Canzano: Never Too Early to Crown a Pac-12 Football Champion

[Charles Fischer]

 

The Pac-12 Conference football media poll won’t be revealed until July 29 as part of the conference’s media day festivities in Los Angeles. Utah is the pick for conference champion, right?

The Utes have top-to-bottom continuity on the coaching staff and a returning quarterback (Cameron Rising) who has big-game experience. I like the Utes to win the South Division, for sure. But there are some potential wildcards.

 

The Utes lost a ton of leadership (see: Nick Ford, Devin Lloyd, Britain Covey). Also, the nine-game regular-season conference schedule wasn’t favorable to them. Utah skips playing two programs (Cal and Washington) that aren’t viewed as title contenders.

 

USC is intriguing, but I think Lincoln Riley’s liftoff won’t be without growing pains. Still, the regular-season schedule helps Riley. The Trojans don’t play Oregon in the regular season. The Utes not only have to play the Ducks, but they’ll do it in Eugene in what will be billed as a payback game for Oregon.

 

My current South Division top three: Utah, USC, UCLA.

 

The North Division is much trickier. I think Oregon, Washington State and Oregon State could all make a run at the division crown. I won’t be surprised if there’s a two-way or three-way deadlock down the stretch. And while Washington is starting over with a new head coach, the UW regular-season schedule is unusually favorable.

 

Oregon is the most talented team in the division, but the Ducks will have a first-year, first-time head coach in Dan Lanning. I like Lanning a lot. He’s down to earth, recruits well and the spring game was encouraging. Also, Oregon skips playing USC in the regular season. But will Lanning’s relative inexperience play a role at any point? We’ll soon see.

 

Washington State is poised to matter next season, too. Transfer quarterback Cameron Ward was given a $90,000 deal by the Cougar Collective to come to Pullman. Offensive coordinator Eric Morris is bringing back the Air Raid offense.

 

While Oregon skips USC next regular season, the Cougars have to play at USC. Also, WSU misses Colorado, which is amid a full-blown rebuild. That feels like a distinct disadvantage for Jake Dickert’s team.

 

Oregon State’s case in the North Division is built on continuity. The Beavers were 6-0 at home last season. They return the coaching staff, the starting quarterback (Chance Nolan), and add a terrific freshman running back. The Beavers, however, play the three most talented teams in the conference — USC, Oregon and Utah — in the regular season. That will slow OSU down.

 

My North Division top three: Oregon, Washington State, Oregon State.

 

Washington could be disruptive, though. The Huskies have a new head coach, but skip playing both Utah and USC in the regular season. That’s an advantage I don’t take lightly. Nobody should be surprised if UW ends up a little higher in the standings because of it.

 

Here are the opponents each Pac-12 program “skips” in the 2022 regular-season schedule:

 

• Arizona — skips Stanford and Oregon State
• ASU — Oregon and Cal
• Cal — Utah and ASU
• Colorado — WSU and Stanford
• Oregon — ASU and USC
• Oregon State — UCLA and Arizona
• Stanford — Arizona and Colorado
• UCLA — Oregon State and WSU
• USC — Oregon and Washington
• Utah — Cal and Washington
• Washington — USC and Utah
• WSU — UCLA and Colorado

[Charles Fischer]

Washington doesn't play who on their schedule?  What was the amount of payoff on that one?

[30Duck]

On 5/7/2022 at 5:26 PM, Charles Fischer said:

Washington doesn't play who on their schedule?  What was the amount of payoff on that one?

Not bad. Won't be enough, still have them and Cal fighting for fourth in the North. 

[Jon Joseph]

I agree with WA ST being the favorite in the north behind the Ducks.