No way we win the Pac-12. Maybe the N.
We (!) are winning the Pac
Until we beat an actually talented team that is mildly well-coached and not fully imploding (see UCLA last year), I don't buy it.
This year we are going to have to up our game considerably to beat UCLA down there, Utah on the road and Stanford at home. None of those games are games we should feel confident about. Even if somehow we manage to take the Jakey B factor out of those games (UCLA seems primed to give Jakey a 11-23 performance, to me) and win, we will get stomped by USC in the championship game.
We are shrivel dicks until we aren't.
I personally don't see why there is so much hype around us this year. I think people are sort of saying 'oh, well, now they have a Sr. QB so they will be great!'
Unfortunately, I see a ton of holes. Our offense is going to be absolute shit unless we completely re-tool it. Our top WR is Aaron Fuller (who dreams he could one day be Braxton Berrios) and our offensive line is a fucking nightmare. This is the piece where I don't see the optimism.
We are going to get kicked in the dick at Auburn (that is a nightmare matchup for us) and we cannot afford 1 injury on the OL. We have no one at WR, despite having an offense that will inevitably throw to set up the run.
If Bush institutes a common-sense 'hey, look at this personnel!' approach, we can definitely win the Pac... but I don't think he will and I don't think we will.
We have the following major issues:
Our QB sucks: especially in critical situations and he is incapable of making the 6-7 plays you need to make in close games to win... he may make 3 all season.
Our OL sucks: we cannot pass block in the interior.
Our WRs suck: we have talent, but we will play the worst players because our offense is too complicated.
Our DL will try to rotate 6 and we only have 3 (Gaines, Johnson, Levi).
We have no pass rush: Benning and Amandre suck until they don't. Bowman can pass rush, but can't play the run.
BBK is a starter: if he doesn't get pushed out of the way and manages to make contact, he always falls backwards 2-3 yards.
Myles Bryant is a starter: hopefully he won't be, but we love practice players.
To me, I think this is potentially an 8-9 win team. Losses: Auburn, @UCLA, @Utah and Oregon on the road or Stanford at home.
Last year, we should've lost at home to Utah because our offense is fucking retarded. Our offense is retarded until it's not.