Jacob Thorpe’s Week 13 Pac-12 Power Rankings

PULLMAN – It is a good thing so many Pac-12 schools held their rivalry games a week early. That allows us to focus on the important ones this week, where three Pac-12 schools can each lock up a spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game by beating their rivals.

The Apple Cup winner will head to the conference championship, and so will Colorado if it can take care of Utah. USC, meanwhile, beat the UCLA Bruins last week and so will have to hope for a Buffaloes loss.

Here is how I see the conference stacking up currently.

1 USC (8-3, 7-2; last week: No. 1) – The Trojans are the best team in the Pac-12, but need some help from the Utes so they can prove it in the conference championship.

2 Washington (10-1, 7-1; last week: No. 3) – Winning 10 games for the first time since 2001 is a pretty mean feat. And the Huskies did it by beating ASU in Husky Stadium, something they had not done since 1997.

3 Colorado (9-2, 7-1; last week: No. 5) – A group of players who have never played in a bowl game are on the cusp of the Pac-12 Championship Game.

4 Washington State (8-3, 7-1; last week: No. 2) – The loss to Colorado was deflating for a team so used to winning, but had very little impact on WSU’s Rose Bowl chances.

5 Stanford (8-3, 6-3; last week: No. 6) – The Cardinal fell off the radar after consecutive blowouts by the Washington schools, but Stanford has quietly put together a respectable season.

6 Utah (8-3, 5-3; last week: No. 4) – The Utes cost themselves a shot at the conference championship by overlooking an Oregon team that still has some bite.

7 Oregon (4-7; 2-6; last week: No. 9) – The Ducks hardly salvaged their season with the win over the Utes, but at least the fans have one game to remember fondly from 2016.

8 Oregon State (3-8, 2-6; last week: No. 11) – Of course, the Beavers are starting to figure things out, making the annual Civil War game with UO pretty interesting.

9 Arizona State (5-6, 2-6; last week: No. 7) – It’s been a rough month for the once-solid Sun Devils. But ASU can still get to a bowl by crushing the conference’s worst team.

10 UCLA (4-7, 2-6; last week: No. 8) – No team is more ready for this season to be over than UCLA.

11 California (4-7, 2-6; last week: No. 10) – Cal needed to get back to a bowl game this year to jumpstart the program in the post-Goff era. Now, it might be a while before the Golden Bears are competitive again.

12 Arizona (2-9, 0-8; last week: No. 12) – I don’t think Rich Rodriguez’s seat is especially hot, but he sure has a big job this offseason to make the Wildcats worth watching.