The Pac-12 hasn’t had a representative in a BCS national championship game in four years. The conference hasn’t had a national champion since USC’s vacated title in 2004.
Yet still, its members are convinced the league has never been better.
From the five to six teams featured on many preseason top-25 rankings to the slew of returning star players, the depth of talent in the Pac-12 could be at an all-time high.
“It is a talented league, maybe the best the Pac-12 has ever been,” said Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez at day one of Pac-12 Football Media Day on Wednesday.
Oregon coach Mark Helfrich took the claim even a step further, confidently claiming the skill level is “way better than it’s ever been.”
One position in particular is responsible for much of the praise regarding the Pac-12: its quarterbacks. And with 10 returning starting quarterbacks for the 2014 season, why shouldn’t they be?
More than just the experience, it’s the quality of these quarterbacks that made them the buzz of Pac-12 media day Wednesday and Thursday, with redshirt junior quarterbacks Marcus Mariota of Oregon and Brett Hundley of UCLA – both considered likely first round picks in May’s 2014 NFL Draft – making headlines by foregoing the NFL to return to school.
“I think it’s great … Marcus came back, and Brett came back. I think it’s a good precedent, you know, for those that are going to follow,” said UCLA coach Jim Mora Thursday.
Beyond Hundley and Mariota, both early Heisman candidates, the Pac-12’s quarterback star power continues with Oregon State’s Sean Mannion, who threw for the second-most yards in the NCAA last season; Stanford’s Kevin Hogan, who has led the Cardinal to back-to-back Pac-12 titles; Arizona State’s Taylor Kelly and USC’s Cody Kessler, among others.
“Oh, I don’t think there is a conference that’s close in terms of the quality of quarterbacks,” Mora said.
The quantity and quality of these quarterbacks takes on a different dynamic given the diverse style of play each of them has. From the spread offenses of UCLA and Oregon to the pro-style systems of Oregon State and USC, the quarterbacks at each school play differently, even amongst the same over-arching system type.
“When people talk about spread offense, they’re really talking about a very generic thing because there are probably … seven or eight different spread offenses in the Pac-12 Conference, but they all have their own particular flavor,” said Oregon State coach Mike Riley. “Then you’ve got a team like (Oregon State) that is a little bit of a dinosaur. We still huddle. But we try to put pressure on the defenses by changing personnel groups and doing some stuff like that. So I think the diversity in our league is awesome.”
Mannion added that these differences allow him and other quarterbacks to learn things from each others’ games and add it to their own style of play.
But they had another chance to learn from each other when several Pac-12 quarterbacks attended the Manning Passing Academy July 10-13. Hundley and Manning shared a room with Florida State’s Heisman-winning quarterback Jameis Winston and Missouri’s Maty Mauk and picked each others’ brains, though Hundley said the conversation rarely touched on football, but more on life in general.
With several Pac-12 quarterbacks attending the camp together, they took the opportunity to get to know each other for the first time, beyond just watching each other’s films.
“We want to beat each other on Saturdays but when you get the chance to know these guys, they’re all great guys, great players obviously,” Mannion said. “It’s fun competing against your friends.”
With Mannion, Hundley, Mariota, Hogan and Kelly all likely in their last college seasons, the stars seem aligned for the Pac-12’s hold on quarterback supremacy.
“They’re all great guys, great individuals. It’s gonna be a fun year for the Pac-12 with all these guys in their final seasons and whatnot,” Hundley said.
For all the attention Pac-12 quarterbacks and offenses are getting, many teams’ defenses are flying under the radar. But that’s just how UCLA redshirt senior inside linebacker Eric Kendricks likes it.
“People that go against us think, ‘They’re the Bruins, they have that explosive offense,’” Kendricks said “But hey, they can think that all they want, but they’re gonna face our defense as well.”