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The PAC 12 - underwhelming at this point.

sackman

sackman

Hates the Counting Crows.
Club Member
Is it just me, or does it seem like this conference is wide open this year? UCLA, UO, USC and Stanford all look very vulnerable. I'm not saying CU is going to jump up and win the conference, but it seems to me that the difference between the top of the conference and the bottom is as small as it's been since we joined the conference. Hell, WSU gave Oregon everything they wanted and then some. Stanford lost at home to USC, who turned around and got beat by Boston College (who turned around and lost at home to CSU - I guess that means CSU would win the Pac, right?)

I stand by my pre-season prediction of UCLA winning the conference, but I think there will be a stumble along the way.
 
I think the conference has clearly regressed on the whole a little bit from last year. We were nipping at the heals of the SEC for best overall conference last year, but this year, we're a clear but distant #2.
 
I totally agree. I heard people praising UCLA's performance against ASU, then watched it on Football in 60. UCLA had some big plays on D, but without the mistakes ASU played them really well. USC beat Stanford, but Stanford outplayed them IMO. UO looked lame against WSU. CU, Cal and Utah are looking better. So yeah, I think the gulf between the haves and have nots is shrinking. Not sure we have a team that survives the PAC12 championship game with only one loss.
 
Bufffan68 said:
I totally agree. I heard people praising UCLA's performance against ASU, then watched it on Football in 60. UCLA had some big plays on D, but without the mistakes ASU played them really well. USC beat Stanford, but Stanford outplayed them IMO. UO looked lame against WSU. CU, Cal and Utah are looking better. So yeah, I think the gulf between the haves and have nots is shrinking. Not sure we have a team that survives the PAC12 championship game with only one loss.
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The recent coaching turnover in the conference has led to bad hiring decisions by a few of the upper teams.

Helfrinch is not the guy to maintain success at UO
Peterson is not the guy to bring new glory to UW. The Boise curse is alive and well in seattle.
Sark is not the guy to meet the demands at USC.

Those hires, IMO, have allowed the rest of the conference to catch up.
 
Maybe since we aren't getting throttled by 30/40 anymore, we actually asee some teams as beatable.
 
Shldr2Shldr said:
The recent coaching turnover in the conference has led to bad hiring decisions by a few of the upper teams.

Helfrinch is not the guy to maintain success at UO
Peterson is not the guy to bring new glory to UW. The Boise curse is alive and well in seattle.
Sark is not the guy to meet the demands at USC.

Those hires, IMO, have allowed the rest of the conference to catch up.
Click to expand...

Completely agree. I will give Peterson a little bit of slack because of all the new starters in Washington, but with the talent at USC and Oregon, those teams should be annihilating opponents.
 
CU could have won every game so far. We have left points on the field, some bad calls against us at key moments of the game, stuffed on goal lines / should have scored, and missed key field goals - looking back, we could have won each game with the coulda would shoulda thought. Fun just to be in them for a change, but time for some wins. Th BUFFS have some chances going forward this season and next year with our players and the loss of some opponents players = bright future. fingerscrossed
 
BuffUp said:
CU could have won every game so far. We have left point on the field, some bad calls against us at key moments of the game, stuffed on goal lines / should have scored, and missed key field goals - looking back, we could have won each game with the coulda would shoulda thought. Fun just to be in them for a change, but time for some wins. Th BUFFS have some chances going forward this season and next year with our players and the loss of some opponents players = bright future. fingerscrossed
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Not sure we could have won the CSU game...players quit and we were truly dominated in the 4th quarter. If we played them now, I have no doubt we'd win. But we could be 4-1 IMO if we could put a full game together in all 3 phases.
 
Bufffan68 said:
Not sure we could have won the CSU game...players quit and we were truly dominated in the 4th quarter. If we played them now, I have no doubt we'd win. But we could be 4-1 IMO if we could put a full game together in all 3 phases.
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I agree - but it should not have gotten that far. Had their QB shut down and stopping the run until later in the game
 
Bufffan68 said:
Not sure we could have won the CSU game...players quit and we were truly dominated in the 4th quarter. If we played them now, I have no doubt we'd win. But we could be 4-1 IMO if we could put a full game together in all 3 phases.
Click to expand...
Are you forgetting that we dominated the CSU game for half of it?
 
I think conference expectations were very high coming into the season. Talk of Pac being perhaps even stronger than the SEC.... Nope.

Within the conference I think UCLA and Oregon look to be on a collision course. Other than those two, on any given Saturday we should have a punchers chance to beat the rest of em... Not saying we will, but we could.


EDIT: Stanford has the horses if they jell to play with UCLA and the Duckheads.
 
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There is a downtick at the top (Stanford, Oregon, USC) and an uptick at the bottom (CU, Cal, Wazzou). It's still a touch conference, in that there are no easy games anymore.
 
Mora looked great in year 1 when he took over a disorganized mess that was loaded with talent. But are they better now? This has to be their year right?

I'd say the same thing is true about the ASU situation. I like the coach, but not sure he can get them up from where he had them in year 1.

Sarkisian's UW team showed a great year 1 improvement, but only slight improvement after that (and he was a reach for USC). Doesn't mean he won't get it done, but there's some doubts out there.

RichRod hasn't shown he can do much in the last 5+ years imo.

KyleW is on the hot seat in Utah. They could implode - natives are restless.

Helfrich has got to be viewed as a concern if you are a Duck.

I do not fear Sonny at Cal.

I think Peterson will get there, but he's trying to install his own deal. Plus he's dealing with some division, as all coaches do after Tosh Lupoi leaves the prima-donnas behind.

And doesn't it seem like Stanford just isn't as loaded at the skill positions as they were? Obviously, QB is a big drop off. They failed to reload adequately there. But also the TE's and WRs have to be a disappointment.

It could be real interesting by next year.
 
Is there a conference that looks solid, or heads above everyone lese?

B1G - Nope, Nebraska is the only undefeated team and they have had issues. Everyone else has lost.

ACC - FSU has had some close calls, and it is tough to find another decent team in the conference. Miami, V-Tech, Duke, Maryland, Clemson, Pitt all have issues.

B12 - Baylor and OU are at the top, and the rest suck. Baylor is one hit on Bryce Petty away from having big issues. OU looks like the team here, but the other 8 teams all have issues.

SEC - They get the love from voters, but they still have to play eachother. Most of the teams, outside i would say two, seem to be able to win or lose any weekend. Missouri loses to Indiana and beats South Carolina. Georgia loses to South Carolina and squeeks by Tennessee, but beat Clemson. I am interested to see how Auburn and Alabama do during the season, and whether any team has a little stumble.

I am not sure if there is a lack of dominant teams, or this is the result of the 85 scholarship limit and more talent being spread around.
 
KingPants said:
There is a downtick at the top (Stanford, Oregon, USC) and an uptick at the bottom (CU, Cal, Wazzou). It's still a touch conference, in that there are no easy games anymore.
Click to expand...

I think the middle 4 look softer as well (Oregon St, ASU, Arizona, Washington).
 
Shldr2Shldr said:
The recent coaching turnover in the conference has led to bad hiring decisions by a few of the upper teams.

Helfrinch is not the guy to maintain success at UO
Peterson is not the guy to bring new glory to UW. The Boise curse is alive and well in seattle.
Sark is not the guy to meet the demands at USC.

Those hires, IMO, have allowed the rest of the conference to catch up.
Click to expand...

Two of those guys have only coached part of season in their positions so I don't see how you can reach a conclusion they are bad hires. Helfrich has a 15-2 record as Head Coach, Petersenn has not had a chance to get his culture and system into place, Sarkisian is inheriting a program that had very severe NCAA penalties. But combined they are something like 23-4 in their positions - not exactly chopped liver. Why do we have to be patient with MacIntyre but can predict success on other coaches after a few games?
 
I agree that you can see a noticeable decline in the top teams. Oregon is coming back to Earth, Stanford is not very explosive, UCLA is injured, and USC is still lacking depth.

I also think there's a noticeable increase in the bottom teams. Cal can score, CU may be coming together, Washington State is giving people fits, Utah is beating P5 teams OOC.

The difference between 1-12 has never been closer.

Maybe it's just because we aren't a hopeless team anymore, but I also think the middle of the PAC looks very meh. Thus, the difference between 6-ish and 12 appears really close.

We'll find out how close it is once we start playing the Washington's or Arizona's, teams that are supposedly in the middle of the conference standings.

From CU's perspective, I think the South is surprisingly weak. I could actually see light at the end of this tunnel!!!
 
If CU can stop stepping on its own dick over the next couple of years, we could go from bottom feeder to top 5-6 team in the PAC pretty quickly. Big if...
 
4-0 Oregon
4-0 UCLA
4-0 Arizona
4-1 Washington
3-1 Stanford
3-1 USC
3-1 Arizona State
3-1 Oregon State
3-1 Utah
3-1 Cal
2-3 Colorado
2-3 Washington State
 
OOC losses for conference, total: 4.
CU - 1 (CSU)
WSU - 2 (Rutgers, Nevada)
USC - 1 (BC)

:wow: - That's insane.

ESPN likes to talk about how the SEC West is 25-0 in OOC, but the rest of the SEC doesn't hold up its end of the bargain.

Edited for fix.
 
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Darth Snow said:
OOC losses for conference, total: 3.
CU - 1 (CSU)
WSU - 2 (Rutgers, Nevada)

:wow: - That's insane.

ESPN likes to talk about how the SEC West is 25-0 in OOC, but the rest of the SEC doesn't hold up its end of the bargain.
Click to expand...

Boston College?
 
Darth Snow said:
OOC losses for conference, total: 3.
CU - 1 (CSU)
WSU - 2 (Rutgers, Nevada)

:wow: - That's insane.

ESPN likes to talk about how the SEC West is 25-0 in OOC, but the rest of the SEC doesn't hold up its end of the bargain.
Click to expand...

It's actually 4. USC had that brainfart against Boston College. Troy needs to redeem itself and the Pac-12 against Notre Dame later this year.
 
Buffnik said:
It's actually 4. USC had that brainfart against Boston College. Troy needs to redeem itself and the Pac-12 against Notre Dame later this year.
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For Sark, that's got to be a strike 1. No excuse to lose to a team like that in that manner.
 
As much as ESPN is hyping the SEC, e.g. "SEC makes up 12 of the 43 teams still in contention for the playoff" a top tier SEC team in Auburn struggled against K-State, a middle of the Big 12 team. The SEC is no better outside than any other conference. Each conference has a few top teams, one or two maybe elite, the majority are mediocre especially on the road, and a couple of cellar dwellers. The Big10 does look pretty horrid this year though.
 
I guess I gotta be one to completely disagree with most posts in this thread.
 
AeroBuff99 said:
As much as ESPN is hyping the SEC, e.g. "SEC makes up 12 of the 43 teams still in contention for the playoff" a top tier SEC team in Auburn struggled against K-State, a middle of the Big 12 team. The SEC is no better outside than any other conference. Each conference has a few top teams, one or two maybe elite, the majority are mediocre especially on the road, and a couple of cellar dwellers. The Big10 does look pretty horrid this year though.
Click to expand...

SEC West is ridiculous right now. SEC East is no better than any other P5 division and worse than several.
 
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