Final Pac-12 Football Power Rankings
By Brian Spaen
1. Stanford (10-2, 8-1) – 43 points (3 first-place votes) (LW: 1)
Mike (1st): Win Saturday and the Cardinal will claim its first conference title since 1999 when they last were in the Rose Bowl on New Years Day 2000.
Nov 24, 2012; Corvallis, OR, USA; Oregon Ducks cheerleader performs during the second quarter against the Oregon State Beavers at Reser Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-US PRESSWIRE
2. Oregon (11-1, 8-1) – 41 points (1 first-place vote) (LW: 2)
Brian (2nd): Great finish to what may be a disappointing season with national title aspirations. Having an at-large bid against the Big 12 conference winners is a pretty nice consolation prize to prove they should have been in the title game.
T-3. UCLA (9-3, 6-3) – 34 points (LW: 4)
Mike (4th): America is known for second chances which the Bruins will get Saturday night in Palo Alto’s Stanford Stadium.
T-3. Oregon State (8-3, 6-3) – 34 points (LW: 3)
Brian (4th): Didn’t live up to their rushing defense standards, but the Beavers are without question the surprise team of the Pac-12. What a job by them this season when Mike Riley was on the hot seat.
5. Arizona State (7-5, 5-4) – 27 points (LW: 8)
Mike (5th): The Sun Devils are fifth for the lone reason they came back and won the “Duel in the Desert” on Friday.
6. Washington (7-5, 5-4) – 24 points (LW: 5)
Brian (6th): Once again, the new head coach with a very underwhelming team in Pullman gets the victory over the Huskies. Hopefully the bowl game will take that bad taste out of their mouth.
Nov 24, 2012; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Southern California Trojans coach Lane Kiffin at a press conference after the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Notre Dame defeated USC 22-13. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE
7. USC (7-5, 5-4) – 21 points (LW: 6)
Mike (6th): Southern Cal had several opportunities to make it interesting against Notre Dame even with some curious decisions from Lane Kiffin.
8. Arizona (7-5, 4-5) – 16 points (LW: 7)
Brian (8th): Getting outscored 24-7 in the fourth quarter against their rivals further proves that I have no idea if this team is good or not.
9. Utah (5-7, 3-6) – 12 points (LW: 9)
Mike (9th): From nearly winning the division in 2011 the Utes follow-up was struggling in 2012.
10. Washington State (3-9, 1-8) – 7 points (LW: 11)
Brian (10th): Winning the Apple Cup is certainly something to hang their hat on, but Mike Leach didn’t swing his sword in the season debut with the Cougars.
11. California (3-9, 2-7) – 5 points (LW: 10)
Mike (11th): While Cal didn’t play this week they did end the Jeff Tedford era. Personally I hope he’s remembered as a class individual (see his exit letter to the fans) who built up football at the school.
12. Colorado (1-11, 1-8) – 0 points (LW: 12)
Brian (12th): It’s not the biggest surprise to see Jon Embree fired after two seasons, but I’m not happy about it. Said the same thing about Turner Gill and Kansas. Two years is not enough to build something, I don’t care if a coach goes 0-24. But that’s not applicable in this generation of winning now. If there is no plan in year one, year two starts out on the hot seat.
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.