What to Expect at Pac 12 Media Days 2012

With Pac-12 media day taking place on July 24th, there are certain things we can all expect to take place.

If a team has lost a star player, you can guarantee that they will be asked about how they will replace such a wonderful player. If there is a suspended player on a certain team, I promise you his name will be mentioned—as the media will want to know when he is coming back.

For the most part, the media is extremely predictable and asks the majority of the questions that everyone expects to touch on.

Here are some of the things you can expect during Pac-12 media day.

USC and Oregon to Be Overwhelming Favorites to Win Their Division

One of the things that takes place on media day is the media get a chance to submit their predictions for how the conference will play out. This is how the SEC played out, and the Pac-12 should be extremely similar (SEC Digital Network).

Expect to see the majority pick both Oregon and USC to win their respective divisions. Of course, you will get a few media members that feel the need to be different and will pick a team such as Utah, but I say no more than five first-place votes go to any team besides Oregon and USC.

This conference isn't really that deep, and the top two teams are really that much better than the rest.

Everyone to Drool over USC

USC is without question one of the favorites to win not only the conference, but the national championship as well. The Trojans return a total of 17 starters. They have arguably the best quarterback in the country and one of the deepest wide receiver corps you will ever find at the collegiate level.

Things are looking great if you are a USC fan.

Not to mention, Lane Kiffin decided to bring in quarterback Matt Barkley, which will draw tons of media attention their way. There are other interesting story lines in college football, but this USC team really seems too good to be true.

New Coaches

One of the most interesting things about the Pac-12 this season is the bunch of new coaches that have decided to head west. There will be a total of four new coaches in the conference this season, and they all have something exciting to bring to the table.

Mike Leach is of course one of the brightest offensive minds this game has seen, as he tries to snap a Washington State bowl drought that dates back to 2003.

Rich Rodriguez is pretty much in the same boat at Arizona—he will try and make up for a horrible stint at Michigan. Jim Mora will begin his first year as a college coach ever at UCLA, and Todd Graham will try and prove he can win with more talent at Arizona State.

This will be the first chance most of the media gets to see these new coaches in the Pac-12, which should be pretty exciting.

Andrew Luck's Name Will Be Mentioned at Least 10 Times

Stanford is still trying to put quarterback Andrew Luck in the past, but until the school decides on a starter in 2012, his name will continue to pop up. He was one of the more talented quarterbacks we have seen in a very long time, and he is one of the key reasons that Stanford football had become as big as it did the last couple of seasons.

Head coach David Shaw will have to answer at least five questions that somehow relate to the quarterback position, and you will hear Luck's name probably a little bit more than you would like.

Injury Updates

With the season about four weeks away from kicking off, there are many players that are still banged up and we are not sure if they will be ready to play the season opener. Many of these players include USC Trojans Robert Woods, Arizona State's Brandon Magee, Utah Jordan Wynn and Oregon's Carson York.

All of those players will play a key role in their team's success in 2012, and it would be nice to hear some positive news about their recoveries.

Playoffs?

If we learned anything from the SEC media days, it's that each and every coach will receive a question about the college football playoffs.

Even though the new format doesn't begin until 2014 and most of the teams in the Pac-12 will likely never dream of being a top-four team in the country, the media will still like that certain coaches opinion.

He may even have to answer multiple playoff questions just for good measure.