Pac-12 Media Day: It’s All About USC and Oregon
By Brian Spaen
Announced before the Pac-12 Media Day events began today, a preseason poll showed that both USC and Oregon were heavy favorites to win their respective divisions, with the Trojans selected to win the Pac-12 championship game.
123 media members conducted the preseason poll. Of those people, 117 picked Oregon to win the North Division and the same number picked Southern California to win the South Division.
Others receiving votes in the North Division were Stanford (5) who finished in second place and California (1) who finished in fourth. Washington received third place, and Washington State and Oregon State rounded out the last two.
Despite receiving three first-place votes, Arizona State was selected to finish fifth in the South Division. Utah (1) finishes in second place and UCLA (2) finishes in third place. Arizona edged out their in-state rivals for fourth, and Colorado finished at a distant sixth.
Even the Pac-12 title game wasn’t close; the Trojans had 102 votes with the Ducks receiving 18 and Sun Devils receiving three.
How accurate has this poll been? According to 247Sports, pretty good. It’s correctly identified the conference champion 11 of the last 12 years. However, the added intrigue of selecting a winner from two divisions just began last year, and it’s safe to say that the pick isn’t as easy as it was last season.
This adds even further intrigue to the first Saturday in November. It’s not selected for TV just yet, but anything less than a prime-time showing on ABC would be a shock.
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 Watson Talk Lacrosse.