A quick look at the rest of the conference

Look, I need to get stuff done quickly. So here’s a look at the rest of the conference, instead of individually.

Arizona Preview: Nick Foles is a funny one; he completes a ton of passes but only has a 6.08 yards per attempt. So the short passing game is where he works his best. He’ll find Juron Criner as his #1 option, who’s a 6-4 beast who caught 9 touchdowns a year ago. They don’t have a solid #2 though. Nic Grigsby and Keola Antolin both ran for over 500 yards last year, and both are very good tail backs. The O-Line had 3 returning starters, and has Adam Grant who is a very good LT and a 2nd team Pac-10 performer last year. The defense looks to be a mess. No linebackers back from a rush defense that wasn’t really that good last year. No interior defensive linemen. Only 2 DE who both are pass rushers, not run stuffers. So look for the run game. The pass defense is good, with the 2 corners starting last year; albeit one at safety. Freshman Marquis Flowers will have a lot of pressure on him to perform at free safety.


Arizona State Preview: The offense is a disaster. Steven Threet, he of 3 colleges, is the starter at QB. He completed 51% of his passes at Michigan and only averaged 5.53 yards per attempt. He’s not so good, or at least wasn’t at UM. Cameron Marshall returns, who played solidly against Cal last year. He averaged 4.4 yards per rush last year in limited time. Time will tell how he holds up over the whole year. Kerry Taylor is okay, at least as a #3 receiver. He’s the #1. Only 23 catches last year for more yards than #2’s Gerell Robinson 26 catches. Other than that, the cupboard is bare at WR. The O-Line loses both tackles, but returns a solid building block in Garth Gerhart. They’ll be serviceable. The Front 7 is absolutely beastly. Lawrence Guy is one of the best DT’s in the country, and the 2 other returning starters on the D-line are no slouch either. Shelly Lyons and Brandon Magee are both pretty good on the outside, no neither is a returning start. But Vontaze Burfict is one of the best linebackers in the conference. The Pac-10 FPOY, Burfict is an absolute man who recorded 69 tackles last year. Look for more this year. Omar Bolden is a solid corner who has 21 career starts, and Deveron Carr received valuable playing time a year ago with 3 starts. The 2 safeties have a combined 7 starts, so the back line is suspect.

Oregon Preview: Darron Thomas won the starting job, and he’ll be one of the best in conference if he can live up to his talent. While he struggled when pressed into duty as a true frosh, Thomas has all the tools and is really smooth with the ball. His passing is a question mark. He can throw to one of the conference’s best, Jeff Maehl, who really stepped up at the end of the year. If he can retain his form look out. DJ Davis and Lavasier Tuinei all are returning starters, and only should get better. LaMichael James, Kenjon Barner, and Lache Seastrunk are all starting-caliber, with “The Michael” being the best of the 3. 6.7 yards per rush and 14 TD is insane. And his line returns all 5 starters. Unless Thomas is Joe Ayoob, Oregon is fine. The D-Line has two studs, pass-rusher Kenny Rowe and run stuffing Brandon Bair, and two question marks, DE Terrell Turner and DT Zac Clark. The Back 7 is terrific too. Paysinger and Matthews are both terrific, and Littlejohn is supposed to be a really good JC recruit. They have plenty of depth there are. The DBs are ridiculous; Cliff Harris and Talmadge Jackson are both great corners, and Eddie Pleasant and John Boyett are just as good of DB’s.

Oregon State Preview: Ryan Katz is a question mark, sure, but he looked decent in limited time last year. They only need him to be serviceable. Jacquizz Rodgers, 1440 yards and 21 TD last year, will run behind 4 returning starters. He’s a beast, and only a junior. James Rodgers had 1034 yards receiving last year; the Rodgers’ just make the offense good. The D-Line returns 3 starters, and Stephen Paea is the best DT in the Pac-10. No run game allowed. The LB’s are a question mark, but Mike Riley has shown time and time again he can come up with a LB from anywhere. With 3 starters back on the secondary, passing should be a chore.

USC Preview: I’ll do this one quick; after all, no postseason right? Matt Barkley’s a bit overrated but he still okay. He throws too many picks (14) and he doesn’t have as many weapons this year; Ronald Johnson is the only receiver with pretty much any sense of experience with Brice Butler coming in behind him. Marc Tyler is hurt every time he’s on the field, but he was a very highly touted out of high school. Only 2 O-Linemen return, so that could be trouble; or not, considering their endless supply of highly touted linemen. Their D-Lineis very good; Nick Perry and Jurell Casey are both beasts. Devon Kennard is an absolute man child, and Malcolm Smith and Michael Morgan are both very good. No returning starters in the DBs, although Shareece Wright was one before he was suspended before the season started.

UCLA Preview: Kevin Prince doesn’t inspire much emotion either way, which is a good thing or a bad one. Hey, he’s not Kevin Craft! They have a nice little staple of backs, with Franklin and Coleman being very good. They have 4 returning starters on the O-Line, and they have the 5th who started before an injury last year. Embree and Rosario both posted solid numbers last year, and Rosario is a legit deep threat. The Front 7 is talented but young and inexperienced, but Akeem Ayers is a beast. The defensive backs are top-notch, including ball-hawk Rahim Moore. Tony Dye is good too.

Washington Preview: Jake Locker is good, but he’s not OMG TOP PLAYER IN THE NATION good. He could take a step forward to be the best QB in conference, or he could stay the same and just be okay. He’s backed by 2 great receivers in James Johnson and Jermaine Kearse. He also has a very good and fast tailback in Chris Polk. The O-Line has 3 returning starters. The defensive backs are very good, with a shutdown corner in Desmond Trufant and two solid safeties. Mason Foster is also a terrific linebacker.

Washington State Preview: Jeff Tuel played well against Cal, even if I didn’t see it. He’s an improvement over past years, at the very least. James Montgomery is a Cal transfer who has plenty of talent; can he live up to it? The O-Line has 4 returning starters but is shaky, and the wide receivers inspire no confidence. Alex Hoffman Ellis and Chima Nwachukwu are anchors for a defense that is improving; with baby steps.

Stanfurd Preview: Andrew Luck grades out well, but not as great as everybody think. His YPA and INTs are good, but he didn’t really throw that many TD’s and with a RB to distract the D he could only manage a 56.2% completion rate. That’s good, but certainly not even a 1st rounder. But OMG TOOLS. Nobody knows anything about Stepfan Taylor or Jeremy Stewart; neither is Toby Gerhart. Chris Owusu is fast but has the dropsies, and Ryan Whalen is a big play threat. He’s pretty good. The O-Line does lose a key starter, but 4 return from a very very good unit. The defense has a questionable secondary; they do return 3 starters but none of them was really that good last year. Shayne Skov and Sione Fua are good as is Thomas Keiser, but the other 4 up there aren’t all that impressive and they were gashed by Cal’s and others run games.