Pac-12 Power Rankings After Week 11
By Brian Spaen
1. Oregon (10-0, 7-0) – 44 points (all first-place votes) (LW: 1)
Mike: This team is banged up which might be a bigger issue next week against Stanford, but credit the Ducks for getting this win in Berkeley.
Stanford will be the next biggest task on Oregon’s schedule. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-US PRESSWIRE
2. Stanford (8-2, 6-1) – 40 points (LW: 2)
Brian (2nd): The Ducks need to be very worried about the Cardinal’s lines on both sides of the ball. They could force a low-scoring game this Saturday.
3. Oregon State (8-2, 5-2) – 34 points (LW: 3)
Mike (3rd): Disagree with this choice but I think the Beavers are the third best team in the conference and lost on the road to a ranked team. Can they win their next game to add some intrigue to the upcoming Civil War?
T-4. UCLA (8-2, 5-2) – 31 points (LW: 4)
Brian (3rd): If Oregon gets the opportunity to play in the Pac-12 conference championship, UCLA will be the team they want to face if they continue to play this hot.
T-4. USC (7-3, 5-3) – 31 points (LW: 5)
Mike (5th): The Trojans struggled against Arizona State for awhile this week but the offense bailed them out. This week they’ve got an opportunity to sneak into the conference title game should they win at UCLA.
6. Washington (6-4, 4-3) – 23 points (LW: 6)
Brian (6th): It’s hard to tell how good this team is, the win over Utah was the first time they scored over 21 points against an FBS opponent. At least they will be heading to a bowl.
7. Arizona (6-4, 3-4) – 21 points (LW: 9)
Mike (6th): Congrats to RichRod for being bowl eligible. I’ve put ‘Zona in front of Washington for the sole reason of head-to-head but pasting Colorado didn’t hurt their cause.
8. Arizona State (5-5, 3-4) – 16 points (LW: 7)
Brian (8th): They held on with USC for as long as they could, but this defense is a real work in progress.
9. Utah (4-6, 2-5) – 12 points (LW: 8)
Mike (9th): Utes can still make a bowl but they need to win out after losing at Washington this week.
10. California (3-8, 2-6) – 8 points (LW: 10)
Brian (10th): Credit the defense for coming up with the great gameplan to shut down Oregon’s running attack. Unfortunately they didn’t have an answer for Marcus Mariota’s arm.
11. Washington State (2-8, 0-7) – 3 points (LW: 11)
Mike (11th): Wazzu fought until the end but were undone by special team mistakes that took several points off the board. In addition the WSU president asked for the school/conference to investigate what exactly happened with Mike Leach and the Cougs’ best player this week.
12. Colorado (1-9, 1-6) – 1 point (LW: 12)
Brian (12th): Hey, the good news is the men’s basketball team is at least better than the football team as they picked up their season opener.
The Autzen Zoo Pac-12 power rankings are a collection of votes from our staff. Commentary is provided by lead editor Brian Spaen and staff writer Mike Vamosi.