Around the Pac-12: Week 1

Around the Pac-12 will be a weekly post that reviews and previews each Pac-12 game.  Of course, since this is the first week it will only be previews.  I’m not sure if the Good Guys will be posting their Pac-12 picks every week (hopefully yes), so this post won’t be implying any prediction.  Unless it’s the Ducks because I’ll always imply that I hope the Ducks lose.  I’ll go in alphabetical order, I will show no prejudice except against the teams that are lower in the alphabet.  Also, I’ll be skipping the Huskies because we’ll have plenty of preview on them.

Arizona – Coming Up:  Saturday against Toledo 7:30 PM

This is one of what seems like many cakewalks for Pac-12 teams this week.  Not literal cakewalks.  If two teams faced off in an actual cakewalk, I think it would be hard to pick a favorite for that game.  Anyway, Arizona won the last match-up 41-2.  This is Rich Rodriguez’s first game as head coach of the Wildcats and you may get a feel for what Ka’Deem Carey, Matt Scott and the rest of the Arizona offense may do.  I think they may be a little better than people expect.  The defense could be a different story.

Arizona State – Coming Up:  Thursday against Northern Arizona 7:30 P.M.

Todd Graham makes his Pac-12 coaching debut.  Taylor Kelly makes his quarterback debut.  A number of other players that I don’t really care about make their debut.  Todd Graham, coach of the Sun Devils, made a controversial decision in starting Kelly that I haven’t really heard anyone agree with thus far.  Kelly shouldn’t struggle much against Northern Arizona but it may be something to keep an eye on if you have the game on.

California – Coming Up:  Saturday against Nevada 12:00 P.M.

California starts their season against a team that isn’t a cupcake but is very winnable.  Nevada isn’t the same team that knocked Boise State out of the national championship picture a few years ago but they’re okay.  California, specifically Jeff Tedford, is entering a critical season.  If the Bears have a sub-par season Tedford’s seat will only become hotter.

Colorado – Coming Up:  Saturday against Colorado State 1 P.M.

Colorado struggled last season and doesn’t promise to be much better this year.  They do start the season against a pretty soft slate and this is a good chance to start off the year right.  This is yet another team that’s breaking in a new quarterback in Jordan Webb.  He has transferred from Kansas and was named the starter about a week ago.

Oregon – Coming Up:  Saturday against Arkansas State 7:30 P.M.

Have you looked at Oregon’s non-conference schedule?  What a joke.  Have you looked at Oregon’s uniforms?  What a joke.  Have you looked at Oregon’s fans?  What a joke.  They debut a quarterback, Marcus Marioti, and will probably score a lot of points.

Oregon State – Coming Up:  Saturday against Nicholls State 12 P.M.

Beaver fans are hoping this opener goes better than last years loss to an FCS team.  When I type in Nicholls State, the laptop thinks I’m misspelling Nicholls.  That shows you how strong the quality of opponent this is.  I don’t know anything about Nicholls State and probably never will.  Their mascot is the Colonels.  But, when I typed in ‘Nicholls State mascot’ on Google ‘Nicholls State mascot nazi’ was the fourth thing that came up.  Weird.  Now you know.  Expect the Beavers to Storm on the Colonels parade (their running back’s name is Storm Woods and I will be making puns about this all year)!

Stanford – Coming Up:  Friday against San Jose State 7 P.M.

 

The mighty Spartans of San Jose State face off against the Cardinal.  Hmm, lets see a Spartan facing off against a Tree in this mascot battle.  Yeah, this won’t be tough for San Jose State.  Then again, Stepfan Taylor is really good so maybe this won’t come down to which mascot is tougher.  Oh yeah, Josh Nunes makes his Pac-12 debut as the quarterback of Stanford.  They try to live on after Andrew Luck.  I forgot for a few minutes that I was trying to make this post informative.

UCLA – Coming Up:  Thursday at Rice 4:30 P.M.

I’ve never written the phrase ‘at Rice’ before, unfortunately.  This is the game where I remind everyone that the first game of the season is always a little weird, always a little bit unpredictable.  UCLA is traveling quite a ways with a new coach, a new quarterback and, probably, a little over-confidence.  They should beat the Owls, but do you know when Owls come out?  At night.  Do you know when this game is?  At night.  Coincidence?  We’ll see.

USC – Coming Up:  Saturday against Hawaii 4:30 P.M.

The Rainbow Warriors are an okay team.  They might play in a bowl game, despite once being nicknamed the Rainbow Warriors.  That’s overcoming adversity right there.  But, they will probably be destroyed in this game.  USC could score 100 points and I wouldn’t be surprised.  But, they don’t live in Hawaii so who’s the real winner here?

Utah – Coming Up:  Thursday against Northern Colorado 4:15 P.M.

Utah could be very good.  I’m not a real believer yet but they do have a veteran quarterback (who I am not high on but other people are), a star running back, and maybe the best defense in the league.  That’s a pretty good recipe for winning.  Northern Colorado could be very bad.  But, that’s compared to good college programs.  Compared to middle school teams, Northern Colorado would be like gods.  But then the middle school punter would be like, “Coach, why are we playing a college football team?”  Then, the game would be canceled.

Washington State – Coming Up:  Thursday at BYU 7:30 P.M.

Well, I’ve mostly been stalling until I got a chance to talk about this game.  This is the most intriguing game of the week for me.  BYU isn’t amazing but they’re a very solid team.  The type of team that would have killed the Cougars the last 4 years.  Now, things should be different.  Mike Leach should make a huge impact, Jeff Tuel should throw for bunches of yards, and the Cougs should at least keep the game close.  If they don’t, then maybe all of positive vibes coming out of Pullman won’t be around much longer.  Even if the game isn’t close, expect a lot of points on Thursday and for a fun game.  That’s what Mike Leach brings to the table.

Thanks for reading!

Andrew