The Biggest Hole Each Pac-12 Football Team Must Fix for 2012-13

With the Stanford Cardinal's 41-38 loss to the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the Fiesta Bowl, the Pac-12's 2011-12 season is officially done.

Now that it's over, some teams will see their superstars leaving for the NFL. Others will be left to try to pick up the pieces of failed seasons.

At the end of the day, all the teams in the Pac-12 will have holes to fill, so let's take a look at each school's biggest one.

Arizona Wildcats

Quarterback

Senior quarterback Nick Foles led the Arizona Wildcats (4-8) to the third-best passing offense in nation. He threw for career highs in yards (4,334), touchdowns (28) and completion percentage (69.1 percent).

Without him, they would have been one of the worst teams in college football.

Don't believe me?

The Wildcats had the second-worst pass defense in the country, 110th-ranked total defense, 66th-ranked rush defense and 114th-ranked rush offense. They also ranked 107th in points against.

Just in case you were wondering, all of those rankings were out of 120 teams.

There are a lot of things to fix in Tucson, but if they don't get a quarterback off the bat, expect Rich Rodriguez's debut season coaching in the desert to be a bad one.

Arizona State Sun Devils

Middle Linebacker

Over the past three years, Vontaze Burfict has been a dominant force for the Arizona State Sun Devils (6-7), but now he is leaving for the NFL.

With him, he will take a fire and recklessness that made him one of the most feared players in the conference—qualities that will both help and hurt him on draft day.

His junior season was average by his standards; he recorded 69 tackles and five sacks.

Regardless, the Sun Devils are losing their best player from the past few seasons and will be hard pressed to find a replacement who has the capability to be as dominant as Burfict.

California Golden Bears

Inside Linebacker 

The California Golden Bears have done a very good job of producing NFL-caliber linebackers recently—namely Desmond Bishop of the Green Bay Packers. Well, it's time to add Mychal Kendricks to that list, as the senior will be drafted in the 2012 NFL draft.

His loss will be a huge one for a Cal team that was held together by its defense—the 26th-best in the nation.

Kendricks led that group with 106 tackles, three sacks, two forced fumbles and two interceptions. He also earned multiple All-American honors and was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.

The Bears do have some young talent at the linebacker position, like Chris McCain and David Wilkerson, but they will have huge shoes to fill in 2012.

Colorado Buffaloes

Quarterback

The Colorado Buffaloes (3-10) had a terrible 2011 season, and in order to turn around their program, they need fixes up and down the field. But one position stands out more than others: quarterback.

Senior quarterback Tyler Hansen finished the season with 2,883 passing yards and 20 touchdowns, both career highs. It wasn't a spectacular season, but he did his best given that he had no help around him—especially when wide receiver Paul Richardson went down for four games in the middle of the season.

If Colorado can't find a capable and hopefully better replacement for Hansen, it could be even worse in 2012—just look at how Peyton Manning's absence hurt the Indianapolis Colts in 2011.

Oregon Ducks

Wide Receiver

Fresh off a Rose Bowl victory over the Wisconsin Badgers, the Oregon Ducks (12-2) are riding high.

But Rose Bowl Offensive MVP Lavasier Tuinei is a senior and will not be back for the 2012 season. While he didn't have an amazing season—599 yards and 10 touchdowns—he proved his worth in the Rose Bowl. In the game, he caught two touchdown passes and racked up 158 yards.

He is Oregon's fifth option on offense behind LaMichael James, De'Anthony Thomas, Kenjon Barner and Darron Thomas, but he was the team's best "true" wide receiver in 2011.

His presence will be missed in 2012, and the duo of De'Anthony Thomas and Josh Huff will have to fill the void.

Oregon State Beavers

Running Back

The Oregon State Beavers (3-9) played some of their best football when they had a strong running game, like the one that Jacquizz Rodgers (pictured) brought from 2008-2010.

But in 2011, they ranked 118th out of 120 teams in terms of rushing yards.

The Beavers had a solid passing game, 19th in the nation, but their lack of a balanced attack held them back. Malcolm Agnew led the team in rushing yards with 419 in six games. Last year, Rodgers rushed for 1,184 yards.

The defense needs to improve as well, but that change needs to come as a unit. The running back position is the one sole position that needs to be fixed in Corvallis, Ore. If Agnew can stay healthy in 2012, he could be the answer in the backfield.

Stanford Cardinal

Quarterback

The Stanford Cardinal's (11-2) Andrew Luck is widely regarded as the best college quarterback since John Elway.

Luck finished as the Heisman Trophy runner-up each of the past two seasons and is expected to be the No. 1 overall pick by the Indianapolis Colts in the 2012 NFL draft.

If those aren't enough reasons to believe that the quarterback position is in need of filling for the Cardinal in 2012-13, then here are some stats.

Luck finished the season with 3,170 passing yards, a 167.5 passer rating and a Stanford-record 35 touchdowns.

If the Cardinal don't have a great quarterback waiting in the wings, 2012-13 could be disappointing.

UCLA Bruins

Quarterback

While the UCLA Bruins' (6-8) best player, wide receiver Nelson Rosario, is graduating and leaving for the NFL, his departure will not leave UCLA's biggest hole.

Like many other teams on the list, the Bruins' biggest hole lies at quarterback.

Kevin Prince (picture) will be a senior in 2012, and he has not lived up to the expectations after a fairly solid 2009—he is just too inconsistent and injury prone. Former head coach Rick Neuheisel brought in Nevada's pistol offense for Prince, but it has only worked in one game so far—their victory over Cal.

Richard Brehaut will be a junior, and he hasn't lived up to the hype that followed his commitment to the school in 2009.

The two combined for 2,776 yards, 18 touchdowns and nine interceptions last season.

The team was embarrassed by USC, getting beat 50-0, and is in desperate need of a quarterback to turn the program around. Will it be Prince, Brehaut or redshirt freshman Brett Hundley who can do it? No one knows, but Bruin fans will be happy if any of them can step up.

USC Trojans

Left Tackle

The USC Trojans (10-2) had a very young and inexperienced offensive line in the 2011 season. 

With the exception of Matt Kalil.

Kalil is the best left tackle in the college game, and now he is leaving Southern California a year early to play in the NFL.

He provided a great pocket for quarterback Matt Barkley and gave him the time to make amazing passes in almost each and every game. Barkley was only sacked eight times in 12 games.

USC is expected to be a great team in 2012-13 and possibly play for the national championship. However, in order to do so, the Trojans will need a solid left guard to give Barkley the time to get them there.

Utah Utes

Quarterback

When Utah Utes (8-5) quarterback Jordan Wynn (pictured) went down with an injury to his left shoulder in the fourth game of the 2011 season, Utes fans knew the season would not be the one they had hoped for.

The Utes did manage to finish three games above .500 with a win over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the Sun Bowl, but the year wasn't pretty.

Backup John Hays came in at quarterback and put the team at 99th in the country in terms of passing yards and only threw 12 touchdowns.

If Utah wants to have any shot at winning the Pac-12 South, it will need Wynn to return at full strength in 2012. Not only that, the Utes will need a full season from him because they will only go as far as he can take them.

Washington Huskies

Inside Linebacker

The Washington Huskies (7-6) had a bad defense in 2011.

They ranked 107th in total defense.

But amid that bad defense, the Huskies has inside linebacker Cort Dennison, the Pac-12's leading tackler with 128 tackles—an average of 9.8 tackles per game.

Dennison also had one sack, one forced fumble and one interception. He also earned All-Pac-12 second-team honors.

Without his production for the Washington defense, its bad numbers could take a turn for the worse in 2012.

Washington State Cougars

Defensive End

2011 wasn't an easy year for the Washington State Cougars (4-8).

They did boast the ninth-ranked passing offense thanks to quarterback Marshall Lobbestael, but he is a senior and won't be back for 2012. However, the hiring of Mike Leach as the new head coach of the Cougars should help with that—and after all, Connor Halliday and Jeff Tuel aren't stiffs. The Cougars running game needs quite a bit of work after finishing 111th in the nation.

But it's the defensive line that needs the most fixing.

The defense finished 82nd in the nation and 95rd in points given up (31.8). It only had 17 sacks on the season and finished 93rd in the nation. Outside of Travis Long (pictured), rarely any Cougars reached the opposing quarterback.

Either Long or someone else needs to step up and apply pressure to opposing quarterbacks. Once that happens, they will become more prone to make mistakes and help the terrible 85th-ranked Washington State turnover margin of minus-.33.