Every Pac-12 team's biggest fear ahead of the 2023 season

While the storylines surrounding the Pac-12 indicate that it is a dumpster fire of a conference, the Pac-12 quietly had one of its most entertaining seasons in a decade in 2022.

The expectation is that the 2023 season will be even more action packed with around six teams having Pac-12 Championship aspirations, and five of those being viewed as having a chance to make the College Football Playoff. The conference likely has never been as deep as it is at the quarterback position with Caleb Williams, Cam Rising, Michael Penix Jr, and Bo Nix headlining the elite group, and names like D.J. Uiagalelei and Shedeur Sanders looking to make immediate impacts as transfers.

The 2023 season has so many great storylines to look out for in the Pac-12 with the aforementioned quarterback play, the arrival of Deion Sanders, and of course it being USC and UCLA's final hoorah before they depart for the Big Ten. However, even with all of the things to be excited about, we all know that every team and fan base has one underlying concern about the upcoming season.

Whether it be the quarterback situation, a defense not holding up, or figuring out a way to adjust without having a crucial member of last year's team I broke down what every Pac-12 team's biggest fear is ahead of the 2023 season.

Stanford

Fear: New faces not being ready

Stanford could have a ton of fears really, but the one that stands out and in a way touches on them all is the readiness of the new starters. The Cardinal are returning just six starters total, and are returning the least amount of production in the entire Power 5. Practically every position will have someone starting who has not played meaningful college snaps, and if they don't take advantage of this spring and fall camp it could get pretty rough for Troy Taylor in year one/

Cal

Fear: The offense coming up short again

Cal has had similar issues for what feels like the entirety of the Justin Wilcox tenure. For the most part they have a stout defense, but the offense has been lackluster at best. They brought back Jake Spavital who helped Davis Webb shatter a ton of program records, and this time he will look to help Sam Jackson V take that next step while also showcasing elite running back Jadyn Ott. If the offense is unable to be at least somewhat formidable, this could mark the end of the Wilcox era.

Colorado

Fear: The strength of schedule

Everyone is all in on Coach Prime and what he brings to the table. Colorado is receiving buzz that is typically reserved for blue bloods, but they have the toughest schedule in the Pac-12 and likely one of the hardest ones in the country. There is a concern that they do not have enough depth yet to handle the top teams in the Pac-12.

Arizona

Fear: Jayden de Laura's critical mistakes

Arizona is a program on the rise in the Pac-12, and while there are some concerns on the defensive side of the ball, I truly think that Jayden de Laura is good enough to win them games. He does however have a tendency to force things when it's not necessary. If he can avoid making mistakes that take them out of games, Arizona may shock some teams in 2023.

Arizona State

Fear: Their November stretch

Arizona State is a fringe bowl team in 2023, but even despite having eight home games their November slate is not something to overlook. They have to travel to Utah and UCLA in consecutive weeks before hosting Oregon who will likely be contending for the Pac-12 Championship, and of course their rival Arizona. If they haven't reached bowl eligibility by this point it is difficult to see them scrape together two wins in the final month of the season. Kenny Dillingham has his work cut out for him.

Washington State

Fear: Their inability to Cam Ward upright

Cam Ward showed flashes of magic in eluding defenders, but even his most magical moments came because of the poor offensive line play. He was sacked 46 times last season, which is nearly as many as his two years at Incarnate Word combined. If the Cougars want to build off of the success they had at times last season, Ward cannot be getting sacked nearly four times a game.

UCLA

Fear: Replacing Dorian Thompson-Robinson

Chip Kelly finally hit pay-dirt at UCLA this past season as the Bruins head coach, but he also lost one of the best players in program history at quarterback. He did bring in Kent State transfer Colin Schlee and five-star Dante Moore, but there are some big shoes to fill down in Pasadena.

Oregon

Fear: Bo Nix's potential without Kenny Dillingham

While Bo Nix looked like one of the best quarterbacks in the country last season, he also did so with Kenny Dillingham calling the plays and coaching him. This isn't to diminish the major strides that Nix took, but he has four years of college football under his belt, two with Dillingham calling the plays and two without. His two seasons with Dillingham, he combined for over 6,100 yards and 45 touchdown passes, and completed about 65% of his passes. Without him, and granted his junior year he was playing improved football but went down with an injury after 10 games, he threw for just 4,700 yards, 23 touchdowns, and completed just 60% of his passes. This is not to say all his success is credited to the new Arizona State coach, but it is something to look out for in 2023.

Oregon State

Fear: The DJ Uiagalelei experiment doesn't work out

The belief around Oregon State is that they are a quarterback away from winning the Pac-12, and maybe even making the playoff. They landed a major transfer in former five-star DJ Uiagalelei, who had great moments at Clemson but also had some pretty rough ones. If Jonathan Smith can help Uiagalelei become the quarterback that everyone was expecting him to be, this team can achieve anything they set out for, but if he sputters like he did at Clemson the Beavers will fall short of their goals.

USC

Fear: An unimproved defense

Lincoln Riley and stout defenses are not two things that go hand in hand. In fact, that has long been the Achilles hill to his teams, as there can be arguments made that even with average defenses he would have multiple championships under his belt by now. However, that is not the case as his defenses have constantly been holding back the team. His first year at USC was no exception, as in each of the three losses the team blew double digit leads and were eventually exposed by the opposing team's offense. This feels like make or break for Alex Grinch at USC, and if the defense struggles again he may be out of a job.

Washington

Fear: Their own secondary holding up

Last season the secondary was the weakest unit on the team, and often blamed for their shortcomings. The Huskies return one of the best quarterbacks in college football, as well as all his pass catchers from a year ago. The assumption is that they will be annihilating opposing secondaries, but how will the secondary in purple who gave up over 12 yards per completion and over 250-yards passing per game fair?

Utah

Fear: Detrimental early losses

Utah was viewed as a legitimate playoff team last season, but by Week 6 had two losses. They did end up winning the conference, but they left wins on the table. If they want to finally get over the hump and make the playoff, they cannot drop games early in the season. Especially not games that they really have no business losing. On paper they were the better team than all three of the teams they lost two, but they were just unable to get the job done.