Pac-12 Football: Predicting the All-Conference 1st Team
With just one week remaining in the Pac-12 regular season, the all-conference teams are not only taking shape, but the majority of the spots are set in stone.
Arguably the second-best conference in college football, the Pac-12 will not only boast one of the strongest all-league teams, but many of the players will be up for and likely win postseason awards.
One such player, whom you might be able to guess, has a decent chance to bring the Heisman Trophy back out to the West Coast.
The offensive stars in this conference have become household names, but several young players on defense will threaten to reshape the league's identity in the years to come. All will be featured in the following slides, which lay out our projections of the Pac-12 All-Conference First Team.
All stats via CFBStats.com. The Pac-12 puts out an all-conference team that features two RBs and two WRs on offense, so we'll do the same with the projections. As for the defense, while there are many deserving candidates in the front seven, we're sticking with three DL and four LBs.
Quarterback
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Marcus Mariota, Oregon
Despite an impressive surge from USC quarterback Cody Kessler, the Pac-12's all-conference quarterback will be Oregon's Marcus Mariota. You could bet the fate of the world on this one.
By now you've seen him play, read the stories and know what the Ducks' junior is all about. Simply put, he's in the conversation for best conference player of all time, and he'll go down as one of the best to ever put on a uniform at the college level. Sound like hyperbole?
Via Oregon's senior associate athletic director Craig Pintens, Mariota is the only player in FBS history to have at least 30 touchdown passes as a freshman, sophomore and junior. This season, he's thrown 32 touchdown passes and two interceptions. He has nine rushing touchdowns and one receiving as well.
He's the most dynamic quarterback in college football, and while he's missing the hardware of guys like Matt Leinart, it could be a while before we see another signal-caller as impressive as Mariota in the Pac-12.
Running Backs
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Javorius Allen, USC
Paul Perkins, UCLA
USC's Javorius Allen enters the final week of the season with 1,244 yards and nine touchdowns, averaging just over 113 rushing yards per contest. UCLA's Paul Perkins has 1,265 yards with seven touchdowns and is averaging 115 yards per game.
Then there's Utah's Devontae Booker, who's racked up 1,255 yards with eight scores all while averaging 114 yards per game. So with three nearly identical stat lines, which backs get the nod?
A big game on the final weekend could push one or two guys ahead of the other, but we're going with Allen and Perkins for a couple reasons. Allen started out the season on fire and had his best performance in a game at Arizona, running for over 200 yards and three scores in the win.
Perkins, meanwhile, has been the quiet but steady back with only four 100-yard performances but not a single outing with fewer than 78 yards on the ground. He's one of the main reasons UCLA has stayed in the conference title hunt.
Both Allen and Perkins have a slightly better yards-per-carry mark, and with almost everything being equal, that has to be taken into consideration.
The one wild card might be Oregon's Royce Freeman, who's just over the 1,000-yard mark but has 16 touchdowns.
And then there's Booker, the heart and soul of the Utes offense. This one is a toss-up, but we're projecting the two Los Angeles guys will get the nod in the end.
Wide Receivers
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Vince Mayle, Washington State
Nelson Agholor, USC
Washington State wide receiver Vince Mayle is the obvious choice for the first spot on the Pac-12 All-Conference team. He's second in the country with over 1,400 yards receiving, and he also has nine touchdown grabs.
In addition, he's tied for the most catches in the country with 101, and despite playing for a woeful Cougars squad, Mayle has been largely unstoppable.
The second spot comes down to a debate between Nelson Agholor, Nelson Spruce and Jaelen Strong. As great as Strong has been, he has fewer catches, yards and touchdowns than either Spruce or Agholor, so whether you like it or not, he's being removed from consideration.
The only real difference between Spruce and Agholor is the fact that the USC star has had more of an impact in victories, while the Buffs' sophomore has been a part of just two wins. Agholor is more dynamic as well, and if you're drafting receivers to start a team, he probably gets picked before Spruce.
It may not be perfect logic, and Spruce certainly has a chance to jump into one of the two all-conference slots with a big performance against Utah, but throughout the season, Mayle and Agholor have been the best pass-catchers in the Pac-12.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Tight End
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Pharaoh Brown, Oregon
Oregon tight end Pharaoh Brown won't play another down this season due to an injury suffered against Utah, but he'll still get the nod for all-conference tight end barring monster performances from either Connor Hamlett or Austin Hooper on the final weekend of the regular season.
Brown has 420 yards receiving with six touchdowns on the season, and his improved play following the loss to Arizona was one of the more overlooked reasons for the Ducks being able to bounce back and beat teams like UCLA, Stanford and Utah.
Hooper, who has come on strong recently for the Cardinal, has 377 yards receiving but just two scores. Hamlett, one of the main weapons for Sean Mannion and the Oregon State offense, also has two scores but just 331 yards through the air.
Given Brown's ability to find the end zone time and time again during a key stretch for the Ducks, he'll likely be the all-conference tight end when the first team is announced.
Offensive Line
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C Hroniss Grasu, Oregon
T Jeremiah Poutasi, Utah
T Jake Fisher, Oregon
G Christian Westerman, Arizona State
G Aundrey Walker, USC
The offensive line is and will continue to be the most difficult unit to judge when selecting the all-conference team because much of a player's body of work throughout the season is found beyond the box score.
In fact, other than catching an occasional deflection or making a tackle following a pick, nothing an offensive lineman does can be measured by numbers on a stat sheet.
Part of the formula in coming up with the all-conference offensive line is looking at it from a pure talent perspective. Who would you want blocking for Marcus Mariota, Buck Allen and Paul Perkins?
But an even bigger portion of the evaluation goes to how each player has performed this season, and what he's meant to his team.
Without center Hroniss Grasu, Oregon would have crumbled behind an otherwise injury-plagued offensive line. We saw what the offense looked like without tackle Jake Fisher, and we've now seen the Ducks shred every kind of defense with him.
Utah's Jeremiah Poutasi is perhaps the biggest reason for the success of running back Devontae Booker, and he's the player you think of when envisioning the Utes' physical identity on offense.
Guards Christian Westerman and Aundrey Walker both fit the pure talent portion more than the on-field performance section.
Westerman has helped paved the way for a solid Sun Devils attack, and the Trojans offense has looked a step faster than everyone since Walker's return in late September—the Utah and UCLA games notwithstanding.
Defensive Line
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DE Nate Orchard, Utah
DT Danny Shelton, Washington
DE Leonard Williams, USC
On the defensive line of the all-conference team, you'll find two players who are not only physically imposing but routinely fill the stat sheet, and one who might just be the most impressive defensive talent in the game.
The former category is made up of Utah's Nate Orchard and Washington's Danny Shelton. Orchard is tied with a player on the following slide for the national lead in sacks with 17.5. The leader in 2013 was Trent Murphy with 15, so that should give you an idea of how impressive that total is with one game remaining.
Shelton has a slightly more modest 8.5 sacks, although considering he plays the tackle position—which is often double-teamed—it's extremely impressive. Add in Shelton being second on the Huskies with 85 tackles, and you can understand why he's an obvious pick here.
The final player is USC's Leonard Williams, an absolute beast at defensive end with six sacks on the season and 66 total tackles. Given that he's the one player offenses have to account for, it's remarkable he's been so effective, and he'll likely become a top-five NFL draft pick in 2015.
Linebackers
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Eric Kendricks, UCLA
Scooby Wright III, Arizona
Hau'oli Kikaha, Washington
Shaq Thompson, Washington
Despite having a number of linebackers to choose from for the Pac-12 All-Conference team, the four selected are fairly obvious entering the final week of the regular season.
Let's start with the leader of the UCLA defense, Eric Kendricks, who boasts 124 tackles on the season and leads the nation with 89 solo tackles. He's an instinctive, aggressive player who always makes the right play.
Jump one state east to Arizona and you'll find Scooby Wright III, a sophomore for the Wildcats who's been as dominant as any player in the game.
Aside from his massive strip of Oregon's Marcus Mariota to seal a victory over the Ducks, Wright has 127 tackles and averages nearly 12 per game. Playing linebacker hasn't stopped him from piling up sacks, either, and he has 12 of them.
Back to the North Division, we head to Seattle for a pair of Huskies that makes up the other half of the quartet.
Hau'oli Kikaha, who often lines up at defensive end, shares the national lead in sacks with Nate Orchard at 17.5. He has 23.5 tackles for loss in total, including a whopping 4.5 in a win at Cal.
Shaq Thompson falls woefully behind the other three picks in terms of stats, but he's arguably the best athlete in the league and has still made 65 tackles despite playing a fair amount of time at running back. The highlight of his resume is four defensive touchdowns.
Secondary
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CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, Oregon
S Damarious Randall, Arizona State
S Su'a Cravens, USC (plays mostly at LB)
CB Alex Carter, Stanford
There aren't a whole lot of positives you can throw around regarding Pac-12 secondaries in 2014. Stanford ranks 10th in the nation in passing yards allowed at just under 180 per contest. Aside from the Cardinal, not a single defense ranks in the top 85.
Still, you can't have an all-conference team without a secondary, and there are some very talented players vying for the four spots.
Given that so few corners have played well, Oregon senior Ifo Ekpre-Olomu gets the nod at one spot despite what you might call an underwhelming season. Aside from a few plays here and there, however, he's been pretty solid.
Opposite Ekpre-Olomu we're putting one of the two players with the honor of having intercepted Marcus Mariota in 2014, and that's Stanford's Alex Carter. Because he's part of the only secondary in the Pac-12 with any semblance of a pass defense, his selection is all the more deserved.
At safety, we'll start with Arizona State's Damarious Randall, a surefire all-conference selection with 95 tackles, three interceptions, 8.5 tackles for loss and eight pass breakups.
The other safety spot goes to a player who's mostly a linebacker, but we had to find a way to fit him in.
That would be USC's Su'a Cravens, a relentless defender with two picks, five sacks and 15 tackles for loss. If a big play is made on the Trojans defense, it's usually the result of something Cravens did.
Special Teams
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P Tom Hackett, Utah
K Andy Phillips, Utah
PR Kaelin Clay, Utah
KR Adoree' Jackson, USC
The special teams once again belong mostly to Utah, and it's a simple numbers game for the most part.
Punter Tom Hackett ranks third nationally with 46.52 yards per boot. In fourth place? Arizona's Drew Riggleman at 46.49 yards per punt. Aside from that insubstantial difference, Hackett has 20 more punts, so he gets the nod.
At kicker, it's a tight race between Andy Phillips and Washington's Cameron Van Winkle. Van Winkle has just three field-goal misses to Phillips' four, though he has two missed extra points and Phillips has none.
Then there's the fact that Van Winkle has just five field goals beyond 40 yards, while Phillips has 11. Edge: Utah once again.
Kaelin Clay is yet another obvious selection from the Utes at punt returner given that he not only has the highest return average of anyone in the Pac-12 at 17.68 yards per return, he also has three touchdowns in the category, tops in the nation.
Finally, a non-Ute gets the nod at kick returner, and it's USC's Adoree' Jackson. He's returned 20 kicks for an average of nearly 30 yards per return, and he also has a touchdown.
Cal's Trevor Davis does have two touchdowns, but his 10 returns isn't a large enough total to list him as the better overall returner.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
