Expectation vs. Reality: Mid-Season Grades for each Pac 12 Team

Everyone has their own opinion on how they’re favorite team and the teams in that conference will do. Not a lot of the time though, does that exact expectation become a reality due to playing the game on the field rather than looking at numbers and how players will execute compare to how they actually do. Today we’re going to look at each Pac 12 team and grade them on how they were expected to do vs. how they have looked so far.

Arizona

Expectation: B+

Reality: C

The beginning of the season made it look like it was worse case scenario with the Wildcats as they lost to  BYU and Houston and Kevin Sumlin looked to have this team confused and out of sorts. Khalil Tate came into the season as the either #1 or  #2 eisman candidate from the conference and so far has not showed up on a consistent basis yet. He has not passed  for over 250 yards against a conference opponent and hasnt even eclipsed 50 rushing yards in a game. The defense is what keeps this grade hoping to go up after a fantastic performance against Cal and hopefully for the Wildcats, continue to build some momentum.

Arizona State

Expectation: C+

Reality: B-

If it was based off of the first two weeks of the season, ASU would have a A- grade. But the Sun Devils have started to fall a little bit after losing 3 of their last 4. In those 3 losses, Arizona State has only been able to get over 21 points, but have been in all 3 of their losses, so there is some hope. ASU possesses some of the top offensive skill players in the conference with Eno Benjamin, N’Keal Harry and Frank Darby. And the defense has played pretty well all year long. I believe the Sun Devils can bounce back and end up with 7 wins and be a dangerous team for whoever they play in their bowl game.

Cal

Expectation: C-

Reality: B-

Similar to ASU, Cal came out of the gates red hot, taking down North Carolina and BYU and breaking into the top 25 in week 5. But since then, have started conference play 0-2 with losses to Oregon and Arizona. Patrick Laird has proved to be a valuable assest to this team, but with the inconsistencies of Brandon Mcilwain and the lack of star talent at reciver keeps this offense a question mark. The defense all around is solid as they’ve only given up more than 24 points once. With some winnable games down the stretch, Cal has a chance to sneak into a bowl game, but it wont be easy.

Colorado

Expectation: C-

Reality: B+

The only reason why this grade is not higher is because the teams they have played so far. They have played 2 of the worst power 5 teams (although no one expected them to be winless by this point) in Nebraska and UCLA and their best win is against a .500 team that has lost 3 of their last 4. The offense looks legit with so many playmakers that can break one at any point. Steven Montez at QB,  Trayvon Mcmillian at RB and the duo of Laviska Shenault Jr. (Pac 12 offensive player of the week last week) and K.D. Nixon at reciever. The biggest test is ahead of them though as they have back to back road games in the two toughest environments in the conference in USC and Washington. If they pass both of those test, Colorado is a legitamate threat to win the conference and potentially contend for a College Football Playoff spot.

Oregon

Expectation: B

Reality: A-

The expectations for this 2018 Oregon team was set relatively high and they have succeded them so far, although there is alot more on the way including a date next week with #7 Washington in what seems to be the most important game of the year for the Ducks. No rest for the weary though because after that they travel on the road to face gunslinging Washington State team led by the statiscally best QB in College Football, Gardner Minshew. Oregon’s defense has proved that it can step up to its competition and shaw flashes of it in the Stanford gane until they blew a 17 point lead and evantually lost in OT, 38-31. After the Washington’s though, Oregon’s schedule looks pretty soft as they should be favorites in their last 5 games of the year. Conferene Championship potential is there and New Year 6 possibility isn’t that crazy of a thought for a team that has played pretty well throughout the first half of the season.

Oregon State

Expectation: D+

Reality: D

The only reason why Oregon State isn’t an F is because of the duo of  Jermar Jefferson and Artavis Pierce. Jermar Jefferson nearly has more rushing yards than Conor Blount has passing yards and Jefferson has 4 more rushing touchdowns than Blount has passing. Pierce has played pretty well too as the #2 with nearly 300 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns. Jefferson is the real deal though as he leads the conference in every rushing statistic their possibily is; And he’s only a freshman. Oregon State should have no problem rushing the ball for the foresee able future. As for eveything else on the team. It’s pretty lackluster as they’ve given up over 30 points in every single game except for Southern Utah. Ohio State, Arizona State, and Washington State have cracked the half century mark, with Ohio State putting up 77 points and 721 total yards of offense. I don’t see any wins left for this team with the schedule they have with the closest oppurtunity at victory is a home game against California next week.

Stanford

Expectation: B

Reality: B+

It seems to be that Bryce Love has become a real afterthought and has hit a wall and the Sophomore slump is active and live halfway through the year. KJ Costello has stepped up and proved to be one of the better Quarterbacks in the conference and the tallest reciever possibily in the country as well as one of the most talented. With a come from behind win against Oregon and USC win, they looked very solid to begin the year. But with back to back losses and a couple of tough games, we’ll see how good Stanford really is and whether they can get back to the top of the conference or barely skate by into a bowl game.

UCLA

Expectation: B

Reality: D+

There is some hope for the Bruins although losing 5 straight to begin the year will not help. All 5 of their opponents have been stout and with that and the combo of young talent UCLA has, it seems somewhat reasonable UCLA is 0-5. The opponents they have faced is a staggering 25-2 which is absolutely amazing. With a couple of favorable games, UCLA has a chance to pick up a couple of wins before the season is over and looks to build for the future in Year 2 under Chip Kelly at UCLA.

USC

Expectation: B

Reality: B-

USC is another one of the teams that is starting to find their footing as JT Daniels is starting to settle in and the young recievers are finally coming together with Amon-Ra St. Brown, Tyler Vaughns and Mychal Pittman Jr. With a couple weeks of challenging matchups with Colorado and a road game against Utah, it will determine whether USC can get back into the conference title picture as they’ll need to win out and  play a perfect game against College Football Playoff contender, #5 Notre Dame to end the regular season.

Utah

Expectation: C+

Reality: B

At the beginning of the year, alot of people were high on the Utes while I was fairly critical of this year’s team and prior to last week I would’ve put them at a C+. Until they went on the road and outplayed Stanford. Something that will carry this team to more wins is how impressive their defense has played this season giving up less than 30 in all of their games and only gave up 28 points to a potent Washington State offense. Their lack of offense seemed to be the issue until Zach Moss tore it up against Stanford and showed they have some life on that side of the football. Utah’s rest of the schedule is backloaded as they play Oregon, Colorado, and BYU to end the year. Every other game they should be favored in except for maybe USC.

Washington

Expectation: A-

Reality: A

Ever since the Auburn, the National perception is that Washington is just not very good this year and I think they are the favorite to win the conference with the best defense in the entire conference and an underrated offense with a experienced quarterback Jake Browning, talented running backs and some unproven receivers, but talented none of the less. The best linebacker in the conference in Ben Burr-Kirven and the best player in the back part of the defense in the conference in Byron Murphy. That all could change this week as they travel to Eugene in a big time matchup that will have conference championship implications. If UW wins that, they should be favored in every other game this year, but will be tested by USC and Washington State. If they slip up they could be staring at a Alamo Bowl appearance. If they win out, a New Year 6 Bowl looks very likely, if not the representative for the PAC 12 in the CFP.

Washington State

Expectation: B

Reality: A-

The most impressive player in the conference so far has been Gardner Minshew as all this guy does is throw for 350+ yards. It seems like his arm could fall off at any minute based on how much Mike Leach wants to throw the ball, but when you’ve got a talented guy like that, why not throw it that much? With that amount of talent on offense, Wazzou has exceeded expectations on offense even with the loss of Luke Falk. The defense is what may keep Washington State out of a conference title appearance as that was the difference maker 2 years ago against Colorado, and the defense doesn’t seem to be much more improved this year as they are coming off giving up 37 points to the worst team in the conference and 4 touchdowns to Jermar Jefferson. If Washington State wants to contend, steady improvement and offense staying consistent will be the key to making it back to the promise land.

---