FAVORITE TEAMS

The Pac-12 failed to make a playoff run again and the closest team was Washington State (which lost in the Apple Cup to Washington). Chip Kelly is working in new and young players of UCLA, so he has an excuse. USC has none after being ranked 15th in the preseason poll, but they fell short of a win for bowl-eligibility with 3 weeks remaining. Colorado started 5-0 and also had a bowl-eligible opportunity, but USC exploited them and the loss of receiver Laviska Shenault for a few weeks hurt their production overall and lost the last 7 games. Oregon State has no explanation except finishing last overall in the conference. California had a decent season that was carried mostly by their defense. Arizona was in contention for the South division for a week before losing the last two weeks without bowl-eligibility. Their rival Arizona State (led by coach Herman Edwards) had a surprising run and finished 2nd behind Utah in the South division. The Utes took advantage of a poor division and won the division. Oregon had a chance in the North but unfortunate losses to Stanford, Washington State, Arizona, and Utah derailed them. Stanford’s running back Bryce Love goes as the team goes, but without him 100% healthy, the team couldn’t defeat Utah and the state of Washington to win the Pac-12. Washington wasn’t consistent and failed to make the playoffs, but they did win the Apple Cup and the Pac-12 conference championship.

Arizona’s season was undulating. They had some close and bad losses along with some games they should’ve won, including giving up an 18 point lead in the 4th quarter to Arizona State. They also had some close wins and one big win against Oregon to compete for the South division. They defeated bowl-bound California and were one of the seven teams to prevent Colorado from a 6th win. Quarterback Khalil Tate tried focusing more on pass first, run second. Throwing for 2,530 was about 1,000 more passing yards than his 2017 season’s total. He also played less than 100% healthy and that affected the team overall. Arizona had opportunities like USC and Colorado to go bowling, but they failed the last two games of the season.

Justin Herbert’s health was key to Oregon’s season. He led the team to 9 wins, an upset over Washington, and a crucial (yet ugly) bowl win over Michigan State. However, losing in overtime to Stanford after leading 24-7 at halftime, getting destroyed by a subpar Arizona team by 29 points, and losing to a new Utah quarterback showed that Oregon isn’t conference title ready. But a little more improvement in a few areas can have Oregon ready for that challenge in 2019.