Mornin Mates...
Today's Topic = Athlon's Preseason PAC Football Picks
NORTH
1) Oregon - Plenty of talent returning for new coach Dan Lanning...will have a new QB, most probably, in Bo Nix from Auburn...ASU misses the Ducks this season...
2) Oregon St - looks like Jonathan Smith has turned the Beavers football fortunes around after finishing 7-6 last season...has returning QB in Chance Nolan...ASU gets Beavers at home in November...
Dust projects Sun Devil win in this game...
3) Wash - Huskies have new coach in Kalen DeBoer but still have a lot of issues...defense may not be as stingy but offense should be better...ASU gets Huskies at home in October...
Dust projects Sun Devil win here...
4) Wazzu - new coach Jake Dickert lost starting QB to AU but scored big with transfer QB Cam Ward according to media...ASU travels to Pullman in November...
Dust projects Sun Devil loss here...
5) Cal - coach Justin Wilcox only returns seven starters from last year...has new QB in Purdue transfer Jack Plummer...ASU misses Bears this season...
6) Stanford - Cardinal only 11-19 over past three seasons but have a potential NFL QB in Tanner McKee...ASU travels to Palo Alto after BYE week in October...
Dust projects a Sun Devil loss here since it's a road game...
SOUTH
1) Utah - Utes still have plenty of talent and experience in Salt Lake City that includes perhaps best QB in conference in Cam Rising...Devils get Utes at home in September in first PAC game...
Dust picks Utes here in real close game...nice to get them early and hope Emory is up to task at hand by then...
2) USC - new Trojan coach Lincoln Riley has flipped the roster in a big way according to media, with more impact players everywhere than before...Devils travels to Coliseum after playing Utes...
Dust picks Trojans in this game as Lincoln Riley is much better coach than Clay Helton...
3) UCLA - Bruins seemed to turn corner under Chip Kelly last season and returns his starting QB and star RB, plus get Utes in Rose Bowl...Devils get UCLA home in early November...
Dust sees this as potentially a toss-up game and will give nod to Devils here since it is a home game...
4) Arizona - yep, Athlon picks the Cats ahead of the Devils due to an upgraded roster that includes QB Jayden de Laura from Wazzu...Devils play Cats in Tucson this year...
5) ASU - too much uncertainty surrounding Sun Devils under Herm these days...lost more in portal than gained...Devils travel to Tucson this season...
Dust doesn't know what to do with this pick due to uncertainty surrounding both programs but Cats can't help but improve on a 1-11 season last year, while Devils have a major dark cloud still hanging over their program and, as a result, we could be anywhere from 3-7 when in comes to wins, if you ask me...
6) Colorado - Buffs are still hurting across the board but Devils have to play them in Boulder the end of October...
Dust picks Devils here but won't be easy on the road...
Las Vegas has the Devils over-under at 5.5 games which I think is about right...could win six or more games to become bowl eligible and could just as easily be pretty horrible, in my mind, if offense can't score more than about 20 points per game and also don't like a secondary that is a real question mark right now...
Interesting to me that the vaunted NFL model used by Stanford and ASU may not be all that great this coming season but we'll see...
The NFL model may actually be an anachronism (very outdated) these days...sure, just about all college football players want to make it to the NFL some day but they also want to play for championship programs, that pay well, while they are awaiting an NFL opportunity, that doesn't look like ASU under Herm these days, but we'll see...
Looking forward to your feedback, as always...please tell me where Athlon and/or myself are right or wrong...
Well, Happy Father's Day to all those dads out there in Sun Devil land...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
Today's Topic = Athlon's Preseason PAC Football Picks
NORTH
1) Oregon - Plenty of talent returning for new coach Dan Lanning...will have a new QB, most probably, in Bo Nix from Auburn...ASU misses the Ducks this season...
2) Oregon St - looks like Jonathan Smith has turned the Beavers football fortunes around after finishing 7-6 last season...has returning QB in Chance Nolan...ASU gets Beavers at home in November...
Dust projects Sun Devil win in this game...
3) Wash - Huskies have new coach in Kalen DeBoer but still have a lot of issues...defense may not be as stingy but offense should be better...ASU gets Huskies at home in October...
Dust projects Sun Devil win here...
4) Wazzu - new coach Jake Dickert lost starting QB to AU but scored big with transfer QB Cam Ward according to media...ASU travels to Pullman in November...
Dust projects Sun Devil loss here...
5) Cal - coach Justin Wilcox only returns seven starters from last year...has new QB in Purdue transfer Jack Plummer...ASU misses Bears this season...
6) Stanford - Cardinal only 11-19 over past three seasons but have a potential NFL QB in Tanner McKee...ASU travels to Palo Alto after BYE week in October...
Dust projects a Sun Devil loss here since it's a road game...
SOUTH
1) Utah - Utes still have plenty of talent and experience in Salt Lake City that includes perhaps best QB in conference in Cam Rising...Devils get Utes at home in September in first PAC game...
Dust picks Utes here in real close game...nice to get them early and hope Emory is up to task at hand by then...
2) USC - new Trojan coach Lincoln Riley has flipped the roster in a big way according to media, with more impact players everywhere than before...Devils travels to Coliseum after playing Utes...
Dust picks Trojans in this game as Lincoln Riley is much better coach than Clay Helton...
3) UCLA - Bruins seemed to turn corner under Chip Kelly last season and returns his starting QB and star RB, plus get Utes in Rose Bowl...Devils get UCLA home in early November...
Dust sees this as potentially a toss-up game and will give nod to Devils here since it is a home game...
4) Arizona - yep, Athlon picks the Cats ahead of the Devils due to an upgraded roster that includes QB Jayden de Laura from Wazzu...Devils play Cats in Tucson this year...
5) ASU - too much uncertainty surrounding Sun Devils under Herm these days...lost more in portal than gained...Devils travel to Tucson this season...
Dust doesn't know what to do with this pick due to uncertainty surrounding both programs but Cats can't help but improve on a 1-11 season last year, while Devils have a major dark cloud still hanging over their program and, as a result, we could be anywhere from 3-7 when in comes to wins, if you ask me...
6) Colorado - Buffs are still hurting across the board but Devils have to play them in Boulder the end of October...
Dust picks Devils here but won't be easy on the road...
Las Vegas has the Devils over-under at 5.5 games which I think is about right...could win six or more games to become bowl eligible and could just as easily be pretty horrible, in my mind, if offense can't score more than about 20 points per game and also don't like a secondary that is a real question mark right now...
Interesting to me that the vaunted NFL model used by Stanford and ASU may not be all that great this coming season but we'll see...
The NFL model may actually be an anachronism (very outdated) these days...sure, just about all college football players want to make it to the NFL some day but they also want to play for championship programs, that pay well, while they are awaiting an NFL opportunity, that doesn't look like ASU under Herm these days, but we'll see...
Looking forward to your feedback, as always...please tell me where Athlon and/or myself are right or wrong...
Well, Happy Father's Day to all those dads out there in Sun Devil land...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
