ESPN College Football

2012 record: 3-9

2012 conference record: 1-8 (last in North Division)

Returning starters

Offense: 9; defense: 9; kicker/punter: 2

Top returners

QB Connor Halliday, WR Gabe Marks, S Deone Bucannon, K Andrew Furney

Key losses

QB Jeff Tuel, OLB Travis Long, OT Wade Jacobson, WR Marquess Wilson

2012 statistical leaders (*returners)

Rushing: Carl Winson (280 yards)
Passing: Jeff Tuel (2,087 yards)
Receiving: Marquess Wilson (813 yards)
Tackles: Deone Bucannon* (106)
Sacks: Travis Long (9.5)
Interceptions: Deone Bucannon* (4)

Spring answers

1. Better on the O-line: The Cougars surrendered 4.75 sacks per game last year, which ranked last in the nation. So the only way to go on the line is up, and that appeared to happen this spring. The biggest improvement was just bodies -- there were enough guys for two full units and plenty of competition. Veteran players with starting experience won't necessarily hold onto their jobs. And that's a good thing.

2. Breakthrough potential at receiver: Five of the top six receivers from 2012 are back. Sophomore Gabe Marks leads a young but deep crew, with 12 players listed on the depth chart, most of whom can contribute. Junior college transfer Vince Mayle arrives this summer and he'll also be in the mix. And new coach David Yost, Missouri's former offensive coordinator, adds an elite offensive mind to coaching this position.

3. Comfort with Leach: Year one with coach Mike Leach didn't go smoothly, as high hopes for immediate returns evaporated and the Cougs struggled with Leach's demanding ways. Leach was no less demanding this spring, but his players better understood what he wanted. Players showed better commitment and dedication, and Leach smiled more.

Fall questions

1. Is Halliday Leach's guy? While the odds still favor veteran Connor Halliday winning the starting nod at QB, Leach went out of his way to praise redshirt freshman Austin Apodaca, who had a better spring game than Halliday. Leach is pushing Halliday, who still needs to improve his accuracy and decision-making.

2. Secondary concerns: The Cougars ranked 11th in the Pac-12 in pass efficiency defense in 2012. Most of the depth chart is returning, and there seemed to be improvement this spring. Still, other than Deone Bucannon at strong safety, there are unresolved competitions here.

3. Replacing Long's production: Travis Long had 9.5 sacks to lead the Cougars in 2012. No other defender had more than three sacks. The secondary will improve against the pass if the defense gets more pressure without resorting to jailhouse blitzes. Logan Mayes, likely to replace Long at "Buck" LB, is the most obvious candidate. It didn't help that the defensive line was banged up this spring.

All players are equal, but some players are more equal than others. That's the basis of our Most Important Player series.

First off, quarterbacks are excluded to make things more interesting. It goes without saying, for example, that Oregon's Marcus Mariota is the Ducks' most important player.

And most important doesn't necessarily have to be "best." An All-American's backup can be pretty darn good, too.

Our most important guys are players who could swing a win total one way or the other, based on their living up to expectations. Or their absence.

Oregon: C Hroniss Grasu

2012 production: Helped the Ducks average 315.2 rushing yards per game (third nationally), 537.3 total yards per game (fifth nationally) and 49.5 points per game (second nationally).

Why Grasu is so important: This is where the subjective element of this series really gets interesting. When talking about a team like Oregon -- a national championship contender with potential All-Americans on both sides of the ball -- it really comes down to personal preference.

As noted above, we've taken quarterbacks out of the equation to make this series more interesting. But behind every great quarterback (or in this case, in front of) is usually a great center. And Grasu is a great center.

In Oregon's offense, the center and quarterback share the line calls and protection assignments -- so Grasu and Mariota had better be on the same page. And they almost always are. "They work in concert and Hroniss and Marcus are telepathically linked," noted new head coach Mark Helfrich.

Oregon's offensive line doesn't always get the credit it deserves. It had to deal with an unfair stigma that because Oregon ran an up-tempo, unconventional offense, that the linemen were somehow soft. I'd argue the opposite -- that because of that pace, they are remarkably athletic. You don't finish in the top five nationally in rushing four out of the last five years by being soft on the line.

Naturally, comparing offensive linemen to players with more tangible stats is always difficult. But the 6-3, 295-pound Grasu enters 2013 as one of the nation's top centers and should be in the mix for All-American honors. Helfrich noted that his job is to be the "key communicator" in the run game and making sure everyone is on the same page. Given how quickly Oregon is up and running its next play, that requires some pretty quick thinking.

There are lots of other great options for the Ducks -- and strong arguments could be made for all of them. But for a team so prolific in the ground game, it's worth singling out the leader of the offensive line.

Perhaps more importantly, however, is that during this time of transition from Chip Kelly to Helfrich, Grasu stepped up his game this spring in the leadership department.

"Hroniss had a really good spring," Helfrich said. "He's a guy that's grown in his role as a leader. He's a great kid. Soft-spoken by nature, so we really tried to amp up his assertiveness, and he did a much better job of that this spring. Certainly more than he ever has before."

Mark Helfrich has a few more months before he can officially coach a game as Oregon's new man in charge. And yet he's already received an encouraging endorsement from the guy who would love nothing more than to squash the Ducks' on Nov. 7, crushing their chances of a North Division crown and possible berth in the BCS championship game.

Stanford head coach David Shaw knows a little something about taking over for a strong-willed coach who left for the NFL. Shaw's calm and even-tempered demeanor was a stark juxtaposition to the animated, and at times hot-headed and eccentric Jim Harbaugh. And yet in two years, Shaw has earned a pair of Pac-12 Coach of the Year awards and found a way to make Harbaugh's team, almost seamlessly, his own.

Helfrich, Shaw says, is on the same path.

"I think he's done it perfectly so far," Shaw said. "The first thing you don't want to do is spend so much time putting your stamp on it that you don't do what's best for the kids. The most important thing is that you put the kids in position to be successful. It's got to be about the team. And your team feeds off of that.

"It's a great opportunity for Mark to step out in front and poke his chest out and talk about how great he is and all the things he's going to do and change. He hasn't done that," Shaw continued. "He's said 'Hey, we're going to play our offense. This is Oregon's offense. We're going to play as best as we can. We're going to improve every single day.' All the moves he's made, all the decisions he's made, all the words he said have all been exactly what should be done. That reassures your team. Really, that's how the team becomes your team because they believe in the coach and they believe he's going to do what's best for them."

Pretty classy answer. He could have just as easily said, "We try not worry about anyone but ourselves," a quote Shaw is fond of during the season, and that would have been perfectly acceptable.

From what we know about Helfrich, which is limited until we see what he does on fourth-and-3 from the 50, we do know that he has a different personality than Chip Kelly -- who departed for the Philadelphia Eagles after taking the Ducks to four straight BCS bowl games. Kelly was a confident coach. Fearless. Brash, even. No one is certain if Helfrich will share Kelly's aggressive nature or take on a more conservative approach. Not even Helfrich.

"I don't know," Helfrich said. "I guess we'll find out."

Oregon's new coach isn't worried about the comparisons to his predecessor -- which will no doubt be flying in the preseason, during the season and after the season. He simply sees himself as the next in line.

"[From coach Rich] Brooks, to [Mike] Bellotti, Chip, they all gave me the advice to be yourself," he said "This is a place where succession and continuity has been very successful and hopefully, obviously, we hope for that to continue for a long time. We have a lot of great things in place here from an infrastructure standpoint. Not only the facilities, which are obviously incredible, but the people inside the facilities are even more important. When your strength coach has been here for almost a quarter of a century and almost every person that touches our guys' lives have been here for more than a decade. That's continuity of culture."

Then again, he's also following a coach who won 91 percent of his conference games. The expectations for Helfrich and the program are atmospheric. But he's off to a good start. So says the guy who wants to beat him.

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

• Arizona unveils its new uniforms.
• ASU checks in at No. 23 in Athlon's preseason top 25, plus the 10 greatest Sun Devils since 1967.
• A Q&A with Cal cornerback Kameron Jackson.
• Injured Colorado quarterback Jordan Webb could be back by October.
• Potential early draft entrees could impact Oregon's recruiting.
• Oregon State is No. 25 in Athlon's top 25, plus the 10 greatest OSU players since 1967.
• Former Cardinal Zach Ertz should fit in right away with the Eagles.
• There are high expectations in the NFL for Datone Jones.
• Lane Kiffin wasn't surprised that Chip Kelly drafted Matt Barkley.
• Utah looking for some consistency in 2013.
• Steve Sarkisian hits on a number of topics -- including the spring game and Austin Seferian-Jenkins.
• The 2013 season might be tough, but the Cougars will rise in Year 3 under Mike Leach.

Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre skillfully sidestepped the question like a quarterback feeling the pressure from the backside -- which seems ironic -- since the team he inherits gave up 50 sacks last season.

Asked to compare the rebuilding project at Colorado to the one he undertook at San Jose State -- where he took a dreadful Spartans' program and turned it into an 11-win team in 2012 -- MacIntyre gave a pretty stock answer.

"I think they're both big challenges," he said. "Every school has a little bit different intricacies and a little different history. A little bit different pressure, so to speak. And I think that San Jose State was a wonderful place and we were able to do really well there and they'll keep doing well. Colorado is a phenomenal place that has had great history and it's our job to get it back to that. I think they are similar in ways, but there are different intricacies at both schools."

In other words, San Jose State was bad when I got there. Now it's not. Colorado is bad now. Hopefully in three years it won't be.

MacIntyre's Spartans won just one game in 2010 -- his first year as a head coach. But they improved to 5-7 in 2011 to 10-2 in 2012 under his guidance (note, MacIntyre didn't coach their bowl game, which they won, giving them 11 wins).

The statistical improvements were almost as dramatic as the overall record. Before he got there, the Spartans ranked 115th nationally in total offense, 118th in scoring offense, 109th in total defense, 109th in scoring defense, 80th in sacks and 103rd in tackles for a loss. By the time he left last year, San Jose State was a top 30 program in all those categories, including sixth nationally in sacks.

That's empirical evidence of a system that works on both sides of the ball. Remember back in the season opener of 2012? Everyone wanted to know what the heck was wrong with Stanford. After all, they only beat lowly San Jose State 20-17. Meanwhile the Stanford coaches were screaming at anyone who would listen that San Jose State was a good team. Turns out they were right.

SJSU's '09 numbers should sound familiar to Colorado fans, because they are strikingly similar. Last year Colorado was 116th in total offense, 117th in scoring offense, 117th in total defense, 120th in scoring defense, 87th in sacks and 60th in tackles for a loss.

Colorado fans are, naturally, cautiously optimistic. MacIntyre's first go-around as a head coach was outstanding. But with that optimism comes a need for patience -- something that wasn't granted to MacIntyre's predecessor, Jon Embree.

MacIntyre's first spring at Colorado was less about Xs and Os and more about finding out what's left in the cupboard. And he noted that from a personnel standpoint, things didn't look particularly crisp early in the process of transitioning to the pistol.

"The first part of it looked ugly, the first few practices and the first scrimmage and all of the different concepts that we're doing on offense and defense," he said. "We didn't put everything in, of course. You have to take it in stages. But I feel like at the end of the spring that we had understood the concepts that we wanted to get in and the kids felt comfortable with them on both sides of the ball and we started to see improvement.

"Then you're able to start coaching all the little fundamentals and intricacies that make the whole thing work. That's what we're in the process of doing. Hopefully they won't forget it all this summer and be able to do it when we crank it up back in August."

Like every team, the Buffs have on-going position battles and more than a little tweaking is needed to improve on last year's 1-11 season. But the new coach hinted at maybe the most important progress of all -- that his players are starting to enjoy football again. Something they probably weren't doing while being outscored, on average, 46-18 in 2012.

"I saw that as spring went along how our attitude changed from just grudgingly doing practice and meetings to enjoying practice and meetings and having fun with it," MacIntyre said. "I think if you don't have a passion for what you're doing, you don't have a chance to be successful. I think we built that building block this spring to have a little bit of a passion about what our kids are doing.

"I think we definitely have some players that can make plays. They've been improving daily. I feel good about the team. It's all relative until you get out there in a Pac-12 football game and see exactly where you stack up. But I feel that we do have some talent and that we need to utilize it correctly and make the most of it."

Washington State coach Mike Leach talks about spring practices, his quarterbacks and the new College Football Playoff.

All players are equal, but some players are more equal than others. That's the basis of our Most Important Player series.

First off, quarterbacks are excluded to make things more interesting. It goes without saying, for example, that Oregon's Marcus Mariota is the Ducks' most important player.

And most important doesn't necessarily have to be "best." An All-American's backup can be pretty darn good, too.

Our most important guys are players who could swing a win total one way or the other, based on their living up to expectations. Or their absence.

Colorado: WR Paul Richardson

2012 production: Did not play

Why Richardson is so important: He's a difference-maker on a team that doesn't have a lot of them. There's a reason that Colorado ranked last in the Pac-12 in total offense and scoring offense -- they didn't have anyone who could stretch the field and defenses would simply load up the box.

As a result, the Buffs managed just 110.2 rushing yards per game (11th in the league behind Washington State) and were forced to throw more than they wanted to -- and because they were usually down by large amounts. They weren't great at throwing, either, ranking last in pass efficiency with 11 touchdowns and 19 interceptions while completing just 55 percent of their throws.

Richardson can make a difference. After missing all of 2012 with a knee injury -- a period he called "excruciating" for having to watch his team stumble to a 1-11 record that led to the firing of Jon Embree -- he's surgically repaired and feeling "incredible."

As the Buffs install a pistol offense under new coach Mike MacIntyre, a process that was noticeably slow this spring because the personnel depth isn't in place yet and a quarterback has yet to be named, they will need at least one guy to spark the offense. Sure, it could be running back Christian Powell, who surged last season with two 100-yard performances and four touchdowns in his final four games.

The 6-foot, 240-pound thumper has promise and many are excited to see what he'll do in the new offense. But Richardson -- perhaps a bit rusty from his year off -- is still the most explosive player on the team. In two years with the Buffs, he has five touchdowns of 50 yards or more. He's the kind of player who can take a 5-yard slant and turn it into a 75-yard touchdown. That big-play, game-changing, momentum-swinging element just wasn't there. With Richardson back, it is.

He provides the kind of dynamic athleticism the Buffs were lacking last season. Youth and inexperience at the wide receiver position, combined with a revolving door at quarterback made for some tough offensive goings in Boulder last year. Richardson brings a level of experience and, perhaps, a calming presence. Players will instantly look to him for leadership.

Chances are Colorado won't make any remarkable turnarounds in 2013. Many expect them to be better, but better might only equal three or four wins. Still, with a player like Richardson, they get back an offensive element that was missing in 2012.

Here on the Pac-12 blog, we bring more than just game coverage, team analysis, statistical trends and rarely-accurate bowl projections.

We also bring the stuff that matters. Like Twitter stats.

Inspired by Kelly Hines of Tulsa World, who went through every FBS coach's Twitter account and ranked them by followers, we thought we'd do the same for just the Pac-12. You can see Hines' article here and note where the Pac-12 coaches rank against their peers. Twitter, of course, is quite fluid with followers coming and going often.

At the time of Hines' publication, UCLA coach Jim Mora was the leader of the league's coaches in number of followers. But he's since dropped about 6,000 followers (rough weekend), meaning Washington's Steve Sarkisian is the leader.

LSU's Les Miles headlines the group as the only coach with more than 100,000 followers, followed by Notre Dame's Brian Kelly, Tennessee's Butch Jones, Georgia's Mark Richt and Arkansas' Bret Bielema rounding out the top five.

Here's where the Pac-12 coaches currently ranks, along with links to their Twitter accounts.

1. Steve Sarkisian 46,510
2. Jim Mora 43,166
3. Mike Leach 42,226
4. Lane Kiffin 29,853
5. Mike Riley 14,939
6. Rich Rodriguez 8,320
7. David Shaw 6,443
8. Sonny Dykes 3,564
9. Mark Helfrich 3,382
10. Todd Graham 2,063

If Utah coach Kyle Whittingham has a Twitter account, it's super secret. You can follow the Utes at @Utah_Football.

Same for new Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre, who probably has a little more on his mind than getting his new Twitter account set up. You can follow the Buffs official football feed @RunRalphieRun.

While you're updating your twitter, why not swing by and follow the Pac-12 blog (48,527). That's right, Bieber. Don't get too comfy.

#hashtagjokesaregettingold

And the piano, it sounds like a carnival, and the microphone smells like a beer;
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar, and say, "Man, what are you doin' here?"

• Arizona and UNLV might meet in Glendale.
• A look at Arizona State's offensive line post-spring.
• Grab your magic 8-ball and predict Cal's season.
• Despite injury and a transfer, Colorado still has one solid quarterback option.
• What we learned about Oregon's offensive line this spring.
• Oregon State targeting linebackers for the 2014 recruiting class.
• Stanford's defensive backfield might be the best in school history.
• A look at UCLA's defense and special teams post-spring.
• Did one of USC's top recruiting targets tip his hand (err, feet) in favor of the Trojans?
• Reggie Dunn still has many a kick to return.
• The Huskies picked up a defensive end commit.
• Incoming WSU freshman looks to make a splash on the offensive line.
• Two Pac-12 teams could possibly end the SEC's national title streak.

Optimism is an important part of the sporting experience. From fans to coaches to players, the vast majority espouse great hopes in advance of every season, even when bad things happen that seem to poleax those hopes.

A player or coach is never going to say, "We're doomed," when a star player gets hurt. It's "Next man in." As it should be. No one likes a whiner.

And woe to the sportswriter who, armed with a laptop, acts as the killjoy.

Take Arizona. It already was searching for a replacement for highly productive quarterback Matt Scott when, on the last week of spring practices, star receiver Austin Hill went down with a knee injury.

No worries, said fellow receiver David Richards.

"We have a lot of other weapons," Richards said. "I don't think we'll really lose a step. I don't think it will hurt us that bad even though he was a great receiver."

Richards added he plans to step up his game and help fill the void. That's good because he's now the Wildcats leading returning wide receiver after catching 29 passes for 298 yards with three TDs last year.

That, of course, is long way from the 81 passes for 1,364 yards with 11 scores Hill contributed as a sophomore. But we are not here to party poop. We are here to offer hope.

Hill's injury and the departure of second-leading receiver Dan Buckner leave a void without a doubt. Whoever wins the quarterback job won't have an obvious go-to option. On the positive side, he also won't be fixated on one guy, as, say, USC was last year with Marqise Lee.

The Wildcats have solid experience coming back at receiver. Richards is the leader of four wide outs who caught at least 19 passes last year, a crew that includes Tyler Slavin, Johnny Jackson and Garic Wharton. The imposing Terrence Miller also returns after receiving a medical hardship year from the NCAA. The 6-foot-4, 234 pounder had 13 receptions in the first four games before he got hurt.

Finally, there's a trio of promising redshirt freshmen -- Trey Griffey, Clive Georges and Jarrell Bennett -- who hinted this spring they are ready to help.

Let's just say there are plenty of teams in the country and even the Pac-12 that would trade their receivers for Arizona's, including rival Arizona State, which is essentially crossing its fingers over incoming players being ready to take over leading roles.

Hill's injury was a hit, but it didn't change the preeminent questions for the Wildcats: Quarterback and defense. Arizona has no idea who will be behind center, while the defensive question hangs on how much better 11 returning starters and some redshirt freshmen and newcomers can be compared to the overmatched group from 2012.

Richards, following the lead of his coaches, didn't reveal much about the QB competition, though B.J. Denker seemed to have the best spring, with USC transfer Jesse Scroggins sitting out and touted true freshman Anu Solomon arriving this summer.

"All the quarterbacks pretty much had a good spring," Richards said. "I think it will be a good camp with them all competing. The person that works the hardest and proves he wants to be the leader of this team will be the quarterback."

That same could be said of who will become that QB's top target.

Stanford coach David Shaw talks about spring practices and the upcoming college football playoffs.

Happy Friday.

Follow the Pac-12 blog on Twitter.

To the notes!

Fred from Portland writes: Your comments, re Barlkley, tho probably true, are disapointing. Theoretically, at least, the purpose of college is to gain an education. Your article implies that a good college athelete should go pro at the earliest possible opportunity. In truth, I can't argue with that, but it does imply that the concept of a student athlete, at least in terms of Football and Basketball, is a complete farce. I have long believed that "one and done" has seriously damaged College BB, and now, rather than trying to soften that, you are extending the concept to FB. I believe that athletes who accept college scholarships should be required to stay for 3 years. Incidentally, I believe that Barkley is a superlative qb and in time, his decision to stay, will become merely a footnote.

Ted Miller: Did you know that Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Paul Allen entered the High Tech draft before their college eligibility was over?

Fred, let's say you are still in college. And a theater major.

Trey Parker & Matt Stone: Fred, we have a new Broadway musical, "Springtime for Cartman." We want you to star, but we need you now. We'll pay you $1 million and you can live at The Carlyle on us.

Fred: Sorry guys, I can't. I have Spanish in at 8 a.m. tomorrow and my fraternity formal is next weekend.

College is cool. For many, it's the best. It's a first taste of freedom without being free in the worrisome, "I've to pay my bills" sort of way. There's also a potential payoff if you care about your brain and being able to carry on an intelligent conversation at cocktail parties ("The 400 Blows? Oh, you mean, "Les quatre cents coups." Yes, it's wonderful, but my favorite Truffaut film is 'Jules et Jim.'").

It's a good time to learn stuff from smart people that you may or may not use in the real world. The social part of college can be pretty tasty, too.

But the less romantic side of college is career preparation. Most people want a degree because it will lead to a better career. Many athletes go to college to major in football or basketball. The majority of them will realize pretty early on that they need a fall-back plan that will be bolstered by a college diploma.

Let's not forget that the number of football and basketball players that leave early is fairly small. For football, where athletes are required to stay in school three years, a record 73 players entered the 2013 draft early. But that's out of more than 10,000 guys playing FBS college football.

Further, this year's draft had more cautionary tales than Barkley. Only 50 of those early-entries were drafted, leaving 23 probably wishing they had a Spanish class in the morning.

We are only talking about a small handful of NFL prospects leaving their books behind. And they will have ample opportunities to go back and finish their degrees.

My general position on this is pretty simple: If you can join the 1 percent before you turn 25, you should make your move.

And that's whether you play football, write computer code or act.

---

Daniel from Bend, Ore., writes: Why does it seem like there is such little national talk about Marcus Mariota? His numbers are comparable to Johnny Manziel, while Mariota was pulled from many games at the halftime. Is the quick scoring success of Oregon hurting his chances of being in the national spotlight?

Ted Miller: What do you want? A May Day parade? A graphic novel that will be turned into a blockbuster movie before the season begins?

(There is a rumor than Mariota will play himself in the next "Avengers" movie).

Should we make Monday a special day for our nation to pause and talk about Mariota in order to assuage Daniel's concerns?

Have you seen any list of top 2013 Heisman Trophy candidates that doesn't include Mariota?

He's No. 5 on this one. No. 7 on this one. He's among five listed here. He made the Heisman Pundit's list. Here's another.

The reason Manziel is getting so much hype is... he won the Heisman last year.

Yes, it does hurt Mariota that he wasn't needed to be statistically impressive in very many fourth quarters last year. And, no, Mariota's numbers were't comparable to Manziel's. Manziel led the nation with 393.5 yards of offense per game. Mariota was 43rd with 263.8.

As for his chances, I'd rate them pretty darn good. If Mariota even incrementally improves his 2012 numbers and the Ducks are national title contenders, he at least will be invited to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony.

---

Jimbo from Seattle writes: Very surprised no shout out to Bob Condotta leaving Husky Beat at the Seattle Times after over 15 years covering the Dawgs!

Ted Miller: Jimbo isn't following the Pac-12 blog on Twitter.

For shame.

Bob has long been among the very best college football beat writers in the nation. So now he'll shortly become one of the best NFL beat writers in the nation.

But I'm pouting. His blog made it very easy to find a Huskies link for the Pac-12 blog, even during those dark days of June.

---

Sam from Nashville writes: Please note that "evaluative" is NOT an English word. The proper word to use is "Evaluation"

Ted Miller: Please note that you are wrong.

DuckNation
From Brandon P. Oliver : This week's mailbag looks at new commit Morgan Mahalak's experience (or lack thereof), as well as updates on offensive line and running back recruiting.

WeAreSC
From Johnny Curren: Talented sophomore TE Jalen Cope-Fitzpatrick got a chance to shine due to some injuries in the spring, and he's hoping that pays off come fall.

From Blair Angulo : This week's recruiting mailbag answers reader questions on USC's efforts at recruiting cornerbacks and offensive linemen in the 2014 class.

All players are equal, but some players are more equal than others. That's the basis of our Most Important Player series.

First off, quarterbacks are excluded to make things more interesting. It goes without saying, for example, that Oregon's Marcus Mariota is the Ducks' most important player.

And most important doesn't necessarily have to be "best." An All-American's backup can be pretty darn good, too.

Our most important guys are players who could swing a win total one way or the other, based on their living up to expectations. Or their absence.

California: RB Brendan Bigelow

2012 production: Bigelow rushed for 431 yards and three ouchdowns in 2012. He scored three touchdowns. He also caught seven passes for 92 yards and a score.

Why Bigelow is so important: If you watched Cal last season, you surely laughed at the above statistics. Talk about misleading.

Rushed for 431 yards? Er, Bigelow averaged 9.8 yards per carry. Scored three touchdowns? Who watched the Cal-Ohio State game? Anyone? How about four carries for 140 yards, including his 81-yard scoring scamper, one of the season's top plays by anyone. That touchdown jaunt was the longest run ever by an opposing back in 90-year-old Ohio Stadium. So, yeah, it was sumpthin.

His first two seasons in Berkeley, Bigelow battled injuries and inconsistency. Oh, and there was a sometimes baffling lack of touches, even when he was (reportedly) healthy. Was the Pac-12 blog alone last year when he rasped out loud, "Would someone give the ball to Brendan Bigelow? Just for kicks. Purty please?" The Pac-12 blog thinks not.

Know this: New coach Sonny Dykes really wants Bigelow to get the ball and do his explosive thing, preferably in space.

So, why is Bigelow Cal's most important player? Because if he averages 20 touches a game over a 12-game schedule, Cal will be a bowl team.

Bigelow's spotty history staying healthy -- he missed spring after surgery on the same knee he twice had ACL surgeries on while in high school -- makes the mere opportunity to give him touches a question. He's not a given for 12 games, but being able to hypothetically project him as one transforms this team.

For one, Cal will be breaking in a young quarterback this fall. His life will be infinitely easier if the guy standing in the backfield with him scares the pooh out of the opposing defense. Second, the Cal offensive line is, well, questionable. Bigelow is the sort who can do things on his own. Give him a sliver of light, and he'll give you 81 yards.

Bigelow's likely backup, Daniel Lasco, is solid. And incoming freshman Khalfani Muhammad is a speedy guy who figures to be in the running back mix immediately. But a healthy Bigelow is a difference-maker, a guy who could energize a team with a brutal schedule and questionable prospects in the Pac-12's North Division.

Happy Friday.

• Arizona's All-NFL Undrafted team.
• Taking a look at where Arizona State stands at tight end.
• Checking in with California wide receiver Bryce Treggs.
• Troy Walters, Colorado's receivers coach, expects big things out of Paul Richardson. Yeah, that Troy Walters.
• Oregon has an incoming player who will be a candidate for the All-Name Team.
• Oregon State has lost one of its great ones.
• This Stanford commitment has a strong legacy on The Farm.
• An early look at how UCLA will (could) stack up in the NFL draft.
• USC picks up another commitment.
• Scouting former Utah defensive tackle Star Lotulelei.
• You will see more of Washington linebacker Shaq Thompson in 2013.
• Some Washington State spring football video.