Kalpana Kalpana (Editor)

2011 Pac 12 Conference football season

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Sport
  
American football

North runners-up
  
Washington Huskies

Number of teams
  
12

League
  
NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision)

Duration
  
September 2011 through January 2012

North champions
  
Oregon Ducks Stanford 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

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

  • David Shaw took over as head coach of the Stanford Cardinal after Jim Harbaugh was hired as head coach of the NFL's San Francisco 49ers.
  • Mike Stoops was fired as head coach of the Arizona Wildcats on October 10 after starting the season 1–5 (their sole victory was against FCS Northern Arizona). Including the previous season, the Wildcats under Stoops had lost 10 consecutive games against FBS opponents, with their last victory over a FBS team taking place nearly a year earlier on October 30, 2010 against UCLA. They had then lost their final four games and the Alamo Bowl. Defensive Coordinator Tim Kish was named interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Former Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez was named the new head coach on November 22.
  • Rick Neuheisel was fired as head coach of the UCLA Bruins on November 28, but coached his final game in the inaugural Pac-12 Championship Game on December 2. Offensive coordinator Mike Johnson will coach the Bruins in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. On December 10, 2011, Jim L. Mora was named new head coach of the Bruins.
  • Arizona State announced on November 28 that Dennis Erickson will not return the following year as head coach, but will coach the Sun Devils in their bowl game. Former Pittsburgh head coach Todd Graham was announced as Erickson's successor on December 14.
  • Paul Wulff was fired as the head coach of the Washington State Cougars on November 29. He was succeeded by former Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach on November 30.

    • 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

  • Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford

    • Maxwell Award

  • Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford

    • Walter Camp Player of the Year Award

  • Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford

    • All-Americans

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

  • Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford

    • AFCA Coaches' All-Americans First Team:

  • OL David DeCastro, Stanford
  • QB Andrew Luck, Stanford
  • AP LaMichael James, Oregon

    • All-Pac-12 teams

  • Offensive Player of the Year: Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford
  • Pat Tillman Defensive Player of the Year: Mychal Kendricks, LB, California
  • Co-Offensive Freshman of the Year: Marqise Lee, WR, USC and De'Anthony Thomas, RB, Oregon
  • Defensive Freshman of the Year: Dion Bailey, LB, USC
  • Coach of the Year: David Shaw, Stanford

    • First Team:

    ST=special teams player (not a kicker or returner)

    All-Academic

    First team

    References

    2011 Pac-12 Conference football season Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA