Pac-12 football is supposed to be on the rise but in the South Division, it is anybody’s guess who will end up on top and who will dwell in the cellar.
Who knew that this would be the situation in the South Division only two weeks into the season? Though we have not gotten far into Pac-12 football play, there are already a few trends being revealed.
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Just to remind everyone, and Pac-12 Media Day, the predicted order a finish for the South was as follows: 1. USC, 2. Utah, 3. Arizona, 4. UCLA, 5. Colorado, 6. Arizona State.
After two weeks it doesn’t look like that is how things will end up. USC, which was picked to finish first, is currently last in the South. Though they are the only team to have played a conference game and are only 0.5 games back from everyone, they still start out at the bottom after an unimpressive 17-3 loss to Stanford.
Current South Division Standings:
- Arizona State 0-0
- Arizona 0-0
- Colorado 0-0
- UCLA 0-0
- Utah 0-0
- USC 0-1
If USC was not going to win the division, many believed that Utah could compete, but they are also having a spot of trouble getting things going, especially after their offense gave an uninspired performance against Northern Illinois in a 17-6 win.
Surprisingly, the team that does look impressive is Arizona State. Who knew that Herm Edwards had it in him after such a long absence from coaching? Not only did he stop #15 Michigan State, but he now has momentum heading into conference play after many people were doubting what he could do with the Sun Devils.
Current Overall Standings:
- Arizona State 2-0
- Colorado 2-0
- Utah 2-0
- USC 1-1
- UCLA 0-2
- Arizona 0-2
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Colorado is another team that has college football analysts looking their way. This past weekend, the Buffaloes went into Nebraska and took down the Cornhuskers and stud coach Scott Frost. I’m not sure what happened to this team in the off-season but it looks like quarterback Steven Montez is going to make Colorado a force this season. Against Nebraska, he threw for 351 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Another huge surprise is how far Arizona has fallen. Despite having a potential Heisman candidate on their roster, Kevin Sumlin has not been able to do a thing with Kahlil Tate. Arizona looks very disorganized on both sides of the ball and it seems that they are trying to fit a square peg into a round hole with Tate in Noel’s Mazzone’s offense.
And what about UCLA? As much as we can praise all the positives, they’re still 0-2 and just lost 49-21 to Oklahoma. UCLA’s offense is nowhere near where it was expected to be to despite a few good things from freshman quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson.
Yes, this is just two weeks in, but Pac-12 football is already throwing fans for a loop. No one can tell what up or down is or what a top division team looks like, but we will find out by season’s end. Whether we like it or not.