[StanFan88]

History says when teams get blown out in championship games, they take a big step backward.  All I know is the postseason has revealed information that suggests Stanford will be the favorite to win the PAC-12 North in 2015 if Hogan returns, and it will be pretty wide open if he doesn't.  U$€ will assume its natural birthright (to fans and media) as prohibitive favorites in the South.

Glass half-full:  Stanford has the depth and coaching on defense to reload once again.  The offense will return 8 or 9 starters and a coaching staff that appeared to learn its lesson (albeit slowly) over the season about developing gameplans that are aligned to the actual talent on the field.

Glass half-empty:  The defense has completely turned over in two years - this will present a significant challenge regardless of how great the personnel & coaching are.  And although there are 8 or 9 returning starters on offense they are returning from was not exactly a world-beater.

Preseason top 25 sure, but favorites to win the North?  Not so sure.  Oregon will not likely be as good but the dropoff won't be that great.  The bigger problem is that the other four teams are unlikely to finish better than 5-4.  Could be that the two or even three best teams in the conference are all in the South next year.

[StanFan88]

History says when teams get blown out in championship games, they take a big step backward.  All I know is the postseason has revealed information that suggests Stanford will be the favorite to win the PAC-12 North in 2015 if Hogan returns, and it will be pretty wide open if he doesn't.  U$€ will assume its natural birthright (to fans and media) as prohibitive favorites in the South.

Glass half-full:  Stanford has the depth and coaching on defense to reload once again.  The offense will return 8 or 9 starters and a coaching staff that appeared to learn its lesson (albeit slowly) over the season about developing gameplans that are aligned to the actual talent on the field.

Glass half-empty:  The defense has completely turned over in two years - this will present a significant challenge regardless of how great the personnel & coaching are.  And although there are 8 or 9 returning starters on offense they are returning from was not exactly a world-beater.

Preseason top 25 sure, but favorites to win the North?  Not so sure.  Oregon will not likely be as good but the dropoff won't be that great.  The bigger problem is that the other four teams are unlikely to finish better than 5-4.  Could be that the two or even three best teams in the conference are all in the South next year.