College sports are unlike any other in the athletic world. There are 130 FBS teams competing for one championship. A large portion of teams don’t even crack the Top 25. Therefore, many teams have a different scale than others when it comes to setting up goals for the year. They can vary from winning the national championship to simply finishing in the top half of the division. With that in mind, I decided to determine what these goals might look like in the Pac-12 and assign one to each team.
Washington State: Beat Washington
When Luke Falk graduated and headed to the NFL, the QB position in Pullman was a big question mark. In Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense, it was a necessity that they found a suitable replacement. With the arrival of graduate transfer Gardner Minshew, the Cougars found their man for at least one year.
Minshew threw for 4,779 yards and 38 touchdowns this past season. The Cougars went into the final game of the regular season against the Washington Huskies ranked eighth in the country. The winner would move to the Pac-12 title game. They fell to the Huskies, 28-15, which marked their sixth straight loss to Washington. This loss likely caused the Cougars to miss out on a New Year’s Six bowl, and potentially even a bid for the College Football Playoff. The Cougars wound up finishing 11-2 after defeating Iowa State in the Alamo Bowl.
This year, the QB carousel will begin again, but Mike Leach should be trusted to figure it out. As the Pac-12 begins to regain momentum as a prominent conference, Washington State won’t likely be at the front of the pack. However, they can focus on ending the losing streak in the Apple Cup, which has a major impact on recruiting within the state of Washington.
Washington: Win 10 games
The Huskies are the defending Pac-12 champions and are hoping to repeat. This team looks entirely new, with 13 starters leaving the team from last year, but there is plenty of star power to replace those who moved on. Jacob Eason, a 6-foot-6, 230-pound transfer from Georgia, is likely to take over the reins at QB. He’ll have a ton of protection, with the Huskies returning nearly all of the offensive line, but question marks at receiver and running back will plague the team most of the season.
The Huskies are trying to win 10 games for the third straight year and this will be the toughest year from a chemistry standpoint to build a team. Head Coach Chris Petersen will have his work cut out for him, but this feels like an achievable goal if all goes right in Seattle.
Oregon: Put Justin Herbert in a position to win the Heisman
The Oregon Ducks are back! Kind of. The Ducks are boasting an exciting team for the upcoming season. The Ducks averaged 35 points a game last year and they should look to improve on that with the addition of graduate transfer Juwan Johnson.
The best part of this Oregon Ducks team is senior QB Justin Herbert, who passed on declaring for the NFL draft this past year. His success or failure this year will likely mirror the team’s, and that’s why this is a perfect goal for them to achieve. Herbert winning the Heisman likely means the Ducks won 9 or more games, and some of them hopefully came against some fierce competition. Don’t expect a national championship this year (cold take alert), but Oregon football will certainly be fun to watch.
Utah: Meet Expectations
This may seem demeaning to the Utes, but it shouldn’t be. They are the favorites to win the Pac-12, in a poll done by the Pac-12 media members. The Utes narrowly missed out on this opportunity last year, when they fell 10-3 to Washington in the title game. Injuries likely played a role in the Utes disappointing end the last season. Starting QB Tyler Huntley and RB Zach Moss both missed five games in 2018.
The defense is where Utah makes their money, as they ranked No. 1 against the run and No. 2 overall. They return a lot of their big playmakers on that side of the ball.
The Utes are favored for this year, a spot they haven’t found themselves in before. Meeting expectations means winning the Pac-12 and a spot in the New Years Six bowl. Utah is a very attractive pick for a dark horse in the national championship and it should make for an exciting season.
Oregon State: Win 3 games
Not gonna lie, this a stark contrast from the first five goals made in the Pac-12, but Oregon State is not good at football. CBS Sports has them projected to win 2.5 games this year and they are going to have a tough time completing that task.
Here’s a list of actual scores from their games last year.
48-17
55-15
49-7
56-37
77-31
This may sound like a pretty complex concept, but you can’t win games if you are consistently allowing 45+ points a game. Oregon State has a passable offense, but they won’t be competitive in games if they can’t find actual college-level talent to play for their defense.
USC: Regain a stable/winning culture
This isn’t a bad football team. The WR group may be one of the best in the country. However, they must find stability at QB and RB if they are going to stand a chance against some of the better teams in the conference. We can’t judge the USC defense until it is completely healthy, but they were subpar at best last year.
This will be the first year since 2001 that USC will be unranked in AP’s preseason poll. The Trojans started ranked #15 last year before a poor season in which they finished 5-7. Head coach Clay Helton has his work cut out for him. It’s hard to believe the Trojans secured a Rose Bowl victory just three years ago. It is a pivotal year in Santa Clara, and if Helton can’t get his guys under control, he could be on his way out before the season ends.
UCLA: Have an above .500 record in conference play
Speaking of teams holding on to past glory, UCLA is next up on the list. They would’ve had the worst defense in the Pac-12 but, thanks to Oregon State’s historically bad season (see above), they ranked second to last. There are pieces in place for this team to see a bowl game this year. They’ll likely ride senior RB Joshua Kelley after he had a few breakout performances last year for the Bruins.
Team success is contingent on how well they can fare in conference play. They are going on the road to play Washington State, Utah, and Arizona, but there are plenty of winnable games on their schedule.
Arizona: Get Khalil Tate Comfortable
The Wildcats deserve some type of break, due to an injury-filled season from Khalil Tate. He is the heart and soul of the team and can make enough plays on his own to keep them in most games. The team was pretty young last year and coupled with the fact that they had a new coach in Kevin Sumlin, their disappointing 5-7 season is excusable.
Khalil Tate is the key to a successful season for the Wildcats. Their schedule is favorable and I can see them starting the season 4-1 if all goes right. Look for an offensive explosion from down in the southwest and a potential dark horse in the Pac-12 South.
Arizona State: Play (and win) a Bowl Game
Herm Edwards is a talented football coach. Even though they lost big-play target N’keal Harry, fans should be optimistic that they can recover. There will be a QB battle leading into the year, with Dillion Sterling-Cole and Jayden Daniels competing for the top spot. Sophomore Eno Benjamin rushed for 1,642 yards last year and 16 TDs and should be the focal point of the offense.
The last time the Sun Devils won a bowl game was 2014. They also haven’t won more than seven games since that time. Seven win seasons don’t draw recruits. But if they are able to string together a couple of victories and find themselves in a chance to win a bowl game, it will be considered a successful season.
California: Find consistency at QB
Cal has one of the best defenses in college football. Their struggles come on the other side of the ball. To make matters worse, they are only returning four players on offense. They turn the ball over far too much when they’ve got it, and that hurts what the defense is able to do.
Jared Goff was the last suitable QB for Cal and, since he left, they’ve struggled to be competitive. The Bears are projected to be right in the middle of the Pac-12 and could potentially make a bowl game appearance. Finding consistency at QB will be a huge step in stealing victories over tough teams in the conference. It appears to be a two man race between Chase Garbers and Devon Modster, but look for Cal to turn over every stone to make sure they have a solid man behind center.
Colorado: Don’t finish last in Pac-12 South
This is another tough goal to make for a team, but this may be the only realistic thing Colorado can shoot for. They have a tough non-conference game against Nebraska, and it only gets tougher in conference play as they have to face Oregon, Utah, and Washington State all on the road.
A key player to look out for on the Buffaloes is Laviska Shenault Jr. He had a career year snagging 86 catches for 1,011 yards. He’ll be catching passes from senior QB Steven Montez, who is 12-15 in his 27 career starts.
Colorado is definitely in a rebuilding stage and is far from contention. A good mission for them is to try their best not to be the worst. That will help build up team morale and help on the recruiting trail as they try to rise up the ranks of the Pac-12 Conference.
Stanford: Win a Bowl Game
Stanford isn’t what they used to be. Back when they had studs like Andrew Luck and Christian McCaffrey, they were threats in the Pac-12. Even their two big playmakers in Bryce Love and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside are on to the NFL.
Stanford isn’t a bad team, they are just stuck in the middle of a suddenly talented conference. Washington, Oregon, Utah, and Washington State are all ranked ahead of them. Stanford is a modest #25 in the country, but their schedule is tough. They face (#23) Washington State on the road as well as (#17) UCF. Their home games aren’t a cakewalk either. They’ll play (#11) Oregon, Northwestern, (#13) Washington, and (#9) Notre Dame.
Quarterback K.J. Costello is talented, but it’s hard to see him taking down even a majority of these teams. They certainly caught a break facing such tough teams in Palo Alto, but it seems like the safe bet will be hoping for another bowl winning season for the Cardinals.