NCAA football preseason report: Pac 12, Year of Duck or Luck by The Gaming Today’s Mark Mayer

Back to the Pac 12, now divided into North and South with Utah and Colorado joining what had been the Pac 10. So it’s 12 for now. It could be 14 or 16 later.

The old Pac 10 used to be Southern Cal and everyone else. No more. Oregon played for the national championship last year and now its program is under a cloud of possible NCAA sanctions.

Join the club.

Stanford is enjoying its greatest run of success since the days of Jim Plunkett and John Elway, but now must retain the chemistry and swagger Jim Harbaugh brought to Palo Alto. Harbaugh is now coaching the nearby NFL San Francisco 49ers.

Note to bettors: Cal’s stadium is under repairs so all home games have moved to AT&T Park in San Francisco, which seats some 40,000 less than Berkeley. Home field disadvantage? Something to think about.

Will it be just a two-team race? Let’s see.

CALIFORNIA (5-6 ATS): HC Jeff Tedford had his first losing season (5-7) since arriving at Berkeley in 2002. With archrival Stanford rising, the heat is on Tedford to produce. QB Zach Maynard can be the savior or the scapegoat. Cal was picked fifth in the division. Not good for Tedford.

OREGON (6-6 ATS): A point spread giant two years ago, the Ducks were only 50% despite a 12-0 record. Expectations are high in Eugene with the huge opener against LSU at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas and a matchup with Stanford. But, the NCAA hatchet could fall at any time. Bettor beware.

OREGON ST (7-5 ATS): Mike Riley has been in Corvallis 11 years so the program has stability, but the Beavers have concerns. One was last year’s 5-7 record. Another is replacing star RB Quizz Rodgers, who left for the NFL. Opening with “Sacraficial” State should ease the pain.

STANFORD (8-3 ATS): The Cardinal want to play up having stud QB Andrew Luck and downplay losing Harbaugh. The task for new HC David Shaw is not to see the program fall back to mediocrity. Obviously Luck must stay healthy. Stanford was picked second behind Oregon in preseason.

WASHINGTON (7-6 ATS): The Huskies are faced with replacing all-everything QB Jake Locker. The good news is HC Steve Sarkisian brought a winning attitude from USC. Keith Price has similar run-pass skills to Locker. If he’s good, the Huskies can be a sleeper team and a bet-on.

WASHINGTON ST (7-4 ATS): The Cougars were just 1-8 in the Pac 10 a year ago, but were heroes to wiseguys with a nice run of covers midway into the season. However, HC Paul Wulff is 5-32 at Pullman with only two conference wins. At least UNLV at home is on the sked.

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