Conference power ranks

PULLMAN – As we enter the final week of Pac-12 football, the conference’s pecking order is pretty much what was expected from the beginning. Oregon and UCLA are at the top, Colorado is at the bottom and while there have been overachievers (Arizona and Utah) and underperformers (Stanford), most teams will finish up more or less where they were projected to when we started doing this back in August.

Maybe the often-maligned college football punditry knows more than we think.

1 Oregon (10-1, 7-1; last week: No. 1). The Ducks took their lumps this season but there’s something to be said for having the best player in college football behind the center.

2 UCLA. (9-2, 6-2; last week: No. 2) The Kings of L.A. are finally blowing teams out like everyone expected them to at the start of the season. And they’re doing it to ranked opponents.

3 Arizona. (9-2, 6-2 Pac; last week: No. 8) The Wildcats have the conference’s two most impressive wins this season, beating both Oregon and Utah on the road.

4 Arizona St. (9-2, 6-2; last week: No. 5) A barrage of turnovers saved the Sun Devils last weekend against Washington State, but ASU can’t escape just how inept its offense looked in the first half.

5 Stanford. (6-5, 4-4; last week: No. 6) The Cardinal showed its upstart rival that the shrinking gap between the NorCal schools is still as wide as the San Francisco Bay.

6 Washington. (7-5, 3-5; last week: No. 9) Washington may not be especially scary this season but that defensive front seven sure is; three of UW’s four starting defensive lineman are in the top 27 nationally in individual sacks.

7 Utah. (7-4, 4-4; last week: No. 3) Well, that was unbecoming. The Utes might have flown a bit too close to the sun in their surprising rise up the Pac-12 ranks. Consider the Arizona game their inevitable plummet back to earth.

8 USC. (7-4, 6-3; last week: No. 4) The head that wears the crown may be heavy, but that’s not something USC has to worry about anymore. Next year the Bruins will be going for a full academic class of players that never lost to USC.

9 Oregon St. (5-6, 2-6; last week: No. 7) Not finished with the Sun Devils, the Beavers apparently decided to use their game against UW to taunt ASU by emphasizing just how bad the team that wrecked the Sun Devils’ season is.

10 Washington St. (3-8, 2-7; last week: No. 11) The Cougars got blown out at ASU and Luke Falk is, in fact, human but WSU should be encouraged by its defense starting the game with six of the best series it has had all year.

11 California. (5-6, 3-6; last week: No. 10) The Golden Bears are much improved this season in every way except relative to their peers.

12 Colorado. (2-9, 0-8; last week: No. 12) Did you miss Colorado’s game at Oregon? Don’t worry, you can guess what happened.