SI Pac-12 Football Power Rankings: UCLA Now No. 1; Utah Set to Host USC

The unbeaten Bruins have the week off before bracing for a trip to take on Oregon.

UCLA has pretty much won over the skeptics and has leaped to the No. 1 spot in our SI Pac-12 Football Power Rankings after a 42-32 win over Utah.

The Bruins, now 6-0, collected five of seven first-place ballots from our panel of voters who cover the Pac-12 for the SI.com network. They were No. 4 in our preseason rankings, slipped as far down as No. 7 a few weeks back — despite continuing to win — and had climbed as high as No. 3 last week.

UCLA gets a bye this week before facing Oregon on Oct. 22 in what promises to be a huge game, with coach Chip Kelly bringing an unbeaten team back to Eugene, where he went 46-7 in four seasons a decade ago.

Meanwhile, preseason favorite Utah finds itself in a must-win situation with unbeaten USC coming to town this Saturday. A second conference loss would all but take the Utes out of the race for the league title or a top-2 finish and a spot in the Pac-12 title game.

The Utes have lost just once in their past 23 games at Salt Lake City, but USC has been reborn under first-year coach Lincoln Riley, who is duplicating in Los Angeles what he achieved at Oklahoma.

WEEK 7 - SI PAC-12 FOOTBALL POWER RANKINGS

1. UCLA 6-0, 3-0 . . . (5) 82

2. USC 6-0, 4-0 . . . (2) 79

3. Oregon 5-1, 3-0 . . . 69

4. Utah 4-2, 1-1 . . . 64

5. Washington State 4-2, 1-2 . . .53

6. Washington 4-2, 1-2 . . . 48

7. Oregon State 4-2, 1-2 . . . 46

8. Cal 3-2, 1-1 . . .33

9. Arizona 3-3, 1-2 . . . . 30

10. Arizona State 2-4, 1-2 . . 21

11. Stanford 1-4, 0-4 . . . 14

12. Colorado 0-5, 0-2 . . . 7

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-- JAKE CURTIS, CAL SPORTS REPORT

1. UCLA, 2. USC, 3. Oregon, 4. Utah, 5. Washington State, 6. Washington, 7. Oregon State, 8. Cal, 9, Arizona, 10, Arizona State, 11. Stanford, 12. Colorado.

Comment: We've come to the point where we can put teams in categories: four teams in the Rose Bowl race, five teams looking for bowl bids, and three teams hoping the season ends soon. UCLA is atop the pack but has yet to play a road game (playing at Colorado doesn't count).

-- MAX TORRES, DUCKS DIGEST

1. UCLA; 2. USC; 3. Oregon; 4. Utah; 5. Washington; 6. Washington State; 7. Oregon State; 8. Cal; 9. Arizona; 10. Arizona State; 11. Stanford; 12. Colorado

Comment: Oregon earned a crucial win in Tucson, its first since 2011, to enter their bye week on the perfect note. UCLA looks like the real deal and a serious conference title favorite after beating Utah. Oregon's next game against the Bruins should tell us an awful lot about their ability to win big-time games and I'm feeling confident they'll be up to the task.

-- KEVIN BORBA, ALL CARDINAL

1. USC; 2. UCLA; 3. Oregon; 4. Utah; 5. Washington State; 6. Washington;

7. Oregon State; 8. Cal; 9. Arizona; 10. Arizona State; 11. Stanford; 12. Colorado

Comment: Stanford has been nothing short of chaotic this season, and that Oregon State loss was just a major gut punch to the program. Their schedule is only getting harder, and I don't know if they have a win in them the rest of the way.

-- SAM CONNON, ALL BRUINS

1. UCLA; 2. USC; 3. Oregon; 4. Utah; 5. Washington State; 6. Oregon State; 7. Washington; 8. Arizona; 9. Cal; 10. Arizona State; 11. Stanford; 12. Colorado

Comment: An Arizona State upset over Washington threw a wrench into things a bit, but the Pac-12 is still a conference that is being defined by its solid group of contenders locked in a tight race at the top. UCLA picked up a bigger win than anyone else in the conference this weekend by taking down Utah, bumping them up to the top spot thanks to USC’s second straight slow start, but the upcoming showdown between the Trojans and Utes in SLC should still have massive implications.

-- WYATT ALLSUP, ALL TROJANS

1. USC; 2. UCLA; 3. Utah; 4. Oregon; Washington State; 6. Washington; 7. Oregon State; 8. Cal; 9. Arizona; 10. Arizona State; 11. Stanford; 12. Colorado

Comment: Utah and UCLA both look tough, but USC hasn’t done anything to deserve a drop in the power rankings. This week will tell us a lot about the top of the conference as the Trojans visit Utah. Bye weeks for UCLA and Oregon, but they face off against each other in Week 8.

-- COLE BAGLEY, ALL UTES

1. UCLA; 2. USC; 3. Oregon; 4. Utah; 5. Washington State; 6. Oregon State; 7. Washington; 8. Arizona; 9. Cal; 10. Arizona State; 11. Stanford; 12. Colorado

Comment: It was a rough week for the Utes whose inexperienced defensive line showed its true colors and were absolutely dominated by an undefeated Bruins squad. Now. halfway through the season, UCLA appears to have the strongest team while USC isn't far behind. Heading into week seven, USC has an opportunity to create some separation with a victory as the Utes hope to avoid their second conference loss that would most likely ruin any hopes of repeating as Pac-12 champions.

-- DAN RALEY, INSIDE THE HUSKIES

1. UCLA; 2. USC; 3. Oregon; 4. Utah; 5. Oregon State; 6. Washington; 7. Washington State; 8. Cal; 9. Arizona; 10. Arizona State; 11. Stanford; 12. Colorado

Comment: As the L.A. schools run through the Pac-12 unheeded, maybe this justifies their pending move to the Big Ten. They need more competition, simple as that. They dispatched likely their toughest competition this past weekend. In Seattle, Kalen DeBoer still has a lot of work to do at the UW after his guys couldn’t do away with a wounded Arizona State program.

Cover photo of UCLA coach Chip Kelly by Jayne Kamin-Oncea, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo