Daylight savings time is upon us, and that can only mean one thing: time to start counting down the days til baseball season and the NBA can take a back seat to the start of another fantastic college football year.
The landscape of the sport started to shake up a little bit last year, with the Big 12 losing Colorado to the Pac-10 and the Nebraska to the Big Ten, Utah also jumping ship to play in the Pac-10, BYU making the move to be an independent, and Boise State moving to the Mountain West. With the two new additions, the new Pac-12 will split into two divisions and add a conference championship game at the end of the season.
With spring practices getting underway within the next few weeks, let's take a look at the main issues surrounding each program, and how they rank going into the month of April.
North Division:
6. Washington State - Wazzu showed plenty of improvement during the 2010 season, notching their first conference victory in what seemed like decades (Alex Brink, where are you?) against an up-and-down Oregon State team, as well as keeping games competitive unlike the previous three seasons. This season they return their elusive and growing quarterback Jeff Tuel, who has a good grasp of the offense and a solid wide receiver core headlined by Sophomore-to-be Marques Wilson. Expect more competitive play from the Cougs this coming season, and with a fairly forgivable first part of the season, with games against UNLV, Idaho State and San Diego State, an increase in wins is probable. Throw in another upset in league play and getting close to 6 wins isn't entirely far-fetched, quite an accomplishment considering what this program has seen as of late.
5. California - With a new quarterback, new running back, and an inexperienced front-seven on defense, Cal will have a lot of questions to answer between now and the start of the season. After a lackluster 2010 campaign in which they were solid (often dominant) at home and generally awful on the road, a strong year is needed before coach Jeff Tedford's rear end is on the hot seat. The loss of four-year starter Kevin Riley at quarter back and NFL-bound running back Shane Vereen hurt the most, with no proven play-makers waiting in the wings. The Golden Bears always seem to find production in the running game, but the anonymity across the roster will make contending for a bowl game a stiff challenge.
4. Washington - Even with Jake Locker departing, a good young nucleus is there to get back to a bowl game for the second straight year. Running back Chris Polk will have to carry the load early on until the new starter behind center is acclimated, which most likely will be last year's back up sophomore Keith Price. There are plenty of weapons across the board at wide receiver, and defensive coordinator Nick Holt has the defense on the upswing, which helped the Huskies close out last season strong, taking the Pac-10's third-best bowl slot. This year the schedule is fairly rough, drawing USC and Utah from the South, along with a non-conference trip to Nebraska. This team is still not quite a contender, but should continue to improve with the talent they are starting to accumulate.
3. Oregon State - After a frustrating and disappointing 5-7 campaign in 2010, the Beavers are itching to get all of that behind them. With Jacquizz Rodgers taking his skill set to the next level, OSU has plenty of questions to answer going into this season. Can Ryan Katz play like he did in the beginning of the season and forget about his late season struggles? Who will step in for Quizz in the running game? Can the defense regain its standard confidence that rarely showed up last season? There are still a multitude of weapons on offense, lead by James Rodgers' return, and enough experience on defense to get back to a bowl game, but contention for the North is still out of sight until more consistency is developed on both sides of the ball.
2. Stanford - Andrew Luck. That's really all that needs to be said. While he is capable of starting right now for about half of the NFL franchises, he decided to hone his skills one more year on The Farm. This move looks pretty smart considering the uncertainty of the NFL's future, and with a great cast of players back on both sides of the ball, another double-digit campaign is not out of the question. New coach David Shaw should keep things rolling in place of departed Jim Harbaugh, having a good report with Luck and the rest of the offense. Switching to the 3-4 defense last season brought this group to another level, and with a disruptive group of linebackers lead by Shane Skov, expect the intensity to remain. The date against Oregon November 12 at Stanford will likely decide who wears the North division crown.
1. Oregon - Chip Kelly (and Phil Knight of course) has the University of Oregon at a level the program has never been. After winning back-to-back Pac-10 titles, along with an appearance in last year's National Championship Game, the Ducks are the team to beat in the league in 2011. The offense is loaded, led by quarterback Darron Thomas running the machine, and Heisman Trophy contender LaMichael James in the backfield. The offensive line and defensive front have a few holes to fill, but able bodies are on the depth chart to fill in. An intriguing match up with LSU in Dallas to start the season will let fans know if this is another title run year or not, and again, the game at Stanford (with the Cardinal having revenge on their mind ) will probably give the winner a spot in the inaugural Pac-12 Championship Game.
Next up I will look at the South Division, which welcomes newcomers Utah and Colorado to what should be a wide-open race.
