Pac-12 will be dominated by Oregon and Stanford

The Pac-12 has not produced as a conference since it invited two new teams to join it back in 2011.

At best, the teams seemed ordinary overall including the two newest members Colorado and Utah who are a dismal 17-33 straight up and 18-32 against the spread in their two Pac-12 seasons.

Overall, the conference is 37-49 ATS in the past two seasons against non-conference opponents.

A great example of disappointment was at USC, where the Trojans were the pre-season No. 1 team in the nation in 2012 and ended their season at 7-6. Even odds makers were behind the Trojans to start the season.

However, the Trojans turned into one of the worst teams in the nation against the betting line, as they ended the season 3-10 ATS. USC also lost three of their games SU when they were picked as 7-point favorites.

Since the conference has been restructured, only a third of the teams in the conference have a winning record against the spread. Two of those teams, Oregon and Stanford are obvious.

Stanford is the country’s best with a record of 20-7 ATS, while Oregon is 15-10-2. The other two to make up a third of the conference are Washington and Washington State, with Washington at 15-11 ATS and State at 12-11-1 ATS.

Fast forward to present day, with just over two weeks to go before the season starts and it appears the Pac-12 might have both depth and uncertainty.

Two of the conference teams – Stanford and Oregon – are on every sportsbooks short list of contenders for the national title. As a dark horse, last season’s disappointment USC is right there as well.

Teams like Arizona State, Arizona, Oregon State, Washington and UCLA all feel they will be better as they all surpassed their win totals last year.

On average, each team in the Pac-12 has 15 starters returning to the fold. The odds of winning the Pac-12 reflect the possible competitiveness in the conference, with eight teams having 20 to 1 odds or less to start the season.

No other conference in the nation has over six teams that are 20 to 1 or less as possible conference champions.

Many gamblers are particularly positive on Arizona State under Todd Graham their second year coach. Five of six movements on lines thus far in Vegas have gone in favor of the Sun Devils.

The Sun Devils have a huge game on September 14 against non-conference foe Wisconsin, which started out as a pick ém and now has the Sun Devils as a 3-point favorite.

Currently they are getting just a field goal in their matchup with Notre Dame, as opposed to Bovada’s opening line of 4 points.

On the flip side, Oregon is favored in every one of its 11 games that have been posted, by a 22.5-point average.

Odds makers however are split over the Ducks and the Cardinal, with Oregon receiving just four more votes for first place than Stanford.

All this could chance and likely will over the next two weeks before the start of the season and especially over the next four months during the regular season, before the BCS bowl games.