This week on The Student Section roundtable we are talking about the most overrated teams in college football. TSS Associate Editors Bart Doan and Terry Johnson join staff writer Kevin Causey and special rotating guests in our weekly roundtable discussing all things college football.
So far this week we have discussed the ACC, Big Ten, and SEC. Now it’s time to look at the Pac-12. Joining us in this conversation is TSS writer and the man behind The Next Wave Football, Ryan Palencer….
Question: The coaches poll has been released, other outlets are releasing their Top 25 polls (SI, Athlon) and we are in the middle of releasing our poll. Which Pac-12 team is the most overrated heading into the 2015 season?
Ryan Palencer:
On Twitter @RyanPalencer
I’ll say Stanford.
While Stanford finished short of 11 wins for the first time in the David Shaw era at the school, many are high on the Cardinal once again in 2015. Combined with the inconsistent play of quarterback Kevin Hogan and a defensive rebuild, the 10-win drought looks like it will reach a second straight season.
The defensive side of the ball for Stanford only returns five starters from last year’s strong squad. While they always have solid reinforcements to fill in those voids, a lack of experience is something that will be tough to overcome as they play the likes of Oregon and an improved Washington squad in the Pac-12 North and USC, Arizona, UCLA, and Notre Dame outside of it.
While Hogan finished off the season with his strongest play of the campaign in 2014, overall he has shown to be vastly inconsistent. If Hogan is ever going to develop, 2015 will have to be the season, as the Cardinal bring back an experienced offensive line. With the offense led by Hogan, it seems to be asking a lot for Stanford to be outscoring teams.
Bart Doan:
On Twitter @TheCoachBart
The Left Coast is good for two things usually … underrated teams and outstanding wine. And political nuts, but we’ll leave that part to your imagination. At any rate, if there’s one team that looks feast or famine, it’s Southern Cal. They could compete for a win a championship and you wouldn’t be surprised … or they can struggle mightily and win 8 games or so, which would get the natives restless.
The offense will be electric, with JuJu Smith and Cody Kessler becoming household names by mid season to most college football fans (they already are to junkies, but nobody ever said they wanted to be a junkie when they grew up). Defense could get them, as well as could a tough schedule. Feast or famine it looks like.
Kevin Causey:
On Twitter @CFBZ
Jim Mora has had a nice run at UCLA. They have back-to-back ten win seasons and now is the year that Mora finally has all of his guys in place.
The problem is that he has to replace his best players, including his QB that he’s had for all three years of his tenure. And…he’s saying that as many as seven of his players might go both ways this season?
A statement like that tells me that Mora doesn’t have confidence in his teams depth. If that many players are truly going to play both ways then it means Mora has done a great job of recruiting some elite players but a very poor job of recruiting “glue” guys.
I’m really interested to see how UCLA fares this year as Mora has never lasted more than four years as a head coach in any one place. Will Mora wear out his welcome? Can he win with his own players?
The Pac-12 South has five really good teams and I think UCLA is going to slide down the totem pole a bit this year.
Terry Johnson:
On Twitter @SectionTPJ
My initial reaction to this question was to say “no one”, since I don’t feel like the league gets enough respect nationally. This is especially true of the Pac-12 South, which was the toughest division in college football last year.
However, the question asked me to pick who the most overrated team in the league is, so I’ll provide an answer.
Based on the preseason polls, I’ll say that Oregon is the most overrated team in the Pac-12.
That’s not to say that the Ducks don’t have a great team. Whether it’s Jeff Lockie or Vernon Adams under center, the UO offense will have no trouble scoring points this season. With that type of explosiveness, there’s no reason to think that the team won’t win 10 games this year.
With that said, I don’t see the Oregon finishing in the Top 10, where just about every preseason prognosticator has them.
Why’s that, you ask?
Two words: pass defense. The Duck D finished 119th nationally in passing yards per game last season, allowing 264.3 yards per contest. To make matters worse, UO will need to break in three new starters in the secondary this fall.
That’s hardly a recipe for success against a schedule loaded with high-octane passing attacks, including Michigan State, USC, and Arizona State. Expect the Ducks to lose at least two of these contests and finish the season outside of the Top 10.
