The members of the media that cover the PAC-12 selected defending champ Oregon and Southern Cal to claim division titles for the 2015 season.
Oregon (13-2, 8-1), which lost in last year’s national championship tilt 42-20 to Ohio State, was picked to win the North ahead of Stanford (8-5, 5-4), California (5-7, 3-6), Washington (8-6, 4-5), Washington State (3-9, 2-7) and Oregon State (5-7, 2-7).
In the South, it was USC (9-4, 6-3) edging Arizona State (10-3, 6-3), UCLA (10-3, 6-3), defending champion Arizona (10-4, 7-2), Utah (9-4, 5-4) and Colorado (2-10, 0-9).
Oregon welcomes back sophomore running back Royce Freeman who gained 1,265 yards with 18 touchdowns last season. Junior Byron Marshall is the top receiver back with 74 grabs for 1,003 yard and six scores. Charles Nelson is one of the top kickoff and punt returners in the conference. The sophomore had 23 receptions for 327 yards and five touchdowns as a wide out.
On defense, the Ducks are going to be led by senior defensive end DeForest Buckner, who had 80 tackles a year ago with 13 behind the line of scrimmage.
Senior quarterback Cody Kessler threw for 3,826 yards for USC in 2014 with 39 touchdowns. His top receiver is sophomore Juju Smith, who had 54 catches for 724 yards and five touchdowns. Another sophomore, Aderee Jackson, was the Trojans top kickoff return man with a 29.7 average.
Junior linebacker Su’a Cravens had 17 tackles for a loss for USC last year with three interceptions.
Here are some other players expected to have an impact in the conference this season: Arizona: Anu Soloman, Nick Wilson, Cayleb Jones, Scooby Wright III; Arizona State: D.J. Foster, Mike Bercovici, Zane Gonzalez, Nick Kelly; California: Jared Goff, Kenny Lawler, Mustafa Jalil, Hardy Nickerson; Colorado: Sefo Liufau, Stephane Nembot, Addison Graham, Kenneth Olugbode; Oregon State: Larry Scott, Storm Woods, Victor Bolden, Josh Mitchell; Stanford: Blake Martinez, Kevin Hogan, Kyle Murphy, Kevin Anderson; UCLA: Paul Perkins, Jordan Payton, Jake Brendel, Ishmael Adams; Utah: Devonte Booker, Siaosi Aiono, Tom Hackett, Jared Norris; Washington: Jaydon Mickens, Dwayne Washington, Dexter Charles, Travis Feeney; Washington State: Luke Falk, Joe Dahl, Jamal Morrow, Jeremiah Allison.
Editor’s note: Quotes, photos and logos courtesy of CollegePressBox.com.