(Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
Who, if anyone, can stop Southern Cal from their eighth straight Pac-10 title?
The Trojans will be replacing Mark Sanchez at quarterback, and a slew of linebackers, but looking at the Pac-10 as a whole, there is still really no team out there that looks to be able to dethrone them.
The best bet as of this moment is California or Oregon, but with both of those teams come significant holes. The Ducks have an offensive line to replace and a backfield that accounted for most of their offense in 2008.
Cal has Jahvid Best coming back at running back, but even the best running backs in conference can not make up for an inconsistent quarterback.
UCLA is still a few years away, and Arizona and Arizona State are losing key players. Finally, the Oregon State Beavers do return running back sensation Jacquizz Rodgers, but they have too many holes in their secondary to contend.
So unless the Trojans have more than one slip up in conference play; they should be on cruise control to their eighth straight Pac-10 title. Which brings me to my next question...
Can USC stay focused enough for the entire Pac-10 season, and not have their usual conference slip-up?
In 2006, it was UCLA; in 2007 it was Stanford; and last season it was Oregon State. All three of those games cost USC a chance to play in the BCS Championship.
In all three of those seasons, there was no doubt that after watching the Trojans play in their Bowl game, that they were one of the teams that should’ve been playing in the title game.
So how does Pete Carroll keep this team focused? It’s a tough task when you have so many four and five-star recruits on your team, but if the Trojans ever want to play in a title game in the near future, they need to stop losing to these inferior teams in conference play.
Carroll needs to keep this team on their toes week in and week out, even with the notion that the Trojans are far and away the best team in the conference, that doesn’t mean a team couldn’t sneak up on them.
If this can be done, we can maybe finally see this team in the Championship game.
Who will be the starting quarterback for a number of teams in the conference?
No longer do we have familiar name such as Mark Sanchez, Rudy Carpenter, or Willie Tuitama as quarterbacks. I can honestly say that every team, sans Washington with Jake Locker, has their quarterback situation in-flux.
The most interesting battle takes place at USC, where incoming freshman Matt Barkley will battle both Aaron Corp and Mitch Mustain for the starting job. Mustain left Arkansas (where he was the starter), for a chance at being the No. 1 QB at USC, but in the end he might never get there.
UCLA returns starter Kevin Craft, but with only a handful of success last season, his job is not safe. Redshirt freshman Kevin Prince looks like he is the No. 1 threat to Craft’s job but there are others including true freshman Richard Brehaut, sophomore Chris Forcier, redshirt freshman Nick Crissman, and senior Osaar Rasshan.
Both Rasshan and Crismann had shoulder issues in the past year.
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