Pacific Takes 2016 Pac-12 football awards: Jake Browning Player of the Year and Mike MacIntyre Coach of the Year

Pac-12 Player of the Year - Jake Browning So. QB Washington

Browning is the point guard for the Huskies in Chris Petersen’s system and he was Magic Johnson for them this year. He had more than 40 touchdowns and led an offense that somehow the conference’s most-explosive and most-efficient. His evolution into a Heisman contender was a big part of why Washington won 11 games in the regular season. 2nd John Ross Jr. WR Washington 3rd Christian McCaffrey Jr. RB Stanford

Defensive Player of the Year - Sidney Jones Jr. CB Washington

This would have likely been Washington linebacker Azeem Victor had he sadly not missed the last 2.5 games of the season with an injury. Jones deserves this though as he simply shut down half of the field for most of the season as offenses didn’t even really try to throw against him. 2nd Budda Baker Jr. S Washington 3rd. Chidobe Awuzie Sr. CB Colorado

Special Teams Player of the Year - Adoree’ Jackson Jr. R USC

Jackson put together one of the best return seasons in Pac-12 history. Why did anyone even kick to him? 2nd Dante Pettis Jr. R Washington 3rd Zane Gonzalez Sr. K Arizona State

Coach of the Year - Mike MacIntyre Colorado

When you beat out what Chris Petersen did this year for this award, you really deserve it. Years of development and coaching paid off for MacIntyre this year as he led a team no one gave a shot at winning the South, to an outright South crown and a Top 10 regular season finish. 2nd Chris Petersen Washington 3rd Clay Helton USC

Coordinator of the Year - Jim Leavitt DC Colorado

For those that find the name familiar, yes, the guy who turned South Florida into a real program turned Colorado’s defense into one of the best in the nation. 2nd Pete Kwiatkowski DC Washington 3rd Jonathan Smith OC Washington

Freshman of the Year - Sam Darnold QB USC

No debate here. The next Orange County great at center for the Trojans was the main reason they went from early-season disaster to arguably the scariest team outside of Alabama by the end of the season. 2nd Troy Dye LB Oregon 3rd Demetrius Robertson WR Cal

Defensive Freshman of the Year - Troy Dye LB Oregon

I thought Dye got snubbed by the Pac-12. He was at the very top of the conference in tackles, tackles for-loss and sacks while carrying a disaster of an Oregon defense. 2nd Taylor Rapp S Washington 3rd Xavier Crawford CB Oregon State

Transfer of the Year - Davis Webb Sr. QB Cal

Like him or not, Webb probably saved Cal for a 0-2-win season. He put up numbers and win totals comparable to Jared Goff in the Bear Raid. Enough said. 2nd Garrett Bolles Jr. T Utah 3rd Stevie Tu’ikolovatu Sr. DT USC 3rd.

Most-Improved Player of the Year - Pac-12 officials

Yes, they still had their struggles and all officials do, but I’m giving it up for Pac-12 refs not having the disaster of years they had the past two seasons. 2nd John Ross Jr. WR Washington 3rd. Takkarist McKinley Sr. DE UCLA

Play of the Year - Dante Pettis Utah punt return

We don’t need to talk about the potential missed calls on this one anymore. Pettis taking a punt back to the house in the best Pac-12 game of the year was the most-important play of the year in the conference and a hell of a play by him either way. 2nd That zig-zag TD by John Ross against Cal 3rd Ahkello Witherspoon’s game-sealing interception against Oregon

Game of the Year - Washington at Utah

One of those perfect games. Both offensives played well, but both defenses played well at the same time. Everything was at stake. The home crowd was electric. The score flip-flopped in the fourth quarter. The deciding touchdown was an amazing return. It went down to the final play. 2nd Utah at Colorado 3rd Colorado at Oregon

Surprise of the Year - Colorado wins the South

I can’t imagine even the most homer Buff fans saw this one coming. The Buffs won the South outright and can win the friggin whole Pac-12 tomorrow night. 2nd Oregon’s collapse 3rd UCLA’s collapse

Disappointment of the Year - Josh Rosen’s injury and UCLA’s demise

This was supposed to be the year we watched Rosen turn into a Heisman megastar. Instead, he got hurt (and wasn’t exactly killing it before he got hurt) and UCLA turned into one of the worst, and most-boring teams in the conference. 2nd Oregon falling apart 3rd USC’s start