The Pac 12 had one of their better seasons in recent memory according to most prognostications. We think this year will be another step forward. Pac 12 was able to send a team into the playoffs last year, getting knocked out in the first round. This year we think the Pac 12 will have 2 candidates for the playoffs going into the Pac12 Championship game, setting up a de-facto Quarterfinal playoff game (the winner gets in). Pac 12 should have 5 potential top 25 type teams. Washington despite losing a lot of talent, should be able to maintain their high level of play. USC should be able to take another step forward. The X-factor in the Pac 12 will be UCLA. We picked them to win the Pac 12 and make it to the Playoffs last year. We still think they have that kind of potential, but it will be up to Josh Rosen at QB who had a pretty humbling year last year, before exiting at the end of the season for surgery. If he performs to the level many experts think then UCLA can be in the playoff mix. If not they can be sitting at home during bowl season for a 2nd consecutive year.
For each Conference we will have the Simplified Football predictions (record) with the Projected Win-Shares and rating of each team next to it. We will also have Bowl Projections for each conference.
Pac 12 Predictions:
North
Team – Record (Conf) / Win-Shares (Conf) / Rating
- Washington – 11-1 (8-1) / 9.14 (6.39) / 4.80
- Stanford – 9-3 (6-3) / 7.98 (5.64) / 4.64
- Washington St – 7-5 (4-5) / 6.85 (4.2) / 4.16
- Oregon – 6-6 (4-5) / 6.47 (4.27) / 4.04
- Oregon St – 6-6 (4-5) / 5.57 (3.51) / 3.91
- California – 3-9 (2-7) / 4.5 (2.9) / 3.74
South
Team – Record (Conf) / Win-Shares (Conf) / Rating
- USC – 10-2 (8-1) / 8.73 (6.53) / 4.68
- UCLA – 8-4 (6-3) / 8.22 (5.97) / 4.49
- Utah – 7-5 (5-4) / 6.17 (3.92) / 4.03
- Arizona St – 8-4 (5-4) / 7.71 (5.22) / 4.42
- Arizona – 4-8 (2-7) / 5.27 (3.0) / 3.55
- Colorado – 4-8 (1-8) / 5.12 (2.7) / 3.65
Washington and USC win their divisions outright and meet in the Championship game.
Championship game – USC beats Washington in an exciting championship game.
That makes 9 bowl teams for the ACC
Sugar Bowl – USC (Playoff)
Fiesta Bowl – Washington
Alamo Bowl – Stanford
Holiday Bowl – UCLA
Foster Farms Bowl – Arizona St
Sun Bowl – Washington St
Las Vegas Bowl – Utah
Cactus Bowl – Oregon
Heart of Dallas Bowl – Oregon St
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