Pac-12 Week Four Rankings: Road Teams Rule
By Mike Vamosi
Each week I’ll rank PAC-12 teams 1-12 based on how they did each week. This will be a fluid ranking so if you feel your team isn’t high enough just know they will have plenty of room to rise. This is totally subjective and deals more with performance but opponents/wins/narrow losses considered.
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Here’s how things look after week four
1 – Utah (4-0, 1-0), No one saw the wrecking ball that the Utes took to Autzen Stadium on Saturday night in their 62-20 win at Oregon. Travis Wilson passed for 227 yards with four touchdowns while rushing for 100 more with a score.
2 – UCLA (4-0, 1-0), Any other week the Bruins are sitting on top of these rankings, however by comparison the 56-30 win at Arizona was nice but not like our number one team. Jordan Payton caught seven passes for 136 yards plus a score from Josh Rosen who had 284 while tossing two TD’s.
3 – California (4-0, 1-0), Cal went to Seattle and earned a nice win over Washington 30-24 to remain unbeaten after four weeks. Sonny Dykes got another big day from his QB Jared Goff who threw for 342 yards, the Golden Bears trailed after one quarter before not looking back.
4 – Stanford (3-1, 2-0), Three straight wins after an unrecognizable week one loss that admittedly looks better by the week. The Cardinal went to Corvallis and won 42-24 with Christian McCaffery rushing for 206 yards on 30 carries.
5 – Southern California (3-1, 1-1), After getting run over by Stanford a much needed 42-14 desert route at Arizona State. Cody Kessler tossed five touchdown passes while racking up 375 yard, but the Trojans built a 35-0 halftime lead in this good win.
6 – Colorado (3-1), Beating Nicholls State who’s an FCS team 48-0 isn’t something to pound your chest about, however this program has won three straight after an opening week loss. Things will get tougher for the Buffs but they’ll enter conference play with confidence which hasn’t been seen in sometime for fans in Boulder.
Sep 12, 2015; Boulder, CO, USA; Massachusetts Minutemen defensive back Randall Jette (4) defends a pass to Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver Nelson Spruce (22) in the second quarter at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
7 – Washington State (2-1), Were idle this week so they get this spot by default which they’ll take I’m sure. They’ll open PAC-12 play at California in Berkeley which will be followed by a trip to Eugene so tough stretch coming for Mike Leach’s group.
8 – Washington (2-2, 0-1), Huskies are here due to what happened around them and being more competitive than others this week. Losing 30-24 at home to Cal however they can build from this close defeat.
9 – Oregon State (2-2, 0-1), Beavers have now alternated wins and losses in their first four games losing 42-24 at home Friday. The offense only put up seven second half points when the defense allowed 21 in both halves of football.
10 – Oregon (2-2, 0-1), There’s a case that losing 62-20 at home could have you dropped lower but Utah has the leagues best win against Michigan. The Ducks also lost by three at Michigan State which right now looks better given how both those Big Ten teams are playing also. Tough night but Oregon will need to look close if they want to fix this.
11 – Arizona (3-1, 0-1), Gameday was in Tucson for this big night game with UCLA in town however this game was over by half in this 56-30 loss. Beating UCLA last season so the Bruins may have had revenge but Arizona just never looked comfortable in this route which is a credit to their opponents.
12 – Arizona State (2-2, 0-1), Did USC want payback? Perhaps but getting run over by half then losing 42-14 shows that the Sun Devils defense still isn’t playing well against power five foes. Todd Graham needs to figure out something sooner than later or it’ll be a long season in Tempe.