ESPN College Football

Our theme today, as part of our "Love to hate" week at ESPN.com, is "Left in the lurch." This is about coaches who bailed out on a Pac-12 program at an unexpected or awkward time. We're not including Urban Meyer leaving Utah for Florida or Jim Harbaugh leaving Stanford for the San Francisco 49ers because their departures were not unexpected and came only after unprecedented success.

Of course, these situations vary greatly in terms of circumstances and reaction. There aren't many college football jobs out there considered better than one in the Pac-12, so most of the coaches who bailed out on their programs left for the NFL.

But here is a sampling from the Pac-12. Feel free to provide your own thoughts below.

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  AP Photo/Don RyanPete Carroll stunned USC fans when he left after the 2009 season to coach the Seattle Seahawks.
  California got dogged twice. First, after going 10-2 in 1991, Bruce Snyder bailed on the Golden Bears for Arizona State. It's rare for a coach to jump from one conference program to another, and it certainly hurts more. Then, in 1996, Steve Mariucci lasted just one year in Berkeley before jumping aboard with the San Francisco 49ers.
• Dennis Erickson twice left Pac-12 teams for sunnier pastures (at least in theory). After two years at Washington State, Erickson bolted for Miami after the 1988 season. Then, after a strong run at Oregon State from 1999-2002, Erickson left Corvallis for the San Francisco 49ers. He has repeatedly said that was the worst move of his career.
• Dick Vermeil lasted two seasons at UCLA. After going 9-2-1 in 1975 and upsetting No. 1 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, he left for the Philadelphia Eagles.
• Rick Neuheisel shocked many when he left Colorado for Washington before the 1999 season for a million-dollar contract, which was at the time considered exorbitant. He left behind NCAA sanctions for the Buffaloes and immediately got into trouble with the Huskies. It didn't make folks in Boulder feel any better when the Huskies and Neuheisel swept a home-and-home series over the next two years.

But two departures really stand out.

Don James is on the short list of greatest college football coaches of all time. In 18 seasons at Washington, from 1975 to 1992, he won a national title and four Rose Bowls. He went 153-57-2 (.726) and set a then-record of 98 conference victories. From 1990-92, the Huskies won 22 consecutive games.

He is the Dawgfather.

And that's why many Huskies fans will tell you the lowest moment in program history is when he resigned in protest of NCAA and Pac-12 sanctions on Aug. 22, 1993. (James really, really didn't like Washington president William Gerberding and athletic director Barbara Hedges, either).

His resignation just before the season forced Washington to promote defensive coordinator Jim Lambright, a good man and a good defensive coordinator but not an ideal fit as head coach. Other than a Rose Bowl victory after the 2000 season under Rick Neuheisel, things have never been the same in Husky Stadium. Not yet, at least.

A more recent shocker: Pete Carroll bolting USC after the 2009 season for the Seattle Seahawks.

Carroll's hiring in 2001 was widely panned, but all he did thereafter was build a college football dynasty, winning national championships in 2003 and 2004 and falling just short of a third consecutive title in 2005 in a thrilling loss to Texas. He went 97-19 (.836) in nine seasons (11-2 versus rivals Notre Dame and UCLA), won six BCS bowl games and finished ranked in the AP top-four seven times. He won 34 consecutive games from 2003-05 and coached three Heisman Trophy winners and 25 first-team All-Americans.

So, yeah, he accomplished a lot. And many thought he would coach USC for life, though many others also suspected the lure of the NFL would prove too much.

It was the timing of his sudden, stunning departure that frustrated many Trojans fans. While Carroll has repeatedly denied oncoming NCAA sanctions had anything to do with his decision to leave, that's a hard line to buy. He skipped town after a 9-4 season that featured blowout losses to Stanford and Oregon and left behind a team with a two-year bowl ban and deficit of 30 scholarships over three seasons.

Still, not unlike how James is viewed by Huskies fans, Carroll is mostly spared the wrath of Trojans fans because of what he accomplished.

There's no question, however, that both programs were left in the lurch.

Every game counts. But some games count more. Or tell us more.

We're going through the Pac-12 and picking out one game that seems most important -- or potentially most revealing -- for each team from our vantage point today.

We're going in alphabetical order.

Stanford

Most important game: at California, Oct. 20

Why it's important: Well, for one, it's the Big Game, even if it's been dumped into the middle of the season.

There are games that would resonate more nationally for the Cardinal. Beat USC on Sept. 15, and everyone immediately forgets Andrew Luck. Win at Oregon on Nov. 17, and pack up for a special season as Stanford unloads two years of frustration. But Stanford will be substantial underdogs in both games. If things go as most will project, Stanford will lose both games. So, sure, either would be a big win for the program, particularly post Luck, but they would be fairly shocking.

The visit to Cal feels important because it something more approximating a "must-win." Start with the fact that Stanford, Washington and California seem like a troika that falls together -- in that order -- below Oregon in the Pac-12 North Division pecking order. This could serve as a separation game for the Cardinal, which will have already visited Washington on Sept. 27. Stanford has dominated the Huskies lately, so a win over Cal may be enough to ensure at least a second place finish in the North -- with a puncher's shot still remaining in Autzen Stadium. So this is a rivalry game with significant North Division ramifications.

But it's even more than that. Stanford has won two Big Games in a row and played in two consecutive BCS bowl games. It has taken over the Bay Area after years of struggling versus Jeff Tedford and the Bears. Some Cal fans might try to write off the Cardinal surge as something produced by a serendipitous aligning of the college football planets. As in by the flash-across-the-sky tenures of charismatic former coach Jim Harbaugh and a once-in-a-generation quarterback. If Cal wins this game, it could claim exactly that with justification. "Ah, the Bay Area pecking order has been righted," Bears fans might say. "Stanford's reign of terror is at an end. Ad perpetuam memoriam! Or not. And ad victoriam!"

But if Stanford were to win a third Big Game in a row -- inside the newly remodeled Memorial Stadium no less -- it would send a simple message: With or without Luck, the Cardinal own the Bay Area.

Stanford head coach David Shaw pulled the curtain back ever so slightly on his quarterback competition, revealing not what he's looking for, but what he's not looking for in Andrew Luck's successor.

"They know the quickest way for those guys to lose the competition is to try to be Andrew," Shaw said. "That will lose someone the competition."

This has been a different spring for Shaw, who took over following Jim Harbaugh's exodus to the NFL and had the best quarterback in nation already in place. Shaw had helped develop Luck as Harbaugh's offensive coordinator, and knew there wasn't much tweaking required. This year's crop presents a fun, albeit different, challenge for the former NFL quarterbacks coach.

"There were a couple of times where I had to grab them and get my hands on them," Shaw said. "Some of those young guys are like clay and you get a chance to mold them. It was fun. It was enjoyable.

"The only thing that would be more enjoyable [will be] when someone takes the job and we plant them in there and give them a chance to play. It was completely different. It was different working with a battle for the back-up quarterback job to the best quarterback in the nation as opposed to battling for the starting job."

Still, no matter whether it's Brett Nottingham or Josh Nunes who emerges as Stanford's starting quarterback, there are going to be expectations to maintain the success Stanford has enjoyed the past few years.

"I'm not going to lie, there is still an Andrew Luck hangover going on down here in Palo Alto," Shaw said. "But we have some athletic, smart, accurate quarterbacks that understand what we do. ... Their job is to be efficient. Their job is to hand the ball to Stepfan Taylor and Tyler Gaffney and Anthony Wilkerson. To find Levine Toilolo and Zach Ertz and give Ty Montgomery a chance to play.

"As we always talk about, the quarterback's job here is to deal the cards. Get it to the playmakers. Make sure the offense runs efficiently. And the guy that does that the best will be the guy that starts."

In other Stanford news:

Linebacker Shayne Skov is on schedule with his rehabilitation from a season-ending knee injury suffered in Week 3 last season against Arizona. Shaw said he expects Skov to be ready by the start of fall camp, but they will keep a close eye on him. Some are already predicting Skov as a first-round pick in next year's NFL draft.

"We'll be very smart with him, getting into the more physical practices, just to make sure," Shaw said. "Shayne doesn't have to prove to me that he can play the game of football; Shayne has to prove to me that he's healthy. We're not going to put him in those potentially damaging situations until we know he's 100 percent ready to go. So early in training camp we'll take care of him. We'll watch him the first couple of days of pads. If there are no setbacks, we'll release him for complete, full-go activity. I expect him to play up to the level of his ability."

Three consecutive Heisman Trophy runners-up, two consecutive BCS bowl games and final top-10 rankings: Hey, Stanford's special run of football success was fun to watch. It was neat seeing the most academically elite university playing BCS football whipping the big boys.

But we all know it can't possibly last, right? Jim Harbaugh built it and he's gone. Andrew Luck was a once-in-a-generation quarterback, and he's gone. And he took with him three other offensive players among the first 42 selections in the NFL draft over the weekend.

While the Cardinal certainly had more than 15 minutes of fame, it's time for this program to go back to its familiar brainiac territory -- Faulkner, computer chips and advanced algorithms. Leave big-time football the USCs, Alabamas and Ohio States of the nation.

Yes, such talk has worked its way across the grid, onto the Farm and into the Stanford locker room.

"We've talked about that," coach David Shaw said. "But we've also talked about that there can't be anything outside of our meeting rooms that motivates us. The motivation has to come from within. It's the only way that it is real. The only way that it is legitimate. But we've heard it. We know where we're ranked. But preseason rankings don't matter. Postseason rankings do."

In other words, the Cardinal believe reports of their demise are greatly exaggerated.

"They said the same thing when Toby [Gerhart] left and when Harbaugh left," outside linebacker Chase Thomas said. "We're pretty confident. We know what we bring to the table."

Of course, things change. No team can easily replace four elite NFL draft picks from its offense. That's why Stanford may be more about defense in the early going of 2012. Thomas leads a crew of six returning starters from a unit that ranked among the nation's top 30 in both scoring and total defense. The Cardinal's front seven in their 3-4 scheme appears to be particularly strong. Few teams in the nation will be as deep at linebacker, with Thomas and inside linebacker Shayne Skov both rating as potential All-Americans.

But what about that offense? The competition to replace Luck wasn't resolved this spring, with neither Josh Nunes nor Brett Nottingham demonstrating much consistency. And whoever wins the job won't have tackle Jonathan Martin protecting his blind side, or guard David DeCastro grinding defensive linemen into hamburger, or tight end Coby Fleener sprinting open down the middle with his 6-foot-6 self.

"We will continue our commitment to controlling the line of scrimmage," coordinator Pep Hamilton said. "We're going to run power. I don't see us changing much. If anything, if we have a few more opportunities to run power, we'll do that."

That means leaning on running back Stepfan Taylor, who has rushed for 2,770 yards and 27 TDs over the previous three seasons, and a deep stable of backs. That means leaning on a tight end combination -- Zach Ertz and Levine Toilolo -- that is as good as any in the nation, even without Fleener.

Receiver and offensive line? Those two spots remain questions, though the line will welcome back three starters.

Existing talent, however, doesn't tell the whole story of Stanford's potential for sustaining success. The incoming recruiting class is a significant chapter. Rivals ranked it fifth in the nation, Scout seventh and ESPN Recruiting 12th. No team in the nation came close to collecting as many elite offensive linemen: guard Joshua Garnett (Puyallup, Wash./Puyallup), Andrus Peat (Tempe, Ariz./Corona Del Sol) and offensive tackle Kyle Murphy (San Clemente, Calif./San Clemente).

Shaw isn't afraid to play the young guys, either. True freshmen will get opportunities on both sides of the ball, including the offensive line.

"There's a reason why we recruited a couple of big-timers at those positions," he said. "They will have an opportunity to play if not start at the left tackle position."

Instead of going away, Stanford may well have found a perfect formula that Harbaugh generated and Shaw has refined. Stanford has a lot to sell a certain type of athlete, one who is equal parts brains and brawn. Despite what many folks think about young athletes, there are plenty who want to challenge themselves intellectually before playing football on Sundays.

"This is a special place that attracts a certain kind of person," said Shaw, a former Stanford player himself. "The GPAs in this recruiting class are high, even positions where they are not always high. Our lowest receiver GPA is a 3.4. Not regular GPA, core GPA. These guys are good students and tough kids."

But how fast are they? A 3.4 is nice, but what about 4.4? The one thing that has held Stanford back is a lack of elite speed all over the field, particularly in the secondary and at receiver. Shaw said they "are getting closer" in terms of speed, but he also admitted that the Cardinal -- just like every other Pac-12 program -- have a bit of an Oregon problem. They are 23-1 versus everyone else over the past two seasons, outscoring those foes 1,024-405. Against the Ducks, Stanford is 0-2, outscored 105-61.

Does Stanford have an "Oregon problem?"

"That's a great question," Shaw said. "I'd like to have a survey on your website if anybody has some ideas. Chip [Kelly] does a phenomenal job."

While Shaw is said this in a good-humored way, it's clear that he and his coaches have spent plenty of time thinking about the Ducks. They recall beating them 51-42 in 2009, particularly how they handled the ebbs and flows of momentum. They know it's about preventing big plays and not wasting opportunities on offense. They know it's about tempo, a pitched battle of contrasting styles. Oregon wants to play fast and slash you. Stanford wants to slow things down and pound you.

At least one insider believes Stanford will sustain its recent run of success.

"Absolutely. Hopefully they do better than we did," Luck said. "I think there are a lot of great players here, starting at the top with the coaching staff. Great players, great recruiting classes. They will only continue to get better."

As for what Stanford will be in 2012, its first season of the post-Luck era, Shaw thinks his team will have the same tough-guy persona. But it'll be angrier.

"We're going to go right at people and hit them in the mouth," he said. "And it helps to feel like you're disrespected."

Which college football programs develop the best, pro-ready quarterbacks?

That's Brock Huard's question here. To answer it, he enlisted the help of former Oregon coach Mike Bellotti, ESPN Recruiting's Tom Luginbill and a former NFL passer Jesse Palmer.

This isn't about productive college offenses, it's about producing NFL quarterbacks. Writes Huard, "This search for 'QB U' is more about projection than it is about collegiate production. Mike Gundy, Gus Malzahn, Dana Holgorsen and Chip Kelly may be at the front of the line when it comes to innovation and quarterback execution at the collegiate level, but the top five schools that follow incubate a passer in a very demanding way on and off the field, at the line of scrimmage and have a recent track record of success that differentiates them from the pack."

Three Pac-12 teams make Huard's top-five.

USC is No. 1, of course. Here's what Huard had to say about the Trojans:

Surrounded by top-flight skill and talent, the country's No. 2 media market, ideal weather conditions to train year-round, an $85 million football facility, a staff littered with NFL know-how and experience, and an offensive-system that centers on the QB position, USC sits atop our list.

Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Matt Cassel and Mark Sanchez have made healthy paychecks in the NFL, and Matt Barkley would have been added to that list had he decided to turn pro this offseason.

Lane Kiffin may have burned bridges in Oakland and Knoxville, but his résumé of college quarterbacks developed over the last 10 seasons is second to none, and don't minimize what he did in his one year with Jonathan Crompton (Washington Redskins) at Tennessee.

Kiffin would be the John Calipari of college football if he had to live within the one-and-done parameters. His recruiting message, like Calipari's, is very clear: If you want to compete for national titles while never losing sight of the ultimate goal of the NFL, then USC is the place for you.

Alabama was No. 2 and Stanford was No. 3. Here are his comments on the Cardinal:

The resources for a young passer are manifold on the Farm: NFL pedigree and experience on staff (Shaw's nine years and offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton's seven), cutting-edge training and conditioning facilities, ideal weather and climate, and a strong supporting cast that includes one of the best crop of young offensive linemen in the country.

Andrew Luck, of course, was a game-changer as well. He set the bar so incredibly high for managing formations, shifts, audibles, line-of-scrimmage mechanics and everything else he tackled at the position that Jim Harbaugh told me two years ago in a production meeting that Luck challenged him schematically "to do more, because of what he was able to absorb and handle."

The Cardinal have changed expectations for their program with back-to-back BCS bowl game appearances, and Shaw & Co. are doing less recruiting and more selecting of the top-tier, well-rounded student-athletes (including three four-star QB recruits in the last five classes, with another blue-chip already signed for 2013).

Missouri is No. 4 and Washington is No. 5. Here are his comments on the Huskies:

Steve Sarkisian can coach quarterbacks -- just ask Sanchez, Jake Locker and now Keith Price. Alongside Carroll and Kiffin at USC, Sarkisian molded Heisman Trophy winners and consecutive first-round picks. At Washington, Locker became the eighth pick in the NFL draft a year ago, and Price shattered every significant team passing record in 2011, including throwing 33 touchdowns in his first year as a starter.

The success helped the Huskies land two Elite 11 QBs (Jeff Lindquist and Cyler Miles) in their latest recruiting class, a feat that led Pete Carroll to call Sarkisian on signing day to ask how he landed such a haul.

The Huskies have a ways to go up front to compete for more than Rose Bowls any time soon; however, when it comes to enticing the best young QB prospects in the land, UW's tape and development speak for themselves.

Folks like rankings, which is why a lot of you had opinions on both Athlon Sports and our rankings of Pac-12 coaches this week.

There are very few naysayers to the idea that Oregon's Chip Kelly is an obvious No. 1. In fact, I'm not even sure how you gainsay that.

But who's No. 2?

That's the question before your faithful Pac-12 bloggers.

Kevin Gemmell: Since you went first last week, and I used it as an opportunity to take a shot at you about Darron/De'Anthony Thomas Top 25 incident, I'll take the lead this week and suffer whatever ribbing comes from it.

To be honest, I was pretty torn when trying to figure out who I would put at No. 2 in the conference. I think you can easily make an argument for three or four different guys. But I've also seen what Kyle Whittingham has done at Utah from the very beginning when I used to cover the Mountain West Conference.

His résumé is stellar, and his credentials are without question. He has an undefeated season to his credit and two BCS bowl game victories (I believe the NCAA credits him and Urban Meyer both for the Fiesta Bowl win). If I'm wrong on that, he still has a BCS bowl victory at a then mid-major program.

He's 7-1 all-time in bowl games. That means he's a closer. The only bowl loss was in 2010 to Boise State -- the Broncos' second football game following the Nevada field goal debacle. There weren't many that thought Boise would lose that one.

What I think is the most impressive thing about Whittingham, though, is that he's proven to be his own man. He easily could have fallen into the trap that David Shaw now finds himself in at Stanford. Critics will constantly question Shaw about if he can do it outside of Jim Harbaugh's shadow and without Andrew Luck on the roster. Whittingham faced similar charges in the face of Meyer's departure.

In that time, he's gone 66-25 and stewarded the program into the Pac-12, where the Utes went 8-5 last season, including a come-from-behind win over Georgia Tech in the Sun Bowl. Sustained success means several things. He can recruit. He can reinvent himself and the team with each new generation of players. And he makes good hires.

We all know one bad recruiting class can set a program back several years. Bad hires can have an even longer impact. Whittingham is not afraid to take gambles -- and the latest one is naming former quarterback-turned quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson his offensive coordinator. At least some see it as a gamble. But Whittingham has given us no reason over his career to think it's not going to be a great hire.

The fact is, Whittingham wins year after year. Can't ask for much more out of your coach.

Ted Miller: I deserved the snark over the twin No. 12s. That was a moment of clumsy compensation for a boneheaded oversight on my part. Of course, you did steal my No. 2 coach, which I will write off to your savvy and your foreknowledge you got to go first this week.

And it gives me a chance to tout a guy who might shortly challenge for the top-spot on this list: Arizona's Rich Rodriguez. In fact, if we could make Rodriguez's ill-fated, three-year tenure at Michigan magically disappear, and then view Rodriguez as arriving in Tucson after a brilliant run at West Virginia, you would be able to make a case for him against even Kelly.

Before the disaster in Ann Arbor, Rodriguez was widely viewed as among the nation's best coaches. He'd been successful everywhere he went, and was considered one of the nation's truly great offensive minds -- not unlike Kelly. He went 60-26 at West Virginia and, after going 3-8 his first year, never won fewer than eight games. He also won a Sugar Bowl over Georgia, and his team won the Fiesta Bowl over Oklahoma after he bolted for Michigan. The Mountaineers won 33 games his final three seasons. According to this high-powered calculator, that's an average of 11 wins per season.

But what about Michigan? Well, as we've said before and surely will say again, his failure at Michigan was more about Michigan than Rich Rodriguez. It was a bad fit from the get-go in terms of his personality versus the "Michigan way"; Rodriguez wasn't able to hire his defensive coordinator, as he has done at Arizona with Jeff Casteel; he was shamefully betrayed and undermined by a Machiavellian Lloyd Carr; and it's not unreasonable to question the agendas of some of the media coverage he received.

Some Michigan fans take issue with that perspective on Rodriguez's Michigan tenure, much of which is detailed in John Bacon's book "Three and Out." But only because they love the Wolverines more than the truth, at least in this instance.

Rodriguez repeatedly has said he's not a quick-fix guy -- he, by the way, told the folks hiring him at Michigan exactly that -- and that it will take three years for his systems and recruiting to truly take hold. I doubt Wildcats fans are exciting about waiting that long, but the smart money is on Rodriguez finding a way to get it done in Tucson.

And, yeah, that means it's legitimate to dream about a first Rose Bowl within five years.

Wouldn't it be fun if it were against the Wolverines?

It takes a quarterback to know when a quarterback will be missed. So it's no surprise that when looking at the teams with the biggest voids to fill, ESPN's Brock Huard started with schools losing elite quarterbacks. Stanford is among the top five schools that Huard examined as having the biggest offseason holes .

Huard on Stanford:

Stanford might be losing the most prolific quarterback in the program's history in Andrew Luck -- which is saying something, given that John Elway and Jim Plunkett once grazed on The Farm -- but the Cardinal clearly are not losing their ground-and-pound identity. Signing three of the top offensive line prospects in the country will pay dividends in the long term, but filling the enormous shoes of Luck and three other probable first-round picks in this year's draft (OG David DeCastro, OT Jonathan Martin and TE Coby Fleener) will be a mighty task for coach David Shaw.

As a fan, player and now analyst who has been immersed in the Pac-10, now Pac-12, for more than three decades, watching what Jim Harbaugh did to reverse the fortunes of the Stanford program was remarkable. He changed the culture, provided an edge and energy desperately needed on the gridiron, and did so with the help of a once-in-a-generation quarterback who was both brainiac and maniac.

Huard is right on by identifying more than just Luck who is gone. And I'll go a step further and say that losing Delano Howell and Michael Thomas at the safety positions could be just as difficult to overcome. The Cardinal have a lot of good athletes who could step in at the safety spots -- Jordan Richards and Devon Carrington both saw extended action this season. But both are still very raw and lack the experience the outgoing duo possessed.

Having that outstanding front seven should give the secondary a little cover -- at least in the first couple of games -- for the new starters to get acclimated.

I'm also curious -- and sort of excited -- to see who plays the Fleener role in the three-tight-end formations. Zach Ertz and Levine Toilolo both bring different skill sets to the position, but neither has the burst of speed that Fleener brought going over the middle on those deep routes. Following the Notre Dame victory, Shaw said that he and his staff have been searching the country for a tight end who can do what Fleener can do. Not surprising, he said they haven't found anyone. I'm expecting Ertz and Toilolo to have very productive seasons -- particularly since they are the veterans of the receiving corps.

Perhaps with the ongoing development of Ty Montgomery and some of the incoming talent at wide receiver, the Cardinal won't have to rely as much on a tight end for a deep-threat option. But knowing Shaw's penchant for tight ends, you have to figure they'll continue to play a major role in the receiving game.

National signing day is over. But life is not, even if it feels that way.

Clearing away the confetti and reviewing what happened.

Top class: Stanford signed a class that is the envy of all but a small handful of teams in the nation. ESPN Recruiting ranked Stanford's class 12th. Rivals rated the Cardinal No. 5; Scout ranked Stanford No. 6; 24/7 sports ranked the Cardinal No. 9; and Tom Lemming ranked Stanford 10th. Stanford's haul of offensive linemen might be one of the best in the history of recruiting rankings.

Biggest surprise: Is UCLA coach Jim Mora a rookie or a freshman? However the NFL lifer is best described, his first recruiting haul was outstanding by any measure, but particularly for a coach with basically zero college experience. What you have to credit is Mora hiring a great recruiting staff. The Bruins signed a top-20 class and hit plenty of need areas.

Biggest disappointment: There are very few people who believe that Rich Rodriguez wasn't a great hire for Arizona. Zero, maybe. That said, the Wildcats didn't get a recruiting bump based on that perception. They finished at or near the bottom of most rankings of Pac-12 recruiting classes and didn't sign any recruits with at least a four-star rating from ESPN Recruiting.

Fastest riser: Just over a week ago, Washington's recruiting was surprisingly mediocre, particularly after the Huskies lured ace recruiter Tosh Lupoi away from California. But the Huskies surged late, starting with a commitment from elite safety Shaq Thompson, a former Cal commitment. And the Huskies' surge didn't stop on signing day, as they moved up to No. 23 in the final national rankings.

Under the radar: While Pac-12 newbies Colorado and Utah didn't sign top-25 classes, both very quietly signed strong classes that addressed immediate needs, and they finished in the middle of the Pac-12 recruiting rankings. In their first season recruiting as real Pac-12 teams -- as in having a season of play under their belts -- here's a guess that both Colorado coach Jon Embree and Utah coach Kyle Whittingham are happy with how things went and are eager for another go-around in 2013.

Recruiter of the year: Many wondered if Stanford coach David Shaw could maintain the program momentum created by former coach Jim Harbaugh. Well, in his first season, he led the Cardinal to a BCS bowl game and top-10 finish. On Wednesday, he produced a better recruiting class than Harbaugh ever put together -- at least in terms of recruiting rankings. Those who think Stanford is going away because of the departure of Harbaugh and QB Andrew Luck might be in for a surprise.

Player you'll see next season: It would be surprising if Shaq Thompson isn't starting at safety for Washington in the opener against San Diego State. The same could be said for Isaac Seumalo on the Oregon State offensive line. In L.A., it will be battle between UCLA defensive tackle Ellis McCarthy, USC outside linebacker Jabari Ruffin and USC defensive tackle Leonard Williams for top freshman defender. It will be interesting to see how Stanford's elite class of frosh offensive linemen shapes up. There should be some hot competition there, with one freshman breaking through and at least earning playing time. Also interesting in the Bay Area: Is senior Zach Maynard the answer at QB for Cal, or might Zach Kline earn playing time as a true freshman?

Pro Football Weekly released its 2011 All-NFL team this week, and it's got an extraordinary amount of Pac-12 flavor.

How much flavor? How about the Offensive MVP (Aaron Rodgers), Defensive MVP (Terrell Suggs), and Coach of the Year (Jim Harbaugh)? How about three offensive players, four defensive players and a specialist?

Here's the team.

Pro Football Weekly/Professional Football Writers of America
2011 All-NFL Team
Offense
Quarterback
Aaron Rodgers / Packers
Running backs
Maurice Jones-Drew / Jaguars
LeSean McCoy / Eagles
Wide receivers
Calvin Johnson / Lions
Wes Welker / Patriots
Tight end
Rob Gronkowski / Patriots
Center
Maurkice Pouncey / Steelers
Offensive guards
Jahri Evans / Saints
Carl Nicks / Saints
Offensive tackles
Jason Peters / Eagles
Joe Thomas / Browns
Defense
Defensive ends
Jared Allen / Vikings
Jason Pierre-Paul / Giants
Defensive tackles
Haloti Ngata / Ravens
Justin Smith / 49ers
Outside linebackers
DeMarcus Ware / Cowboys
Terrell Suggs / Ravens
Inside linebacker
Patrick Willis / 49ers
Cornerbacks
Darrelle Revis / Jets
Johnathan Joseph / Texans
Safeties
Troy Polamalu / Steelers
Eric Weddle / Chargers
Specialists
Placekicker
David Akers / 49ers
Punter
Andy Lee / 49ers
Punt returner
Patrick Peterson / Cardinals
Kickoff returner
Joe McKnight / Jets
Special-teamer
Matthew Slater / Patriots
Most Valuable Player — Packers QB Aaron Rodgers
Defensive MVP — Ravens OLB Terrell Suggs
Coach of the Year — 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh
Rookie of the Year — Panthers QB Cam Newton
Offensive Rookie of the Year — Panthers QB Cam Newton
Most Improved Player of the Year — Giants WR Victor Cruz
Comeback Player of the Year — Lions QB Matthew Stafford
Executive of the Year — 49ers GM Trent Baalke
Assistant Coach of the Year — Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- It’s here, finally.

No, not the Fiesta Bowl. The end. The completion of the most nationally scrutinized season in Stanford football history. It started the day quarterback Andrew Luck announced he was putting off the NFL for one more season and returning to Stanford. And it hasn’t let up.

Stanford University isn’t a stranger to the media. With an alumni list that reads like a who’s who of American politics, industry, science and technology, those with Stanford ties make headlines daily.

But the football team? The group that was 1-11 a few years ago? Really?

Really.

And Luck’s return was just the start. Then came Jim Harbaugh’s departure for the NFL … then a coaching search … then David Shaw is hired … then the Heisman talk … then a preseason top-10 ranking … then the nation’s longest winning streak … then Heisman talk … then draft talk about Jonathan Martin, David DeCastro and Coby Fleener … then the BCS chatter … then Heisman talk … then the Oregon game … then the fallout from the Oregon game … then the Heisman talk … then non-BCS chatter … then BCS chatter again … then Heisman talk … then the post-Heisman talk … and now another BCS game.

You get the idea. Stanford’s media-hyped season revolved around Luck, and his presence brought scrutiny to everything and anything that had a block ‘S’ on it. You take a team that has never had this much national exposure and put a spotlight as hot as an Arizona summer day on them, surely they’ll wilt.

Or not. The Cardinal lived up to the hype, as proved by their appearance in today’s Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State. And though Luck didn’t win the Heisman, it’s safe to say he lived up to his almost unachievable expectations (both external and internal). And now Stanford is in a second consecutive BCS bowl game with a No. 4 national ranking attached to it.

“They’ve handled it great. All of it,” Shaw said. “I started the year talking about Toby [Gerhart] and the way he was in the spotlight. All he talked about was his offensive line and his fullbacks. And watching Andrew handle his notoriety last year and this year, it was the same thing. When your best players are humble and they point the spotlight toward the other guys, No. 1, the other guys appreciate it and No. 2, the other guys don’t want to let them down.”

For as much talent as the Cardinal lost to graduation last season, they still boasted an abundance of maturity this year. And that core group of veteran leaders never let the players’ heads get too big for their helmets.

“I think as a group we handled it well,” Fleener said. “We’d like to have the Oregon game back. We’d like to replay that one a few times. But it’s something that guys like Andrew and David [DeCastro] and Moose [Jonathan Martin] have handled really well. We all know it’s out there. But they are intelligent and they deflect the attention. Andrew does an amazing job of that and he gives teammates credit they may or may not deserve.”

It even got to the point where players would playfully joke with Luck about his increased media attention. On more than one occasion they would laugh in the postgame news conferences at the slew of Luck-centric questions. After a few minutes, Luck would eventually give the obligatory “why don’t you ask one of these guys” responses.

“It’s not like anyone is scared of Andrew or Moose or David or anything like that. They are just normal guys and normal teammates,” fullback Ryan Hewitt said. “They just happen to be very successful technicians of their trade and they are the best at what they do. It’s exciting because as a teammate, you want to play alongside the best.”

Whenever Luck was asked about the NFL or the Heisman, he had his stock answer in the barrel.

“I’m just focused on Stanford. Thinking about anything else would be a disservice to this university.”

The players knew they had something good in the works when they went to the Sun Bowl two years ago, followed by the Orange Bowl and a blowout victory over Virginia Tech last year as an encore. As the hype grew, so did the expectations.

“I think in years past it was OK for Stanford to be very good at academics and mediocre at athletics, at least from a football realm,” Fleener said. “Coach Harbaugh, and now Coach Shaw, have pushed us to the point where we are expecting to win every game, or know that we will prepare to win every game as opposed to prepare to give the other team a good game. That’s a huge change from four or five years ago when we would be the underdogs. Now it’s to the point where we have a bull's-eye on our back.”

People east of Las Vegas call that big-time college football. Whether Stanford can sustain this momentum remains to be seen. Certainly, the hype fades when Luck goes. But that doesn’t mean the expectations do.

“There is a groundwork and a formula to do it,” said the NFL-bound DeCastro “... They have to challenge themselves each year to get better because everyone else is going to get better. That hardest part of success is being able to repeat it.”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Stanford head coach David Shaw knows quarterbacks. For nine years in the NFL, he studied them, analyzed them and broke down every tangible mechanic and intangible characteristic trait there is.

So when he says he's never seen anyone like Andrew Luck -- specifically, a college quarterback with the intelligence to read defenses the way he does and call plays -- you have to consider him a credible source.

But he's also biased. Like any good coach, he sticks up for his guy. Pumps him up. Some have even accused Shaw of over-inflating his future No. 1 draft pick.

So to get unbiased sources, I looked to a pair of former NFL MVP quarterbacks from two different eras -- Steve Young and Brian Sipe -- for their take on Luck and the significance of a college football player calling his own plays. Young, a Hall of Famer, spent years carving up defenses just up the road from Palo Alto with the San Francisco 49ers.

And he knows a little something about the Stanford offense. It derives from the Bill Walsh offense Young ran with San Francisco. It's not identical, but as a Walsh disciple, Shaw kept many of the same principles.

Much is made about what Luck does pre-snap. He has a playbook of 250 plays each week in his mental Rolodex and he can pull from anything at any time. That's an awful lot to heap on a college kid. And the fact that Luck does it with amazing results is tangible, empiric evidence of his football IQ and NFL potential.

“What I appreciate is what [offensive coordinator] Pep Hamilton has done for Andrew, continuing what Jim Harbaugh did. They have really prepared him like a pro,” said Young, a two-time NFL MVP. “They do pro game plans with pro verbiage and pro schemes. They can’t push some of the other kids as much, because they don’t have the experience. But they find ways to keep Andrew motivated. Calling his own plays, creating his own plays, putting more responsibility on him keeps him focused and sharp.”

Sipe, now the quarterbacks coach with San Diego State, played during a transitional era -- spanning a time when all quarterbacks called their own plays to a time when none of them did. Sipe was one of the last to still make the calls in the huddle and at the line of scrimmage.

“[Luck] is obviously very intelligent and we know it can be done,” said the 1980 NFL MVP. “What’s shocking to me is that there is a coaching staff out there comfortable enough to relinquish that kind of responsibility. If we prepare these kids right, they know what we’re trying to do and they should be able to do it. But at the same time, they don’t have the luxury of all the information and data in front of them. I understand why coaches prefer to call their own plays from the sidelines and the press box. I applaud them for having that confidence in him.”

That confidence comes from trust. Shaw said he knew early on he’d be able to take this leap with Luck -- and when Luck announced he was returning for another year and Shaw was promoted from offensive coordinator, the two clicked.

“As soon as I got the job, the first thing I said was 'Andrew, we’re going back to the no-huddle,' and there was a big smile on his face,” Shaw recalled. “He and I have both loved the idea from the beginning, and he’s so good at it. It took a little bit of time, but he’s a rare quarterback that can handle this.”

Luck said they tinkered with the idea early in his career, but not until he proved he was ready to handle the extra responsibility did they start integrating his play calling into the game plan.

“Experience is a big part of it, and showing the coaches that you can execute their plan on the field,” Luck said. “As a player, obviously it’s great to know your coaches trust you. To go out there and make the call and know they are behind you, that’s special.”

Sipe said he enjoyed being able to call his own plays -- though he understands the game has evolved.

“As a quarterback, I felt like I had a feel for the game that could only come from being out on the field and being in the huddle with the guys and being close to it,” Sipe said. “But at the same time I recognize the benefit of having data at your fingertips and hearing from everybody else. When you’re out there, you are on your own and have to process it all … you have to think like an offensive coordinator, and I applaud him for being able to do it and for the coaches who are willing to give him that responsibility.”

Chances are, Luck won’t be calling his own plays at the next level. Young said the pro game has changed so much that quarterbacks actually calling their own plays could be detrimental.

“I think it’s almost foolish -- like you’re not a real man if you don’t call your own plays,” Young said, the second part tongue in cheek. “Good play-callers like Marty Mornhinweg or Mike Holmgren or Mike Shanahan, the all-timer -- in some ways the last thing you want to be doing is taking them out of the mix. I had free range to call whatever I wanted. But I liked calling their combinations. I think it’s overrated a little bit in the pro game. Drew Brees could call his own plays. But Sean Payton can put together great combinations. I don’t see it as a badge of honor.

“But in college, the way Stanford uses it for Andrew, I think it’s really great. It’s the perfect way to keep him active and keep him sharp.”

It's when pulling those combinations together, Shaw said, that Luck is at his best.

"That's a big part of understanding the situations -- what do we need on second-and-5 as opposed to second-and-10," Shaw said. "He gets it. We don't give him any guidelines. We put it in his hands and he gets it naturally.

"We wanted to make sure we were continually challenging him. Let's give him options. Let's make sure he always has something to study. Andrew has taken it to the next level."

Stanford coach David Shaw is one of two first-year coaches playing in BCS bowl games. ESPN.com's Ivan Maisel points out that he and West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen join a small group of coaches who have led teams to BCS bowls: Only 31 of the 120 active FBS head coaches have done so.

Both took very different paths, though both are connected by a name we are choosing -- it hurts soooo much -- not to use in a pun here: Luck.

Holgorsen got his job because of West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck. Shaw won 11 games and will play Holgorsen's old team, Oklahoma State, in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2 in large part because of Luck's son, Andrew.

Shaw's transition was seamless, while Holgorsen's was not. But both faced challenges. Shaw's most notable obstacle was the highest expectations in the history of Stanford football.

The apparent seamlessness of the transition from Jim Harbaugh to Shaw can be seen in how the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award didn't name Shaw one of its 10 finalists. He was expected to win and he did. Yet Shaw didn't exactly climb on the back of his extraordinary quarterback. He had to replace four assistant coaches. He had to learn how to negotiate the difference in running a meeting room and running a team.

The adjustment for both former offensive coordinators was taking a job that was less about X's and O's and more about being a CEO of a company that generates millions. No more long hours analyzing film in isolation.

Early on, Shaw said, he would call his wife Kori and tell her he was walking out the door. "And I live 10 minutes away from here. About half an hour later, she'll [call]. 'Are you coming home or not?' I have to pass by six offices on my way out the door. Invariably four of those six wants an answer to a question."

Shaw laughed. "I've learned not to call my wife until I actually get to my car," he said.

Shaw won Pac-12 coach of the year, and just about every early indication -- including the insider scuttlebutt -- is positive about the way he handled Year 1. But the reality is the measure of Shaw will be taken post-Luck. This year he shares credit with the best college QB of a generation and Harbaugh, who rebuilt the program and created an effective locker room culture before bolting for the San Francisco 49ers.

Expectations will be lower on the Farm in 2012. But not for everyone, apparently.

Getting to a BCS bowl will provide Shaw and Holgorsen some career insurance. But there are no guarantees. Of the five previous first-year coaches who reached a BCS bowl, two were fired within five years of the bowl. Next season, without Luck at quarterback, no one will expect Stanford to have a third consecutive 11-1 regular season.

Except Shaw.

"We're not having lower expectations," he said.

Jim Mora is quickly filling out his staff, and doing so impressively.

Three hires have been confirmed: Adrian Klemm (offensive line, formerly at SMU), Demetrice Martin (defensive backs, formerly at Washington) and Steve Broussard (running backs, formerly at Arizona State).

The LA Daily news has reported two others: Noel Mazzone (offensive coordinator, formerly at Arizona State) and Marques Tuiasosopo (tight ends, formerly an intern at UCLA who is presently serving as QBs coach).

Simply put: These are five extremely strong hires, both in terms of recruiting and coaching. And they each are college guys, though Klemm, Broussard and Tuiasosopo had solid NFL careers in the not-too-distant past. Mazzone also has coached in the NFL. Mora, an NFL lifer, will benefit from having staff members who know college football and the Pac-12.

Four of five, notably, are on offense. How Mora handles the defense will be interesting. He's a defensive guy, so he'll know a lot of NFL defensive coaches. But, as has been frequently noted, there are lot more funky offenses in college than in the NFL. Veteran NFL defensive coaches won't know as much about the no-huddle, up-tempo, spread and spread-option attacks that area all over college football and the Pac-12.

You'd think Mora would want a good mix of NFL and college guys on defense. That said, good defensive coaches can adapt -- see Clancy Pendergast at California and Vic Fangio at Stanford before he followed Jim Harbaugh back to the NFL. In fact, it seemed that USC's Monte Kiffin had a far better grasp of things in year two than year one.

Tracking the offensive, defensive and coach of the year races in the Pac-12.

For a more thorough look at offense, re-read our Heisman Watch update.

Offensive player of the year

1. Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford: Luck ranks fifth in the nation in passing efficiency. He's completing 71 percent of his throws with 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

2. LaMichael James, RB, Oregon: James ranks first in the nation with 150.88 yards rushing per game and averages 7.89 yards per rush, which is the best among the top-23 rushers. He's also scored 12 touchdowns.

3. Matt Barkley, QB, USC: Barkley leads the Pac-12 with 29 touchdown passes and has six interceptions. His 278 yards passing per game ranks third in the conference. He ranks fourth in the conference in passing efficiency.

Defensive player of the year

1. Chase Thomas, LB, Stanford: Thomas is second the conference in sacks (6.5) and first in tackles for a loss (14.5). He's also forced four fumbles, which is tied for the conference lead.

2. Nick Perry, DE, USC: Perry, after recording 2.5 sacks against Washington, leads the conference with 7.5 sacks and is second in tackles for a loss with 11. He's also defended two passes and forced two fumbles, recovering one.

3. Vontaze Burfict, LB, Arizona State: Burfict ranks second on the Sun Devils with 56 tackles, with 7.0 tackles for loss and 5.0 sacks. He also has an interception, four passes defended and a fumble recovery.

Coach of the year

1. Chip Kelly, Oregon: He's on track to win his third consecutive conference title in three years as Ducks head coach. And he's a huge fan of Styx.

2. David Shaw, Stanford: If Oregon were to lose -- even if it still wins the conference -- Shaw might get the nod if he goes 11-1 in his first year after replacing Jim Harbaugh and earns an at-large berth in a BCS bowl.

3. Lane Kiffin, USC: He becomes a serious candidate if his Trojans upset Oregon on Saturday.

In 2006, Stanford was irrelevant in college football. When it lost 42-0 to USC on Nov. 4, the only angle of interest was the Trojans bouncing back after a 32-game regular-season winning streak ended at Oregon State the week before.

The Cardinal would finish 1-11, and coach Walt Harris got the boot. Enter Jim Harbaugh.

Suffice it to say that the USC-Stanford rivalry, which the Trojans had dominated under Pete Carroll, last losing in 2001, would ramp up in intensity. Roles shortly would reverse. And, best of all, it also would get a heck of a lot more colorful.

In 2007, USC was ranked No. 2 in the nation when Stanford came to the Coliseum, where the Trojans had won 35 consecutive games. They were a 41-point favorite against the lowly Cardinal, which was forced to start backup quarterback Tavita Pritchard because starter T.C. Ostrander had suffered a seizure in a restaurant just days before.

But Pritchard threw a 10-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal with 49 seconds remaining, giving Stanford a 24-23 victory, one of the monumental upsets in college football history.

The Trojans again rolled over Stanford in 2008, 45-23. They went on to win the Rose Bowl -- again -- and Stanford finished with a losing record for a seventh consecutive season. The planets had realigned, right?

Ah, but that wasn't the deal, was it? Harbaugh's Cardinal transformed in 2009, with Toby Gerhart and a power running attack and a young quarterback by the name of Andrew Luck. That team went to the Coliseum and scored 27 fourth-quarter points, transforming a seven-point game into a 55-21 blowout. And with 6:47 left and the Cardinal up 17, Harbaugh elected to go for two. Why?

"I just honestly thought there was an opportunity coming off the ball, the way our backs were running and the way we were playing," Harbaugh said after the game.

In other words: Because we could.

That reality is what Lane Kiffin inherited when he replaced Carroll. It wasn't the same as from 2001 to 2006, when he was a Trojans assistant and Stanford was a foe that offered little resistance.

"It obviously has changed a lot and balanced back out, which was very different from when we were here a year before," Kiffin said.

Before last year's game, the way Stanford had won -- running up the score -- was a big issue. Kiffin saw it on film, for one. And, yes, everyone asked about it, reminding him of the testy handshake between Carroll and Harbaugh that's best remembered for Carroll asking Harbaugh, "What's your deal?" But that celebrated exchange mostly falls on Carroll's being disgruntled. What's not often noted is how before meeting Carroll at midfield, Harbaugh pointedly made fun of the Trojans as they quickly scampered up the Coliseum tunnel. "Look at them all running in! Look at them all running in!" he said to himself -- and to a large TV camera just in front of him.

New Stanford coach David Shaw was the Cardinal's offensive coordinator for that game. He's previously cited that game as his favorite example of his program's physical style. And there is plenty of insider scuttlebutt that Shaw, although far more polished than the rough-around-the-edges Harbaugh, enjoys pounding opponents as much as Harbaugh did. Still, Shaw waves away an opportunity to recall the fourth-quarter thinking in 2009.

"That was a long time ago. That was what it was," he said. "We've all moved on since then. We had a heck of a game last year that was nip-and-tuck."

That's true. Last year's game was a back-and-forth thriller. USC took a one-point lead with 1:08 left on a 3-yard TD run from Allen Bradford, but Luck and the Cardinal drove for the winning 30-yard field goal on the game's last play for a 37-35 win. Luck and USC QB Matt Barkley each threw three TD passes with no interceptions, while Trojans receiver Robert Woods stole top billing with 12 receptions for 224 yards and two scores.

That well-played game sets the stage for Saturday, when the unbeaten, sixth-ranked Cardinal try to keep their national title hopes alive against the 6-1 Trojans, who are ranked 20th in the Associated Press poll. Other than Harbaugh, all the actors who played starring roles are back.

Of course, the role reversal is unmistakable. USC used to be the team hunting conference and national championships as well as Heisman trophies. Now the Trojans can only be spoilers -- they are ineligible for the postseason because of NCAA sanctions -- and Stanford is the team producing Heisman Trophy candidates. USC's motivation won't be the same as Stanford's.

"It is different from everyone we're playing, having their hopes and dreams taken away from them," Kiffin said of his players' motivations.

Stanford's fifth-year seniors were around for the 2007 game, and their fourth-year players went 5-7 in 2008. They also all know what it's like not to play in the postseason. They've also watched as USC has gone from the nation's most feared program to one they've eclipsed, winning three of the past four in the series.

Is there special emotion this week? Has this rivalry heated up?

"I don't know if it's become a heated rivalry more than any other," Shaw said.

Maybe. But Stanford has high hopes and national title dreams. Those used to dance in the Trojans' heads.

Here's a guess that Kiffin and USC would relish an opportunity to deal those a crushing blow and then to watch the Cardinal scamper up the Coliseum tunnel with their heads down.