Ted Miller, Kyle Bonagura & Chantel Jennings 9y

Roundtable: Which Pac-12 teams have most questions coming out of spring?

Ted Miller, Chantel Jennings and Kyle Bonagura return to the roundtable to debate the flip side of this morning’s question and discuss: Which teams still have the biggest questions coming out of the spring?

Ted Miller: The obvious answer here is that the teams with the fewest returning starters have the most questions, so that would be Washington and Oregon State, which welcome back just 10 and 11 starters, respectively. Both also are uncertain at quarterback.

Yet the larger focus -- read: national focus -- will be on UCLA and Oregon. The Bruins and Ducks are replacing multiyear starters at quarterback, and spring provided only hints at the resolutions of those QB competitions. We probably won’t know who either team’s starting quarterback is until late in preseason camp, and there’s no guarantee the opening day starter will be the only guy seeing snaps in the season’s first month.

The reason UCLA’s and Oregon’s questions are the biggest in the conference is pretty simple: Based on the talent both have coming back on both sides of the ball, getting efficient and productive play behind center would make both national contenders. Both teams are loaded at the skill positions, which means the quarterback has plenty of options to make himself look good.

UCLA has the most returning starters in the Pac-12, and among the most in the nation, with 18. If the Bruins are solid at quarterback, they'll be the favorite in the South Division.

Oregon, with just 12 starters back from its 2014 Pac-12 champion team, has other depth chart questions. Yet the Ducks' depth, as well as their recent track record, suggests they are capable of reloading, not rebuilding, which puts the QB question front and center. It’s not difficult to imagine that if Oregon is again strong at quarterback, it will play the eventual South champion for the Pac-12 title, with a spot in the College Football Playoff on the line.

And if UCLA and Oregon get big answers to their big questions at quarterback, we expect them to be meeting in the Pac-12 title game the first week of December.

Kyle Bonagura: Washington's defense saw three of its players become first-round picks and also had a second-round pick, but the unit’s overall performance didn’t reflect it had that kind of talent.

As a result, it’s illogical to think the defense will get better. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen -- improved scheme coupled with across-the-board development, new players and a bit of luck can do wonders -- but it’d take a lot. And until they play actual games, the Huskies will be left with a lot of questions. And that’s before looking at the offense, where a quarterback competition awaits.

Stanford still needs depth on the defensive line (though adding Brennan Scarlett will help if he stays healthy). Cal, where Scarlett transferred from, has to figure out its safety situation. The coaches at Oregon State, UCLA and Washington probably have, at a minimum, a strong suspicion of who their quarterback will be, but that stuff will get sorted out at preseason camps.

Chantel Jennings: I’m on board with Ted and Kyle here. If we’re looking at the largest questions that still need to be answered, then we’re probably discussing one of two things: quarterbacks or position groups that lost more than one guy, specifically on the defensive side of the ball where multiple players need to work together and have a good chemistry.

So here are the places that still have bigger question marks at quarterback: Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA and Washington (though a lot of those places are down to two guys). The following schools still have lots of questions surrounding individual defensive position groups: Washington State’s defensive line (also counting the new defensive coordinator), Washington’s front seven, Oregon State (the entire defense), Oregon’s secondary and Arizona. The Wildcats return a lot of players, but other than Scooby Wright they don't have proven pass-rushers.

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