Just picked up my first preseason football magazine at a store and this is the way Athlon sees the PAC this upcoming season...
1) USC (12-1 and 8-1) - no surprise here as Trojans have Caleb Williams at QB and stars at just about every other position under Lincoln Riley...
Trojans visit ASU on Sept 23 after they play three home games to start season while ASU does the same...Trojans play Stanford before visiting us and we play Fresno St.
2) Washington (10-3 and 7-2) - no surprise here as Huskies have Micheal Penix at QB and lots of talent at other positions...
The Huskies host Sun Devils on 10-21 after playing Oregon at home while Devils travel to Seattle after having a BYE week
3) Utah (9-3 and 6-3) - again, no surprise here as Utes have Cameron Rising returning at QB and are returning a lot of very good players...
Utes host Sun Devils on 11-4 after hosting Oregon the weekend before and ASU comes to SLC after hosting Wazzu the weekend before
4) Oregon (9-3 and 6-3) - once again, no surprise here as QB Bo Nix returns and the Ducks have plenty of other high quality talent on hand as we all know
Ducks travel to Tempe on 11-18 after hosting USC the weekend before while ASU will be returning from the Rose Bowl (UCLA) the week before
5) Oregon St (8-4 and 5-4) - Beavers are coming off a ten win season and have one of the best schedules in the PAC, in my estimation...
Devils don't play Beavers this year which is a good miss, as far as I'm concerned...Beavers have home games vs Utah, UCLA, and Wash and miss USC
6) UCLA (8-4 and 5-4) - Bruins won't have DTR at QB and we'll see if FR Dante Moore can take over that position and guide the team to another winning season...
Bruins host the Devils on 11-11 in the Rose Bowl after playing at AU the week before and the Devils will be coming off a road trip to Utah
7) Wazzu (6-6 and 4-5) - Cougars return Cameron Ward at QB but don't have their DC returning who came to ASU and don't have a lot of returning starters either...
Wazzu comes to Tempe on 10-28 after traveling to Oregon and the Devils play the Cougars after traveling to Seattle to play the Huskies
8) Arizona (6-6 and 4-5) - Cats have QB Jayden de Laura returning with a lot of very good receivers but also have a lot of question marks at some other positions, especially on defense
ASU hosts the Cats this year after playing Oregon at home while the Cats will have played Utah at home before traveling to Tempe
9) Cal (5-7 and 3-6) - Bears don't figure to be very good but have a lot of experienced players returning so who knows...
Bears host ASU on 9-30 after traveling to Seattle to play Wash while Devils will have played four home games before traveling to Berkeley...
10) Colorado (4-8 and 3-6) - Buffs have Deion as their new coach and he's brought some talent to Boulder but their schedule is brutal...
Buffs host USC before traveling to ASU and will have played TCU, Nebraska, Oregon and USC before meeting us while ASU will play USC before hosting Buffs on 10-7...
11) ASU (4-8 and 2-7) - Athlon thinks Drew Pyne will be Devils QB and figures things are pretty desperate following what the Herminator did to their program...
There is no way that the Devils will be this bad with what Dilly has done to revamp the Devils talent pool, the hiring of these new assistant coaches and with eight home games
12) Stanford (3-9 and 1-8) - RIP according to Athlon and ASU misses the Cardinal this year
I don't have a problem with any of Athlon's first five picks listed above but, after that, I think ASU could come in around 6th in the conference with eight home games and with what Dilly has put together with this staff and with increasing the overall talent and depth following the Herminator's train wreck...
We miss Oregon St and get Wazzu, Colorado and AU at home and also get USC and Oregon at home...
I'm looking at us winning 6-8 games this season and going to a bowl unless NCAA sanctions keep us from attending a bowl game...
There is no way, in my mind, that Colorado, Wazzu, Cal or AU are going to finish ahead of us in the PAC...
And, it wouldn't surprise me if we don't upset at least one of the big four in the PAC during the season...
Thoughts..??
Go Devils!!!
1) USC (12-1 and 8-1) - no surprise here as Trojans have Caleb Williams at QB and stars at just about every other position under Lincoln Riley...
Trojans visit ASU on Sept 23 after they play three home games to start season while ASU does the same...Trojans play Stanford before visiting us and we play Fresno St.
2) Washington (10-3 and 7-2) - no surprise here as Huskies have Micheal Penix at QB and lots of talent at other positions...
The Huskies host Sun Devils on 10-21 after playing Oregon at home while Devils travel to Seattle after having a BYE week
3) Utah (9-3 and 6-3) - again, no surprise here as Utes have Cameron Rising returning at QB and are returning a lot of very good players...
Utes host Sun Devils on 11-4 after hosting Oregon the weekend before and ASU comes to SLC after hosting Wazzu the weekend before
4) Oregon (9-3 and 6-3) - once again, no surprise here as QB Bo Nix returns and the Ducks have plenty of other high quality talent on hand as we all know
Ducks travel to Tempe on 11-18 after hosting USC the weekend before while ASU will be returning from the Rose Bowl (UCLA) the week before
5) Oregon St (8-4 and 5-4) - Beavers are coming off a ten win season and have one of the best schedules in the PAC, in my estimation...
Devils don't play Beavers this year which is a good miss, as far as I'm concerned...Beavers have home games vs Utah, UCLA, and Wash and miss USC
6) UCLA (8-4 and 5-4) - Bruins won't have DTR at QB and we'll see if FR Dante Moore can take over that position and guide the team to another winning season...
Bruins host the Devils on 11-11 in the Rose Bowl after playing at AU the week before and the Devils will be coming off a road trip to Utah
7) Wazzu (6-6 and 4-5) - Cougars return Cameron Ward at QB but don't have their DC returning who came to ASU and don't have a lot of returning starters either...
Wazzu comes to Tempe on 10-28 after traveling to Oregon and the Devils play the Cougars after traveling to Seattle to play the Huskies
8) Arizona (6-6 and 4-5) - Cats have QB Jayden de Laura returning with a lot of very good receivers but also have a lot of question marks at some other positions, especially on defense
ASU hosts the Cats this year after playing Oregon at home while the Cats will have played Utah at home before traveling to Tempe
9) Cal (5-7 and 3-6) - Bears don't figure to be very good but have a lot of experienced players returning so who knows...
Bears host ASU on 9-30 after traveling to Seattle to play Wash while Devils will have played four home games before traveling to Berkeley...
10) Colorado (4-8 and 3-6) - Buffs have Deion as their new coach and he's brought some talent to Boulder but their schedule is brutal...
Buffs host USC before traveling to ASU and will have played TCU, Nebraska, Oregon and USC before meeting us while ASU will play USC before hosting Buffs on 10-7...
11) ASU (4-8 and 2-7) - Athlon thinks Drew Pyne will be Devils QB and figures things are pretty desperate following what the Herminator did to their program...
There is no way that the Devils will be this bad with what Dilly has done to revamp the Devils talent pool, the hiring of these new assistant coaches and with eight home games
12) Stanford (3-9 and 1-8) - RIP according to Athlon and ASU misses the Cardinal this year
I don't have a problem with any of Athlon's first five picks listed above but, after that, I think ASU could come in around 6th in the conference with eight home games and with what Dilly has put together with this staff and with increasing the overall talent and depth following the Herminator's train wreck...
We miss Oregon St and get Wazzu, Colorado and AU at home and also get USC and Oregon at home...
I'm looking at us winning 6-8 games this season and going to a bowl unless NCAA sanctions keep us from attending a bowl game...
There is no way, in my mind, that Colorado, Wazzu, Cal or AU are going to finish ahead of us in the PAC...
And, it wouldn't surprise me if we don't upset at least one of the big four in the PAC during the season...
Thoughts..??
Go Devils!!!
