The 2019 Pac-12 Media Day in Hollywood, California might not have been the big-tent circus-like event that some other prominent conferences put together, but I left with plenty of news, notes and observations that I thought were worthy of sharing. Here are my takeaways:

In what has been a year full of leaks and cringeworthy news stories about the inner workings and financial matters of the Pac-12 conference, you might have expected the highly compensated commissioner to spend some time in his opening remarks addressing some of those things.

He did not.

Instead, Scott made sure to simply say that "...we have to acknowledge many of the criticisms the conference has received...," and even then, within the context that those comments were made, it's entirely possible he was solely referring to the performance of the football teams on the playing field, and not to the plethora of other issues that have caused both media and fans to be critical toward Scott's leadership, as well as the overall direction of the conference.

Larry Scott did reveal some important and interesting bits of information on Wednesday morning, the first of which is that the conference championship game, what he referred to as the Pac-12's "crown jewel," would be played in Santa Clara this season, but will be moving to Las Vegas for the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Larry Scott also brought up the topic of the recently released Sibson report, an independent review of the Pac-12's officiating. Scott credited Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson, who chaired a subcommittee that helped oversee and guide the review. Scott said that Sibson concluded that the Pac-12 officiating practices are "fundamentally sound and predominantly consistent with industry best practices," however, they did recommend some major changes, all of which the Pac-12 plans on adopting. Those changes are as follows:

1) The head of officiating to report directly to the Commissioner rather than the football administrator

2) Adoption of a new replay manual codifying processes and procedures that will eliminate the potential for an incident like the one in last year’s Washington State v. USC game reoccurring

3) Enhancements to training programs for officials, and more consistency in grading and training from the officiating supervisors

4) A new communications protocol with more transparency and public comment around significant calls or errors that either impact player safety or the result of the game

A topic that Larry Scott may have been surprised to have to address came from me, when I asked if the Pac-12 had any strategy surrounding the unique position of having 75% of its schools residing in states where the use of recreational marijuana was legal. Scott replied that the conference does not have a unified position on the matter, and said they'd defer to the individual universities.

Another hot button issue came during the question and answer session, in the form of asking about California's current legislative role in potentially allowing for student athletes to be compensated for their likeness. Scott said the conference was "clearly opposed" to any form of pay for play, but that he was "open to the conversation" being had be the NCAA surrounding issues of expanded compensation in forms that are "tethered to education."

One final issue that may be of interest to fans is having nine conference games, as opposed to eight, as some other major conferences have. Scott said that the schools prefer nine, regardless of the comparative imbalance. He was later contradicted by at least one head coach in Stanford's David Shaw, who said that either number is fine, so long as there's balance.

Oregon State brought as one of their team representatives, RB Jermar Jefferson, who Arizona State fans might remember as the guy who helped Eno Benjamin break the school's single game rushing record by having such a huge game himself that the Sun Devils had to keep scoring to avoid an upset. Jefferson was voted as a second-teamer in the Pac-12's all-new all-conference team. Despite the individual honor, Oregon State was picked to finish last in the conference.

I spoke with Jefferson after his session with the media, and he credited the Arizona State game as giving him the confidence to be an elite running back in the conference, and added that he knows the Oregon State offense won't be able to surprise anyone the way they did when scoring 31+ points on five separate occasions last year.

Head Coach Jonathan Smith said repeatedly in his media availability that the Beavers' biggest opportunity to take a step forward this year will be through an improved run defense, and says the team has "tweaked schemes" to help make that happen.

Arizona State plays at Oregon State on November 16th.

The University of California was picked 5th in Pac-12 North, and 10th overall in the conference in the preseason poll. In all likelihood, that has to do with questions at both QB and RB, as the Golden Bears' defense has vastly improved- especially the defensive backfield. I asked CB Camryn Bynum how the defensive back unit has managed to go from statistical bottom-dweller to arguably the best unit in the conference in just a few years:

Head Coach Justin Wilcox might not exude personality, but he still manages to land recruits. This past year, he won a hotly contested battle with Arizona State for 2020 Desert Vista DL Brett Johnson, and took quite a few other prospects from the state of Arizona as well. Here's what he had to say about recruiting the desert:

Arizona State will face Cal this season in Berkeley on a weeknight, September 27th. May the powers that be somehow remember in the not-too-distant future realize that Saturdays are for college football.

Oregon had had unprecedented success in recruiting under second year head coach Mario Cristobal, and they returned Justin Herbert at QB despite many thinking he'd have been an early round selection in the 2019 NFL Draft. The Pac-12 Media voted Oregon atop the North Division by the slimmest of margins, and it's very possible that with Stanford having turned over so much talent on offense and Washington breaking in a new quarterback, this preseason prediction has a possibility of coming true.

In order to conquer the conference, Oregon is going to need to beat Arizona State in Tempe, something they narrowly did in Autzen last season. I asked linebacker Troy Dye about the intensity of that 2018 game:

I also spoke with Justin Herbert, who may be gearing up for his second career matchup with Dillon Sterling-Cole, or may be facing a true freshman, as he once was, when Oregon faces ASU. I asked him about the loudest stadiums he's played in, and Arizona State wasn't among those mentioned, but after the two teams meet up on November 23rd, he'll be able to add Sun Devil Stadium ot the list.

Stanford was supposed to be led by Heisman hopeful Bryce Love last year, but in the end, the Cardinal had to hoist their fate on the strong arm of QB KJ Costello, who carried them to four straight wins to end the season. I asked Costello what it takes to keep the team focused on the road to close out tight twins like the ones they had at Arizona State last year:

Head Coach David Shaw said of Costello that "in spurts, (Costello) looked as good as anyone in America," The Sun Devils would be extremely fortunate to line up against Costello and the Cardinal this year, considering the only way that would be possible is if they meet in the Pac-12 championship.

Washington State was voted fourth in the Pac-12 preseason media poll, and Cougars' coach Mike Leach made pointed out that Wazzu has as many or more wins over the last three years as any other school in the conference. Washington State visits Arizona State on October 12th, and the Sun Devils are going to have to worry about more than a potent offense. Linebacker Jahad Woods talked to me about being part of a defense that has begun to steal some spotlight back from the air raid offense:

Washington State's quarterback battle seems settled to the outside viewer who expects Eastern Washington transfer Gage Gubrud to pick up where Gardner Minshew left off, but don't be surprised if Arizona State ends up getting a look at a former recruiting target of theirs in Queen Creek native Gunner Cruz, who Mike Leach says has been holding his own:

Despite not being one of Arizona State's 2019 opponents, one of the most interesting things about Pac-12 media day was Washington's choice to bring Myles Bryant and Nick Harris, two lightly recruited Southern California natives, who have grown into important cornerstones for the Huskies. It lends credence to the theory that the 2018 Pac-12 champion is embracing taking on the 2019 season with a blue-collar approach despite having a roster filled with star talent. Washington will likely be led by former local legend Jacob Eason, who left the Pacific Northwest to play for Georgia before being supplanted by Jake Fromm and transferring back home. It's the addition of Eason as a transfer that led to an enormous amount of backlash to this DevilsDigest tweet:

Chip Kelly was supposed to be the savior for UCLA football, but the Bruins struggled mightily in 2018. While they did beat USC, and a Khalil Tate-free Arizona, the rest of the year was as bumpy as it can get. The diamond in the rough for UCLA was running back Joshua Kelly, who ran for 1,243 yards and 12 touchdowns. When I asked Joshua Kelly what he thought the recipe for a bounceback year was, he pointed to the other Pac-12 media day attendee in the UCLA contingent, linebacker Krys Barnes. I asked Barnes what he thought of being painted as the anchor and leader of the team:

ASU will make a trip to face UCLA on October 26th, their first trip to Pasadena since the 2017 loss that is widely believed to be the game that sealed Todd Graham's fate as a future "former" Sun Devils head coach. Perhaps the game will earn one of the new proposed 9am kickoff slots that the Pac-12 is in talks with FOX about trying out, as Chip Kelly was the one coach who seemed to truly embrace the idea, saying "I'd kick off at 6am if they'd let me."

The lone new addition to the Pac-12 coaching ranks was Colorado's Mel Tucker. The Buffaloes replaced Mike MacIntyre after their win against Arizona State to move to 5-0 ended up being their final win of the 2018 season. Mel Tucker comes over from an elite winning tradition at University of Georgia, and gave me his impressions of star WR Laviska Shenault:

Speaking of Laviska Shenault- there's probably no one in the conference with more of a chance to collect some serious postseason awards, but in order to do that, he'll have to stay healthy, as well as re-establish himself against the Sun Devils' Chase Lucas, who has been chomping at the bit for another chance to prove himself after Shenault repeatedly beat him off the line last year. That game goes down in Tempe on September 21st. I spoke with Shenault on a variety of topics, you can see his answers below:

USC is either going to be searching for a new head coach in the middle of the season, or they're going to be back on top at the end of the season. There's no way around it, the Trojans are on the brink, but it could just as easily be the brink of destruction as it is the brink of greatness. The talent is there for head coach Clay Helton, especially at the wide receiver position. I asked Trojans' WR Michael Pittman Jr. what it was like to be in a position room with so many highly regarded players:

While many believe that the Trojans rough 2018 season had to do with issues of leadership, it's easy to forget just how many injuries USC had on the defensive side of the football. I spoke with defensive lineman Christian Rector about how all the injuries affected the team's psyche:

Arizona State had an emphatic win in Los Angeles last year, and the Trojans will be seeking their revenge in Sun Devil Stadium on November 9th.

It's probably a hard pill to swallow for Arizona State fans that the team they blew the doors off of in 2018, but who ultimately survived to represent the south in the conference championship, enters 2019 as not only the favorite to repeat in the south, but to win the conference outright. While Utah fans have had some fun online stoking the rivalry, both RB Zack Moss and DE Bradlee Anae told me that they'll be going about their preparations for the for the October 19th rematch in a much quieter fashion. I briefly spoke to both athletes, as well as head coach Kyle Whittingham. You can view those exchanges below:

There's not a whole lot of belief in the Arizona Wildcats heading into the 2019 season, despite bringing back a healthy Khalil Tate, and returning Colin Schooler on defense. The Pac-12 media picked the Wildcats to finish 9th overall, and 5th in the Pac-12 south. I spoke with Wildcats head coach Kevin Sumlin about who he feels is emerging at the wide receiver position, as well as whether he thinks Khalil Tate's demise as a football player is potentially as oversold as Tate himself was heading into last year:

Khalil Tate was in attendance for media day for the second year in a row, but this time he faced a much more sparse media scrum. I asked both he and RB JJ Taylor what it will take to make sure they don't surrender big leads to their Territorial Cup rival on November 30th, as they have in the previous two seasons.

Arizona State was given a public rebuke at last year's Pac-12 media day, being voted dead last in the wake of hiring Herm Edwards as head coach. After victories over UCLA, USC, Arizona and Utah in last year's intradivisional play, the media's belief that the Edwards' hire was going to be a disaster seems to have subsided a bit. The Sun Devils were tied for third in this year's poll, and in true Herm Edwards fashion, he shrugged the prediction off as he did last season.

The Sun Devils return most of the offense outside of N'Keal Harry and Manny Wilkins, so whoever gets the keys to drive this car definitely isn't getting a jalopy. I asked Herm Edwards what he's seen from the quarterbacks entrenched in the starter battle:

Eno Benjamin brought a few interesting quotes to the table, including repeatedly stating that last year's Pac-12 media poll may not have gotten under the skin of Herm Edwards, but it did create a sense of responsibility in the players to go out and prove that ASU didn't make the wrong decision when they made the hire. He also mentioned that there's going to still be a fullback in play in Rob Likens' offense despite the departure of Nick Ralston, but we'll have to wait to find out who it is:

Last, I spoke with ASU's returning starting center, and potentially next year's most sought after NFL prospect on the Sun Devil roster, Cohl Cabral. He talked about the offensive line having to work on their collective craft, as well as act as craftsmen in order to develop the younger more inexperienced players on the roster.

While Arizona State faces a unique battle in its attempt to secure the Pac-12 South crown, it's certainly feasible that a productive quarterback could lead the Sun Devils to a repeat of last year's successful in-conference run. We'll find out which quarterback will be shouldering that burden once the Sun Devils begin out-of-conference play on August 29th, against Kent State.