SI Pac-12 Football Power Rankings: USC Creeps Ahead of Utah to Top Spot; Cal Still No. 9
Two voters for our SI Pac-12 Football Power Rankings still have Utah on top, five flipped to USC and Oregon lost a chunk of credibility after the season’s first weekend of games.
Cal, meanwhile, remains at the No 9 spot among our seven panelists who cover the conference for the SI.com college football network.
Utah and Oregon held down the top two spots in our first weekly rankings, but each had to travel to SEC country for opening games on Saturday.
Things did not go well for the Utes and Ducks
Utah lost 29-26 at then-unranked Florida when veteran quarterback Cm Rising threw a second-down interception in the end zone with 17 seconds left. The Utes, overwhelming preseason Pac-12 favorites, slipped only to No. 2 in our power rankings and still earned two first-place votes, although they skidded from No. 7 to No. 13 in the AP Top-25.
Things were far worse for Oregon, which trekked to Atlanta to face defending national champion Georgia. The Bulldogs crushed the Ducks 49-3, sending Oregon from No. 2 in our rankings to No. 5. The damage sustained in the AP poll was more severe — from No. 11 to completely our of the rankings.
USC, which crushed Rice 66-14 in its opener, ascended to No. 1 in our rannkings, although only five of seven voters favored the Trojans. USC is No. 10 this week in the AP poll.
Cal retains its spot from a week ago following a 34-13 win over FCS UC Davis.
The only unanimous selection in our power rankings: Colorado was picked No. 12 by all seven voters.
SI PAC-12 FOOTBALL POWER RANKINGS - WEEK 2
1. USC 1-0 (5) . . . 82 votes
2. Utah 0-1 (2) . . . 76
3. UCLA 1-0 . . . 67
4. Oregon State 1-0 . . . 59
5. Oregon 0-1 . . . 55
6. Washington 1-0 . . . 54
7. Washington State 1-0 . . . 36
8. Arizona 1-0 . . . 33
9. Stanford 1-0 . . . 28
10. Cal 1-0 . . . 26
11. Arizona State 1-0 . . . 23
12. Colorado 0-1 . . . 7
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-- JAKE CURTIS, CAL SPORTS REPORT
1. USC; 2. Arizona; 3. Oregon State; 4. UCLA; 5. Utah; 6. Washington; 7. Oregon; 8. Cal; 9. Washington State; 10. Arizona State; 11. Stanford; 12.Colorado
Comment: I go by results, not preseason expectations. Look at the results from Week 1, and USC, Arizona and Oregon State had the best performances. I give teams little credit for beating FCS teams. Of course, this ranking is likely to change dramatically over the next few weeks.
-- MAX TORRES, DUCKS DIGEST
1. Utah; 2. USC; 3. Oregon State; 4. UCLA; 5. Oregon; 6. Washington; 7. Arizona; 8. Washington State; 9. Arizona State; 10. Stanford; 11. Cal; 12. Colorado
Comment: It was a rough debut for Dan Lanning as a head coach as Oregon got throttled by the defending national champions. The Ducks looked bad, but they won't play any opponents of Georgia's caliber the rest of the season. I don't think the sky is falling in Eugene, but there's loads of work for this team to do to reach its full potential. The better litmus test will be BYU in week 3.
-- KEVIN BORBA, ALL CARDINAL
1. USC; 2. Utah; 3. UCLA; 4. Oregon; 5. Oregon State; 6. Washington; 7. Stanford; 8. Washington State; 9. Arizona; 10. Arizona State; 11. Cal; 12. Colorado
Comment: For the second week in a row the top team in this poll has a chance to be knocked off. If Stanford can establish the run, get a few stops, and prevent turnovers they could pull off the huge upset at home.
-- SAM CONNON, ALL BRUINS
1. USC; 2. Utah; 3. UCLA; 4. Washington; 5. Oregon; 6. Oregon State; 7. Cal; 8. Washington State; 9. Stanford; 10. Arizona; 11. Arizona State; 12. Colorado
Comment: While most of the storylines across the conference are justifiably centered on the struggles of the teams at the top like Utah and Oregon, the rest of the Pac-12 actually fared pretty well in Week 1. Outside of Colorado – and to an extent, Oregon – the rest of the conference avoided any crushingly embarrassing losses and all took care of business against Group of Five and FCS opponents. Given the losses to Fresno State, Montana and others early in 2021, that is actually an improvement.
-- WYATT ALLSUP, ALL TROJANS
1. USC; 2. Utah; 3. Oregon; 4. UCLA; 5. Oregon State; 6. Stanford; 7. Washington; 8. Washington State; 9. Arizona State; 10. Arizona; 11. Cal; 12. Colorado
Comment: Not to overreact to a big win over Rice, but USC’s new offense looked excellent Week 1. I’m buying the hype for now, and I think Oregon should have as many question marks as USC. Until proven otherwise, the Ducks are not in the same tier as the Trojans and the Utes, but they should be much better than the rest of the conference. Teams 4 through 7 are very interchangeable. Look out for Arizona to climb the ladder throughout the season — last year, the Wildcats may have been the worst Power 5 team, but it’s starting to turn around in Tucson.
-- COLE BAGLEY, ALL UTES
1. Utah; 2. USC; 3. UCLA; 4. Washington; 5. Oregon State; 6. Oregon; 7. Washington State; 8. Arizona State; 9. Cal; 10. Stanford; 11. Arizona; 12. Colorado
Comment: Despite a Week 1 loss to the Gators in Gainesville, Utah is still the team to beat in the PAC-12. Meanwhile, USC demonstrated a lot of fire power, Oregon was incredibly disappointing and Washington looks dangerous.
-- DAN RALEY, HUSKY MAVEN
1.. USC; 2. Utah; 3. UCLA; 4. Washington; 5. Oregon State; 6. Oregon; 7. Washington State; 8. Cal; 9. Arizona; 10. Stanford; 11. Arizona State; 12. Colorado
Comment: Washington might not stop anybody on defense, but the Huskies will make opponents have to score a lot of points to beat them. Note to Oregon: If the dismal UW team of 2021 showed anybody anything, the days of hiring assistant coaches to run the show are over. Of course, there's not a team in the Pac-12 that can beat Georgia.
Cover photo of quarterback Caleb Williams enjoying USC's opening win over Rice by Kirby Lee, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
