Bear Down Wildcats

Scheduled appearances from college football media personalities including: FOX Sports’ Bruce Feldman, San Jose Mercury News’ Jon Wilner and Sports Illustrated Senior Writer Pete Thamel.

Day 1 (Thursday, July 30)

Host: Mike Yam; Analysts: Yogi Roth, Curtis Conway, Nick Aliotti

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott’s live remarks from podium
Interviews with head coaches Mike MacIntyre (Colorado), Todd Graham (Arizona State), Gary Andersen (Oregon State), Jim Mora (UCLA), Chris Petersen (Washington) and David Shaw (Stanford).
Student-athletes duos from Colorado (Stephane Nembot, Kenneth Olugbode), Arizona State (Mike Bercovici, Jordan Simone), Oregon State (Storm Barrs-Woods, Larry Scott), UCLA (Jake Brendel, Fabian Moreau), Washington (Deontae Cooper, Travis Feeney) and Stanford (Kyle Murphy, Blake Martinez) share their expectations heading into the 2015 season.
Yam, Conway and Roth discuss the state of college football with Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott

Day 2 (Friday, July 31)

Host: Mike Yam; Analysts: Yogi Roth, Curtis Conway, Matt Leinart

Pac-12 Networks president Lydia Murphy-Stephans’ live remarks from podium
Interviews with head coaches Kyle Whittingham (Utah), Rich Rodriguez (Arizona), Sonny Dykes (California), Steve Sarkisian (USC), Mark Helfrich (Oregon) and Mike Leach (Washington State).
Review of the new rules and points of emphasis with Pac-12 Vice President of Officiating David Coleman.
Student-athletes Devontae Booker and Jared Norris of Utah, Arizona’s David Richards and Will Parks, Jared Goff and Hardy Nickerson of California, Trojans’ Cody Kessler and Su’a Cravens, Royce Freeman and Rodney Hardrick of Oregon, and Washington State’s Joe Dahl and Jeremiah Allison weigh in on the state of their teams.

SOUTH DIVISION

1. Arizona State

Eyes rolling over the hometown reporter picking the local team? I get it. (For the record, I’ve picked ASU to win the South only once -- 2013, the year it won.) But here’s the deal: Not much went right for ASU last season. The quarterback missed three games with a broken foot. The defense needed half the season to figure things out -- and the Sun Devils still won 10 games.

Don’t worry about the offense. Even with the uncertainty at tackle, this group will score. No, this season’s success depends on the defense. Last year, ASU was average on that side. This season, with nine starters returning, the Sun Devils will be better. And it will get them to the conference championship game.

2. Arizona

Remember last year’s Territorial Cup, the one that decided the South? Good. Because this year’s showdown at Sun Devil Stadium will have similar stakes. The Wildcats return their starting quarterback, leading rusher, leading receiver and the best linebacker in the country in Scooby Wright.

True, the schedule doesn’t include an off-week, but overall, it’s not bad. UA’s downfall: Final-month road games against USC and ASU.

3. USC

The Trojans are the national favorite and without question, there is much to like. Quarterback Cody Kessler is efficient and the offensive line shapes up as one of the best in the country. Even so, the defense must improve, and that won’t be easy without All-America defensive end Leonard Williams and leading tackler Hayes Pullard.

4. UCLA

The Bruins are loaded everywhere expect for where it matters most -- quarterback. Josh Rosen is expected to win the job. He’s talented, but relying on a true freshman to navigate a division this tough is far from ideal.

5. Utah

The Utes last season won nine games, the first time they have done so as a member of the Pac-12. Duplicating such efforts will be difficult.

6. Colorado

The Buffaloes lost their final eight to end last season, but four were decided by a touchdown or less (two coming in overtime). Mike MacIntyre’s group is improving, but so is the rest of the division.

Bart Doan:

On Twitter @TheCoachBart

Trying to pick the Pac 12 champ is like going to a restaurant out of state that you’ve always heard great things about. You get one meal there and about 15 on the menu look better than anything you’ve eaten in the last 10 years. But you’ve got to get on the road, so it’s one and out.

Oregon looks stout and the north appears to be an easier trek to navigate than the south, plus you get Southern Cal at home. Arizona just smells like they have a potential title run in them for whatever reason.

FightWildcatsFight wrote:RichRod and Graham are about to talk on Sportscenter RIGHT NOW if you are near a tv or computer

FightWildcatsFight wrote:

FightWildcatsFight wrote:RichRod and Graham are about to talk on Sportscenter RIGHT NOW if you are near a tv or computer

Well that went smoothly

azgreg wrote:

FightWildcatsFight wrote:

FightWildcatsFight wrote:RichRod and Graham are about to talk on Sportscenter RIGHT NOW if you are near a tv or computer

Well that went smoothly

What'd I miss?

azgreg wrote:BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FightWildcatsFight wrote:The ESPN Pac-12 blog writers unanimously pick Arizona to barely edge out Colorado for #5 in the South.

http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id ... media-poll

ASUHATER! wrote:Well considering that all five teams in the South besides Colorado will probably ranked preseason itdoesn't bother me..what bothers me is that we barely edge out Colorado and it's unanimous at 5th.

FightWildcatsFight wrote:The ESPN Pac-12 blog writers unanimously pick Arizona to barely edge out Colorado for #5 in the South. Just downright disrespect.

http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id ... media-poll

azcat49 wrote:So Utah ahead of the cats? That makes little sense to me if our offense stays healthy.

Oh well, greater motivation never hurts. I do think our final game decides it for one or both of us

OSUCat wrote:I thought it was interesting that Coach Rod mentioned that in one game they passed the ball 71 times, but 42 of those plays were run plays, but the defense showed the numbers to pass.

OSUCat wrote:I thought it was interesting that Coach Rod mentioned that in one game they passed the ball 71 times, but 42 of those plays were run plays, but the defense showed the numbers to pass.