Oregon Ducks

Five Pac-12 North questions: Can Oregon continue its dominance with a new QB?

Published Aug. 3, 2015 3:53 p.m. ET

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With Pac-12 Media Days now complete, the official countdown to the 2015 college football season is underway. Here are some of the Pac-12 North’s biggest storylines heading into the new season.

1. Should Oregon be Pac-12 North favorites with a new QB?

Despite the fact that Oregon will be without 2014 Heisman winner Marcus Mariota, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic in Eugene.

Not only do the Ducks return perhaps the best collection of skill-position players in the country, but they also have capable quarterbacks ready to replace Mariota.

Redshirt junior Jeff Lockie has spent the past three seasons working under Mariota and knows Oregon’s offense better than any player on the team. Incoming graduate transfer Vernon Adams Jr., who will not join the team until Aug. 13, was one of the most prolific FCS quarterbacks of all-time while at Eastern Washington. If he’s able to come in and grasp Oregon’s offense quickly, he could be a game changer.

While head coach Mark Helfrich would not answer questions about Adams at Pac-12 Media Days, he did reiterate his belief in Lockie, saying “we have 100 percent confidence in (Lockie).”

As long as the Ducks are scoring points at a clip similar to what the team has produced in years past, they should be the Pac-12 North favorites.

However, the media seems to be concerned about the Ducks. The Pac-12 preseason media poll revealed that USC is a slim favorite to capture the conference crown.

That being said, based on talent and scheme alone, the Ducks should be considered the favorites in the Pac-12 North again.

2. Can Cal find a defense for Jared Goff?

There’s no denying the fact that Cal will be a force on the offensive side of the football in 2015. In 2014, the Bears had the No. 11 ranked offense in the country. Couple that with the fact that their quarterback, junior Jared Goff, may be the most talented QB in the land and you have a team that is going to put up a lot of crooked numbers.

However, the Bears also bring back a defense that was perhaps the worst unit in the nation. The Bears ranked No. 123 in points allowed in 2014 and gave up 367.2 yards per game through the air, the worst mark by a Power 5 school.

So, is there a reason to be optimistic about Cal’s defense? Head coach Sonny Dykes thinks so. Speaking at Pac-12 Media Days, Dykes said, “I expect our defense to make a big jump. I'm excited about it. We're bigger, stronger, more talented."

Goff backed up that statement by saying that the defense had improved “ten-fold.” He mentioned that the biggest difference was how much better the secondary was "playing the ball in the air."

There’s a specific reason to be optimistic about Cal’s defense and it doesn’t have to do with new players. It has to do with experience.

The Bears are returning the third-most experienced team in the entire country. Even if there are some some serious deficiencies on the defensive side, the upperclassmen are going to be better based on in-game experience alone.

Dykes is counting on that defensive experience in order for his team take another step forward.

“Well, we understand that our success will be determined by how much we improve on defense,” he said at Pac-12 Media Days. “We think we're going to be much better. We have a lot of returning experience. We've been able to address some of our deficiencies in terms of depth.”

Whether the defensive improvements are slight or immense will go a long way in determining how many games the Bears can win.

3. Can Kevin Hogan build on his late-season success?

It’s no secret that senior QB Kevin Hogan struggled throughout most of 2014. After guiding the Cardinal to back-to-back conference titles and Rose Bowl appearances, it was expected that Hogan would deliver a strong junior season. It didn’t happen.

However, Hogan really shined in Stanford’s last three games, going 45-of-59 for 637 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for 142 yards and a touchdown.

Stanford head coach David Shaw believes that Hogan will build on that success.

“I think the way he ended the season last year he's playing as well as anybody in the country. Very excited about him coming back as a senior again as a captain. Really, I they we got a glimpse of how good he can become. I think he's still one of the more underrated quarterbacks in the nation.”

With early season games at USC and against Arizona, it will become evident early which Kevin Hogan will be on the field in 2015.

4. How fast can Oregon State and Washington rebuild?

It could be a long season for fans of the Beavers and Huskies. Both are at the beginning of massive rebuilds.

However, both Oregon State’s Gary Andersen and Washington’s Chris Petersen expressed optimism at Pac-12 Media Days.

Andersen, who is in his first year at OSU after coming over from Wisconsin, said that he understands the team may struggle.

“You're going to go through some growing pains,” he said at Pac-12 Media Days. “As you move through that, you have to be patient, but you also have to have expectations.”

Petersen has said that it takes “18 to 24” months to get a program moving in the right direction. When asked about the progress his team has made, he said it looks like its going to take 24 months for everyone to get on board, but that he feels confident about the rebuilding process.

“I think we're making good progress with those type of things. But I think it's going to probably be closer to the 24. I really do,” Petersen said. “I think when you get guys and recruit guys from the start that come in and it's like this is how we do whatever, they don't know any different. So it's a lot easier, that process, than changing 'this is how it's done. We're going to do it this way now.' That's always much more difficult. And just learning schemes and all of that and the young guys that we have and will play, it's probably going to be closer to that 24 months. It never stops. It's not like we got it. We're continuing building and working on that all the time.”

5. Is Mike Leach on the hot seat?

Coming off of a 3-9 season, it stands to reason that Washington State head coach Mike Leach’s seat could be a bit warm.

Leach has a big task. His Cougars were woeful despite having one of the most prolific passers in FBS history in Connor Halliday. Now, Leach must find a suitable replacement, likely sophomore Luke Falk.

While Falk had his moments as a replacement for the injured Halliday last year, he’s going to have to play much better in order for the Cougs to compete in the Pac-12 North.

However, offense isn’t the biggest issue for Washington State. Leach knows if he’s going to win with the Cougars, he’s going to need his defense to improve. The Cougars finished No. 117 in scoring defense and No. 127 in pass defense in 2014.

With a new QB and a defense that needs to be totally rebuilt, the Cougars could find themselves once again near the bottom of the Pac-12 North.

When asked about his vision for Washington State football, Leach replied, “Well, I think you just continue to progress and improve. I thought we took a step on offense, led in a lot of national categories, but we've got to steadily improve. Defense and special teams, we've got to improve there.”

Jason Gold is a writer covering the Pac-12 for FOXSports.com. Follow Jason on Twitter @TheSportsGuy33.