Pac-10 Blogs Preview the Season

by mattortega on Aug 30, 2010 7:32 AM PDT in Arizona Wildcats Football

Avinash at California Golden Blogs posted an epic preview of the upcoming (and last) Pac-10 season.

College football is back, and the clock is ticking toward the official kickoff on Thursday night. To get you prepared, we got together the SB Nation Pac-10 sites to provide our input on this upcoming season. We managed to get AZ Desert Swarm (Arizona Wildcats), House of Sparky (Arizona St. Sun Devils), Addicted to Quack (Oregon Ducks), Building the Dam (Oregon St. Beavers), Bruins Nation (UCLA Bruins), Conquest Chronicles (USC Trojans), Coug Center (Washington St. Cougars) to join us (California Golden Bears, in case you thought this was the Concordia University SB Nation site) in casting their predictions for this upcoming season. The categories were predicted standings, Pac-10 Offensive & Defensive Player of the Year and Pac-10 Coach of the Year. In addition, some of us added in our All Pac-10 Teams.

Based on votes from across the conference of blogs, Arizona is slated to finish third behind the pair of Oregon and Oregon State.

Among the Arizona Wildcats selected to the All-Pac 10 Team: OT Adam Grant, C Colin Baxter, DE Ricky Elmore, and CB Trevin Wade.

Just think - next year, these predictions will include Utah as a strong contender for the conference title, and Colorado can duke it out with ASU in the cellar to see who is better than Washington State. Heh.

Give it a read.

Related Ted Miller laid out his season predictions at ESPN. Miller predicts freshman S Marquis Flowers to tie for defensive freshman of the year.

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Comments

Gotta say, I really don’t see Utah finishing higher than 3rd or 4th in the Pac-12 next season. They are a great program, but they have never played the type of schedule they will face in the Pac-12. There is potential to play 4 to 5 ranked teams, aside from any non-conference opponents they may schedule. In 2010 they face 2 ranked teams. In 2009, they faced 2. In 2003, they faced 3, with one being a bowl opponent. Don’t get me wrong, I agree they will be competitive. I just don’t see them dominating year one. Maybe year 3 or so.

by uofafanatic on Aug 30, 2010 10:29 AM PDT reply actions

I don't know about that.

They’ve won several bowl games in a row, including a victory over Alabama in the 2008 bowl season.

The move should help them recruit better players. Analysts and potential commits will not be walking away because they play in the Mountain West anymore. They will be in a BCS conference.

by mattortega on Sep 3, 2010 11:43 AM PDT reply actions

Exactly. It will take 3 years for those recruits to be ready to make an impact. I really don’t think Utah, as presently constructed, can handle 4 to 5 ranked opponents followed by a possible conference championship game. But in 3 or 4 years? They will probably be a top level team. Nobody walks into the Pac-10 from a non-AQ conference and contends year 1.

by uofafanatic on Sep 3, 2010 3:22 PM PDT reply actions

Agree to disagree on some issues.

Utah will be able to contend year 1. This isn’t to say they will emerge as a divisional leader (if the conference goes to a 6 team dual division format like the Big Ten) or even finish in the top 3 conference-wide. They may come up short in close games that knock them to the bottom of the top half of the conference.

My point is they will be among the top 5 or 6 teams in the 11/12 team conference with the standings tight towards the top. USC, Oregon, and Oregon State are the elite teams. I’d group Arizona and Stanford in a near-elite status. Cal and UCLA teetering at average. Washington emerging from bottom feeder, and Arizona State, Washington State, and soon Colorado in the cellar. I’d place Utah, probably, behind Arizona and Stanford. Remove USC because of post-season restrictions, and Utah could crack the top five.

by mattortega on Sep 3, 2010 3:54 PM PDT reply actions