Every Pac-12 Team's Biggest Question Mark Headed into 2016
In many ways, the 2015 season for the Pac-12 was a banner year but one that fell just short in a number of different areas.
Stanford tailback Christian McCaffrey had one of the best seasons ever by a college football player but came up just short for the Heisman Trophy. The league itself was likely the deepest in the country, but it still failed to place a team in the final four of the College Football Playoff. There was so much offense in the conference last year that, well, the end result was a ton of defensive coordinator changes in the offseason.
So now the Pac-12 is regrouping and resetting things for another run at the SEC and looking to hold off the Big Ten when it comes to conference superiority in 2016. While there could be as many as six teams that receive some preseason votes in the polls, there are plenty of question marks everywhere you look in the league as each team prepares to start (or, in some cases, continue) spring practice.
What is the biggest issue that each head coach faces in the middle of February? Here’s a gander at all 12 teams and what their top question mark is, from replacing starting quarterbacks to fixing a defense, it’s no short list to sort through.
Arizona Wildcats
1 of 12
Biggest question: Will the new defense make a huge difference?
A big reason why Rich Rodriguez failed to turn around the ship during his tenure at Michigan was the simple fact that he could never get the defense right. He ran through several coordinators and always seemed frustrated that he was unable to bring his old coaching hand Jeff Casteel with him to Ann Arbor when he first was hired by the Wolverines.
Is a similar scenario starting to play out in Tucson? That remains to be seen, but Rodriguez isn’t wasting any time in making changes after a very disappointing effort in 2015, as the Wildcats slid backward after winning the South Division and reaching a New Year’s Six bowl. Out of a job is Casteel, who was replaced with much fanfare by Boise State’s Marcel Yates in a complete defensive staff overhaul.
This spring practice, which is already underway at Arizona as of last week, is therefore about much more than simple drills and working on technique. It will include an overhaul of the defensive scheme from Casteel’s 3-3-5 to more of a 4-2-5 that Yates runs and be the first time in years that the team is on the field without defensive leader Scooby Wright III directing traffic or being a presence on the sidelines. Will it all make a huge difference when the bullets start firing for real in the fall? Given that the team is a bit undersized in the trenches on defense and needs an overhaul on the back end, it might be too early to say.
Arizona State Sun Devils
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Biggest question: Can head coach Todd Graham fix the defense?
The Sun Devils were among the most disappointing teams in the country last season—perhaps behind only Auburn in this category—and somewhat shockingly went from a preseason playoff contender to a sub-.500 team by the end of the year. The biggest culprit was likely the defense, a hallmark of Todd Graham-coached teams that seemed to give up big play after big play.
Arizona State ranked in the bottom half of the Pac-12 in just about every defensive statistical category save for rushing defense. It was dead last in defending the pass and gave up a whopping 35 touchdowns through the air. While there are plenty of question marks on the offense when it comes to replacing guys like Mike Bercovici at quarterback and D.J. Foster at receiver, the defense has to be Graham’s biggest area of concern this offseason as the team hopes the rebound from their disappointing 2015.
The good news is there are pieces to build around, and another year in the weight room and the film room could do wonders for some key players. Tashon Smallwood will enter his junior year with high expectations, and the linebacking pairing of Christian Sam and Salamo Fiso should continue to be stout against the run again in the fall. Finding answers in the secondary remains the glaring hole in the unit. That’s likely where Graham and some of his new staff members will concentrate on prior to opening camp in August.
California Golden Bears
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Biggest question: Can quarterback Jared Goff be replaced?
The Golden Bears set numerous offensive records in 2015 on their way to a surprising surge to eight wins, a mark that hadn’t been seen around Berkeley in what seems like a decade. The biggest reason they were able to make a bowl game and turn in such a great season is due mostly to their quarterback and future first-round pick Jared Goff.
If you watched much of the team at all, you’d know that Goff was a key reason as to why the team was as successful as it was and not, say, a five-win team without him in the lineup.
But now Goff is gone, and his value was so great to Cal that it probably is not a question of simply who replaces him as the team’s starting quarterback, but what other players can also pick up the slack and help replace his production? It’s going to be a tall task for head coach Sonny Dykes and new offensive coordinator Jake Spavital, but at least they’ll have options. Starting behind center, four players will likely vie to replace Goff in Ross Bowers, Chase Forrest, Luke Rubenzer and incoming freshman Max Gilliam.
None of those players are likely to come close to what Goff was able to do though, so it’s up to others on the offense to help out. Tailback Tre Watson was a breakout player down the stretch and figures to see a huge load placed on his shoulders in the ground game. The Bears are also replacing their entire receiving corps from last season too, so some other playmaker will need to emerge on the outside as well.
It won’t be easy to replace a player like Goff, but Cal is in the position where it's going to have to figure out something.
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Colorado Buffaloes
4 of 12
Biggest question: Does the team have the pieces to make a bowl game?
If you’ve caught any of Colorado’s football games over the past several seasons, you know just how much progress Mike MacIntyre has made in turning the Buffaloes from one of FBS’ worst programs into a respectable one in the Pac-12. The only thing that has been missing is the wins, which the team has come close to several times but often found a way down the stretch to find a way to lose.
That can’t happen again this season if the team is to reach one of its stated goals of getting to a bowl game. The program is in the middle of a long postseason drought in football and will enter 2016 with full hopes of reaching one based on its upward trajectory the past few years.
The problem might be the schedule, however, which sees the team play at Michigan, Oregon and USC in its first six games. Add another difficult cross-division game in Colorado's trip to Stanford. Still, there just might be enough to get the Buffs to a bowl if the defense maintains the form it showed in 2015 and the offense makes a leap.
Speaking of that offense and if it has enough pieces, Colorado picked up a key player this offseason in Texas Tech transfer Davis Webb. Given that quarterback Sefo Liufau’s season is up in the air due to injury, the presence of a quality front-line quarterback like Webb cannot be understated. This is now a competitive team in the conference and while the offense won’t be confused with Oregon’s or USC’s, it does have enough talent to win games in the league.
Will they win enough is a question best left for the fall, however.
Oregon Ducks
5 of 12
Biggest question: How much of a difference will defensive coordinator Brady Hoke make?
Because of the style of offense they play, the Ducks have always seemed to embody a bend-don’t-break philosophy when it comes to defense that is predicated on limiting big plays, forcing turnovers and generally getting the ball to their offense as quickly as possible. That formula had proven to work the past several years, but things appeared to go belly-up in 2015 as the team gave up 35 touchdown passes and didn’t come anywhere near its previous teams when it came to defensive stops.
That prompted head coach Mark Helfrich to demote longtime staff member Don Pellum and bring in somebody completely new as defensive coordinator: Brady Hoke. The ex-Michigan head coach has found success at numerous stops and numerous leagues over the past decade-plus, but it was still interesting to see Helfrich entrust a defensive overhaul to a coach who hadn’t held a DC title since he was a coach in high school.
Will it all work out? That remains to be seen, especially considering Hoke won’t have superstar DeForest Buckner around to help create havoc in the trenches. It will be especially interesting to see how the Ducks deal with the scheme transition to the 4-3 that Hoke will bring given how much of an emphasis it has placed on rotating three defensive linemen in the past.
Oregon State Beavers
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Biggest question: Will the new coordinator changes make a difference?
There’s nowhere to go but up, right? That’s the mindset some Beavers fans will have to take into 2016 after only posting two wins last year and generally being uncompetitive against their fellow Pac-12 competition during the season.
With such a disaster on the field, changes were bound to come to Corvallis, and head coach Gary Andersen moved quickly to shake up his staff. Dave Baldwin was notably demoted to being just a position coach while Kevin McGiven and T.J. Wood were both given co-coordinator tags on offense. Whether that will be enough to jump start a unit that was among the worst in the country at the Power Five level remains to be seen, but at least they all have young talent that saw plenty of playing time last season and a few intriguing options at quarterback.
Defensively, Andersen replaced the departing Kalani Sitake with old friend Kevin Clune to be the new defensive coordinator. That was combined with a few other staff shakeups on defense that the team is hoping will pay off in a more aggressive unit that can start to slow down some of the other Pac-12 teams.
The Beavers will be young again this season, and it’s clear that the rebuilding effort is still ongoing at OSU. We'll have to to see if all the new faces in the coaching offices can make any sort of difference on the field.
Stanford Cardinal
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Biggest question: Who will replace Kevin Hogan as Christian McCaffrey’s running mate?
Kevin Hogan departs the Farm as Stanford’s winningest quarterback ever. Despite that, and all the Pac-12 titles and Rose Bowls he was a part of, he will leave as an underrated and underappreciated signal-caller who won’t be easy to replace.
At least David Shaw will have quality options in his quest to take the pressure off Christian McCaffrey to do everything for the team’s offense. Redshirt sophomore Keller Chryst is likely considered the front-runner after being the No. 2 option a year ago and having the prototypical arm, size and ability to move around that Shaw prefers. Still, he’ll be pushed by Ryan Burns, a former top recruit at the position who has spent plenty of time on the team and knows what is expected from Stanford's quarterback.
One probably shouldn’t count out incoming freshman K.J. Costello either, a 4-star prospect who the coaching staff is excited to get on campus.
Still, if the Cardinal want to repeat as Pac-12 champs once again, they’ll need to figure out the quarterback position and get someone who can make the clutch plays like Hogan did. It won’t be easy, of course, but the program has always seemed to find a way to replace its departed stars.
UCLA Bruins
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Biggest question: Who will help out Josh Rosen?
Jim Mora has turned UCLA into an annual contender in the Pac-12 but faces perhaps his biggest test yet this offseason. Sure he has a budding young superstar at quarterback in rising sophomore Josh Rosen, but who he is throwing passes to remains a big question mark for a team hoping to make continued noise in the South Division.
Not helping things are the massive changes set to come to the offense. To start with, Noel Mazzone has departed for Texas A&M, and new offensive coordinator Kennedy Polamalu will no doubt be looking to implement a more pro-style attack that suits his personnel this year. While Rosen remains, the skill position talent around him will be almost all new for 2016.
Gone are the team’s top five pass-catchers from a year ago and the always terrific Paul Perkins at running back. The Bruins have recruited well over the years, but that’s a lot of production to replace. That puts a lot of pressure on guys such as Eldridge Massington and Kenneth Walker III to get on the same page as Rosen this spring and into fall camp.
USC Trojans
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Biggest question: Is Clay Helton up to the task?
There is no pressure quite like that of being the USC head coach. Just ask the men who have been tasked with restoring glory to Troy since the departure of Pete Carroll, and they’ll all likely tell you that nothing comes easily in Los Angeles for the blue-blood program of the Pac-12.
That pressure now falls squarely on Clay Helton’s shoulders. After building some momentum late in the season as the interim coach—including a victory over crosstown rival UCLA to win the South Division—he was given the job permanently over much debate in the fanbase and didn’t exactly follow through in the postseason. Not only were the Trojans embarrassed in the Pac-12 title game against Stanford, but they looked anemic to an inferior foe in Wisconsin during the Holiday Bowl to drop Helton to just 5-4 in 2015. That isn’t going to cut it for the USC faithful.
Now comes a brutal start to the 2016 campaign, beginning with Alabama in a clash of powerhouses for the opener and continuing with Utah State, Stanford and Utah in the first month of the season. That’s a lot for any team to deal with, much less for one sporting a first-time head coach who just overhauled his staff significantly in the past month.
USC has always had the players and will continue that trend this year, with most of the offense returning aside from the quarterback and a number of key starters back on defense. Still, there will continue to be questions about Helton unless he can have a few surprises and guide the Trojans to a hot start.
Utah Utes
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Biggest question: Who replaces Devontae Booker and Travis Wilson?
The Utes have had a few moments where they were able to ponder life without their successful backfield of Travis Wilson and Devontae Booker, but reality is bound to set in during spring ball that both of them won’t be back at all in 2016.
Booker was a two-time All-Pac-12 selection, and it’s likely that Joe Williams is first in line to replace him after an OK audition at the end of last year when Booker first suffered his knee injury. Also in the mix are Troy McCormick and possibly one of the members of the team’s recent recruiting class. Still, it won’t be easy to replace that kind of production.
At quarterback, things are a little more wide-open. Santa Monica College transfer Troy Williams is likely the favorite to take over for Wilson, but it remains to be seen if he can earn the job in the spring or will have to wait until the fall to create some separation.
The former top recruit and Washington signal-caller can move well inside the pocket but will really be looking to add an extra dimension to the Utes offense with his arm and ability to get the ball in the hands of speedy playmakers who will fill the team’s receiving corps. Also in the mix could be returnee Brandon Cox and incoming freshman Tyler Huntley.
It won’t be easy to replace an All-Pac-12-caliber back and a four-year starter, so the Utah offensive staff has its work cut out for it in the coming months. The team has proved to be OK when it comes to replacing defensive players under Kyle Whittingham, but sorting out the offense remains the top priority and the biggest question mark heading into 2016.
Washington Huskies
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Biggest question: Is the preseason hype warranted for the Huskies?
The Pac-12 is so wide-open this season, why not Washington to win the league? That will be a big talking point for pundits this summer and into fall camp, given what the Huskies have coming back and based on how they closed 2015 out.
To start with, there’s the young offensive talent that will be a year older and, hopefully, a year wiser. Myles Gaskin was a tremendous revelation at running back and will be a name you start to hear plenty of nationally if he repeats what he did as a true freshman. The same can be true for Jake Browning, who had to grow into the role a bit at quarterback but improved tremendously in the second half of the season as he became used to the speed of the game.
Add a steady offense with the salty defense that Washington had (tops in the conference by a wide margin), and there’s plenty of reason to see why there’s love for the Huskies entering 2016. With a veteran coaching staff led by Chris Petersen, it all might be coming together on Montlake, but whether that’s enough to crack the upper echelon in a deep league such as the Pac-12 will be unknown until the fall.
Washington State Cougars
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Biggest question: Is there a follow-up performance left for the defense?
We all know the Cougars are going to be successful on offense. How could they not be, after all, with Mike Leach as head coach and a pair of all-conference battery mates in quarterback Luke Falk and receiver Gabe Marks? The question is whether the defense can keep things up on its side of the ball after making tremendous strides last season.
Coordinator Alex Grinch did a marvelous job in his first season leading the defense and turned out to be one of the best hires made prior to the 2015 campaign by any coach. It was almost a complete 180 for the Cougars from the year before and a big reason why Destiny Vaeao, Kache Palacio and Jeremiah Allison had career years that should get them on the radars of NFL teams this spring.
Can Wazzu keep things going, though? The 9-4 record was one of the best leaps from the year before in the country, and the key to that turnaround was the defense. The offense will always be there under Leach, but if the eight returning starters on defense can keep improving on their end, it remains completely possible that the Cougars could be a surprise pick to win the Pac-12 in 2016.
Unless noted otherwise, all recruit rankings via 247Sports.
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