UCLA QB Josh Rosen earns Pac-12 Freshman Offensive Player of the Year honor

After an outstanding first season running the UCLA offense, talented true freshman quarterback Josh Rosen of UCLA has been named the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year.

Rosen, a quarterback from Manhattan Beach, California, was the first true freshman quarterback to start a season opener for the Bruins. In his first outing, Rosen went 28-of-35 for 351 yards and three touchdowns in the 34-16 win over Virginia and was named Walter Camp National Offensive Player of the Week and Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for his performance. He finished the regular season completing 266 passes in 447 attempts (.595) for a UCLA freshman record 3,350 yards and 20 touchdowns. The rookie went on to set a Bruin record with 245 pass attempts without an interception.

Other conference award winners include Stanford running back and Heisman candidate Christian McCaffrey as the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year, Oregon defensive end DeForest Buckner as the Pat Tillman Defensive Player of the Year, and USC linebacker Cameron Smith as the Defensive Freshman of the Year.

In addition, Washington State's Mike Leach and Stanford's David Shaw, were named the Pac-12 Co-Coaches of the Year, and Arizona State quarterback Mike Bercovici was named the Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Leach, in his fourth year at the helm of the Cougar program, led WSU to a 8-4 record and a 6-3 mark in Pac-12 play after being picked to finish fifth in the Pac-12 North in the preseason. Shaw led the Cardinal to a 10-2 record and an 8-1 mark in Conference play while guiding the Cardinal to its third Pac-12 North title in four years.

McCaffrey, a sophomore from Castle Rock, Colorado, totaled 3,035 all-purpose yards, a Pac-12 single-season record, and currently leads the nation. The Doak Walker, Maxwell, and Walter Camp Player of the Year semifinalist and Hornung finalist totaled 243 yards rushing on 25 carries against UCLA, recorded nine-consecutive 100-yard rushing performances, and amassed 389 all-purpose yards against California, breaking a 25-year-old school record. McCaffrey was selected as the Conference’s Player of the Week twice this season, once on offense and once on special teams.

Buckner, a senior lineman from Waianae, Hawaii, finished the regular season for the second-straight year as the team leader in tackles for loss. In 2015, he recorded 76 tackles (6.3 avg), including 16.0 TFL for 82 yards and totaled 9.5 sacks, which ties for 13th in the nation. The Ted Hendricks Award and Polynesian College Football Player of the Year semifinalist is tied for ninth in Duck history with 35 tackles for loss.

Smith, a freshman from Roseville, California, helped the Trojans to an 8-4 overall record, a share of the Pac-12 South title and a berth to the Pac-12 Championship Game. Smith was the first USC freshman to start at middle linebacker since 1978. He started nine of 10 games and finished his rookie season with a team-leading 78 tackles as well as three interceptions before sustaining a season-ending injury. Smith became the first USC player to intercept three passes in a game since 1991, picking off three passes in the win over then-No. 3 Utah and was named Conference Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts. Smith was one of six USC true freshmen to score a touchdown this season.

Pac-12 All-Conference Teams announced

The Pac-12's coaches have made their All-Conference votes, as record-setting players at the skill positions highlight the 2015 All-Pac-12 football team.

Washington State's Luke Falk and Cal's Jared Goff share first team honors after the two quarterbacks set school marks for touchdown passes in a season – Falk with 36, Goff with 37. The two were just the eighth and ninth quarterbacks in Pac-12 history to throw for more than 4,000 yards in a season – Falk with 4,266 and Goff with 4,252.

Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey set a Pac-12 record with 3,305 all-purpose yards and is just the third player in FBS history to post more than 3,000 all-purpose yards in a single season.

Utah punter Tom Hackett has earned first-team honors for the third straight year, while USC linebacker Su’a Cravens earns first team honors for the second time.

2015 ALL-PAC-12 CONFERENCE FOOTBALL TEAM

First Team Offense  
QB Luke Falk, So., Washington State
QB Jared Goff, Jr., California  
RB Royce Freeman, So., Oregon
RB Christian McCaffrey, So., Stanford
WR Kenny Lawler, Jr., California
WR Gabe Marks, Jr., Washington State
WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, So., USC
TE Austin Hooper, Jr., Stanford
OL Zach Banner, Jr., USC
OL Joe Dahl, Sr., Washington State
OL Joshua Garnett, Sr., Stanford
OL Tyler Johnstone, Sr, Oregon
OL Kyle Murphy, Sr., Stanford

Second Team Offense
QB Kevin Hogan, Sr., Stanford
RB Devontae Booker, Sr., Utah
RB Paul Perkins, Jr., UCLA
WR Bralon Addison, Jr.. Oregon
WR Darren Carrington, So., Oregon
WR Nelson Spruce, Sr., Colorado
TE Thomas Duarte, Jr., UCLA
OL Jake Brendel, Sr., UCLA
OL J.J. Dielman, Jr., Utah
OL Conor McDermott, Jr., UCLA
OL Christian Westerman, Sr., Arizona State
OL Chad Wheeler, Jr., USC

First Team Defense  
DL  DeForest Buckner, Sr., Oregon      
DL  Kenny Clark, Jr., UCLA         
DL  Lowell Lotulelei, So., Utah    
DL  Aziz Shittu, Sr., Stanford     
DL  Antwaun Woods, Sr., USC  
LB  Su’a Cravens, Jr., USC (2)     
LB  Blake Martinez, Sr., Stanford  
LB  Gionni Paul, Sr., Utah         
DB  Budda Baker, So., Washington    
DB  Adoree’ Jackson, So., USC       
DB  Sidney Jones, So., Washington   
DB  Marcus Williams, So., Utah      

Second Team Defense
DL        Darryl Paulo, Sr., Washington State
DL        Delvon Simmons, Sr., USC
DL        Taniela Tupou, Sr., Washington
DL        Destiny Vaeao, Sr., Washington State
LB Travis Feeney, Sr., Washington
LB Deon Hollins, Jr., UCLA
LB        Jared Norris, Sr., Utah
DB Chidobe Awuzie, Jr., Colorado
DB Randall Goforth, Jr., UCLA
DB Ronnie Harris, Sr., Stanford
DB Jaleel Wadood, So., UCLA

First Team Specialists  
PK Aidan Schneider, So., Oregon
P Tom Hackett, Sr., Utah (3)
RS Christian McCaffrey, So., Stanford
AP/ST Charles Nelson, So., Oregon

Second Team Specialists
PK Ka’imi Fairbairn, Sr., UCLA
P Drew Riggleman, Sr., Arizona
RS Adoree’ Jackson, So., USC
AP/ST Soma Vainuku, Sr., USC

PAC-12 ALL-CONFERENCE HONORABLE MENTION

ARIZONA: DL Reggie Gilbert, Sr.; DB Will Parks, Sr.; PK Casey Skowron, Sr.
ASU: DB Lloyd Carrington, Sr.; LB Salamo Fiso, Jr.; LB Antonio Longino, Sr.; DB Jordan Simone, Sr.; DL Tashon Smallwood, So.; OL Vi Teofilo, Sr.
CAL: TE Stephen Anderson, Sr.; OL Chris Borrayo, Jr.; DL Kyle Kragen, Sr.; DB Stefan McClure, Sr.; LB Hardy Nickerson, Jr.; WR Bryce Treggs, Sr.
COLORADO: TE Sean Irwin, Jr.; SS Tedric Thompson, Jr.
OREGON: QB Vernon Adams Jr., Sr.; DL Alex Balducci, Sr.; OL Matt Hegarty, Sr.; DB Tyree Robinson, So.
OSU: RS Victor Bolden, Jr.; OL Josh Mitchell, Sr.; DL Kyle Peko, Sr.; P Nick Porebski, So.; OL Isaac Seumalo, Jr.
STANFORD: LB Kevin Anderson, Sr.; OL Johnny Caspers, Sr.; FB Daniel Marx, So.; DL Brennan Scarlett, Sr.; OL Graham Shuler, Sr.; DL Solomon Thomas, So.; PK Conrad Ukropina, Sr.
UCLA: WR Jordan Payton, Sr.; DB Marcus Rios, Jr.; LB Aaron Wallace, Sr.
USC: RB Justin Davis, Jr.; RB Ronald Jones, Fr.; QB Cody Kessler, Sr.; OL Damien Mama, So.; LB Cameron Smith, Fr.
UTAH: OL Isaac Asiata, Jr.; RS Britain Covey, Fr.; DL Jason Fanaika, Sr.; PK Andy Phillips, Jr.
WASHINGTON: DL Greg Gaines, Fr.; RB Myles Gaskin, Fr.; DB Kevin King, Jr.; LB Cory Littleton, Sr.; TE Joshua Perkins, Sr.; LB Azeem Victor, So.
WSU: DB Shalom Luani, Jr.; OL Cole Madison, So.; DL Hercules Mata’afa, Fr.; LB Peyton Pelluer, So.; OL Riley Sorenson, Jr.; WR Dom Williams, Sr.

One hundred years

This past week marked 100 years since the Pac-12 Conference was founded as the Pacific Coast Conference in Portland, Oregon.

On December 2, 1915, representatives from the University of Oregon, the University of Washington, Oregon State University, and the University of California-Berkeley came together to create an athletics conference devoted to both academic and athletic excellence. Today the Pac-12 comprises 12 leading universities that span the Western United States and boasts more national championships than any other conference.

News and Notes from around the Pac-12

The Pac-12 has a record 10 bowl eligible teams in Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington, and Washington State.

The Golden Bears are bowl eligible for the first time since 2011. The Cougars are bowl eligible for the first time since 2013 and just the second time since 2003.

In terms of percentage of membership achieving bowl eligibility, the Pac-12 leads all other conferences:

Pac-12 (10 of 12) 83.30%
SEC (10 of 14) 71.40%
American (8 of 12) 66.70%
ACC (9 of 14) 64.30%
Big 12 (6 of 10) 60.00%
Mountain West (7 of 12) 58.30%
Big Ten (8 of 14) 57.10%
MAC (7 of 13) 53.80%
CUSA (5 of 13) 38.50%
Sunbelt (3 of 11) 27.80%

The Pac-12 is contracted with seven bowl games. The selection orders is as follows:

The Rose Bowl Game will get the Pac-12 Champion, unless that team moves up as one of the four teams in the CFP semifinals. If that is the case, the Rose Bowl will replace the champion with another Pac-12 team. Once the Rose Bowl is filled, the Alamo, Holiday and Foster Farms Bowls will pick in order from teams with a one-game differential in the Conference standings. The Sun, Las Vegas and Cactus Bowls will then select the teams in order of finish in the Conference standings.

Five different Pac-12 teams this season have been ranked in the AP Top 10

By Staff of TheDailySportsHerald.com and news services