Pac-12 Power Rankings: Utes Jump to 3rd, Cougars Fall Near Buffaloes

Here is the Autzen Zoo Pac-12 power rankings, a poll that accumulates our staff’s thoughts on the best through the worst in the conference. Teams in first place get 11 points, second place receive 10 points, and so on.

This poll follows the opening weekend of college football.

1. USC – 44 points
   They scored on the first play of the game, and it wasn’t a contest since.
2. Oregon – 40 points
   Seven touchdowns on seven possessions is pretty good for a quarterback’s debut.
3. Utah – 31 points (2 3rd-place votes)
   The best way to describe the win was rolling up a snowball until late in the first half, then pushing it off the ledge.
4. Washington – 31 points (1 3rd-place vote)
   Well, they made it out of the first game alive. Now say hello to LSU next week.
5. UCLA – 29 points
   That Rice defense…is really, really awful.
6. Stanford – 27 points
   If that’s the best they can do against San Jose State, things could be interesting when Duke comes to town.
7. Arizona State – 20 points
   It’s a great start to the Todd Graham era for the Sun Devils.
8. Arizona – 18 points
   This is exactly what we expected the Wildcats to be this season.
9. Oregon State – 10 points
   They didn’t even play a game and move up two spots in our poll.
10. California – 9 points
    Jeff Tedford may want to get that resume ready.
11. Washington State – 3 points
    According to Mike Leach, we may see an entirely new starting lineup on offense next week.
12. Colorado – 2 points
    Two points are better than no points.

Brian Spaen is the lead editor for Autzen Zoo, follow the site on Facebook and Twitter. Read his other work on the Iowa State blog, Clones Confidential, and Lacrosse the Web.