Pac-12 football power rankings

As the first iteration of my rankings, there has been no movement from the previous week. I promise it won’t happen again.

1 Oregon (4-0, 1-0 in Pac-12) – The Ducks will remain on this lofty perch until someone beats them. Spoiler Alert: They’ll be here next week, too.

2 Stanford (4-0, 2-0) – Nearly knocking two quarterbacks out of the game in a 55-17 shellacking of WSU did nothing to hurt Stanford’s position as perennial challenger to Oregon’s throne.

3 Arizona St. (3-1, 1-1) Perhaps a little high for the Sun Devils, but they deserve a treat for knocking Lane Kiffin out of the conference.

4 UCLA (3-0, 0-0) – Utah coach Kyle Whittingham raised an interesting point heading into their contest with the Bruins. Utes QB Travis Wilson’s stats are extremely similar to star UCLA QB Brett Hundley. Not after this game.

5 Washington (4-0, 1-0) – The Huskies have soundly beaten every middling team they’ve faced, but don’t have any signature wins. They’ll have plenty of chances in October, starting with Stanford.

6 Oregon St. (4-1, 2-0) – Mike Riley’s doing that thing where he has some embarrassing out-of-conference losses before tearing through the Pac-12 and making everybody else look bad. Again.

7 WSU (3-2, 1-1) – The Stanford game got out of hand quickly, but QB injuries and WR drops don’t mean WSU is a bad team. Win an upcoming road game with Cal and WSU will still be on pace to go bowling.

8 USC (3-2, 0-2) – They say that teams improve the most in the week between their first and second games. I say USC improves the most the week it gives Lane Kiffin the boot.

9 Utah (3-1, 0-1; last week: 10) – Utah has been fine so far, but could easily lose their next 7.

10 Arizona (3-1, 0-1) – All of a sudden Arizona’s QB situations is dire, and the next 3 wins needed for bowl eligibility will be a lot harder to come by.

1 1 California (1-3, 0-1) – While the Bears didn’t have a lot of positives come out of pasting by Oregon, their loss was a lot more forgivable than Colorado’s.

12 Colorado (2-1, 0-1) – The Buffaloes had a chance to build a little momentum with a win against struggling Oregon St. to start conference play. Instead, they got boat-raced to the bottom of the conference.