LOS ANGELES — One look around the neighborhood, the Pac-12 Conference and the nation:
Not everyone in college football is thrilled with the attention that comes with the start of the season.
“I would like no one to ever rank us,” UCLA coach Jim Mora said during Pac-12 football media days. “And I’d like no one to ever cover us, and I’d like to never be on TV and no one talk about us until the end of the year.”
If he means it, Mora could make most of that happen by opening with losses to Virginia and Nevada Las Vegas.
Mora spoke from Stage 12 at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, where scenes from the movie “Casablanca” were filmed.
Appropriate because the coach has an important choice to make in whether to start freshman Josh Rosen at quarterback, and it’s a decision Mora could regret — maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of his life.
As for Rosen, he will be the primary focus as UCLA opens camp in San Bernardino next week. So, “Here’s looking at you, kid.”
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Identifying the right quarterback in August could be the playoff difference-maker for several contending teams.
A few summers ago, a nobody named Jameis Winston beat out Jake Coker at Florida State and led the Seminoles to the national title.
Ten of the top 15 teams in the USA Today coaches’ preseason poll could start this season with a different quarterback then they had on opening day a year ago.
Schools with rock stars returning include No. 2 Texas Christian (Trevone Boykin), No. 6 Michigan State (Connor Cook), No. 7 Auburn (Jeremy Johnson), No. 10 USC (Cody Kessler) and No. 12 Clemson (Deshaun Watson).
Florida State swaps out Winston for transfer Everett Golson, a fifth-year senior who lost his job at Notre Dame to Malik Zaire. Point-a-minute Baylor plugs in Seth Russell for Bryce Petty.
Decisions to make: Ohio State (Cardale Jones or J.T. Barrett?) Alabama (Coker or David Cornwell?), Oregon (Vernon Adams or Jeff Lockie?), Georgia (Brice Ramsey or Faton Bauta?), Louisiana State (Anthony Jennings or Brandon Harris?), UCLA (Rosen or Jerry Neuheisel?) and Mississippi (Chad Kelly or Ryan Buchanan?).
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Some Oregon fans took offense at a remark USC coach Steve Sarkisian recently made pertaining to recruiting.
“We’re not going to take the field in 13 different uniforms in 13 different games this fall,” Sarkisian said. “We’re going to wear cardinal and gold.”
Quack Attack quickly pounced on that one to note Sarkisian is 0-5 against Oregon, as if uniforms were the reason.
Mark your calendars: USC at Eugene on Nov. 21.
Oregon, we hear, is prepared to answer Sarkisian’s perceived insult by running into Autzen Stadium wearing a patch quilt of all 8,000 of its uniform combinations.
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Speaking of excess, it’s not true that Ohio State will start 11 quarterbacks this year.
For now, it’s only two, with two-time Big Ten Conference player of the year Braxton Miller probably moving to receiver. That leaves last season’s third stringer, Jones, whose late-season heroics led Ohio State to the national title, to battle with second-stringer Barrett, who saved the Buckeyes’ bacon after Miller was lost to a season-ending injury.
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There is some concern that Ohio State could lose at Virginia Tech following the recent suspensions of four players, including star defensive lineman Joey Bosa.
It’s understandable. I mean, when has Ohio State ever overcome an early loss to Virginia Tech to win a national title?
Oh, wait, it was … last season.
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The question is when, not if, first-year coach Jim Harbaugh burns out at Michigan. We’ve got him holding steady through the Sept. 3 opener at Utah. Actually, Harbaugh is the most exciting thing to hit the Big Ten since the forward pass was introduced, if memory serves, by Purdue’s Drew Brees in the 1990s.
Michigan fans should be thrilled about getting Harbaugh. He’s basically Urban Meyer — without the championships.
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Lane Kiffin was a terrific hire as offensive coordinator at Alabama. The former USC reject injected the Crimson Tide with production and points.
If only Nick Saban could coach defense. Alabama, if it intends to contend for the national title, probably needs to improve the unit that gave up 99 points in its last three games.
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Nevada Las Vegas hired a local high school coach, Tony Sanchez, to take over a program that plays UCLA and Michigan before Sept. 20.
Wonder how that will work out.
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It might be a down year for quarterbacks in the Mountain West Conference. Not only did USC transfer Max Wittek earn the starting job at Hawaii, he was instantly named to the preseason all-conference first team.
Just wait until he throws his first Mountain West pass.
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Steve Spurrier has turned 70 but hasn’t lost any of his cantankerous edge. South Carolina’s coach is miffed opponents are trying to use his age, and last year’s crummy 7-6 record, as evidence he’s lost several steps.
“I know the critics are out there,” he said. “That’s why they’re called critics.”
Spurrier said no one questioned the age of Duke basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski, who is pushing 70, last season as he won his fifth NCAA championship.
Spurrier’s critics would argue that winning the national title is a lot better than going 7-6.
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The Big 12 fumed into the off-season after getting left out of last season’s playoff, then did nothing about it. The Big 12 is the only power conference that doesn’t play a championship game, and that allowed Ohio State, with its emphatic shutout of Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game, to snatch the fourth playoff berth ahead of No. 5 Baylor and No. 6 Texas Christian.
“I don’t believe we are at a disadvantage,” Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said recently. “Relative to the playoff, I don’t think one year makes a trend.”
The Big 12 last season touted its setup with a “One True Champion” marketing campaign that focused on the purity of the regular season meaning everything.
It’s true that the league did help sort out last season’s “One True Champion.”
It was, all agreed at the end, Ohio State.
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Oklahoma was last season’s biggest bust, plunging from the preseason top five to a record of 8-5. It must be serious because Bob Stoops, entering his 17th year, fired offensive coordinator Josh Heupel, the quarterback who led Oklahoma to Stoops’ lone national title, in 2000.
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Southeastern Conference West vs. Pac-12 South, the battle continues for toughest-division-in-college-football supremacy.
Sorry, boys, step aside for the Big Ten East, home to national champion Ohio State and now, with Harbaugh at Michigan, football’s most interesting division.
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