PAC 12 2019 Season Thread

[CatsbyAZ]

Does signing five monsters max out his budget?

Shaw’s 2017 signing class is his yearly recruiting goal: Three Top 15 players nationally (#2 & #3 ranked OTs + #1 QB) along with the #1 TE prospect, but undersigns the rest.

[CatsbyAZ]

After all my crapping on Stanford they went out and got themselves a solid win Vs an underachieving Washington team, dominating the TOP in the process.

Meanwhile Arizona outlasted Colorado for the win in Boulder; they’re off to a surprising 4-1 start.

And UCLA looks worse than ever, getting blasted in their mostly empty home stadium against consistently last place Oregon State. 1-5 and looking at Stanford and ranked Arizona State next.

[CatsbyAZ]

Welp, UCLA has miraculously turned around a lost season. 4-5 after blowing out Colorado and setting themselves up for a nice bowl run, which is comparatively more optimistic than what's going on for Washington fans.

After losing to Utah, lots of doubt and bitterness festering over Chris Petersen from the Huskies fanbase going into this week. Yea we get it - 5-4 seemingly isn't good enough for a program fresh off the past three years of two conference championships, a Rose Bowl, and a birth in the CFB Playoff. But all the bitter internet commentary is fuss about whether Petersen is the latest in a long run of failed former Boise State coaches, Petersen's stubborn lack of off-season adjustments, Petersen retaining crappy coordinators, and if losing games UW shouldn't (ASU 2017, Cal 2018/2019) is finally catching up with the program.

[CatsbyAZ]

Heard this rant on Fox Sports Radio Tuesday night, from the Jason Smith Show right after the new rankings came out:

"...Oregon and Utah are the next two teams (#6 & #7). Under them are Penn State and Oklahoma and Minnesota and Florida and Wisconsin. All of them are better than Oregon and Utah! Look, I don't get this love affair with - Hey, we gotta have a couple of Pac 12 teams close! Because the Pac 12 is the conference of your crazy uncle who lives in the attic. I mean this conference is insane this year. Neither Oregon or Utah is very good. Oregon has played ONE good team this year: Auburn - and they lost! All their other games are against non-Top 25 teams. They played Washington when they were in the Top 25 but Washington is 6 & 4. Alright, so that's it - that's Oregon's resume. Everybody else they've played is a non-Top 25 team. What about Utah? Utah is no better! Their only win is over Arizona State when they were ranked 17th. Arizona State is 5 & 5. They've beaten no one! The Pac 12 is not a good conference. It's fun, and Pac 12 After Dark is great and it's really cool and there's a lot of personalities! But let's put it in proper perspective, the Pac 12 stinks!!!"

[847badgerfan]

That guy should take a look at the conference on the other Coast. The Orange Bowl is probably looking at having an un-ranked ACC team this year. After Clemson, that conference is nothing.

[CatsbyAZ]

Lots to say about USC these days. Clay Helton is apparently getting retained?!?!?

Which goes back to USC hiring Mike Bohn-head, a proven mediocre AD who made an art of doing nothing as AD for Cincinnati, Colorado, San Diego State, and Idaho. Trojan fans are already turning against Bohn-head, but in his defense I think after taking the job he didn't want to start out his tenure by paying over $20 Million in Buyouts by firing Helton & Staff.

Bohn-head's hiring goes back to USC's president needing a "Yes Man" to navigate the endless culture of campus scandal ranging from its central role in the college admissions scandal, to the university gynecologist sexually abusing hundreds of patients over the course of three decades, to the FBI sting of its own basketball coach, to former AD Pat Haden using a children's charity to launder money into his own bank account. And if all that isn't bad enough, the campus has suffered NINE students deaths on campus this semester: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-11-13/usc-responds-to-student-deaths-to-quell-rumors-misinformation

Lots of the talk surrounding why Helton was retained in spite of the matter of fact belief he'd be fired before the end of the year hovers around speculation over USC's failure to back-channel convincing Meyer's to take the job, in large part due to the USC President's hesitance to hire someone with his own recent baggage.

[Brutus Buckeye]

I hope that the Utes beat Oregon, but doubt that they will.

[847badgerfan]

To me, USC retaining Helton only means that Urban said "no" for right now. Maybe next year?

[CatsbyAZ]

Texas offering two million to steal Graham Harrell away from USC. He did wonders with Slovis and Fink on short notice due to injuries. Loss for USC, but I don't think Helton cares as long as he can hold onto his privileged Hollywood gig.

[bayareabadger]

To me, USC retaining Helton only means that Urban said "no" for right now. Maybe next year?

Yep.

[bayareabadger]

Pac-12 adjacent, but Jeff Tedford stepped down at Fresno for health reasons. 

His career is fascinating because he went to Cal and made things so good so fast he could never live up to that start at a school where being middling is somewhat of an accomplishment. No coach since 1956 has won at a better rate, and the next guy on the list used Cal to jump to Arizona State. 

But he spent the latter half of that tenure considered somewhat of a disappointment. The wages of the sport I suppose. 

[Cincydawg]

USc had a close loss to ND and then won 5 of 6.  I think that saved his job.  Granted, they didn't beat much of anyone in that 5 win part. 

I checked to see if he is recruiting well for 2020 and didn't see USC in the top 50.  Huh.  I found them at #78 but with only 10 commits.

[CatsbyAZ]

For a program that only keeps 75-80 players on scholarship, this can’t be good for depth...


https://twitter.com/RuleofTree/status/1205256718940139525

...wonder if David Shaw is planning for an NFL gig, where I’m certain he’ll do a crappy job.

[CatsbyAZ]

USc had a close loss to ND and then won 5 of 6.  I think that saved his job.  Granted, they didn't beat much of anyone in that 5 win part. 

I checked to see if he is recruiting well for 2020 and didn't see USC in the top 50.  Huh.  I found them at #78 but with only 10 commits.

It’s hard for a coaching staff to recruit when one of the hottest talking points nationally is: Who will USC hire once they finally cut ties with dingbat Helton? The class they have now is stunningly bad. Down to 86th last week for a school that rarely finishes below 10th. 

Keeping Helton was a terrible risk by the USC admins - president Folt and AD Bohn-head - because they risk losing the entire fanbase, which in LA is a more finicky thing to mess with. I understand why Bohn-head kept Helton, because he was hired to do so, but still those bad recruiting classes will eventually doom the program.