2014 Pac-12 Conference football season explained

2014 Pac-12 Conference football season
Color:
  1. 193980
Color Text:white
League:NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision)
Sport:American football
Pixels:110px
No Of Teams:12
Tv:ABC, Fox, Fox Sports 1, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and Pac-12 Networks
Draft:2015 NFL Draft
Draft Link:2015 NFL Draft
Top Pick:QB Marcus Mariota, Oregon
Picked By:Tennessee Titans, 2nd overall
Season:Regular season
Conf1:North
Conf1 Champ:Oregon Ducks
Conf1 Runner-Up:Stanford Cardinal
Conf2:South
Conf2 Champ:Arizona Wildcats
Conf2 Runner-Up:UCLA Bruins
Arizona State Sun Devils
Finals:Pac-12 Championship
Finals Link:2014 Pac-12 Football Championship Game
Finals Champ:Oregon Ducks
Finals Runner-Up:Arizona Wildcats
Finals Mvp:Marcus Mariota (QB)
Seasonslistnames:Football
Prevseason Year:2013
Nextseason Year:2015

The 2014 Pac-12 Conference football season was the fourth season of college football for the Pac-12 Conference as a 12-team league. The season began on Thursday, August 28, 2014, and the first conference game was on Saturday, September 6, 2014, when USC played at Stanford. The final game was the Pac-12 Championship Game at Levi's Stadium on December 5, 2014, with FOX televising the game. The Oregon Ducks defeated the Arizona Wildcats, 51–13 for the conference championship and went on to play in the College Football Playoff. The Ducks defeated the Florida State Seminoles 59–20 in the semifinal game in the Rose Bowl, but lost to the Ohio State Buckeyes 42–20 in the championship game.

Previous season

Stanford, the North Division Champions, defeated Arizona State, the South Division Champions, 38–14 to claim their fourteenth conference title and the chance to play in the Rose Bowl again.

A record nine conference teams played in a post-season bowl game, with six teams winning. Stanford was defeated in the Rose Bowl game by Michigan State 24–20 before 95,173 fans. Arizona State, the South Division champions, was also a bowl game loser, losing to Texas Tech 37–23 in the Holiday Bowl. The only other loser in a bowl game was Washington State, losing by a slim margin to Colorado State 48–45.

Bowl game winners were: UCLA defeated Virginia Tech 42-12 in the Hyundai Sun Bowl, Arizona defeated Boston College 42–19 in the AdvoCare V100 Bowl, Oregon defeated Texas 42–7 in the Valero Alamo Bowl, Washington defeated BYU 31–16 in the Fight Hunger Bowl, Oregon State defeated Boise State 38–23 in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, and USC defeated Fresno State 45–20 in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl.

Pre-season

2014 Pac-12 Spring Football and number of signees on signing day:North Division

South Division

Pac-12 Media poll

2014 Pac-12 Media Day was held at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, CA on July 23–24, 2014.

North Division

South Division

Head coaches

Coaching changes

There were two coaching changes following the 2014 season including Steve Sarkisian with USC and Chris Petersen with Washington.

Coaches

North Division

South Division

Rankings

 Increase in ranking
 Decrease in ranking
 Not ranked previous week
 Selected for College Football Playoff
 Number of first place votes
Tied with team above or below also with this symbol

See main article: 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings.

  Pre Wk
2 		Wk
3 		Wk
4 		Wk
5 		Wk
6 		Wk
7 		Wk
8 		Wk
9 		Wk
10 		Wk
11 		Wk
12 		Wk
13 		Wk
14 		Wk
15 		Wk
16 		Final
Arizona
Wildcats		APRVRVRVRVRV101615142117151281219
CRVRVRVRVRVRV131715152118131281117
CFPNot released1219141511710
Arizona State
Sun Devils		AP1917161515RV201714151171313171512
C181614131224201814141281413181614
CFPNot released149613131715
California
Golden Bears		APRV
CRV
CFPNot released
Colorado
Buffaloes		AP
C
CFPNot released
Oregon
Ducks		AP3 (1)3 (5)2 (16)2 (17)2 (12)2 (11)12965533 (1)3 (2)3 (5)3 (8)2
C4 (1)4 (2)4 (6)3 (6)4 (3)4 (7)1197654 (1)3 (6)3 (6)3 (6)3 (7)2
CFPNot released5422222
Oregon State
Beavers		APRVRV
CRVRVRVRVRVRV
CFPNot released
Stanford
Cardinal		AP1113151616162523RVRVRVRVRVRVRV
C1110161514132220RVRVRVRVRVRVRV
CFPNot released
UCLA
Bruins		AP711121211818RV25251814119161410
C711121010917RVRV2518141210171510
CFPNot released221811981514
USC
Trojans		AP15149171818RV2220RVRVRV24RVRV2420
C151410212220RV2521RVRVRV24RVRVRV21
CFPNot released192524
Utah
Utes		APRV24201918202520RVRV2321
CRV23191822RV21RVRV2520
CFPNot released17172317252322
Washington
Huskies		AP25RVRVRVRVRVRVRV
C25RVRVRVRVRVRVRVRVRV
CFPNot released
Washington State
Cougars		AP
C
CFPNot released

Schedule

Index to colors and formatting
Pac-12 member won
Pac-12 member lost
Pac-12 teams in bold

Week 14

Championship game

The championship game will be played on December 5, 2014. It will feature the highest ranked teams from two division championships.

Week 15 (Pac-12 Championship Game)

Postseason games

Following the 2014 regular season the Pac-12 had all eight of its bowl eligible teams selected to play in a post-season bowl game. The two marque match ups will be the Rose Bowl, in which the Oregon Ducks will face off against the Florida State Seminoles in the semi-finals of the College Football Playoff and the Fiesta Bowl, in which the Arizona Wildcats will face off against Mountain West Conference champions, Boise State. Overall, the Pac-12 will see two bowl games each against the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Mountain West Conferences.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Pac-12, often considered to be the second best Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football conference, will not play a bowl game against what many consider to be the best conference, the SEC. The last time that teams from the Pac-12 and SEC met in the post-season was the 2011 BCS National Championship Game when Auburn defeated Oregon for the national championship. The only hope for a Pac-12 v. SEC match-up was for Oregon to win the Rose Bowl, and SEC Conference Champions Alabama to win the Sugar Bowl, in which case both teams would have squared off in the inaugural College Football Championship Game. Because Alabama lost the Sugar Bowl and Oregon won the Rose Bowl, the Ducks played the Big Ten Conference Champion Ohio State Buckeyes in a re-match of the 2010 Rose Bowl.

Pac-12 team in bold:

Bowl Game Date Stadium City TV Time (PST) Match-up Pac-12 Team Score Opponent Score
Las Vegas BowlSaturday, December 20, 2014Sam Boyd StadiumParadise, NevadaABC12:30 p.m.Pac-12 #6 vs. MW #2Utah (8–4)45Colorado State (10–2)10
Sun BowlSaturday, December 27, 2014Sun Bowl StadiumEl Paso, TexasCBS11:00 a.m.Pac-12 #4 vs. ACC #4
  1. 15 Arizona State (9–3)
36Duke (9–3)31
Holiday BowlSaturday, December 27, 2014Qualcomm StadiumSan Diego, CaliforniaESPN5:00 p.m.Pac-12 #5 vs. Big Ten #4
  1. 24 USC (8–4)
45
  1. 25 Nebraska (9–3)
42
Foster Farms BowlTuesday, December 30, 2014Levi's StadiumSanta Clara, CaliforniaESPN7:00 p.m.Pac-12 #8 vs. Big Ten #6Stanford (7–5)45Maryland (7–5)21
Fiesta BowlWednesday, December 31, 2014University of Phoenix StadiumGlendale, ArizonaESPN4:00 p.m.CFP "New Year's 6" Bowl
  1. 12 Arizona (10–3)
30
  1. 21 Boise State (11–2)
38
Rose BowlThursday, January 1, 2015Rose BowlPasadena, CaliforniaESPN2:10 p.m.CFP Semifinal
  1. 3 Oregon (12–1)
59
  1. 2 Florida State (13-0)
20
Alamo BowlFriday, January 2, 2015AlamodomeSan Antonio, TexasESPN3:45 p.m.Pac-12 #3 vs. Big 12 #3
  1. 14 UCLA (9–3)
40
  1. 11 Kansas State (9–3)
35
Cactus BowlFriday, January 2, 2015Sun Devil StadiumTempe, ArizonaESPN7:15 p.m.Pac-12 #7 vs. Big 12 #7Washington (8–5)22Oklahoma State (6–6)30
National ChampionshipMonday, January 12, 2015AT&T StadiumArlington, TexasESPN5:30 p.m.CFP National Championship
  1. 3 Oregon (13–1)
20
  1. 5 Ohio State (13-1)
42

Records against other conferences

2014 records against non-conference foes:

Regular Season

Power 5 ConferencesRecord
ACC1–1
Big Ten4–1
Big 121–0
Notre Dame2–1
Power 5 Total8–3
Other FBS ConferencesRecord
American1–0
C-USA1–0
MAC1–0
Mountain West10–2
Independents (Excluding Notre Dame)1–1
Other FBS Total15–3 (Including a win over Georgia State, a FBS team from the Sun Belt Conference)
FCS OpponentsRecord
Football Championship Subdivision8–0
Total Non-Conference Record31-6

Post Season

Power 5 ConferencesRecord
ACC2–0
Big Ten2–1
Big 121–1
Power 5 Total5–2
Other FBS ConferencesRecord
Mountain West1–1
Total Bowl Record6–3

Players of the week and honors

Following each week's games, Pac-12 conference officials select the players of the week from the conference's teams.

WeekOffensiveDefensiveSpecial teams
PlayerPositionTeamPlayerPositionTeamPlayerPositionTeam
Week 1 (Sept. 1)Cody KesslerQBUSCEric KendricksLBUCLAKaelin ClayWRUtah
Week 2 (Sept. 8)Marcus MariotaQBOregonLeonard WilliamsDEUSCAndre HeidariPKUSC
Week 3 (Sept. 15)Jerry NeuheiselQBUCLAShaq ThompsonLBWashingtonIshmael AdamsDBUCLA
Week 4 (Sept. 22)Cayleb JonesWRArizonaGionni PaulLBUtahAndy PhillipsKUtah
Week 5 (Sept. 29)Brett HundleyQBUCLAPeter KalambayiLBStanfordIshmael Adams 2ndDBUCLA
Week 6 (Oct. 6)Connor HallidayQBWSUNate OrchardDEUtahTrevor DavisWRCalifornia
Week 7 (Oct. 13)Javorius AllenRBUSCShaq Thompson 2ndLBWashingtonTy MontgomeryWRStanford
Week 8 (Oct. 20)Cody Kessler 2ndQBUSCDamarious RandallSArizona StateAndy Phillips 2ndKUtah
Week 9 (Oct. 27)Marcus Mariota 2ndQBOregonScooby Wright IIILBArizonaAdoreé JacksonCBUSC
Week 10 (Nov. 3)Marcus Mariota 3rdQBOregonScooby Wright III 2ndLBArizonaZane GonzalezCBArizona State
Week 11 (Nov. 10)Luke FalkQBWSULloyd CarringtonCBASUKa’imi FairbairnKUCLA
Week 13 (Nov. 24)Nick WilsonRBArizonaEric Kendricks 2ndLBUCLADrew RigglemanPArizona
Week 14 (Dec. 1)Cody Kessler 3rdQBUSCScooby Wright III 3rdLBArizonaTom HackettPUtah
Week 15 (Dec. 8)         

Position key

CenterCCornerbackCBDefensive backDBDefensive endDE
Defensive linemanDLDefensive tackleDTGuardGKickoff returnerKR
Offensive tackleOTOffensive linemanOLLinebackerLBLong snapperLS
PunterPPlacekickerPKPunt returnerPRQuarterbackQB
Running backRBSafetySTight endTEWide receiverWR

Awards and honors

Butkus Award

Bronko Nagurski Trophy

Lombardi Award

Chuck Bednarik Award

Doak Walker Award

Lott IMPACT Trophy

Maxwell Award

Walter Camp Player of the Year Award

Pac-12 Morris Trophy (top lineman)

All-Americans

Academic All-America Team Member of the Year (CoSIDA)

AFCA Coaches' All-Americans First Team:[1]

All-Conference teams

[2]

Offense:

Pos.NameYr.SchoolNameYr.School
First Team Second Team
QB Marcus Mariota (3) Jr. Jr. UCLA
RB Jr. Jr. Arizona State
RB Jr. Fr. Oregon
WR Jr. Jr. Washington State
WR Jr. Jr. Colorado
TE Jr. So. Stanford
OL Sr. Jr. UCLA
OL Sr. Sr. Arizona
OL Hroniss Grasu (3) Sr. Jr. Arizona State
OL Jr. Jr. Stanford
OL Jr. Jr. Utah

Defense:

Pos.NameYr.SchoolNameYr.School
First Team Second Team
DL Sr. Jr. Oregon
DL Sr. So. UCLA
DL Sr. Sr. UCLA
DL Leonard Williams (2) Jr. Sr. Oregon State
LB Sr. So. UCLA
LB Jr. Sr. UCLA
LB So. Sr. Stanford
DB So. Sr. Oregon
DB So. Sr. Oregon
DB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu (3) Sr. Sr. UCLA
DB Sr. Jr. UCLA
DB Sr. Sr. Oregon State

Specialists:

Pos.NameYr.SchoolNameYr.School
First Team Second Team
PK So. So. Arizona State
P Tom Hackett (2) Jr. Jr. Arizona
RS Sr. Sr. Stanford
AP Jr. Fr. Oregon
AP       Fr. USC

All-Academic

First team[3]

Home game attendance

During the 2014 season the members of the Pac-12 Conference saw nearly four million spectators attend football games at their home stadiums. UCLA led the conference with 459,901 total spectators attending the six games held at the Rose Bowl, taking the title back from cross-town rivals USC.[4] Despite selling out their stadium in half of their games, Washington State recorded the lowest overall attendance with 184,762 total spectators attending the six games held at Martin Stadium.[5]

Oregon and Utah both continued their respective sellout streaks as well as their statuses as the only two programs in the conference and in their respective divisions to sell out each game or record a total season average of over 100% capacity. The Ducks led the conference in sellout percentage for the fourth consecutive year,[6] filling Autzen Stadium to an average of 106% capacity throughout the season. The only teams aside from the Ducks and the Utes to achieve sellout attendance for a game were the Arizona Wildcats and the Stanford Cardinal in their losses to USC, and the Washington State Cougars, in their losses to eventual division champions Arizona and Oregon and hated rivals Washington in the Apple Cup.

When it came to conference rivalry games played at home, the advantage was nearly split, at 4–3[7] (.571) with the higher-ranked team coming out on top in each case.

No Pac-12 team achieved a perfect record in their home stadium this year; the teams with the best home records were the division champions Arizona and Oregon, both going 6–1 (.857), followed by Arizona State and USC both of whom also suffered just one loss but playing one less overall game, posting records of 5–1 (.833). The single loss suffered at home by Arizona was delivered by USC; Oregon's sole defeat came from Arizona, as did the single home defeat of Arizona State, who was the only team to beat USC in the LA Coliseum.

California and Oregon faced off in a game at the newly built Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, home of the San Francisco 49ers as well as the new home of the Pac-12 Football Championship Game at least until the 2016 season.[8] The game was officially considered a home game for Cal because of the stadium's proximity to the Golden Bears' home base at Berkeley,[9] however due to the proximity to the Ducks's home of Eugene[10] and the large number of Oregon alumni who live in the Bay Area, the stadium was seen as a neutral location.[11]

Washington State continued their practice of hosting a "home game" at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, home of the Seattle Seahawks, in order to attract audiences that would exceed the capacity of Martin Stadium. Unlike the match-up between Oregon and California, CenturyLink Field provided a home-field environment that helped the Cougars establish and maintain an early lead over Rutgers, however, going into the fourth quarter leading 31–24, the Scarlet Knights rallied in the fourth quarter by scoring 17 points to Washington State's 7, going on to win the game 41–38.[12]

As for non-conference opponents in Pac-12 arenas, several marque programs were defeated including the defending Big Ten and Rose Bowl champions, Michigan State, who lost to the Ducks in Autzen Stadium, along with two wins over Notre Dame, who were defeated in Sun Devil Stadium and the LA Coliseum. All in all, the Pac-12 went 23–2 (.920) in non-conference home match ups, with the sole losses coming from Rutgers[13] and BYU.[14]

The conference participated in two non-conference neutral site games and split their record at 1–1 (.500). UCLA defeated Texas at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, in the Advocare Cowboys Showdown. AT&T Stadium is located in Arlington, Texas, a three-hour drive from the Longhorns campus in Austin. The other neutral-site game was the Rocky Mountain Showdown played at Mile High Stadium, home of the Denver Broncos, in Denver, Colorado[15] in which Colorado lost to their in-state rivals Colorado State.

TeamStadiumCapacityGame 1Game 2Game 3Game 4Game 5Game 6Game 7TotalAverage% of capacity
ArizonaArizona Stadium56,02950,10348,50445,59556,754†50,17747,75756,083354,97350,71090.51%
Arizona StateSun Devil Stadium67,70452,13360,87659,01253,75465,870†51,428—343,07357,17984.45%
CaliforniaCalifornia Memorial Stadium62,46748,14539,82144,44949,25755,57556,483†47,856286,01147,66976.31%
ColoradoFolsom Field53,61338,54739,478†36,41537,44235,63339,155—226,67037,77870.46%
OregonAutzen Stadium54,00057,38859,456†56,53356,03257,85858,97455,898402,13957,448106.39%
Oregon StateReser Stadium45,67440,30941,33940,47942,47944,37740,52545,722†295,23042,17692.34%
StanfordStanford Stadium50,42449,50950,814†49,68044,13548,40144,635—287,17447,86294.92%
UCLARose Bowl80,81672,09874,32980,13980,24682,431†70,658—459,90176,65094.84%
USCLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum93,60776,03774,52170,11574,75664,61579,586†—439,63073,27278.28%
UtahRice-Eccles Stadium45,80745,92545,86445,85947,619†47,52845,824—278,61946,437101.37%
WashingtonHusky Stadium70,13862,86162,32564,60866,51264,66665,547†65,036451,55564, 50891.97%
Washington StateMartin Stadium32,74030,92730,87432,952†30,02032,952†25,01232,952†184,76230,79494.06%

Game played at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, CA.
Game played at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, WA.
Bold – Exceed capacity
†Season high

Notes

Notes and References

  1. Web site: AFCA Announces 2012 FBS Coaches' All-America Team . American Football Coaches Association . December 5, 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111207035843/http://www.afca.com/article/article.php?id=1201 . December 7, 2011 .
  2. All-Pac-12 Conference Football Team . https://web.archive.org/web/20131202233903/http://www.scribd.com/doc/114526908/Pac-12-All-Confer-Ece . December 2, 2013 . live . Pac-12 Conference . November 26, 2012 .
  3. https://pac-12.com/news/2013/11/26/pac-12-names-football-all-academic-teams.aspx Pac-12 names football all-academic teams
  4. The only other Pac-12 team with a stadium that exceeds 90,000 capacity
  5. Even if one counts the attendance at the CenturyLink game in total attendance, WSU still comes in last.
  6. The Ducks lead the Pac-10 conference in sellout percentage dating back to the 1998 season, however as Colorado and Utah were not members of the conference during those years, only Pac-12 seasons are referenced
  7. 1 - #11 Arizona over #13 Arizona State; 2 - #9 Oregon over Washington; 3 - #3 Oregon over Oregon State; 4 - Stanford over Cal; 5 - #9 UCLA over #19 USC; 6 - Utah over Colorado and 7 - Washington over Washington State
  8. Web site: Pac-12 announces deal to host Football Championship Game at Levi's Stadium. Pac-12 Conference. May 15, 2014. November 29, 2014.
  9. 40 miles
  10. 466 miles, the closest Pac-12 opponent outside of the Pacific Northwest
  11. Web site: Marcus Mariota throws 5 TDs as Oregon trumps Cal in 100-point affair. ESPN. October 24, 2014. November 29, 2014.
  12. Web site: Rutgers rallies in 4th to beat Cougars 41-38 . ESPN . August 28, 2014 . November 29, 2014.
  13. Defeated Washington State at CenturyLink Field
  14. Defeated California at California Memorial Stadium
  15. Less than one hour from either campus
  16. Gary Klein, USC's Pat Haden fined $25,000 for 'inappropriate' sideline conduct, Los Angeles Times, September 8, 2014
  17. Scott Wolf, Hotel damaged by USC day of Arizona State game, Los Angeles Daily News, October 14, 2014
  18. Kyle Bonagura, Connor Halliday sets passing record, ESPN.com, October 5, 2014

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