Pac-12 Power Rankings Don't Budge Much, But Change is Coming

The University of Washington football team, Oregon State and Washington State each are having upbeat seasons but they haven't been able to supplant any of the Fab Four in our SI Pac-12 power rankings.

This week, they're positioned fifth, sixth and seventh, in the above order.

That seemingly is about to change this weekend when 16th-ranked UCLA (8-2 overall, 5-2 Pac-12) hosts No. 7 USC (9-1, 6-1) and 12th-ranked Oregon (8-2, 6-1) entertains No. 10 Utah (8-2, 6-1).

Something's got to give with this so far untouchable conference foursome and their lofty status.

Follow up Saturday's game a week later with the 15th-ranked Huskies (8-2, 5-2) traveling to cross-state rival Washington State (6-4, 3-4), Oregon State (7-3, 4-3) welcoming Oregon to Corvallis, and USC testing Notre Dame.

Look for some shake-up in the rankings, polls and psyches involving the big four.

Our Week 12 SI Pac-12 power rankings are as follows:

SI PAC-12 POWER RANKINGS/WEEK 12

1. USC 9-1, 7-1 . . . (6) 82 points

2. Oregon 8-2, 6-1 . . .71

3. Utah 8-2, 6-1 . . . (1) 60

4. UCLA 8-2, 5-2 . . . 59

5. WASHINGTON 8-2, 5-2 . . . 57

6. Oregon State 7-3, 4-3 . . . 48

7. Washington State 6-4, 3-4 . . . 41

8. Arizona 4-6, 2-5 . . . 37

9. Arizona State 3-7, 2-5 . . . 27

10. Cal 3-7, 1-6 . . . 21

11. Stanford 3-7, 1-7 . . . 15

12. Colorado 1-9, 1-6 . . . 7

JAKE CURTIS, CAL SPORTS REPORT

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

Comment: I'm rooting for a five-way tie for first place at the end of the regular season, and it wouldn't take much imagination to make it happen. Put the top five teams in a hat and draw out any one you want as the likely conference champ. I'd like to put Arizona higher than eighth, but we can’T forget its first nine games. Cal-Stanford playing The Big Game? Talk about a misnomer.

MAX TORRES, DUCKS DIGEST

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

Comment: Oregon lost a crucial game to Washington after Michael Penix Jr. shredded the Ducks' defense. Now they'll wait to see if Bo Nix will be able to play. If he isn't able to go against Utah, I don't see them returning to the conference championship game.

KEVIN BORBA, ALL CARDINAL

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

Comment: With Stanford continuing to show no signs of life, maybe they will get up for this huge rivalry matchup against Cal. The Pac-12 had a tough weekend last week in terms of top teams beating up on each other or flat out losing. USC appears to be the conference's last bet to make the playoffs.

SAM CONNON, ALL BRUINS

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

Comment: The Bruins really choked one away against Arizona, further complicating not only the tie-breaking scenarios for the conference championship game, but also the hierarchy in the Pac-12 as a whole. UCLA and Washington have both suffered boneheaded, unexplainable losses, but they have also beat some of the best teams in the West. If UCLA can beat USC, then it proves last week was a fluke and that it still is a force to be taken seriously down the stretch alongside Utah and Oregon, the latter still a contender despite a frustrating loss set up by tough-luck calls.

WYATT ALLSUP, ALL TROJANS

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

Comment: Apparently, nobody can play any defense in this conference, so I’m going to treat every potential matchup as a shootout and essentially rank these teams based on their offenses. USC has been a one-sided team all year but is good enough offensively to play with anybody. The Trojans have the best coach, the best player, and the best set of receivers in the conference. Full faith they get it done against UCLA this weekend.

COLE BAGLEY, ALL UTES

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

Comment: With UCLA and Oregon both losing last week, this Saturday is basically a semifinal to determine who will be playing for the Pac-12 Championship in December. From what I’ve seen from the Utes as of late, the defense is playing their best football while the offense has returned some of its most dangerous weapons in Tavion Thomas and Dalton Kincaid. Saturday will certainly be a battle between the top four teams and nobody should be surprised if the Utes walk away from Oregon with a W and a ticket to Allegiant Stadium.

DAN RALEY, INSIDE THE HUSKIES

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

Comment: If the league hasn't been entertaining and powerful enough, we're moving to the stretch run with plenty of intrigue. Oregon-Utah should be a classic game. The league has seven bowl-eligible teams, plus Arizona and Stanford own quality wins. USC and UCLA, why are you leaving again? The Huskies once again proved you can win without defense if you have a big lefty on the mound throwing high, hard ones.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Add us as a preferred source on Google