SI Pac-12 Power Rankings Week 2: UCLA Football Leaps Oregon
The Fan Nation and Sports Illustrated publishers of the Pac-12 have come together to unveil their takes on the conference's hierarchy heading into Week 2 of the 2022 season.
UCLA football moved up from No. 4 to No. 3 in the latest edition of the SI Pac-12 Power Rankings following its 45-17 win over Bowling Green on Saturday. There was not a consensus on the Bruins' current standing relative to their conference foes, but every outlet had them ranked in the top-third of the conference.
All Cardinal, All Bruins, All Utes and Husky Maven were the highest on UCLA, slotting them in at No. 3 behind only USC and Utah. Cal Sports Report, Ducks Digest and All Trojans had the Bruins one spot lower at No. 4, either slotting in Arizona, Oregon or Oregon State above them.
Utah went from being the consensus No. 1 team in the preseason to a solid second place, still stealing a pair of first-place votes despite losing to Florida on the road. USC is the new No. 1 following their blowout win over Rice, while Oregon's blowout loss at the hands of Georgia sent them all the way from No. 2 to No. 5.
Here are the full preseason power rankings, as well as some brief thoughts from each of the publishers:
2022 PRESEASON SI PAC-12 FOOTBALL POWER RANKINGS
1. USC, 82 points (5 first-place votes)
2. Utah, 76 points (2 first-place votes)
3. UCLA, 67 points
4. Oregon State, 59 points
5. Oregon, 55 points
6. Washington, 54 points
7. Washington State, 36 points
8. Arizona, 33 points
9. Stanford, 28 points
10. Cal, 26 points
11. Arizona State, 23 points
12. Colorado, 7 points
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.
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