PAC 12 Musings

[donovan]

Several Thoughts.
1. As I watched part of the Tournament of Rose Parade today I thought how great would it be if Washington was playing Penn State today in the Rose Bowl. I will watch games today and some will be good, I am sure, but not like it was for me. We won't go back but the PAC 12 will never be fully incorporated into the national football scene under the current structure. None of which has to do with football. The Alabama Washington football game was two teams playing their best. One was vastly superior. Post game comments by Bama player(s) shows that even National Champions can act like bush leaguers.

2. Utah just made what may turn out to be a great hire for offensive coordinator. Wittingham is a no nonsense coach. The kind of coach you would want your kid to play for.

http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/18394957/utah-utes-hire-eastern-washington-troy-taylor-new-offensive-coordinator

3. Oregon's Taggart hire is a real crap shoot. I think they could have done much better, and not Kelly. Taggart is recruiting all over the country, you have to harvest your own state first. I do not see Oregon moving ahead.

4. WSULeach needs to get a real defensive coordinator..as Spence has pointed out.

5. Oregon State will be all right. The new AD Barnes will work well with Andersen and give him a couple of years to be in the hunt. I think that will happen.

6. Washington will get better. They are already in reload mode.

7. UCLA and USC are one year away from reestablishing one of the great rivalries.

[Spence]

I am watching the Cotton bowl right now on my phone at my office. I think that Washington will only get better and I agree that USC and UCLA are close to being back, which should make the PAC12 very tough. That is going to make things in Oregon and Oregon State tougher because of recruiting in California. Oregon will have a hard time if Taggart fails because their fan base has been close to where they want to be and they will have a hard time trying to rebuild after a few tough years if SC and UCLA get back into the mix consistently. Add Washington in there and......Well as my Dad used to say " a 5gal bucket only holds 5gal. You do have to do well in your state, but to be successful Oregon is going to have to snag some guys from outside the Coast. I like Anderson, he will do ok, but probably never be top tier in the PAC12. Same with Leach at Washington State. I don't think he ever gets them up the mountain. Maybe up, but not on the plateau.

[WoVeU]

Leach seems to abhor defense...I don't look for that to change. Well I guess it is more of an inconvenience for him.

[donovan]

USC made people in the West feel good....matters not how the game was played.

[Spence]

USC made people in the West feel good....matters not how the game was played.

You could kind have seen that coming with 7+minutes to go in the 4th. It was a fun game to watch, even though is wasn't that well played.