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Pac 12: The Most Competitive Conference in College Football

Although some fans may claim that the SEC is at the top of the nation’s elite, the Pac 12 is, and will continue to serve as, college football’s most dominant conference. To begin, let us return to the finish of last year’s season. On January 7th, 2014, the Pac 12 finished its bowl season with an impressive 6-3 record. Their average margin of victory was over 21 points, and two of their three losses were by less than a touchdown. They had 5 teams finish the season with ten or more wins, and the Pac 12 also tied for having the fewest bowl-ineligible teams, with three.

Headliners
Skip ahead to the coming autumn, as the country nears another exhilarating season of college football. Expectations are high for the Pac 12, and in particular for the top three west coast powerhouses: Oregon, Stanford, and UCLA, all of whom are expected to be in the AP preseason top 12. With each of these teams coming off impressive seasons, and managing primarily minor personnel losses, they are all looking to return to the turf this year with a more-experienced team. The conference also hopes to showcase its talent with their top returning dual-threat quarterbacks: Marcus Mariota of Oregon and UCLA’s Brett Hundley. Both players are returning for their third season, with each of them possessing the skill to make a run for this year’s Heisman trophy. With the aforementioned players, plus Oregon State’s Sean Mannion, Arizona State’s Taylor Kelly, Kevin Hogan of Stanford, and five other Pac 12 QB’s returning, the Pac 12 has the greatest group of quarterbacks in FBS football.

Besides the teams already mentioned, the other prominent Pac 12 powers are looking forward to compete in their division and play for the conference title. These teams are Arizona State, USC, and Washington. Although these teams still have questions to answer, with new coaches at USC and Washington, and moderate losses for ASU on the defensive side, they all are looking to come to the turf this year to control conference play.

Role-Players
What makes the Pac 12 the strongest conference isn’t necessarily their frontrunners, but the lack of disparity between the top and the bottom. With Utah, Oregon State, Arizona and Washington rounding out the contenders for this season, they ensure that there are no guaranteed wins during conference play. With these four teams continuing to prove they are able to play in December, they are just as essential to the PAC-12 as the top three. They are responsible for providing the beef for the toughest schedules in college football season in and season out- a unique quality that separates this conference above and beyond the ACC, Big Ten, and the Big 12.

Off the Field Playmakers

That leaves one other conference on par with the Pac 12, and that’s the SEC. Although I believe the conference depth, talent and overall potential are stronger this year within the Pac, for the sake let us say that all of these factors are even. The final aspect that places the Pac 12 ahead of the SEC is their coaching and upper-administration. Weak out-of-conference play has been a rising issue in college football. The Pac 12’s schedule this season features games against Michigan, Michigan State, Texas, and Notre Dame. Another important aspect is their ability to provide the outstanding results the Pac 12 puts out every year. These results are directly related to the efforts placed off the field. They are able to prepare themselves each season by recruiting and transforming players in order to not only play, but to achieve at the collegiate level. With coaches like David Shaw, Chris Peterson, Jim Mora Jr., Mike Leach, and Todd Graham, the Pac 12’s has never been better upholding that responsibility. They have done the best job in establishing their programs so that they can compete, which we will see, come late August.

 

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