a lot this off season, but Chip Kelly has done a great job at getting some new talent. The running game will continue to be great for this Ducks team. RB Kenjon Barner is a seasoned vet and De’Athoney Thomas is the speedster of the country. Now that they have their QB in Marcus Mariota, they are primed for another high scoring season. The defense is also coming along. Very quietly they have become one of the best units in the nation. Linebacker Michael Clay will be the leader of the defense and should help them to have a great season.

Key Wins: Washington, Stanford, Cal. Key Losses: USC.

2. Stanford 9-3 (7-2) – They lost the best QB in the nation last season and that will show. There will be times this season where they will just struggle to win, but they still have enough players on this team to compete. They also have the advantage of playing in the depleted North Division. The offense may not be very good next season, but the defense should. The line backers will be key. They need to serve as a good bridge between the secondary and the d-line. With Chase Thomas, I think they should be able to do so.

 Key Wins: Arizona, Cal, Washington. Key Losses: USC, Oregon, Notre Dame.

3. Washington 8-4 (6-3) – The U Dub is back. They had an interesting bowl game with Baylor last season and I think that could point to success this season. The offense will be great. It may be one of the few in the conference that could go score for score with Oregon’s QB Keith Price will be great this season. He may be one of the best QBs all year. The defense will be the downfall. They were one of the worst in the country and if you are in a close game, you are going to need to make a few stops. They do have some guys coming back, but there are major problems with this defense.

Key Wins: Washington State, Arizona, Cal. Key Losses: USC, Oregon, Stanford.

4. California 7-5 (5-4) – The offense will be good. It won’t be as good as other great offenses in the conferences, but they will be dangerous out of conference. Isi Sofele will be an amazing threat on the ground and will really support the offense. The defense will be the best part about this team. They are great at stopping the pass and this year will be more of the same. Look for the safety Josh Hill to have a big year stopping opposing QBs.

Key Wins: UCLA, Oregon State, Washington State. Key Losses: Oregon, Stanford, Ohio State.

5. Washington State 4-8 (2-7) – The Cougars will have another down year. There is just too many great teams in the PAC-12 for WSU to be successful. The offense doesn’t have a lot of great players in the big roles. The offensive line should be solid, but the guys they are blocking for aren’t going to be there. The secondary will be the best part of this team. They will improve on their numbers from last year and should force a few mistakes from other teams.

Key Wins: Oregon State, Colorado, UNLV. Key Losses: Utah, UCLA, Washington

6. Oregon State 2-10 (1-8) – This will be another down year for the Beavers. The offense has potential, but it won’t be here quite yet. QB Sean Mannion will be a great player down the road and when he gets there, the Beavers will be good. The defense will go from the cellar to the middle of the PAC 12. They have a lot of guys coming back and they will get some quality games out of them. OSU still has a long way to go.

Key Wins: Nicholls State, Utah. Key Losses: Cal, Washington State, Oregon.

South

1. USC 12-0 (8-0) – This team may be the best in all the land. QB Matt Barkly is going to have one hell of a season and he will pretty much carry the team. The running game may be in question, but now that they got Silas Redd from Penn State that problem will be solved. The defense will be great too. The secondary will be incredible. They will be able to stop the likes of any great team in the nation. The only problem they might have is out scoring Oregon twice. They will beat them in the regular season and I’m confident they will be able to do it in the Pac 12 title game.

Key Wins: All of them. Key Losses: None.

2. Utah 7-5 (5-4) – Utah will be an ok team, but in the easy PAC 12 south they will be near five hundred. The wide receiving corps is incredible for this team. They are really experienced and they will carry this team. The defense will also be really good. Last season they wouldn’t let other teams score and I expect that to continue with the great defense that they have. Bending and not breaking is a very successful tactic and I believe it will pay dividends for the Utes.

Key Wins: Utah State, Arizona State, Washington State. Key Losses: USC, Oregon State, Washington.  

3. Arizona 6-6 (4-5) – Rich Rod will have a good first season with Arizona. They will have some great wins this season, but the losses will come too. The offense will have to replace a lot of key players but the whole offensive line is back. This will help the rest of the offense as they start this season. The defense will be interesting as well. They have some great players coming back, but there are a lot of young guys. This team will need to get off to a good start if they want to finish out the season in a decent fashion.

Key Wins: Oregon State, UCLA, Colorado.  Key Losses: Oregon, Utah, USC.

4. UCLA 6-6 (4-5) – UCLA just hasn’t been the program of old. They did somehow make it to the PAC 12 championship game last season, but I can promise you that won’t happen again for a while. The rushing game will once again be the focal point for the Bruins and they will have great success running the ball. The passing game will really need some work if they want to score a lot more. The defense will be solid. They can’t stop the run so well, but when offenses take to the air they will hold their own. This team will have an interesting year, but will end up with as many wins as losses.

Key Wins: Arizona State, Washington State, Colorado. Key Losses: California, Utah, USC.

5. Arizona State 4-8 (3-6) – The Sun Devils won’t have a good season. They seem to have the right running backs in Cameron Marshall and Marion Grice, but the QB just isn’t there. They will have a decent running game this season. It won’t be one of the best in the conference, but it will be respectable. The passing game will really need some work. The defense will be middle of the road again. They will have some games were they look like they are coming around, but they will also regress throughout the season. Overall, this team isn’t anything special.

6. Colorado 3-9 (0-9) – Colorado has been one of the worst teams in all of the land for some time now and that isn’t going to change this year. They will get all of their wins through the out of conference schedule, but the PAC 12 will not be kind. One day this team will be a contender in the PAC 12, but that could be years from now. In short, the offense will be bad and the defense won’t be as bad. Whoopie.

Key Wins: Colorado State, Sacramento State, Fresno State. Key Losses: All Conference games.

Championship: USC over OREGON

Big East

1. Pittsburgh 9-3 (6-1) – Pitt will be a solid team this year which quite frankly is all you need to win the in Big East. A lot of people are down on them, but there are a lot of toss up games in this conference and for some reason I think they will be able to pull it out. The offense is filled with great targets for QB Tino Sunseri. He is used to his wide outs and that will really pay dividends as the season goes one. The already great running game will also get better from last year. The defense will also be solid. The secondary is filled with talent and will continue to improve on their marks from last year. The problem will be who can get to the quarterback. Both lines in front of the secondary have few returning starters.

Key Wins: Louisville, Syracuse, Cincinnati. Key Losses: South Florida, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame.  

2. Louisville 9-3 (5-2) – Louisville should be on the national radar this season. They have a great chance of turning some heads this year. Freshman QB Teddy Bridgewater broke on to the scene last year and should be better in his second season. His line is about the same and that should help him improve the scoring problem they had last season. The defense also has a lot of players coming back and they will continue to be one of the stingier defenses in the Big East.

Key Wins: South Florida, Kentucky, Cincinnati. Key Losses: Pitt, Syracuse, North Carolina.  

3. South Florida 8-4 (5-2) – South Florida has had a decent program over the years. They will continue that tradition by getting to another bowl game this season. It’s no secret that QB B.J. Daniels has been inconsistent, but this will be the year that he figures it out. He’s got a lot of guys around him that he knows and I think that there is just enough new talent to freshen his career up. He won’t have as good of a running game to rely on, but it will still be efficient. The defense will be good as well with a great set of line backers that will rush the QB and really create some frustration for the opposing offense.

Key Wins: Pitt, Cincinnati, Nevada. Key Losses: Louisville, Syracuse, Florida State.

4. Cincinnati 7-5 (4-3) – In years past the Bear Cats have had a prolific scoring offense. This year will be a different story. They don’t have the same personal as they did last year and that will really hurt them. WR Kenbell Thompkins will be the guy to watch. He will have to be a great leader for this team to get off the ground. The defense will still be great at stopping the running game, but the passing game will still be an issue.

Key Wins: UConn, Syracuse, Temple. Key Losses: South Florida, Louisville, Pittsburgh.

5. Rutgers 8-4 (3-4) – This is another solid team in the Big East. They will have plenty of chances for wins, but they will not do so well in the conference. They have a new coach and lost some talent and WR, but I think there are enough leaders on this team to make a difference this season. The offense will be so-so, but the defense will be the talking point. They have some serious talent returning and the young guys will be able to feed off that. Khaseem Greene will be a crucial point for this team and will stop the passing game in amazing ways. All they need to do is figure out how to stop the run and they should be fine.

Key Wins: Syracuse, Temple, UConn. Key Losses: Cincinnati, Arkansas, South Florida.

6. Syracuse 5-7 (3-4) – ‘Cuse has been known for its wonderful basketball program. The football program won’t be that bad this year either. I know 5-7 isn’t really good, but when you compare it to other basketball power houses, it is. They will be very bi-polar this year. I think they will have trouble beating the teams they should and then shocking teams that they shouldn’t beat. Neither side of the ball for this team really sticks out to me though. They have a senior QB in Ryan Nassib, but he isn’t that impressive. In short, this will be a middle of the road team that could have you shaking your head every week.

Key Wins: South Florida, Temple, Louisville. Key Losses: UConn, Northwestern, Rutgers.

7. UConn 4-8 (2-5) – The offense really isn’t there for this team. They do have Lyle McCombs, but he will be the only thing. He will have another 1,000 yard season and could be looked at by NFL teams come this off-season  The defense is shaky, but they will be able to do one thing: stop the run. They were ranked number three in the nation last year in run prevention and I think they will do it again with their talented linebackers.

Key Wins: Temple, Syracuse, Buffalo. Key Losses: Western Michigan, Rutgers, Maryland.

8. Temple 2-9 (0-8) – After a few years in the MAC, this team won’t be ready for the Big East. They will have a lot of close games, but I don’t think they will be able to close them out. They pretty much have a new offense this season. They won’t be able to handle ever some of the worst Big East defenses and their scoring will suffer. The defense has the potential to be a high point for the Owls, but that is a big maybe.

Key Wins: Villanova, Army. Key Losses: All Conference games.

Thanks for reading!