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The Hotline mailbag is published each Friday. Send questions to pac12hotline@bayareanewsgroup.com or deed maine connected Twitter: @WilnerHotline. Due to measurement — and successful immoderate cases, the request for probe — not each questions volition beryllium answered the week of submission. Thanks for your understanding.
Some questions person been edited for clarity and brevity.
Where does Kyle Whittingham fertile for all-time Pac-12 coaches? — @dpattenj
A timely question considering Utah’s ascent to the Pac-12 throne and Whittingham’s 2nd league Coach of the Year award.
We’ll instrumentality the question to see the expanse of league history, dating backmost much than 100 years. Against that timeline, I’m not definite Whittingham qualifies arsenic a pantheon-worthy coach.
After all, helium has nary nationalist championships and lone 1 league title. Surely, he’s acold down the likes of John McKay and Terry Donahue, Don James and John Robinson, Tommy Prothro and, of course, Pete Carroll.
Of the caller coaches, I’d spot Whittingham down Stanford’s David Shaw (three league titles) and Chip Kelly, who changed the crippled during his tenure astatine Oregon and won 10+ games 4 years successful a row.
Now, let’s adhd immoderate captious context:
Whittingham’s existent occurrence acold exceeds some his Pac-12 intra-conference grounds (53-42) and winning percent (55.7). His stellar years starring Utah successful the Mountain West and his enactment transitioning the Utes into the Pac-12 indispensable beryllium considered successful a thorough valuation of his legacy.
Upon joining the league successful 2011, the Utes needed respective recruiting cycles to upgrade their roster to the constituent that it possessed the wide depth, and the skill-position talent, to vie for a part title.
So if you’re comparing Whittingham to coaches whose programs were established successful the conference, the just attack would beryllium to measure his show lone for the past six years — erstwhile the full roster had been recruited nether the Pac-12 banner.
And if we instrumentality 1 much measurement and disregard the 2020 season, erstwhile Utah had its archetypal 2 games canceled and played conscionable 5 times, we’re near with this year-by-year resume (with part placement):
2016: 9-4/5-4 (third)2017: 7-6/3-6 (fifth)2018: 9-5/6-3 (first)2019: 11-3/8-1 (first)2021: 10-3/8-1 (first)
That’s a 30-15 league record, with 3 part titles and a league crown successful 5 years. While limited, the resume stands with the champion of the coaches who person not won aggregate nationalist oregon league championships.
Put different way:
Whittingham’s stature wrong the Pac-12 coaching hierarchy requires a nuanced evaluation. But successful our view, he’s worthy of information for a spot among the 10 oregon 12 greatest.
Since the Pac-12 expanded, Utah has had overmuch greater occurrence than Colorado. But Colorado seems to person galore advantages (population, little contention for in-state recruits, much highly-regarded university, etc.). What is your perspective? Is it each the coach, oregon are determination deeper issues? — @maynesd
The prime of coaching and the turnover astatine the apical person played a important relation successful the contrasting fortunes. One programme has employed 4 caput coaches during its clip successful the Pac-12 and owns 1 part title. The different has employed 1 caput manager and owns 3 part titles.
But there’s much to the recruiting calculation than full in-state population.
Utah has a important vantage implicit the Buffaloes due to the fact that of its established pipeline to the Polynesian communities successful the Salt Lake City country and the Pacific Islands. Polynesian kids are big, they are tough, and they tin signifier the halfway of large violative and antiaircraft lines.
Utah’s benignant of play reflects that — it reflects the program’s earthy recruiting pool. That alignment is astatine the bosom of Utah’s success.
Meanwhile, Colorado lacks a earthy pipeline to imaginable all-conference recruits. The in-state endowment is highly constricted and doesn’t skew heavy to a definite presumption group.
The Buffaloes indispensable spell everyplace for players, with California and Texas serving arsenic captious — and highly competitory — recruiting grounds.
Utah changed conferences without having to set its recruiting plan. Colorado, connected the different hand, experienced a center-of-gravity displacement successful moving from a league based successful the Southern Plains (the Big 12) to a league based successful California.
What’s the best-case script connected the Oregon hiring timeline? They are losing commits by the day. Any accidental the caller manager could get backmost immoderate of those de-commitments? — @jbmccarty61
If the Ducks haven’t named a caput manager by Monday astatine 12 p.m., the Hotline would beryllium mildly surprised.
The early-signing play begins Wednesday. Without idiosyncratic successful place, the Ducks would suffer a accidental to unafraid the bulk of their 2021-22 recruiting class.
If they sanction a manager anterior to Wednesday, a salvage cognition is wholly feasible.
That said, a determination could travel arsenic soon arsenic today. While we cannot authorities this arsenic fact, the medication apt began readying for a vacancy weeks agone erstwhile it became wide Cristobal would beryllium Miami’s apical people erstwhile the play ended.
(If Oregon officials didn’t expect the people of events, they weren’t speechmaking the Hotline.)
In theory, the Ducks were not starting from scratch Monday morning.
Who are the conference’s astir improved players connected discourtesy and defense? We’ll enactment affirmative present and debar biggest disappointments. — @lamontmjelly61
That’s a much challenging question this play due to the fact that of the flawed year-over-year comparison. Most teams lone played 5 oregon six games successful 2020, and galore players weren’t disposable oregon missed aggregate weeks owed to COVID oregon injury.
For example, Utah’s Cameron Rising was conscionable named the first-team all-conference quarterback. He played little than 1 fractional of 1 crippled past season. Does helium suffice for astir improved?
Here are the Hotline’s picks, based connected the players who were connected the tract for the bulk of past season:
— Most improved connected offense: UCLA tackle Sean Rhyan.
Rhyan started each 7 games for the Bruins successful 2020 and was not a standout performer. But a bully lawsuit could beryllium made for him arsenic the best violative lineman successful the league this fall. At worst, helium was 1 of the apical 3 oregon four.
— Most improved connected defense: Oregon tackle Brandon Dorlus.
Dorlus spent astir of the 2020 play arsenic a reserve down a talented, experienced starting unit. This fall, helium was an interaction subordinate connected the interior each week. Dorlus is from Fort Lauderdale, truthful we can’t disregard the anticipation that helium volition travel Mario Cristobal. But if helium returns to Eugene adjacent season, helium could beryllium the conference’s champion antiaircraft tackle.
What happened to Stanford? Is it fixable? — @tdorie
The regression this play was thing to behold — the worst agelong of Stanford shot since the mid-2000s, for sure.
But the deterioration did not commence successful 2021. The Cardinal really mislaid crushed wrong the part successful 2019, erstwhile it finished 4-8/3-6. There was an uptick during the pandemic season, followed by a instrumentality to what we witnessed successful ’19.
In the past 2 mean seasons, Stanford is 5-13 successful league play.
We would disagreement the problems into 3 buckets:
Injuries and schedule: The Cardinal has been bruised and battered successful caller seasons, astatine an above-average complaint (in our opinion). And the docket is unforgiving: Stanford was the lone squad successful the state to play 12 Power Five opponents this season.
Talent, oregon deficiency thereof: Recruiting has slumped, particularly connected the lines of scrimmage. The Cardinal simply doesn’t person the maulers it erstwhile did. Without the quality to predominate up front, Stanford becomes similar everybody else, and that’s not a look for accordant occurrence fixed the program’s recruiting pool.
Coaching: In our view, the injuries, docket and deficiency of endowment don’t relationship for the entirety of the substandard performance. Coaching is imaginable evaluation, it’s subordinate development, it’s tactics and scheme, it’s crippled preparation, it’s in-game adjustments … it’s everything.
When you decorativeness with a seven-game losing streak and are outscored 173-46 successful 4 November games, something’s wrong.
Will thing change? David Shaw is the winningest manager successful schoolhouse history, owns 3 league titles and is nether zero unit from the administration. He’s fundamentally a tenured professor.
Will helium find that unit changes are necessary? Or does Shaw judge the issues truly are wholly explained by injuries, the docket oregon thing other requiring specified tweaks?
Stanford typically starts outpouring signifier successful precocious February, truthful the adjacent six oregon 8 weeks volition beryllium telling.
Will USC beryllium a contender successful the adjacent 2 seasons? — @MarcusF96941237
The Trojans should contend for the South title, and the league championship, successful the 2023 season. Of that, we are convinced.
Will they marque the leap adjacent fall? That’s not astir arsenic clear.
Obviously, the coaching has been substandard for years, but determination are unit issues, too. The Trojans had conscionable 2 players named first-team all-conference. (Oregon State had three.) The violative enactment is sorely lacking successful ascendant talents, and the backmost 7 connected defence is woefully abbreviated of USC standards.
In different era, Lincoln Riley mightiness person needed 3 oregon 4 years to rebuild the extent chart, mostly due to the fact that astir precocious schoolhouse violative linemen request clip to marque the carnal transformation.
But with the transportation portal, the process is expedited. USC could find 4 oregon 5 linemen susceptible of playing immediately, and astatine a reasonably precocious level.
If the Trojans aren’t contending successful Year Two nether Riley, something’s amiss.
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