The improved quality of the Pac-12 Conference in football this season can be connected to two obvious developments in the league: First, the caliber of coaching is a lot better than it was in 2021. Lincoln Riley replacing Clay Helton is the No. 1 example of this, but Dan Lanning has been excellent and has been an upgrade from Mario Cristobal at Oregon. Kalen DeBoer has been a huge upgrade over Jimmy Lake at Washington. The Huskies are 6-2 through eight games. Arizona State interim head coach Shaun Aguano has been a big improvement from Herm Edwards in Tempe.
The other reason Pac-12 football is so much better this year: quarterbacks. Bo Nix is an enormous upgrade from Anthony Brown at Oregon, which magnifies how poorly Mario Cristobal developed quarterbacks in Eugene. Caleb Williams coming into the USC program and replacing Kedon Slovis — who has struggled mightily with Pittsburgh this season — is another 180-degree change at football’s most important position. Michael Penix has littered the stat sheet with touchdown passes and big numbers at Washington in his first season in Seattle. USC fans saw how talented Jayden de Laura is in the Arizona game this past weekend.
Jon Wilner of the Wilner Hotline had more to say about this 2022 Pac-12 quarterback class, and where it stacks up in a larger historical context:
For talent at the top and quality depth, the current collection of quarterbacks stands as the best the Pac-12 has produced since at least the 2015 season, if not the entire expansion era.
Six are performing at an efficiency level that ranks in the top quartile of the FBS: Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., Oregon’s Bo Nix, UCLA’s Dorian Thompson-Robinson, USC’s Caleb Williams, Utah’s Cam Rising and Arizona’s Jayden de Laura.
The last time the Pac-12 produced a lineup that deep — for both talent and efficiency — the headliners were Vernon Adams (Oregon), Luke Falk (WSU), Cody Kessler (USC), Jake Browning (Washington), Kevin Hogan (Stanford), Josh Rosen (UCLA) and Jared Goff (Cal).
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