Go Joe Bruin Predicts the Pac-12 Football Final Standings

With the season only three months away, Go Joe Bruin has come together to predict the final 2016 Pac-12 Football standings.

The Stanford Cardinal are your latest Pac-12 Football Champions, but what else is new? The Cardinal have won three of the last four Pac-12 Championships.

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Other than Stanford, the Oregon Ducks have won four of the last seven. The last team to win the Pac-12 that was not Stanford or Oregon was USC who won it in 2008.

Clearly, the North have dominated. But things are changing all across the Conference of Champions. Last season the South Division was believed to be one of the toughest in the nation and that turned out to be very close to true as every team beat up on each other and the South was not decided until the last regular season weekend where USC beat out UCLA for a chance at the Pac-12 Championship.

We will definitely see more of the same in 2016, but that could be on a conference-wide scale as the North Division has finally added some muscle with teams like Washington and Washington State injecting life into their programs.

So how will the landscape of Pac-12 Football look in 2016?

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Eight writers from Go Joe Bruin gave their input on the upcoming Pac-12 Football season (which you can see the results on Page 4) and from there, averaged the placements of the 12 conference schools.

As you can see, the majority think Stanford will win the North with most GJB writers expecting their Bruins to come out on top in the South. Now before you go on about favoritism with UCLA, there are several reasons we have for this, though not all are positive…

Next: What Go Joe Bruin Said About UCLA Football

What Go Joe Bruin Had to Say About UCLA Football

Along with giving our projections for the 2016 Pac-12 Football season, the writers of Go Joe Bruin also gave their opinions on UCLA Football.

Michael Hanna: Our defense has the exact same personnel as last year when it was not great and the offensive line is one interior injury away from disaster. Call me very skeptical.

Nathan Eberhardt: The defense should improve solely by virtue of being healthy. Also they’ll have had another year under DC Tom Bradley.

Michael Chavez: Our defense might have mostly the same personnel but there are little things that can be done that I think would really benefit the defense as a whole. Nick Terry has been a very solid addition even if only for beef. I may have said it here before but I don’t mind size exceptions as long as your whole unit isn’t an exception. I worry about our size at safety and some linebacker spots. Randall Goforth and Jaleel Wadood are really good players but might not be suited for the middle of the field.

Ashley Tellier: Mostly I’m concerned that Josh Rosen lost Paul Perkins and Jake Brendel.

Daniel Walker: Only weakness I see right now for UCLA is the O-Line. In every spring practice I saw, it was disappointing watching that unit. The false starts and the inconsistencies are a huge problem. And we lost one of the toughest guys on the roster in offensive guard Tevita Halalilo.

Aleks Dostonic: I feel like the only area where UCLA have an advantage over other teams is at QB, so many fresh faces for most of the top Pac-12 Football teams.

Mike Regalado: I hope for the life of me the 4-3 formation improves the run defense. The defensive backs are good, but they can’t do it all.

Matt Wagner: A big question surrounding UCLA is how the offensive line will perform this coming season with the losses of Jake Brendel, Caleb Benonoch, and Alex Redmond.

Hanna: The biggest help is going to be having an actual punter. It should help immensely with field position and time of possession. Most underrated yet crucial upgrade of the offseason.

Tellier: And even though I like our receiving corps, no one was more reliable than Jordan Payton and Thomas Duarte. Eldridge Massington has glimpses here and there. And I guess we will see how Theo Howard develops.

Chavez: I’m hoping Nate Iese can put it together and be the chess piece this offense needs. I love me some tight ends.

UCLA Bruins

Regalado: With more power in the offense, I can see the running backs having a big year. A lot of the pressure will be taken off them with some true fullbacks so Bolu Olorunfunmi, Soso Jamabo and Nate Starks will be able to shine in their individual assignments.

Chavez: If Alex Van Dyke could build some lower body strength I would be all for it. Fights the ball a lot though for my taste. I have felt like Iese has been miscast and underused since arriving in Westwood. Hopefully he can restore the former glory of UCLA TEs like my boy Ryan Moya.

Eberhardt: While I think the move to a more power-oriented offensive philosophy is a good one, I do wonder at the timing, having lost so much on the offensive line in the offseason. That said, I’m ready for a post-Mazzone offense.

Walker: Soso Jamabo is going to have a massive breakout year. He added so much muscle this offseason. He looks like a legit back now

Chavez: The Bruins are one of the few teams in the South not looking for a new quarterback and they should have a better defense. That coupled with the tweaks on offense and I see us being extremely competitive for the Pac-12.

Wagner: Fortunately, the Bruins are still very talented offensively, and look to take a step forward towards becoming the best defense in the Pac-12, and finally winning the Pac-12 Championship Game, the game which remains an ever-elusive prize for the Bruins.

Hanna: The thing I have a problem with when it comes to the defense is the mentality. There is bend but don’t break and then there’s acting like giving up a big pass will herald the apocalypse like our defensive coaches seem to think. You have to mix in even a token amount of aggression if only to keep the opposing offense on its toes.

And then GJB had something to say about the rest of the Pac-12 Football teams…

Next: What Go Joe Bruin Said About the Rest of the Pac-12

What Go Joe Bruin Said About The Rest of the Pac-12

Chavez: I do like me some Colorado. They’ve added some pieces but Nelson Spruce will be tough to replace.

Walker: USC has a very good defense, but I’m not sure about their offense.

Eberhardt: USC is poised to start 1-3 with losses to Alabama, at Stanford, and at Utah. If they can weather that mentally, their talent, improved depth, and steadier coaching hand should make them the strongest team in the South.

Hanna: I actually think USC has a looming defensive disaster coming. Green as all hell on the DL and undersized/slow at Mike linebacker. Their offense is the part of that team that I like though.

Walker: USC They have a great secondary that has experience and each one of their freshman are returning. Cameron smith is a stud. DL is their weakness but they have talent there.

Eberhardt: Washington has gotten a lot of attention building from late last year, though I wonder if the hype has surpassed the Huskies’ potential at this point.

Regalado: I see Washington State getting a lot better. Last year they got their footing and now Mike Leach knows how to use his team.

Walker: Washington is the dark horse team for me in the Pac-12 this year. Jake Browning is the real deal at QB, and their defense is no joke

Hanna: Stanford will once again win the conference.

Eberhardt: I see both Arizona schools taking a step back, also Oregon, who’s replacing their defensive staff and on their third QB in three years.

Regalado: Is it wrong to think that Arizona and Arizona State are permanently meant for the bottom half of the South Division? Anyone?

To finish off our Pac-12 Football roundtable, we look at the individual predictions by the Go Joe Bruin staff…

Next: How Go Joe Bruin Ranked the Pac-12

How Go Joe Bruin Ranked the Pac-12

Michael Chavez

North: 1. Stanford, 2. Washington, 3. Oregon, 4. Washington St., 5. Oregon St., 6. Cal

South: 1. UCLA, 2. USC, 3. Utah, 4. Arizona St., 5. Arizona 6. Colorado

Aleks Dostanic

North: 1. Stanford, 2. Washington St., 3. Oregon., 4.Washington, 5. Cal, 6. Oregon St.

South: 1. USC, 2. UCLA, 3. Arizona, 4. Utah, 5. Colorado, 6. Arizona St.

Nathan Eberhardt

North: 1. Stanford, 2. Washington, 3. Oregon., 4.Washington St., 5. Cal, 6. Oregon St.

South: 1. USC, 2. UCLA, 3. Arizona St., 4. Utah, 5. Arizona, 6. Colorado

Michael Hanna

North: 1. Stanford, 2. Oregon, 3. Washington., 4.Washington St., 5. Cal, 6. Oregon St.

South: 1. Utah, 2. USC, 3. UCLA, 4. Arizona St., 5. Arizona, 6. Colorado

Todd Reeves

North: 1. Stanford, 2. Washington, 3. Oregon., 4.Washington St., 5. Cal, 6. Oregon St.

South: 1. UCLA, 2. USC, 3. Arizona St., 4. Utah, 5. Arizona, 6. Colorado

Ashley Tellier

North: 1. Stanford, 2. Washington St., 3. Cal., 4.Oregon, 5. Washington, 6. Oregon St.

South: 1. UCLA, 2. USC, 3. Utah, 4. Arizona St., 5. Arizona, 6. Colorado

Daniel Walker

North: 1. Stanford, 2. Washington, 3. Washington St., 4. Oregon, 5. Cal, 6. Oregon St.

South: 1. UCLA, 2. USC, 3. Arizona, 4. Utah, 5. Arizona St., 6. Colorado

Mike Regalado

North: 1. Stanford, 2. Washington St., 3. Washington, 4.Oregon, 5. Cal, 6. Oregon St.

South: 1. UCLA, 2. Utah, 3. USC, 4. Arizona, 5. Arizona St., 6. Colorado

If you have an opinion about our standings or would like to give your own, please comment below.

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