UCLA has been close and/or won the recruiting battle with USC the last few years, so I'd say they're very close in talent level.
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PAC 12 - How is it stacking up?
- Thread starter BlackNGold
- Start date
USC has more elite players, especially with Miles Jack out for UCLA. There is no better DB/WR/KR in college football today than Adoree Jackson. Jackson is in the rare football player that can be compared to Charles Woodson. Su'a Cravens is not far behind. Kessler is one of the two best QB's in the Pac-12 this season. JuJu Smith is crazy good WR. But UCLA has more depth and a lot of really good players.
EDIT: Rosen looks like he is going to be as good as his #1 ranking predicted he would be. But for this season Kessler is the better QB.
Last edited:
ahoelsken
Well-Known Member
I think that-but the great equalizer is the coaching. Jim Mora is a better coach IMO and he's got better assistants (the Tom Bradley hire was a great move) than Sarkisian and co.
ahoelsken
Well-Known Member
As far as the conference-I think BlackandGold nailed it, with one exception......I'd say Stanford is who we thought they were. Yes, they were incompetent offensively against Northwestern, and then followed that up two weeks later with the what they did over USC. I thought they were a Rose Bowl contender coming into the year, and they're there. One more thing-we really don't know what we have with this team, and I thought Saturday was going to say a lot about where this program is. The next step-take advantage of an opportunity like this.
Deleted member 807
Guest
Victories against both Arizona schools seems more within reach now than they did before the season started.
It's nice to finally see a few P12 south division schools regress at a point where CU is getting better.
Utah Is getting better faster.
Both LA schools look like the class of the division.
It's nice to finally see a few P12 south division schools regress at a point where CU is getting better.
Utah Is getting better faster.
Both LA schools look like the class of the division.
BlackNGold
Club Member
They are both very talented teams. UCLA has more depth due to USC recruiting restrictions.
aghcsm
Well-Known Member
You're right, being 4-1 with a conference win over Oregon would be huge, and put the Buffs firmly in the "improved" camp. Just thinking that there's a possibility Oregon is in free-fall, and therefore not a great indicator of Buff status. But a win would be huge, and playing close would be good (but much less than 'huge'). Personally, I can't yet believe Oregon is a bad team, so I would consider a close game a positive. No doubt the quality of the Ducks would be a hot topic after the game, though.
Deleted member 807
Guest
On this note, CU has beaten 4 different teams; Wazzou, Utah, Cal, and Arizona.
I am looking forward to beating the other 7. It will be huge to get the ASU and USC monkey off our back. The program had never beaten those two, even prior to realignment.
CU verses:
P12 South
USC 0-9
ASU 0-6
UCLA 2-8
Utah. 31-27-3
UofA 13-4
P12 North
OSU 2-5
Cal 3-5
Stanford 3-5
UDub 5-9-1
Oregon 8-11
Wazzou 5-3
Not sure how fast Utah is getting better...it's been a multi-year process for them. I also don't know how good they'll be next year as lose Wilson and Booker.
Deleted member 807
Guest
To clarify, Utah joined the P12 at the same time we did. The Utes have knocked off the biggest names in the P12 like Oregon, USC, UCLA, and Stanford.
Utah is farther along than Colorado, and has continued to get better in 2015 at a rate equal to or better than CU. This may be their best P12 team yet.
As sacky says, it doesn't do you much good to get better when everyone else in the conference is also getting better and not standing still.
Totally agree. Utah is further along by having the benefit of a great HC and a recent history of success prior to joining. Similar issue with Cal...Dykes started same time as Mac, but actually had some talent, facilities etc. Colorado has the struggle of not only trying to rebuild from what was IMO in-arguably the worst P5 program in the country, but to do so in one of (if the not) the toughest divisions in CFB. We are better but is it good enough? We'll see how well the rebuild is progressing on Saturday.
Deleted member 807
Guest
While it's popular to say and somewhat true that the Pac12 South was the toughest division in CFB, it could be tougher. USC was under recruiting sanctions. UofA, ASU, USC and UCLA each have coaching staffs with 5 years or less in their current positions.
In 2015, it doesn't appear that ASU and Arizona are as good as last year. The best matchups for CU in the division are against the Arizona schools. The best of the P12S is a horse race between both LA schools and Utah. It wouldn't surprise me to see Utah in the CCG, although I favor UCLA at this point.
Ultimately, all of CU's troubles are self inflicted. I really don't care to hear about the hole we were in or who was the coach 4 years ago. It's time for excuses to stop and for CU to become the program that RG and HCMM envision. It's not acceptable anymore for the players and coaches to be satisfied with just being competitive when a bowl game is the expectation.
CU better be better than the bottom of the P12S and among the bottom 3 in the conference. This means figuring out how to win just 4 more.
This means taking care of OSU and Wazzou. Then stealing a pair of wins from at least one Arizona program and someone else. Hopefully Oregon.
We are in the hunt.
In 2015, it doesn't appear that ASU and Arizona are as good as last year. The best matchups for CU in the division are against the Arizona schools. The best of the P12S is a horse race between both LA schools and Utah. It wouldn't surprise me to see Utah in the CCG, although I favor UCLA at this point.
Ultimately, all of CU's troubles are self inflicted. I really don't care to hear about the hole we were in or who was the coach 4 years ago. It's time for excuses to stop and for CU to become the program that RG and HCMM envision. It's not acceptable anymore for the players and coaches to be satisfied with just being competitive when a bowl game is the expectation.
CU better be better than the bottom of the P12S and among the bottom 3 in the conference. This means figuring out how to win just 4 more.
This means taking care of OSU and Wazzou. Then stealing a pair of wins from at least one Arizona program and someone else. Hopefully Oregon.
We are in the hunt.
FlatironsBuff
Well-Known Member
I hope Utah needs the win against CU to go to the CCG this year, and CU pulls out a win. Things like that will help make it more of a rivalry. Eventually I want CU to hurt USC every year until they hate us too.
In other words, I want CU to matter again.
In other words, I want CU to matter again.
First step towards that is saturday.
This Saturday is a giant opportunity for this program. Giant. Win, and we start to get some real traction again. We start being mentioned on College Football Gameday again. We show up on SportsCenter again. We get the attention of a lot of recruits. We're not viewed as a bottom feeding loser program - at least for a week. Opportunities like this don't come along very often. It's important to take advantage of them when they do.
This is huge in a much different way than the CSU game was huge. This is huge because if we win it, good things happen. The CSU game was huge for exactly the opposite reason - lose it and very, very bad things would happen.
It's there for us. We need to take it.
This is huge in a much different way than the CSU game was huge. This is huge because if we win it, good things happen. The CSU game was huge for exactly the opposite reason - lose it and very, very bad things would happen.
It's there for us. We need to take it.
FlatironsBuff
Well-Known Member
Win, and we probably pull a couple recruits that are visiting into being commits, and maybe gain consideration of other high quality recruits that were not focused on us that much. More than being mentioned on SportsCenter, that is what we need. More athletes in more positions and more depth. I still think Mac can do this, but a win over Oregon would be huge. Beating AZ, OSU and WSU and a bowl game would help. Looking competent against an improved UCLA and USC would help. Finding a win against one of Stanford, UCLA, Utah or USC on top of 4 wins in conference would really cause many people in the media and recruits to sit up and take serious notice. It's a huge hope, and depends on Sefo getting healthy, as the offense really has not began to click yet. If it gets back on track (passing) to go with the better running, and Sefo keeps the turnovers down like he has been, this defense will take us much further than we thought after the Hawaii game.
Deleted member 807
Guest
The CSU game is big in Colorado, and only within Colorado.
We know when we will have arrived as a program when Colorado versus any and all P12 foes is a bigger deal than some OOC provencal pissing match against those pesky Rams.
Beating the state flagship universities from Utah, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, and any Cali school is a big mother trucking deal.
This is much bigger than simply having instate bragging rights against little bro.
aghcsm
Well-Known Member
Agree, but the point was well-made that a loss to CSU would have been a very bad thing - bowl hopes, OOC record, loss of confidence and self-respect.
^^^^THIS ^^^^^^^
Where does the state of Utah rank in terms of producing Division 1 talent?
Been watching a lot of the PAC12 games in 60 minutes this week. I'd be careful not to make too many judgements this early.
UW had plenty of chances to beat Cal. Cal is a more experienced team, especially at QB and they got a lot of good bounces. UW will likely improve on offense as the year goes on and their D is decent again. Cal's defense looks much improved, but they haven't been tested yet. Check back in about 5 weeks and see how relevant they are. Still - much better Defensive coaching so far.
ASU has looked bad and this has to be a concern given Graham is starting to rely on the guys he brought in more than the guys Dennis Erickson brought in. Will they improve from here or collapse? ASU fans are worried.
Arizona was closer matched to UCLA than the score indicated (at home). That thing snowballed quickly and they lost Solomon.
UCLA is deep and talented, and while I'm on record as not being a huge Mora guy, he has two really good coordinators and hiring the DC from Penn State was brilliant. UCLA has never had coordinators that are this good. With that setup, and Mora's recruiting, this could be a powerhouse in the making.
USC - as good as anyone, but got to question the Head Coach.
Stanford - slow start, but the offense is starting to hum. They are still a tough, phyical and well coached team so they are in the thick.
Utah - not ready to say they are that much better than last year. Will watch the Oregon game today, but I saw them play Michigan (who wasn't yet ready for primetime in game 1), Utah State and Fresno State and I thought they were just ok.
Oregon - been saying for sometime that QB recruiting was an issue and was pissed they could quick-fix it with Adams. Thinks he's great, but with a broken finger, he's not. Justice served!
UW had plenty of chances to beat Cal. Cal is a more experienced team, especially at QB and they got a lot of good bounces. UW will likely improve on offense as the year goes on and their D is decent again. Cal's defense looks much improved, but they haven't been tested yet. Check back in about 5 weeks and see how relevant they are. Still - much better Defensive coaching so far.
ASU has looked bad and this has to be a concern given Graham is starting to rely on the guys he brought in more than the guys Dennis Erickson brought in. Will they improve from here or collapse? ASU fans are worried.
Arizona was closer matched to UCLA than the score indicated (at home). That thing snowballed quickly and they lost Solomon.
UCLA is deep and talented, and while I'm on record as not being a huge Mora guy, he has two really good coordinators and hiring the DC from Penn State was brilliant. UCLA has never had coordinators that are this good. With that setup, and Mora's recruiting, this could be a powerhouse in the making.
USC - as good as anyone, but got to question the Head Coach.
Stanford - slow start, but the offense is starting to hum. They are still a tough, phyical and well coached team so they are in the thick.
Utah - not ready to say they are that much better than last year. Will watch the Oregon game today, but I saw them play Michigan (who wasn't yet ready for primetime in game 1), Utah State and Fresno State and I thought they were just ok.
Oregon - been saying for sometime that QB recruiting was an issue and was pissed they could quick-fix it with Adams. Thinks he's great, but with a broken finger, he's not. Justice served!
He was brought in to mimic the play of a heisman trophy winner. That was a mistake. Glad it back fired for Oregon.
Surprisingly quite a bit of talent. More surprising most of that talent leaves the state or signs with BYU.
NW may be a little better than anyone thought too.
ASU coming out of left field with that win vs UCLA. On the road too. Not good for us that they get back on track the week before we play them.
ASU coming out of left field with that win vs UCLA. On the road too. Not good for us that they get back on track the week before we play them.
NW shutout a conference foe. They play a very well coached UM team this week. That will let me know how legit they are.
Stanford is who we thought they are. Hogan is slighly below average. But that OL and front 7 are nasty.
Yeah, UCLA continues to get beat up on defense as well.
ASU is going to be interesting to watch going forward. They potentially have a three-headed monster in Foster, Richard, and Ballage. With even okay QB play, those three could carry them a long way.