2023 Pac-12 preview: Why Washington will win the conference
The 2023 season will be the last for the Pac-12 as it is currently constructed as eight teams will leave for either the Big Ten or Big 12 next year. With how things look on paper, however, the conference is set to go out with a bang.
The league has at least four teams vying for the championship in Oregon, USC, Utah and Washington. However, Pac-12 Network analyst Yogi Roth also threw in Oregon State and UCLA as dark horse candidates who could make some noise.
Appearing with On3‘s Andy Staples, Roth revealed that he picked the Huskies to hoist the trophy at the end of the season.
“I look at five I feel really good about and maybe six to win the league,” he said. “I think seven and eight can upset anybody. At the top, I voted (Washington) to win the league. I look at Washington, of course USC (and) Utah by the way, two-time defending champs people forget about. They’re gonna roll in the Big 12. You look at Oregon, they’ve had a CFP caliber roster since 2018 every year. They’ve got the bodies and Dan Lanning has only added to that.
“I talk about Oregon State because I think they have the best schedule to get to the title game. Who they play, where they play and, most importantly, who they miss. Then having been at UCLA last week, it’s the best team Chip’s had. …I look at those teams and say, ‘It’s gonna be fun.’ Oh by the way, Arizona had one of the top five offenses in America last year and Washington State is as salty as they come.”
Washington will return quarterback Michael Penix Jr. after he finished second in the FBS this past season with 4,641 yards passing, 31 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He gets back his top three receivers, including two who surpassed 1,000 yards in 2022 in Rome Odunze and Jalen McMillan.
However, what really pushed the Huskies over the top in Roth’s estimation is the transfers they brought in, particularly on the defensive side.
“The pickups that they’ve had in the portal, whether it’s at linebacker in Ralen Goforth from USC, who was a starter at linebacker early in his career there and played a lot last year in the secondary,” Roth said. “They bring in (Jabbar) Muhammad from OK State to play at corner. …I spent a couple weeks around Kalen DeBoer and that program and watched those guys work. Walked into the receiver room at 11 a.m. and the receivers are in there studying on their own.
“Again, I look at the schedule. They beat Oregon on the road and Oregon could beat them at home, but I go with U-Dub at home just like I went with Oregon last year at home. It’s so hard to win that game. That’ll be a great test for them around midseason. They’ve gotta stress just like everybody else with USC and Utah and Oregon State, but there was just something where I said, ‘I think this program.'”
Roth admitted he also likes Utah, which has a chance to pull off a threepeat as Pac-12 champions in 2023 before leaving for the Big 12. However, the health of quarterback Cam Rising is a concern for him after he suffered a torn ACL in the Rose Bowl last season.
Still, the Utes get back three of their top four rushers and two of their top three receivers from 2022. Roth also believes they have the Pac-12’s best defense after ranking second in the league last year in points allowed per game (21.4).
“It’s hard because you can nitpick at least the four teams all day long,” Roth said. “You really can make a case for any of them and I wouldn’t be shocked if I was wrong on this. But I just leaned into it and said, ‘I think I just trust that the most’ because I didn’t know about Cam Rising. If Cam Rising’s healthy, I probably pick Utah. I think they have the best defense in the league. If you said ‘Give me a team from this league to go play Georgia, ‘Bama, Ohio State,’ I’d probably take Utah based on their defense and their offense when healthy.”
Outside of Washington and Utah, USC and Oregon are also favorites to compete for a title. The Trojans have the reigning Heisman winner in quarterback Caleb Williams, while the Ducks hope that Bo Nix can get his Heisman campaign off the ground this year as well.
Ultimately, all this should make for a very exciting league and Roth can’t wait to watch how it all unfolds.
“I love non-con,” he said. “I love any football. But when we get to conference play this year, especially with these new clock rules, the last five minutes of these games with these quarterbacks, they’re gonna be off the hook.
“…We’re gonna celebrate the you-know-what out of that. Not cry about this league falling apart. Then pick it up where it picks up. Because thankfully, regardless of league affiliation or logo, it doesn’t matter. Because the teams are still gonna play and the games next year are gonna be fun.”