Offense.
Quarterback Gary Rogers returns (5th year) and while he has a nice arm, his ability to stay in the spread offense is a concern- he's not very mobile. Alex Brink had a lot of experience and with his departure, the Cougs will have to be patient.
RB Dwight Tardy returns, but is coming off an ACL injury. Chris Ivory is a more breakaway threat, and if Tardy isn't 100%, Ivory will see more carries.
The receivers unit lost a big name in Michael Bumpus, as well as TE Jed Collins and Charles Dillon, but All-American Brandon Gibson, after flirting with the NFL, has decided to return. The unit looks very inexperienced, and could be a major concern.
The line looks a lot more promising, with nine of the top ten back. They lost LG Bobby Byrd, a 4-year starter, but that's it. Their experience could give Rogers some more time to work his magic in the pocket.
Defense.
The D has always been the Cougs' biggest problem, and this year is no different. The line has been consistently man-handled and the secondary was marginal at best last year.
The line has two starters returning, A'i Ahmu, a RT who specializes against the run, and DE Andy Mattingly. They lost four linemen, and Wulff raided some JUCOs to give the line some more depth.
The linebacking unit has more experience, with Greg Trent, Corey Evans and Kendrick Dunn all returning. The problem is depth- if one of them goes down with injury, the alternatives do not look good.
The secondary can only be described as this: the top tackler on the entire team was FS Husain Abdullah, and he's gone. They return a CB (Alfonso Jackson) and a SS (Chima Nwachukwu), and that's it. Look for this unit to get a lot of action, as everyone will be throwing on the Cougs.
Outlook.
A new coach, new offense and lingering defensive issues will not give the Cougs' opponents any reason to fear them. It's rebuilding time. They open against Oklahoma State, a guaranteed loss, then host Cal before traveling to Texas and playing Baylor, a possible win.
After a Portland State win, the Cougs host Oregon, then play at UCLA, at Oregon State, host USC, then go to Palo Alto to play Stanford, a possible win, Arizona, at Arizona State then host Washington for the Apple Cup and close out their season at Hawaii. A three-win season is not unrealistic, and a five-win season would be a huge confidence-builder going into 2009.
10. Stanford
Last year the Cardinal went 4-8, including that historic upset against USC. This year, they will not be surprising anyone. While the Cardinal return the most players in the Pac-10, most of these players aren't the same caliber as their counterparts in the Pac-10. The question is, can second-year coach Jim Harbaugh get them to over-achieve again?
Offense.
Tavita Pritchard will be in a battle for the starting spot against Michigan transfer Jason Forcier and sophomore Alex Loukas. This is the real bright spot for the Cardinal-depth at the quarterback position.
The wide receiver corp suffered a major loss with both Mark Bradford and Evan Moore gone. Richard Sherman and Doug Baldwin look to be the projected starters, but Bradford was fourth on the Cardinal's all time reception yards, so there could be a huge drop-off this year.
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