Pac-12 power rankings

Very quickly, let’s answer your questions before you ask them:

“Do you really think Colorado is better than WSU, California, AND Oregon State?”

No. But the Buffaloes won last week, and those other three teams didn’t. These rankings are a week-by-week snapshot, remember, and don’t necessarily weigh the context of a full season.

“Why is Stanford ranked ahead of UCLA and Washington when it hasn’t played yet?”

Because Stanford is better than both of those teams, and did nothing to disprove that notion while sitting at home working on astrophysics homework.

“Who wins in an arm-wrestling match between Utah coach Kyle Whittingham and a grizzly bear?”

Ask Mike Leach.

1 Oregon (1-0, 0-0 in Pac-12; last week: 1) – Most eye-popping stat from Ducks’ 66-3 throttling of Nicholls State: they possessed the ball for fewer than 20 minutes.

2 Stanford (0-0, 0-0; last week: 2) – Cardinal looked good during bye week, probably.

3 UCLA (1-0, 0-0; last week: 3) – All systems go for Brett Hundley and Bruins offense against poor Nevada.

4 Washington (1-0, 0-0; last week: 6) – Huskies have folks buzzing about new hurry-up offense. Now they hurry up and wait: bye this week.

5 USC (1-0, 0-0; last week: 5) – Lane Kiffin won’t say who Trojans QB will be. Is that good or bad for SC?

6 Arizona St. (0-0, 0-0; last week: 4) – Sun Devils drop two spots because they weren’t nearly as impressive as Stanford while idle.

7 Utah (1-0, 0-0; last week: 9 – Must-win over Utah State should be a nice confidence boost.

8 Arizona (1-0, 0-0; last week: 8) – Daniel Jenkins looked pretty good in thrashing of Northern Arizona. He tried to transfer to WSU in offseason.

9 Colorado (1-0, 0-0; last week: 12) – Maybe Colorado State won’t turn out to be anything special, but the Buffaloes will take any win they can get.

10 Washington St. (0-1, 0-0; last week: 11) – So the Cougars can play with Auburn. If they can play with USC, too, they could be in business.

11 California (0-1, 0-0, last week: 10) – Jared Goff will make mistakes, but showed in loss vs. Northwestern that future could be bright.

12 Oregon St. (0-1, 0-0; last week: 7) – EWU doesn’t take no mess, but that’s still an inexcusable loss for homestanding Beavers.