MrBug708 Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 USC CHOSEN TO WIN PAC-12 IN PRESEASON MEDIA POLLSAN FRANCISCO—USC was chosen as the favorite to win the 2015 Pac-12 Conference football title in a preseason poll vote of 45 media members. The Trojans received 21 of 45 votes to earn the preseason favorite pick. USC collected 254 points for the top spot in the South Division, holding 32 of 45 first-place votes. Defending Pac-12 champion OREGON holds the second-most Championship votes, as they garnered 17 votes for the Pac-12 title. The Ducks also picked up 262 points to lead the Pac-12 North. Additionally, ARIZONA STATE tallied three votes for the Pac-12 crown and amassed 200 points for second in the Pac-12 South.STANFORD was picked to finish second in the Pac-12 North Division, collecting 231 points with eight first-place votes. The Cardinal garnered one vote as the Pac-12 Champion. In the South Division, UCLA was picked to finish third with 180 points and collected six first-place votes, ahead of reigning South Division winner ARIZONA, which tallied 155 votes for fourth place.The media poll has correctly selected the Conference Champion in 29 of 54 previous polls, including 12 of the last 15. Following are the results of the preseason media poll (points 6-5-4-3-2-1, first-place votes in parentheses):NORTH DIVISION1. Oregon (37)............... 2622. Stanford (8)............... 2313. California.................. 1744. Washington............... 1295. Washington State......... 896. Oregon State............... 60SOUTH DIVISION1. USC (32)................... 2542. Arizona State (7)........ 2003. UCLA (6)................... 1804. Arizona..................... 1555. Utah......................... 1056. Colorado..................... 46PAC-12 TITLE GAME CHAMPION: USC (21 votes)Others receiving votes: Oregon (17), Arizona State (3), UCLA (2), Stanford (1)The 2015 Pac-12 Championship Football Game will take place Saturday, Dec. 5 at 4:45/5 p.m. PT and will be telecast to a national audience on ABC or ESPN. The Championship game will match the winner of the North Division vs. the winner of the South Division at Levi’s® Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.POLL NOTES: USC is picked to win the Conference for the first time since 2012. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scscsc89 Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Oh crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Hail Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 My opinion that UCLA would finish 3rd or 4th in the south was not exactly well received a month or so ago so I expect those same fans (where you at IE Bruin) to start lambasting the media. Have at it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBug708 Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 At this point it doesnt matter now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Hail Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Might as well make my predictions now: North: Oregon - too much skill and time has proven that anybody (I'm looking at you Masoli) can play QB in that system. Oregon has consistently had a solid defense for awhile now too and last year they proved they no longer have a Stanford problem. Cal - Why not. I'm going full homer this year. If nothing else, Cal will have a lethal offense that should keep them in every game. The defense has to improve, the pass rush should be better, secondary should be better, tons of experience, and a schedule that starts off as very winnable and gets progressively more difficult. The south is going to beat the crap out of the north this year so 2nd place could very well have 4 conference losses. Stanford - This offense was pretty bad with Ty Montgomery pretty much holding the entire thing together. Now they lose him but I expect Austin Hooper to have a huge year at TE. He was one of my favorite prospects at DLS a couple of years ago and I saw him sack Zack Kline 6 times in one game. Back on topic -- the defense lost a ton of starters and they just might get off to a slow start because of it. I still don't believe in Hoogan and I'm not sorry about it. Washington State - Another offense where it really doesn't matter much who the QB is. The dude is gonna throw for 4-5 TDs a game. They are here just because I don't think the other two teams in the division are any good. Oregon State - I honestly have no idea where to put the Beavs. It looks like they'll have a good running game but the offense and QB play seem like a total mystery. The defense was really bad this year but Anderson has been known to turn around defenses quickly. They could finish anywhere from 2nd to last and it wouldn't shock me. Washington - I love me some Jake Browning but I doubt whoever wins the job is going to do much. Washington looses a lot of talent on both sides of the ball and the schedule is not friendly. This looks like a 4 win team to me. South: Arizona State - They always seem to choke but they have now had back-to-back 10 win seasons, return almost everyone on a very fast defense, have a senior at QB who I thought was better than the starter last year, and might have the best offensive player in the conference in DJ Foster. The schedule sets up perfectly as they get USC, Oregon and Arizona at home. Their first game of the year should tell us a lot as they play TAMU at a "neutral site" in Houston, Texas. Arizona - I must be crazy but I'm going with the Arizona's to dominate the south. Anu Solomon reminds me too much of Russel Wilson for me to pick against him and if Foster isn't the best offensive player in the conference, then it's Caleb Jones. This team also has Ken Griffey's son (Trey Griffy). How can you pick against that! I'm concerned with the pass rush but Scooby Wright is an undeniable beast at LB. The Secondary looks good too. USC - I'm not just a believer in Sark or in Kessler. This team is super talented and it's been that way since football was invented -- don't fact check me on that -- but I just have this feeling in my bones that Kessler does just enough to lose some crucial games on the road. I'm guessing @ASU, @ Oregon and maybe their rivalry game as well as another game they should win (hopefully Cal!? ... probably not Cal) UCLA - I won't regurgitate this point again but by now people should know how I feel about True Freshman QBs. For a team that struggled with consistency last season I just don't think a true freshman is going to help with that. I will say this, If Rosen plays well, UCLA has the talent around him to finish much higher than 4th. Another reason I have UCLA here is that Mora hasn't shown he can get the most out of his talented teams. Remember how crappy UCLA looked last year with a loaded team? Struggling against Memphis, Virginia, and a crappy Texas team. Rosen is going to have to adjust quickly because vs BYU, @Arizona, vs ASU and @Stanford is a stretch that starts during game 3. Honestly this division is loaded and almost any other year I'd have this team as a #2 or #3. Utah - The Oregon State of the south. I honestly have no idea where to put the Utes in an absolutely loaded South division. They lost Orchard put apparently still expect to have a very good pass rush. They are questionable in the secondary but Utah always seems to have a good secondary and a good defense overall. It's the offense that seems to regularly hold Utah back from joining the elite. Even the vaunted running game doesn't seem so scary when you consider that Booker only eclipsed 4 yards per carry twice in the final 7 games of the year. If the offense produces, look out though. Colorado - They can't finish last forever and they look to finally appear to look like an actual pac 12 team this year. They might even beat their rival CSU. Spruce and Liufau should make for a very nice combo and I think they will be a very game opponent at home, even for Oregon. But this division is way too loaded to put them anywhere but here. I've already gone out on too many limbs. Now it's time to tear my predictions apart or make some of your own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBug708 Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 Todd Graham has his yearly "Best Team Ever" line Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scscsc89 Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Hail -- I can understand questioning Sark, but I'm not sure why you've always been down on Kessler, especially after a solid 2014. I can think of more than a half-dozen reasons that USC may disappoint before it gets down to quarterback play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I.E. Bruin Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 My opinion that UCLA would finish 3rd or 4th in the south was not exactly well received a month or so ago so I expect those same fans (where you at IE Bruin) to start lambasting the media. Have at it! I am fine with their opinion as I think the issue a month ago was that UCLA fans on another site were upset at being picked to finish 4th, I disagree with them as I think UCLA wins the division. The problem I have is with the reasoning of some who use bad generalization, "like UCLA fans always think their talent is good" or outdated absolutes like true freshman QB's can't win. There is a good, well informed, thoughtful case to be made against UCLA, it just has not been made on this board yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Hail Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 I am fine with their opinion as I think the issue a month ago was that UCLA fans on another site were upset at being picked to finish 4th, I disagree with them as I think UCLA wins the division. The problem I have is with the reasoning of some who use bad generalization, "like UCLA fans always think their talent is good" or outdated absolutes like true freshman QB's can't win. There is a good, well informed, thoughtful case to be made against UCLA, it just has not been made on this board yet. How is true freshman can't win and outdated absolute lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Hail Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Hail -- I can understand questioning Sark, but I'm not sure why you've always been down on Kessler, especially after a solid 2014. I can think of more than a half-dozen reasons that USC may disappoint before it gets down to quarterback play. My predictions were definitely more of a drive-by analysis and there are several things I need to clarify with my opinion of Kessler being one of them. I am down on Kessler compared to the media perception of him, which seems to be that he is a Heisman trophy candidate. I also think he struggles in the big games as evidenced by his performances against Stanford, Utah, ASU and UCLA. I don't know how much of it is Kessler and how much of it is Sark but when the going got tough, Kessler seemed to make a tremendous amount of conservative reads. I also think the running game accounted for a lot of his success and I'm not sure it will be nearly as good this year. I know he put up great numbers last year but I still view him as a good but not great QB and I think USC needs a great QB to win the south this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBug708 Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 Kessler's splits vs winning teams and losing teams are pretty noticeable. But I think that is a byproduct of Sark more than Kessler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Hail Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Kudos to UCLA LB Deon Hollins for dropping the word, "befuddles" in his interview. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBug708 Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 Jim Mora just said that last year Virginia blitzed a three-year starter like crazy, and this year they're going to blitz a guy who's never taken a snap. Hmm... If they blitz half as much as last year Rosen will throw for 400+ yards and 5 TD's with an OL that knows what it's doing. That was a truly bizarre game from a playcalling standpoint. We got blitzed like crazy and never threw a screen pass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Hail Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Jim Mora just said that last year Virginia blitzed a three-year starter like crazy, and this year they're going to blitz a guy who's never taken a snap. Hmm... If they blitz half as much as last year Rosen will throw for 400+ yards and 5 TD's with an OL that knows what it's doing. That was a truly bizarre game from a playcalling standpoint. We got blitzed like crazy and never threw a screen pass Odder still is the fact that UCLA must have thrown about 10+ screen's against the Cal defense and Cal wasn't blitzing at all -- they still worked of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBug708 Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 We generally throw a ton of screens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I.E. Bruin Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 How is true freshman can't win and outdated absolute lol. It is an absolute because you have stated that you have never seen a true freshman QB win the PAC 12, UCLA is starting a true freshman QB so they can't win the PAC 12. It is outdated because offenses and football have changed greatly in the last decade, QB play in systems that require them to do less and make easier passes and read. We have seen true freshman QB's win conference titles in other conferences, I do not know why the PAC 12 would be different. You are basing your trends on small sample and outdated standards, plus the argument was not that UCLA would win the conference my argument is that I expect them to win the South. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Hail Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 It is an absolute because you have stated that you have never seen a true freshman QB win the PAC 12, UCLA is starting a true freshman QB so they can't win the PAC 12. It is outdated because offenses and football have changed greatly in the last decade, QB play in systems that require them to do less and make easier passes and read. We have seen true freshman QB's win conference titles in other conferences, I do not know why the PAC 12 would be different. You are basing your trends on small sample and outdated standards, plus the argument was not that UCLA would win the conference my argument is that I expect them to win the South. It's never been done before in the conference so it clearly isn't outdated. A smaller sample size is the amount of true freshman who have won their respective conference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogueDuck Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Why is it everyone said UO had a "Stanford problem," yet no one in the media ever points out UCLAs, Oregon and Stanford problems? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Hail Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Why is it everyone said UO had a "Stanford problem," yet no one in the media ever points out UCLAs, Oregon and Stanford problems? Probably because UCLA was losing to teams other than Stanford where as Oregon wasn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBug708 Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 Why is it everyone said UO had a "Stanford problem," yet no one in the media ever points out UCLAs, Oregon and Stanford problems? Pretty sure everyone knows ucla has a oregon and Stanford problem. Everyone points oregon's out because they have been the top dog for a few years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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