Put some respect on the Pac 12’s name. The conference went 10-2 this week including 2 wins against Big Ten opponents, and 2 wins against top 25 opponents. The Pac 12 comes out of this weekend looking like one of the strongest power five conferences outside of the SEC in my opinion. Every other conference played cupcakes this week, the Pac 12 did not. BYU is no slouch of a team. The only weak opponents this week for the Pac 12 were Portland State, NIU, North Dakota, and Niu. It’s time to start viewing the Pac 12 as a conference that can indeed put a team into the college football playoff. Let’s get to the rankings.
1. Stanford (2): There is really no doubt in my mind that the Cardinal are the best team in the Pac 12. The offense dominated USC, though it didn’t show on the scoreboard, putting up 342 yards on a very good USC defense. On the other side of the ball the defense sacked J.T. Daniels four plus times and came away with three takeaways. The Cardinal are the best team in the conference and I believe should be ranked the seventh best team in the nation. San Diego State and USC are a stronger schedule than Washington and Alabama State. I’m looking at you Auburn.
2. Arizona State (9): This is going to shock most I know but this team looks legit. The defense held one of the best passing games in the country to 63 yards rushing and 13 points. Constant Pac 12 haters will devalue this win but Michigan State was a playoff contender and if ASU isn’t ranked in the top 20 then you know for a fact it’s all Pac 12 bias. Herm Edwards is actually a great coach who managed the clock expertly and seems to have a great grasp on this team. Not to mention QB Manny Wilkins who put up 380 passing yards emerged as another high level Pac 12 QB. Are the Sun Devils playoff contenders? No, but if they continue to perform this team has a real shot at winning the Pac 12 South.
3. Washington (1): They blew out North Dakota. Not by enough though, I was tempted to put them lower. They go to play a tough Utah defense in Salt Lake City next week. It’s already one of the biggest games in the Pac 12. Myles Gaskin looked great in this game bouncing back from a pour showing verse Auburn.
4. Colorado (8): Colorado put on what was probably the out of conference game of the year for the Pac 12 thus far against Nebraska. Steven Montez is the real deal putting up 351 yards and 3 touchdowns. Not to mention putting together a fourth-quarter comeback, in Nebraska, at the home opener for the Cornhuskers. This Colorado team should not be slept on as a potential contender for the South.
5. Oregon (3): Oregon gets bumped down this much purely because of opponent. They dominated Portland State (as they should have) and Justin Herbert continues to look like a sneaky candidate to be a high round NFL draft pick next year. Herbert threw for four touchdowns, however more impressive were Tony Brooks-James and CJ Verdell who combined rushed for 210+ yards. The defense is worrisome, as always, but this Oregon team looks very good.
6. USC (4): Can’t knock the Trojans down to far for losing to Stanford. The offense showed flashes and the defense did well to bend but not break. My main take away for USC, this offense is going to go through some growing pains but come November this is not a team you want to be playing. J.T. Daniels is only going to get better with age and in a year or two I could see this team really being ready to contend for a playoff spot.
7. Cal (6): The score is deceiving this game was not as close as it looked. Again, the most shocking thing about this Cal team is that they have a really good defense, forcing four turnovers in back to back weeks. They haven’t played powerhouses, but they are beating good Power five type schools right now. If they get a Pac 12 win over one of the teams above they should get ranked fairly soon, not this week though.
8. Washington State (7): They took care of a cupcake and don’t look as bad as people thought. The Pac 12 North after this week suddenly looks very interesting.
9. Oregon State (10): They dropped nearly fifty on a bad team, that’s a good sign for an Oregon State team who a lot fear won’t be competitive in the Pac 12. I disagree I don’t think this team is going to get blown out when we get to conference play.
10. Utah (5): This coming from a Utah fan. The effort on offense against NIU was absolutely embarrassing. I would have put this team at the bottom of the Rankings if the two teams underneath had not lost. I don’t care about yards, 17 points against a Mac school is unacceptable. This was a very bad win for Utah. The defense played at an elite level though, that won’t matter next week if the Utes can’t score against Washington though.
11. UCLA (12): Oklahoma is the second best team in the country the fact you got more than 20 points on them is encouraging. UCLA is going to take some time to develop into Chip Kelly’s program.
12. Arizona (11): Got dominated Houston. I know Houston is a good team but to have your offense shut down for an entire half against them is unacceptable. The team doesn’t seem to know how to use Kahlil Tate properly anymore and the defense is embarrassing.
Next week’s game picks (last week I went 9-3)
Washington 23 Utah 17
Stanford 42 UC Davis 6
Colorado 53 UNH 7
Oregon 49 San Jose State 14
Cal 42 Idaho State 17
Oregon State 35 Nevada 32
USC 31 Texas 24
Washington State 60 Eastern Washington 24
UCLA 24 Fresno 16
ASU 24 San Diego State 14
Arizona 35 Southern Utah 10