Ted Miller of ESPN.com had yet another entertaining Pac-10 chat. Lots of interesting stuff this week. Including some stuff on the past and future of the Stoops era. Check out the entire chat here. Kade (Tempe)- If you had to pick an X-factor for arizona in their game against Stanford this weekend who would it be?
TM- Foles starting quickly. Also, the O-line protecting him. The AZ WR have an advantage vs. the Stanford secondary. IF Foles has time, he can take advantage of that, as he did last year. Matt (Tucson)- Do you think Arizona can win at Stanford, home against USC and then at Oregon back to back to back and make a legit run? TM- that's a tough one... particularly at Oregon. Let's see what happens this weekend before getting too bold on predictions. A.C. (Tucson)- Do you think Nick Foles enters the draft after this season? TM- I don't know. He could and get drafted fairly high. He might think he can do better with another year though. Sure the injury has him thinking though.
Peter (PDX)- Ted, which team presents the bigger stumbling block to the Ducks... Arizona at Autzen, or Oregon State at Reser?
TM- Both are significant. If Arizona beats Stanford on Saturday, I'd be a Wildcats lean. But taking away Autzen is a big deal, even though the Ducks rolled in 2008 in Reser.
TM- (On next season for the Wildcats) There are reasons for optimism with the Wildcats if Foles comes back -- and even if he doesn't and Matt Scott takes over. But question would be the O-line, as well as losing both DEs.
Stooooops (Tucson)- Arizona's run game has showed up the last 2 weeks. Is this because of the teams they they have played or because Scott is under center. When scott is in the D must have an extra defender watching him leading to holes for Grisby and Antolin
TM- It helps that the Wildcats played two struggling run defenses, Washington and UCLA. But I do think Scott boosts the running game a bit. With Foles, some of those hitch passes practically amount to running plays.
Erik (Tucson)- Do you think Juron Criner stays in Tucson another year and forms maybe the nation's best WR tandem with Dan Buckner? Or does he go to the NFL early?
TM- If he's a first-day pick, you'd think he'd leave. But if he came back next year, he could play himself into the top-half of the first round. As it is, the Wildcats are in good shape at WR.
Pete (Denver)- Which current pac-10 QBs have the possibility to be drafted in the first round?
TM- Luck, Locker, Foles, Barkley, Thomas, Katz.
Chris (Tucson)- Mike Stoops' program took much longer to turn the corner then Harbaugh did with Stanford. Do you attribute this to Stoops building a defensive-minded team or do you think the Wildcats couldn't catch any breaks in the past years?
TM- Lots of things go into fast -- or slow -- turnarounds. It helped that Harbaugh immediately landed Luck in recruiting. And Stoops made some mistakes along the way -- he had to grow into the job.
Pete (Portland)- Will we see 16 team super conferences within 10 years?
TM- larry Scott seems to think so.
Mike (Tucson)- You said Mike Stoops made mistakes along the way in building his program. What mistakes did he make?
TM- That's a bigger question than for this chat. Part of my typing that is that's what Stoops has said. If you want a specific example, I'd say recruiting. It seemed like Stoops' early recruiting was about getting "star" guys. His lesson on that was Louis Holmes. Now Stoops relies on his ability to evaluate prospects, which is very good. AZ has become a southern version of Oregon State in some respects. Stoops has a really good eye for talent -- see guys like Criner, who wasn't highly recruited.
Leilani (Eugene)- Any news on the 2011 PAC12 schedule? Some teams will have to adjust their conf and non-conf schedules won't they?
TM- I was told this week there might be schedules by the end of the week... Bob Condotta already has reported Washington's 2011 schedule -- unofficial -- so it seems like we're close.
Dan (Pullman)- Do you think SEC teams should be given a pass for their non-conference scheduling since their conference is sooo tough?
TM- no...man up.