By
Maxx Wolfson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
LOS ANGELES - Three years ago, the UA football team was picked by the media as the favorite to win the Pacific 10 Conference at the league's annual media day. Now, the Wildcats are predicted to finish next-to-last in the conference.
The Wildcats were tabbed with a No. 9 ranking on Wednesday, only one spot ahead of cellar-dwelling Washington State.
New UA head coach John Mackovic doesn't seemed concerned with the low ranking.
"My reaction to be picked there so low is, 'Been there, done that,'" he said. "Our players believe we are better than what some other people are saying about us. And that is really the key point for us."
Brandon Nash, the Wildcats' player representative at media day, said he is not one to look into preseason polls.
"I really don't read that stuff," Nash said. "The media doesn't really know because they haven't been watching us work out all spring. We will see the results when they come out in the end of the season. That's all that matters."
Oregon was given the most No. 1 votes and was named the favorite in the conference. No. 2 Oregon State and No.3 UCLA also received some No. 1 votes.
The media predicted that the three teams with a new head coach - Mackovic, Southern Cal's Pete Carroll and Arizona State's Dirk Koetter - would all struggle in their first season at the helm.
USC was picked to finish No. 6 while the Sun Devils were picked to finish No. 7.
"We are going to welcome the challenges that we face," said Koetter, who previously coached at Boise State. "The good thing is that we're still undefeated, but I know that isn't going to last long."
Like ASU, the Wildcats will have to overcome the problems that come with a transition of offensive styles.
Last season, the Wildcats finished last in the conference with 308.3 yards per game of total offense. Only time will tell if the UA can effectively run Mackovic's high-powered, pass-oriented scheme with players that were recruited for former head coach Dick Tomey's run-heavy offensive sets.
To make matters worse, UA will enter the season with virtually no experience at the quarterback position for the first time in a decade.
Mackovic has already stated that junior Jason Johnson will likely be the starting quarterback on August 30 when the Wildcats will travel to play San Diego State at Qualcomm Stadium.
Johnson's limited experience still puts him ahead of the six other quarterbacks competing for the starting job. Johnson is the only quarterback with gameday experience, but his career statistics are limited to just four pass attempts.
"Jason needs to get some game reps under his belt," Mackovic said. "Jason needs to learn now why we do things and when we do (them) and that will evolve over the entire season."
The Wildcats' first full squad practice will begin tomorrow.
