Check it out college football on the West Coast. This is Get Off My
Pylon, a look at the PAC twelve and more, part of the college
Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network. Here's your host, Matt Zemmick. Welcome
to Get Off My Pylon College Football podcast. This is your host, Matt
Zemmick and Get Off My Pylon. During the college football season looks at Western
college football. And it's a great year to look at Western college football.
And it's also a year when you know we're not going to have West Coast
college football as we know it next year because the PAC twelve won't exists.
And it's a real shame because PAC twelve football has rarely been as good as
it is right now, and it's only poised to get even better over the
course of the season. As you probably know by now, the PAC twelve,
thirteen and ozer through Week one, USC has two wins, but everyone
else one in Week one of the season on Labor Day weekend. So the
PAC twelves the one Power five conference which hasn't lost a game yet. All
the other Power fives have and one of the interesting things worth noting, and
this is going to be a review of of week one and just an overview
of where the PAC twelve stands. One of the interesting things that came out
of week one, and you know, just being on social media and feeling
like the national reactions to what the PAC twelve did, like there was a
general awareness that the PAC twelve was going to be really good this year.
Washington, USC, Oregon, Utah and maybe Oregon State whatever a chance to
do good and then of course, guess what happens. Colorado is the big
story in week one with Dion Sanders having that team well ahead of schedule,
being able to get the most out of that offense, with Shader Sanders and
Travis Hunter scoring forty five points on the road at TCU, and you know,
we might say that TCU is going to be worse than we might have
anticipated. Channel Morris obviously was never going to be Max Duggan, but still
some really really huge mistakes for a TCU team, which you know, through
multiple interceptions inside the Colorado five yard lines. So like, if TCU just
gets field goals on each of those two drives, maybe this game ends differently.
So like as much as Colorado did well, TCU still didn't have to
shoot itself in the foot and so there will be the You know, maybe
this was less about Colorado. It's more about TCU being worse than we thought.
Still, you know, I was on record as saying I didn't think
this was going to work out for Colorado. I thought I was going to
be a blood bath in September. I thought I was going to take more
time to bring all these pieces together. Keep in mind that the huge transfer
portal churn, that the exodus and then the influx occurred after the Spring Game,
not before it. You know, the Spring game was comprised mostly of
players who then left. You know, the Spring Game did not involve of
most of these new pieces, and so that just seems to me like a
really short time frame to get everyone on the same page. Thought there would
be a lot more growing pains, there would be a lot more disorganization and
chaos and plutter. Dion and his staff made it work, and Sean Lewis,
his offensive coordinator, like that seems like a great hire from the jump,
but even then, it still seemed as though he was gonna need some
time. And Sean Lewis got that thing really polished and turned around in a
hurry Sean Lewis is probably gonna get calls at the end of November beginning of
December for Power five head coaching jobs, and the durability of what Dion has
in Colorado. It could depend on whether he can retain Sean Lewis for at
least the next few seasons, or if Lewis jumps for a head coaching opportunity
at the Power five level. It's gonna be materazing to see how that plays
out. But long story short, Colorado. I thought Colorad was going to
be a three win team. Colorad was probably now a bowl team. You
know, you would think that Colorado should beat Nebraska given how bad the Huskers
offense looks. I know, Colorado's defense isn't great, but like you're gonna
have to score to beat Colorado. Colorado was going to put points on the
board against most teams this season given what we saw against TCU. So Nebraska
doesn't seem to have the offense needed to hang with Colorado. And then you
know the Buffs. You know, a few other Pack twelve games against the
lower end of the conference that before the season might have felt like losses probably
now feel like wins. And so Colorado's outlook definitely a lot better. So
you already have the TCU win that was a game just about everybody felt was
going to be a loss, and then a lot of people felt the Nebraska
game was going to be a loss, and that now looks like a game
that's probably gonna go Colorado's way. So, assuming Colorado does beat Nebraska,
right there, you flipped two games that were expect initially before the season,
expected to be losses and now they turn into wins. So right there,
you've you've changed a three win projection to a five win trajectory or at least
a five win possibility. And so carl would just need to grab one more
game that it didn't expect to win, or that most people, most outsiders
didn't expect it to win. Just have to flip one more game to get
to six wins and a bull bed, which would be absolutely sensational. You
know, a great result for Colorado, and week won. And so if
Colorado is better than expected and you look at Cal scoring fifty eight points against
North Texas, I don't think anyone saw that coming. I think plenty of
people thought Cal would win, but not by scoring fifty eight Stanford easily beat
Hawaii, led thirty seven to sixteen late in that game before giving up a
garbage touchdown to win thirty seven twenty four. Stanford favored by only three,
like that was supposed to be close in terms of you know, what got
overlooked there Hawaii playing on a short week. You know, Hawaii had the
week zero game against Vanderbilt, and that was a weather delayed game that were
that was lightning. There were, you know, thunderstorms in Nashville on the
night of August twenty six. So that game went late on Saturday, and
it was emotional and it was draining, and Hawaii put up a really good
fight, losing by only seven. Game was very competitive. The yard tolls
were very even. You know, Vanderbilt needed some special teams plays to win
that game. You know, in terms of just offense and defense, Hawaii
and Vanderbilt were very even in that game. But then you have the short
week, Hawaii catching a very late flight and then having to play on a
Friday against Stanford. The short week had an impact, it certainly seemed on
Hawaii and for me and everyone else who picked Hawaii, that was an oversight.
That was an oversight. On my part for sure, but it does
raise the question, like Stamford looked better than a lot of people fought in
again in game one, new coach Game one, you'd think, Oh,
they're gonna be all sorts of rough edges, it's gonna be really ragged.
Stanford looked pretty crisp and Stamford now running an up tempo offense that certainly wasn't
the David Shaw away. But that's how Troy Taylor is doing it, you
know, with this group of players, which you know, Stamford was picked
last in the PAC twelve by many, but certainly did not look like a
last place PAC twelve team. And that's even if you factor in Hawaii having
a short week. I mean, Stamford still looked pretty crisp, pretty organized
in Week one. Dion Sanders and Troy Taylor both had their guys ready to
go in the season opener, a testament to their ability to organize, ability
to teach, ability to drill in some basic habits. Are all these PAC
twelve teams in the middle and lower tiers at the conference are they going to
be better than expected? Because that could affect the balance of power. So
in my not be that the top tier is overrated, but that the lower
tiers were underrated. And I just have to say, if anyone says that,
oh, it's just one game, why are you anointing the PAC twelve
as this great conference? First of all, as I mentioned earlier, the
PAC twelve is expected to be really really good in general, and the top
teams have not given too much of an indication that you know, they're gonna
they're gonna struggle profoundly. You know, they might have their difficulties like USC's
defense. You know, going up against a really good offense, they're probably
gonna be struggles. But hey, Williams, he is, you know,
playing like the elite player he is. You're, you are going to have
to score at least, you know, forty three, forty five, forty
eight points to beat this USC team because that offense just is not going to
get shut down. The margin for air when you play USC is extremely small.
So even if you know there are a few defensive clunkers, I mean,
even if we imagine a worst case scenario, it's hard to get much
worse than I think ten and two for USC. And it's really similar for
Washington and Oregon. Michael Pennox Bonnix both look great in their openers. I
know Boix was going up against Portland State of the FCS, but hey,
if you're going to play a Tomato can, you might as well score the
eighty one points that Oregon did. Like, that's what you should do.
Oregon did that. Like all these offenses seem to be well on their way
toward having seasons as good as, if not better than, what they had
in twenty twenty two. And they were all great in twenty twenty two.
So the idea that, well, let's wait and see about the PAC twelve,
I mean, do we really have to wait and see in terms of
saying like this is a really good conference? I don't think so. I
think the really the question is can there be an unbeaten team? And that's
probably not likely given how balanced everything is at the top tier that they're all
going to beat each other up to a certain degree. But would you doubt
that the PAC twelve is going to produce at least three ten win teams this
season? I mean that that seems pretty likely that you know, the idea
that each top PAC twelve team is going to lose three times now two?
Yes, because they're all gonna trade some losses to some degree at some point.
But like the idea that there's going to be only one really good team
in the Pac twelve this year, like maybe the champion is twelve and one
and the second and third place teams or nine and three. Uh, you
know, like that doesn't seem likely. It seems more likely than not that
you'll get at least three ten win teams. At least three teams are gonna
go ten and two, and then the fourth and fifth place teams are going
to be nine and three, maybe eight and four. You know, Oregon
State played to San Jose State, and you know San Jose State is hardly
a giant, but Oregon State looked very solid and dj Luiangol looked very composed
and contained. He looked competent, Like he doesn't have to be spectacular.
He has a great offensive line in front of him, he has a very
tough defense supporting him. Oregon State does seem to have a lot of pieces
in place. And if dj Luiangola is just a solid, reliable, competent,
field of general type quarterback, that becomes a really good team, and
that becomes another ten win candidate in addition to the USC Washington Oregon Utah quartet,
Utah taking care of business against Florida without cam Rising, you know,
made full use of its home field advantage in Salt Lake City and the fact
that Florida is just a total mess on offense and doesn't have the dudes yet
under Billy Napier. That twenty twenty four recruiting class, which is really highly
ranked, can't come soon enough in Gainesville. But like Utah did what it
was supposed to do, Washington didn't beat a tomato. Can you know a
cupcake? Washington beat Boise State, one of the better Mountain West programs,
one of the better Western programs in the United States over the past fifteen years.
You know that, like that was not a cupcake game, and yet
Washington made Boisi State looked like a cupcake, winning by thirty seven points.
So like these PAC twelve teams were supposed to be good before the season began,
and they all looked the part. They have all generally looked the part
as teams that are going to be an absolute handful to deal with for other
teams across the country. So if you're saying, well, it's just one
game and I know that we shouldn't overreact to certain individual results, but like,
if you're a PAC twelve skeptic, and I know that the conference hasn't
made the playoffs, it's two of that in sixteen, and whether it's going
to make the playoff like that is a set aside question because they all might
knock each other out of the playoff. That's happened many times before. And
on that point, like, you're probably right if you're gonna say, you
know what, they're all going to beat each other up in Florida State is
going to make the playoff from the ACC because Clemson is not very good,
Like I would be inclined to agree with that right now, But that doesn't
mean the PAC twelve is overrated. That doesn't mean the PAC twelve is oversold.
Those are two different things. Like the idea that the PAC twelve is
not going to be good in football this year, come on, now,
what are we looking at? Like you can see the quality and the depths
across the conference. Like if you're pushing back against that claim, you know
that just seems like a reflexive reaction, and you know, using the years
of playoff futility, or rather you know, not even getting to the playoff
as the basis for your argument. You're ignoring all the evidence that's right in
front of you. So it's really curious that, you know, a lot
of some people said, oh, it's just one game, we shouldn't really
say that the PAC twelve is a really good conference just yet. Well,
I know the conference has struggled, but that is really separate from what we're
seeing on the field so far this season. And of course it's not as
though teams just played well in isolation in Week one. Remember they have veteran
quarterbacks all coming back, Cam Rising, Penox Knicks, Kyle Williams all coming
back. Uh, you know, it's not as though they have new and
unproven faces. It's not as though the chemistry of these offenses is a mystery
like this has proven. This is established. So it's not as those these
teams are mysteries in the way that other teams with newer rosters are. The
Pac twelve is going to be good, and that should be pretty solidly established
as a relatively safe and conventional take. Hardly going out on a limb after
Week one of this season. They get off My Pylon College Football podcast.
Now that we're in the middle of the season. We are brought to you
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Smarter Mobile app. All right, so you know, in terms of any
specific things from week one that we should really drill down and identify. You
know, Washington started a little sluggishly against Poise State in the first quarter before
settling down even when Michael Pennox was inaccurate. You saw Jalen McMillan and the
other Washington receivers getting wide open. It's like those receivers probably a little bit
better than USC. I mean a small sample size, but Washington's receivers I
think have a little bit more high end speed if you were to compare them
with USC's wide receivers. You know, Dorian Singer made a few plays,
but Dorian Singer has not been the Jordan Addison level replacement that some people inside
USC thought or hoped he would be. However, Zachariah Branch, you know,
who already has a ninety six yard kickoff returned touchdown to his credit this
season. Zachariah Branch does have the high end speed, but he's a freshman.
He's still learning the offense. It's gonna be really interesting to see if
Zachariah Branch can evolve into a polished wide receiver by the middle of the season.
If he can, then he becomes that Jordan Addison level guy, but
he needs to understand and grasp the offense first. If his learning curve can
accelerate and give him the ability to really master Lincoln Riley's offense and really develop,
you know, first rate chemistry with Caleb Williams by the middle of the
season, and specifically by the middle of the season, I mean that October
fourteenth game against order Dame. When USC's schedule begins to get a lot tougher,
Zachary Branch can really evolve by mid October. That is a game changer
for the USC offense. So that's a plot point to watch for with USC.
The Trojans didn't have Mason Cobb or Eric Gentry, two were their better
linebackers for the Nevada game. Probably just it's done out of caution that they
didn't play against Nevada because obviously they didn't need them. For Nevada they won
by fifty two points. USC will need them later in the season, So
any kind of fifty fifty injury questions, Trojans should probably sit guys out.
You don't have to play them, you don't have to over extend them.
It'll be interesting to see how us these backups on the defensive defensive depth chart
perform in these earlier weeks of the season against the lower end of the Pac
twelve. USC playing Stanford this Saturday night, Oregon. You know you're not
going to learn too much about a game against Portland State. But I said,
as I've said earlier, if you're going to play an FCS cupcake,
yes, score eighty one, like that's what you should do. Like that
is what your offense is capable of. Go out there and do it.
The reminder that bo Nix, you know, worked with Kenny Dellingham at Auburn,
so they reunited last year at Oregon and that pairing worked out really well.
So how is this thing going to work out with Will Stein the new
offensive coordinator and Bownix no longer having Kenny Dellingham calling plays for him? Well
eighty one points that suggests that Box is going to be just fine, Thank
you, ma'am for the Ducks this season. So their offense is in order,
and so, like you know, it's it's hard to doubt Oregon too
much after that first game, even though it's an FCS cupcake talked about Oregon
State that you know, Jonathan Smith in terms of you know, being able
to fix what was wrong with dj uyang la Lay. It's not as though
Uyangolay has to be superman. He just has to make the throw when it's
there. And Oregon State receivers were getting open because the threat of the run
game behind that great Oregon State offensive line, like that is going to put
that is going to bring linebackers up into the tackle box, and they're going
to be wide open areas, wide open pockets of the field into which Uiyangola
can throw. It's a great setup for him. And that's and that's where
I think Jonathan Smith's thought process really came through. It's that it's like,
I don't have to turn this guy into Caleb Williams. I just need to
turn this guy into a competent quarterback who can just make the basic throw when
it's there. Jonathan Smith has so many pieces on that Oregon State roster that
he can put dj uyangol lay in the best possible position to succeed. And
if again, if Uyangola is just a solid field general, you know that
he would. That's that's an upgrade from what Oregon State had last year with
Chance Nolan and then ben Go Brampson. Neither one was able to be particularly
consistent or effective. You just put in a solid B B plus quarterback with
all those other pieces on defense, the running game, the offensive line,
Oregon State becomes a true Pack twelve championship contender. That is not an exaggeration
at all. Talked about Colorado and so that you know, the offense seems
to have the ability to light up the scoreboard. It's going to be interesting
to see how can that defense evolve to any meaningful degree. If it can,
then the Buffaloes are going to be a real headache worth It's worth reminding
you that Colorado has Oregon on September twenty three, you see on September thirtieth,
So you know, those big games early in the season. You know,
Fox and television in general wanted those games early because there was the fear
that Colorado would be a three and nineteen that you know, the shine would
wear off quickly this season. So let's get Dion Sanders on television as much
as possible in September while the Buffaloes are still interesting. And so the big
games for Colorado, the high profile games, they're pretty much all in September,
and now those games against Oregon and USC become that much more intriguing in
Colorado throw a monkey wrench into the PAC twelve race by beating either one of
those teams Oregon or USC in late September. That is now a fresh plat
point in this PAC twelve season. Other PAC twelve notes that we that are
worth passing along. You know, we've already talked about Stanford and Cal looking
better than expected. Didn't learn too much about it. Every you know,
coasted over Northern Arizona an FCS team. Washington State basically did what it was
supposed to do against Colorado State. Not a whole lot to learn there.
Arizona State seems to be the worst team in the Pac twelve obviously just Week
one, but you know, barely beat Southern Utah. And I know that
game was a weather delayed. He had thunderstorms here in Phoenix where I am
last Thursday night, you know, so like Kenny Dillingham knows that he has
a long term rebuild. And I know Arizona State was ruled ineligible for a
bowl game. But like Arizona State was not going to make a bowl game
this year anyway, So no one should be too worked up about that.
Now. Ray Anderson, the athletic director, should be fired, but no
one should be saying, well, this team had a real shot to go
to a bowl game and now it's gone. It never really had a shot,
and that's probably going to be proven over the course of the season.
The only other Pac twelve team we haven't talked about yet, UCLA, and
you know, Ethan Garb has got the start against Coastal Carolina in Week one.
Uh, you know, you Bruin fans generally think, hey, give
the keys to the car to the freshman Donte Moore, like he gives the
Bruins the most upside. But maybe chip Kelly is not there yet. Meant,
maybe he still wants to ease Dante more into the flow of the season.
Maybe he wants to uh you know, kind of play at light uh,
not saddle up more with too much in the realm of responsibilities and h
and details while USC is in the or UCLA is in the non conference portion
of its schedule. And then maybe you get into Pac twelve play and then
you start ramping up the playbook. You you, you, you make the
playbook more developed and come complicated for Dante more and you unleash him then like
you don't give too much on film to Utah and the other teams that you're
going to be playing uh in the Pac twelve. Maybe maybe chip Kelly is
just trying to kind of keep things under wraps for now, and then he's
gonna unleash Dante Moore in full when UCLA gets into the PAC twelve schedule.
So how Chip Kelly juggles the quarterback room at UCLA. That's going to be
something to watch, all right. So you know we've gone through the Pac
twelve and obviously there's gonna be a lot more to say on these teams.
Of course the season. We will do a separate standalone episode of Get Off
My Pylon on the upcoming Week two games for these Pac twelve teams, that
will be a separate episode. But this was our Week one in review show,
Parrett, Get Off My Pylon. Stay with us throughout the season and
of course during the During the college football season, go to ticket smarter dot
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Ticket smarter dot com and the ticket Smarter We will app Thanks for listening to
this episode of Get Off My Pylon, the Western College Football Podcast. This
is your host, Matt Zemmick. We'll see you next time.