Sport American football | Number of teams 12 | |
League NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) Duration September 2011through January 2012 North champions Oregon DucksStanford Cardinal |
The 2011 Pac-12 Conference football season began on September 1, 2011 with Montana State at Utah and UC Davis at Arizona State. The conference's first game was played on September 10 with Utah at USC, and the final game played was the Pac-12 Championship Game on Friday, December 2. Oregon defeated UCLA to claim their third straight conference title. This is the first season for the conference as a 12-team league. In July 2011, Colorado and Utah joined the conference, at which time the league's name changed from the Pacific-10 Conference.
Contents
- Previous season
- Preseason
- Head coaches
- Bowl games
- Players of the week
- Home attendance
- Awards and honors
- All Americans
- All Pac 12 teams
- All Academic
- References
Seven teams accepted bowl bids, an improvement from four the previous season. The BCS bowls featured Oregon in the Rose Bowl against Big Ten champion Wisconsin and Stanford facing Big 12 champion Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl. The Ducks claimed their first Rose Bowl victory since 1917, while the Cardinal fell to the Cowboys in overtime. Of the non-BCS bowl participants, only Utah won their matchup against Georgia Tech in the Sun Bowl.
Four teams changed head coaches. Arizona head coach Mike Stoops was fired midseason, while UCLA's Rick Neuheisel, Arizona State's Dennis Erickson, and Washington State's Paul Wulff were let go at the end of the season.
Previous season
Oregon repeated as the conference champion, ending the regular season with a program-first twelve wins and with a #2 BCS ranking. The Ducks earned a berth in the 2011 BCS National Championship Game, which they lost to SEC Champion Auburn. Stanford repeated as the conference runner-up, ending the regular season with a program-first eleven wins (their sole loss was to Oregon) and with a #4 BCS ranking, giving them an at-large BCS berth. The Cardinal defeated ACC Champion Virginia Tech in the 2011 Orange Bowl. Arizona lost to Oklahoma State while Washington defeated Nebraska in non-BCS bowls.
Preseason
2011 Pac-12 Spring Football:
Head coaches
Bowl games
Pac-12 teams played in the following bowl games. Pac-12 teams are bolded.
Players of the week
Following each week of games, Pac-12 conference officials selected the players of the week from the conference's teams.
Home attendance
^A Due to reconstruction at California Memorial Stadium, California played their 2011 home games in AT&T Park in San Francisco, California.
^B Washington official home game played versus Washington State in Seattle, WA at CenturyLink Field (capacity 67,000) as renovation began on Husky Stadium.
^C This was an official Washington State home game played versus Oregon State at CenturyLink Field.
Awards and honors
Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award
Maxwell Award
Walter Camp Player of the Year Award
All-Americans
Academic All-America Team Member of the Year (CoSIDA)
AFCA Coaches' All-Americans First Team:
All-Pac-12 teams
First Team:
ST=special teams player (not a kicker or returner)
All-Academic
First team