Pacific Soundbites: UCLA football remains a mystery

Listen to the entirety of the SB Nation at Pac-12 Media Day 2013 podcast!

Avinash Kunnath, Pacific Takes: There are a lot of questions going into Pac-12 Media Day about the health of certain programs and how Oregon will deal with sanctions and how Stanford will deal with bringing everyone back but still no one believes they'll win more than nine games. Everyone picks Oregon to win the Pac-12 again.

What are your guys's thoughts on that? Who do you think will be the team you pick to win the Pac-12 at this moment.

Anthony Cassino, UW Dawg Pound: Right now I would say Oregon. I'm not real high on Stanford because when you look at what they did last season, they weren't really dominant. They had eight games decided by a touchdown or less. I think they're going to struggle to score and I think Oregon is going to keep right on going.

AK: David do you have any thoughts on ... your division, the Pac-12 South? Who do you think is going to stand out there?

David Gerhardt, Ralphie Report: I think the South is still a little bit behind the North for now. Not until Colorado gets back! Sorry, that's totally unnecessary and irrelevant.

Honestly, UCLA I think is going to have another really, really good season. What they showed last year is clear that they were just getting started. Young talent in a lot of places. I think they're going to do better than people think they are. I don't know if the South is going to actually push the North, but if anyone's going to do it, it's going to be them.

AK: Sean, if you could pick anyone who could challenge Oregon and Stanford, who would be the team you would pick?

Sean Fitzhugh, California Golden Blogs: To challenge them? I would probably have to go towards UCLA. In terms of actually picking the team that would face them in the championship game, I'd probably lean more towards ASU. In part because UCLA has that really tough schedule. They've got five games on the road, they've got to play Oregon and Stanford. USC and ASU, they both have five home games in the conference. Each only have to face one of the Oregons and Stanford.

And not so high on USC right now, so I feel like ASU would probably be in the position to challenge Oregon and Stanford.

AK: Jack, when you look ... [at] all these teams in the Pac-12. Is there any team that you feel is going to disappoint this year? Any team that you feel isn't going to meet expectations, based on what you've seen from the spring practices and what you've seen today at Media Day?

Jack Follman, Pacific Takes: It's tough because one doesn't really jump out at me. If there would be one I would be forced to pick, I might say UCLA just because I think that they have more question marks than people are remembering...

AK: Hearing a lot of UCLA in this interview. Going to win the Pac-12, going to lose eight games...

Ben Haber, House of Sparky: All over the board.

JF: Honestly, I can't think of anyone who would particularly disappoint. But I'd have to say UCLA because I think people are forgetting how bad their offensive line was last year, and the fact that they don't really have any receivers coming back other than like one guy, and no running back.