Pac-12 football fans are here for a good time, but not for a long time with realignment coming.
For at least one more year, we will have a healthy helping of Pac-12 football out on the West Coast.
With USC and UCLA leaving the league in 2024 to join the Big Ten, the Pac-12 feels like it is on life support. The worst part in all this is the league is kind of having a moment. They have about four teams totally capable of making the College Football Playoff. The quarterback play is stupendous and the coaching is getting better with each passing offseason. Just please hang in there, guys…
Here are five things that are 100 percent coming true in the Pac-12 this college football season.
Pac-12 Football: 5 way-too-early bold predictions for 2023 college season
5. Bo Nix will be the 2024 version of Will Levis throughout the NFL Draft process
I think last year showed us all that Bo Nix can play on Sundays. It may not have been vs. the same caliber defenses he went up against in the SEC, but Nix was a revelation at quarterback in what was a very strong first year for Dan Lanning's Oregon Ducks. With one more year of eligibility left to burn, look for Nix to be somewhere in the QB3 to QB5 range when it comes to the NFL Draft.
Barring something unforeseen, USC's Caleb Williams and North Carolina's Drake Maye will be top-five picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, assuming they both do declare. Williams definitely is, and Maye might as well. As for who is QB3, it could be any number of guys, whether it be Nix, Washington's Michael Penix Jr., Texas' Quinn Ewers, Michigan's J.J. McCarthy or some other quarterback entirely.
For various reasons, Nix will be one of the most scrutinized quarterbacks entering the draft. He may not get picked to pieces like Kentucky's Will Levis did, who fell to the Tennessee Titans in the second round, but Nix isn't going to be for everyone either. Production and athleticism will get him drafted very high, but I could also see some teams being out on him for a plethora of reasons, too.
Nix will have a strong final season at Oregon, but if it's good enough to be QB3 remains to be seen.
4. Jonathan Smith will leave alma mater if Beavers win double-digit games again
I may not believe in D.J. Uiagalelei, but I believe in Jonathan Smith. After winning The Strife Aquatic over Oregon, these Oregon State Beavers are going places. I especially loved seeing the Beavs blow out Florida in Las Vegas with Pat McAfee in the booth in the middle of an Indianapolis Colts collapse in real time. I think Smith is doing a dam good job at his alma mater, but there's also this…
Should Oregon State win 10 games in back-to-back seasons, Smith will have to leave Corvallis, whether he wants to or not. That is because the money he would be getting to take over at a bigger Power Five job will be too much to leave on the table. It is probably not going to be for an SEC gig, but the right job in the Big Ten, and definitely a strong one in the Big 12, may be available.
Admittedly, it may pain Smith to leave Oregon State after this season, but his stock could be at an all-time high. His alma mater may be tucked away in the Pacific Northwest, but his great coaching is doing the talking for him over his quiet demeanor. Even if Reser Stadium is being renovated in a piecemeal fashion, just imagine what Smith could do with the resources of a top-25 college job…
I cannot definitively say what suitor it will be, but Smith could be in the running for three P5 jobs.
3. The Pre-Game winner between Arizona State and Colorado will go bowling
For as long as we have the Pac-12 and Arizona State plays Colorado regularly, we must call this quasi-rivalry The Pre-Game. I am not wrong, because well, have you ever been to Boulder or The Valley? I have, and this nickname is perfect! It's about the stuff that happens before, and after, the game, but not exactly during it. But you know what? That could be changing here in short order…
Although the Buffaloes and Sun Devils are bottom-feeders in the conference, I anticipate things will work out for either Deion Sanders or Kenny Dillingham in the end, possibly both. What if I told you that their regular-season meeting will be the deciding factor for the winning team going bowling? I've set CU's ceiling at 6-6 and one could argue that ASU could be a few wins better, too.
Despite the fact we couldn't get David Bakhtiari and Jake Plummer in the same room together to hand out The Bowl, this game will live up to the Sickos Committee hype it deserves. Coach Prime will either be celebrating this game as the turning point for his Colorado program or it will be the one that Dillingham uses to sell to former high schoolers in The Valley like himself to stay home.
The only way this game could be even better is if it was decided by good-to-horrific special teams.
2. Alex Grinch will steal Christmas from USC fans for the second season in a row
Oh, people are going to be big mad about this, alright. Well, this is what you signed up for with Alex Grinch. Lincoln Riley might be the best thing to happen to offensive football since Bill Walsh developed the West Coast system out of necessity in Cincinnati, but Grinch's defense will once again steal Christmas from our beloved Trojan Faithful. This means no defense, no playoff berth.
I still anticipate for USC to win around 10 or 11 games again this season. The Trojans will be in the mix for the New Year's Six, and will probably get in. However, Grinch's wet paper bag of a defense will keep USC from securing its first-ever playoff berth. It would have been good enough to get the Trojans in this year in a 12-team format, but we are rolling with the four-teamer for one more run.
The good news for USC fans is this poor coaching staff decision made by Riley will be rectified in 2024. Look for him to have the foresight to hire a defensive mind with Big Ten roots to give USC a chance going forward. Not saying he will be able to pry Phil Parker away from Three Yards and a Cloud of Punt at Iowa, but doesn't former Wisconsin interim head coach Jim Leonhard need a job?
Until Riley takes the defensive side of the ball seriously, USC is never going to win a national title.
1. Michael Penix Jr. wins Heisman Trophy, Washington will be going to Las Vegas
If not for FOX, Robert Griffin III would want to call every single Washington Huskies game this season if he could. Not only will he be in the booth to see a top-eight team firing on all cylinders under rockstar head coach Kalen DeBoer, but he will be right there every step of the way to root on his future Heisman Trophy fraternity brother in Michael Penix Jr. Bring that Big Penix Energy, baby!
U-Dub will win 11 games during the regular season and will be one of the two teams playing for a Pac-12 Championship in Las Vegas. While I won't go as far as to say that the Huskies are going to be victorious in the Desert Rumba, but they are so going to be there and they will be alive for the College Football Playoff heading into championship weekend. This is only the beginning for them.
Penix will have two sensational games that will not only secure him the Heisman Trophy, but will ensure everyone with a brain that he will be a top-four quarterback taken in the 2024 NFL Draft. Washington may pull back a bit during his rookie season in the league, but the Huskies will have officially arrived under DeBoer. Their rivalry with Oregon will be approaching an all-time high stat.
If it is not going to be Caleb Williams doing the Heisman repeat, my gut feeling says it will be Penix.