Pac-12 2016 football picks: USC in South, Washington in North

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

With spring football practice having concluded in the Pac-12, I'm posting my 2016 picks for the league.  South 1 – USC: Trojans will be tested Sept. 23 at Utah 2 – Utah: Utes went 4-0 vs. North in 2015 3 – UCLA: Loss of five juniors in NFL draft has to hurt 4 – Arizona State: Sun Devils gave up too many plays last year 5 – Arizona: Will four-game winning streak over Utah end in October? 6 – Colorado: Someday, Buffaloes will climb into South's top five North 1 – Washington: Jake Browning is No. 2 QB in state – and conference  2 – Stanford: Sept. 17 conference opener vs. USC is big game 3 – Oregon: Relying on another Big Sky transfer to become starting QB 4 – Washington State: Logan's Luke Falk primed for another big season 5 – California: One winning season in Goff era; when will next one come? 6 – Oregon State: Long way to go in Gary Andersen's rebuilding job – Kurt Kragthorpe