The famous quote, “It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future,” has been attributed to Yogi Berra, Mark Twain and others.

But whether from a baseball legend or the greatest humorist in American history or an ancient Danish proverb, it’s darn true.

Predicting the Pac-12 was arguably my hardest assignment this season. How can you possibly project football in the age of the transfer portal? USC went 4-8 last year! So did Washington! Expecting turnaround the likes of the Trojans and Huskies — not to mention the Arizona Wildcats — is an unwinnable game.

Yet, we try.

Here’s a look back at some of my preseason Crystal Ball projections. Now, in alphabetical order, onto Part 1 of the rewind (click on the team name for the original Crystal Ball story). Stay tuned for Part 2, featuring Stanford-through-Washington State.

Arizona

Crystal Ball Prediction: 4-8 (3-6)

Actual Record: 5-7 (3-6)

Nailed it: Here’s what I wrote about the Territorial Cup: “But after a tumultuous offseason for the Sun Devils and a revelatory offseason for the Wildcats, the tide is turning. Arizona wins a close one by turning up the heat on the ASU offensive line and the Wildcats close out a four-win season with some big-time momentum.”

So I was off by 1 win. I nailed the biggest game of the Arizona calendar, the battle for the Grand Canyon State. And it was narrow: The Wildcats won by just 3 points over the Sun Devils, only it was Arizona’s offensive line that did the dealing, leading to a big rushing day.

I correctly hit on the Cats conquering their in-state rivals as well as North Dakota State and Colorado, but I did not expect Arizona to lose to Cal — and boy did they, with the Bears rushing for more than 300 yards, including 274 by freshman Jaydn Ott — nor did I think the Cats would beat San Diego State at brand-new Snapdragon Stadium and UCLA at the Rose Bowl. I think they’d take that trade-off.

Big whiff: Arizona’s win at UCLA was a legitimate stunner and something that very few, if any, predicted. Even the most diehard Wildcat watcher would have thought Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Zach Charbonnet would be a tandem that would send Arizona back to Tucson trembling.

But I should have expected the Aztecs to regress a bit, even if I could not have predicted an 18-point Wildcats win in the first game of a new stadium.

Notable: Arizona’s 4-win improvement is its best since Rich Rodriguez led the team to a 7-6 record in 2017 after going 3-9 the year prior. He was fired after the season.

Quotable: “Perspective is a funny thing. If you’re Stanford or Cal, and you’re writing a season obituary that includes just 4 wins, you’re hurting. If you’re Arizona, and you can quadruple your 2021 win total while continuing to add pieces on the recruiting trail? Well, you’re feeling pretty good.

The Wildcats are clearly trending in the right direction under Fisch. At least on the recruiting trail, something Sumlin and RichRod abandoned. If Arizona shows tangible improvement in 2022 — at least 3 wins — then the Wildcats can continue to sell Fisch’s vision. If they win just 1 game again? It’ll be hard to sell anything.”

Arizona State

Crystal Ball Prediction: 4-8 (2-7)

Actual Record: 3-9 (2-7)

Nailed it: I’m not going to pretend I’m the only one to predict ASU’s regression this year — if anything I was a little kind — I did have the Sun Devils swooning under the heat of Pac-12 play. Arizona State lost so much talent in the conference that the Sun Devils were bound to struggle this season.

Credit is due, though, to Shaun Aguano for keeping the team competitive.

Big whiff: Here’s what I said about the Washington State matchup: “As much as I like new Cougars quarterback Cameron Ward, ASU will get its revenge for its 4th win of the year, keeping bowl eligibility still a possibility.”

It’s absolutely laughable that I thought the Sun Devils would still have a chance at the postseason with 2 games left when they were toast far earlier. But in-season firings are hard to predict. So are losses to Eastern Michigan.

That’s even more absurd than ASU somehow beating a Washington program that was among the most improved in the country.

Notable: ASU’s 3 wins marked its lowest for a full season since it went 3-8 in 1994 under Bruce Snyder. Cheer up Sun Devils fans: Snyder led them to an 11-1 record 2 years later. Is that in the cards for new head coach Kenny Dillingham?

Quotable: “No team in the Pac-12 has a spotlight on it quite as glaring as the Sun Devils do. Or maybe it’s just Herm Edwards. Either way, Arizona State is not going to just sneak under the radar of so many recruiting violations. Can the ASU players rise above the muck to deliver even when the head coach is getting questioned left and right? Edwards’ hot-seat status could either rally the Sun Devils behind him, or make for a truly awkward campaign.

“After going 8-5 last year, the awkwardness will set in. A crash is coming.”

Cal

Crystal Ball Prediction: 4-8 (2-7)

Actual Record: 4-8 (2-7)

Nailed it: Hitting the overall and on-conference win total was just about the only thing I predicted correctly about Justin Wilcox’s crew. Yes, I expected a 2-0 start with wins over UC Davis and UNLV, but my accuracy ends there. And that’s because …

Big whiff: … I somehow predicted the Bears to beat Washington and Oregon in back-to-back weeks. You read that right. Cal. To beat. Washington and Oregon. In back-to-back weeks. Granted, I was almost entirely off on Washington’s tremendous 2022 turnaround.

But picking the Bears over Oregon is a shame I won’t soon live down.

Notable: Cal’s 6-game losing streak was its most since losing 10 straight in 2013 in Sonny Dykes’ first season, a 1-11 campaign.

Quotable: “Cal is desperately trying to move out of college football’s middle class, but its 2022 season will prove to be a step back. A truly tough 6-week stretch will ultimately doom the Bears’ postseason chances, which will call Justin Wilcox’s power into question. Changes might have to be made for Wilcox to keep the gig. Something clearly isn’t working.”

Colorado

Crystal Ball Prediction: 2-10 (2-7)

Actual record: 1-11 (1-8)

Nailed it: I correctly called Colorado’s lone win — a 20-13 victory over Cal in Week 7 — by reasoning that a recent run of Pac-12 upsets would continue at least once in 2022. Here’s what I wrote: “Last year, the Buffaloes claimed surprise wins over Oregon State (37-34 in overtime) and Washington (20-17). In 2019, when they finished 5-7, the Buffaloes won at No. 24 Arizona State, 34-31, and also beat Stanford and Washington. In a 5-7 2018 campaign, Colorado beat UCLA and Arizona State.”

Did the Buffaloes let Cal march 59 yards for a game-tying field goal as time expired, requiring overtime for the win? Of course.

Big whiff: I naively thought Colorado had enough at the quarterback position to at least manage a couple of wins. I was wrong, leading Karl Dorrell right out the door.

Notable: Welp, it’s right back to square one. A decade ago, the Buffaloes finished 1-11, leading to the firing of Jon Embree. Is Deion Sanders the answer this time around?

Quotable: “What is there to say? Colorado has little talent and littler depth, few playmakers and few returning veteran leaders who’ve produced over a sustained time. The Buffaloes don’t have very good prospects this year, with an anemic offense and a defense that allowed death by a thousand cuts last year.”

Oregon

Crystal Ball Prediction: 9-3 (7-2)

Actual record: 9-3 (7-2)

Nailed it: Right around Week 9, I was worried about my prediction. The Ducks were flying to an 8-1 start, winners of 8 straight and with an 8-game stretch of at least 40 points. They’d smashed BYU and UCLA and the dregs of the Pac-12, and Bo Nix was prancing around the field like the second coming of Michael Vick. The veteran offensive line had yielded a single sack and Bucky Irving and the Ducks’ backfield were breaking off run after run after run.

Then came the final minutes of an eventual 37-34 loss to Washington, a loss that just about closed the door on Oregon’s College Football Playoff chances, and then came an injury to Nix and there went the Ducks.

If only because of unfortunate circumstances, I was right — 9-3 and 7-2 in conference play. A good start for Dan Lanning, but not the epic opening act that was building.

Big whiff: Do we really need to revisit my prediction of a loss to Cal? That’s just silly.

Notable: Four of the past 5 Oregon head coaches have gotten off to great starts in their debut year. If the Ducks win the Holiday Bowl, Lanning will match Chip Kelly (2009) with a 10-3 start, while a loss would tie him with Mario Cristobal (9-4, 2018). Mike Bellotti got off to a 9-3 start in 1995 while Willie Taggart managed to go just 7-6 in his lone season in 2017.

Quotable: “Since 2000, the Ducks are 14-3 against the Bruins, including 3-0 during Chip Kelly’s tenure, though the Bruins have kept it close in a pair of 3-point losses the past 2 years. Does UCLA have the offensive firepower to take out the Ducks this year? If the game were played at the Rose Bowl, maybe. But not in Eugene. Oregon hasn’t lost to UCLA in Eugene since 2004.”

Oregon State

Crystal Ball Prediction: 8-4 (6-3)

Actual record: 9-3 (6-3)

Nailed it: I was bullish on the Beavers and they exceeded even my big expectations. Jonathan Smith is really building something nice.

But I am proud to nail the rivalry game formerly known as the Civil War.

Here’s what I said earlier this year: “This one is the biggie. Getting the Ducks back in Corvallis — while a short drive — will be significant. Not as much as the loss of Anthony Brown and Travis Dye for the Ducks, though. The former Oregon backfield combined for 182 and 3 touchdowns against the Beavers last year. The Ducks are in capable hands with Byron Cardwell, but presumed starter Bo Nix doesn’t move like Brown. I like Smith a lot, and he’ll be able to continue the Beavers’ upward trajectory here.”

The only reason I was right about Nix was a late-season injury, but still … I was right.

Big whiff: I totally struck out on the Beavers’ Apple Cup competitors. I predicted Oregon State to lose to resurgent Washington State and to beat lowly Washington. While the Cougars were fine, it was Washington that really took a step forward.

To be fair the Huskies needed a 10-0 4th quarter to squeak by the Beavers, 24-21.

Notable: A Las Vegas Bowl win over the Florida Gators would give Oregon State 10 wins for just the 3rd time in program history.

Quotable: “It’s fascinating to watch how the different Pac-12 coaches view the transfer portal. Despite using transfers to his advantage in recent years — vaunted linebacker Avery Roberts, who leaves a huge hole, arrived from Nebraska — Smith has tapped into the high school ranks extensively over past 2 years. As a result, the Beavers added just one player through the transfer portal: running back Jamious Griffin from Georgia Tech. For a team that lost 10 players to the portal, that’s too little of a return. Smith better hope some of his young newcomers are ready to contribute this year.”