Pac-12 Power Rankings entering Week 6
A week after I moved them into the top spot, the Huskies went out and lost. So the updated Pac-12 Power Rankings for the week once again feature change at the top. UCLA moves up, Washington tumbles down. The No. 1 spot changes again.
Let’s dive in.
12. Colorado Buffaloes
The Buffs have found their quarterback but lost their coach. After a 43-20 loss to Arizona, Colorado decided to officially move on from Karl Dorrell. The 0-5 Buffs — with losses of at least 23 points in every game so far — now embrace the youth movement. It might look worse before it looks better, but there is some freshmen offensive talent that’s getting a chance to see the field. That could pay dividends later.
11. Stanford Cardinal
Prev. rank: 10
Here’s a list of categories that Stanford ranks ninth or worse among Pac-12 teams in: scoring offense (ninth), scoring defense (11th), rushing yards per carry (ninth), rushing yards per carry allowed (10th), yards per play allowed (11th), takeaways generated (12th), turnovers lost (12th), sacks generated (ninth), sacks allowed (tied for 12th), tackles for loss generated (10th), tackles for loss allowed (12th), conversion rate on third downs (ninth), and red zone scoring percentage (10th). Now consider that a number of those categories included counting stats that were not adjusted to reflect per-game averages, only totals. Now also consider that Stanford has played one fewer game than everyone else. The Cardinal are playing poor football right now.
10. Arizona State Sun Devils
Prev. rank: 11
Arizona State moved the ball well against USC in the first half before being locked up in the second half. Emory Jones found some rhythm there for a bit. It’s looking like a lost season for the 1-4 Sun Devils, so any positives we can take away, that’s what we’ll focus on.
9. Cal Golden Bears
Prev. rank: 8
Do I feel weird about slotting the Bears ninth and the team they literally beat on a football field two weeks ago two spots above them? Yes. I’ll acknowledge that. But Cal had a chance to take a big step against Washington State on the road — start a season 4-1 for just the second time in the last seven years — and instead it came out flat. The Bears punted on seven of their first eight possessions against Wazzu. Four of those possessions saw the offense go three-and-out. They mustered only nine points and gave up four sacks.
8. Oregon State Beavers
Prev. rank: 6
No team is going to be able to overcome four turnovers in a game. Oregon State has tested that theory twice and failed miserably both times. Coach Jonathan Smith has a quarterback crisis on his hands midway through what was supposed to be a breakthrough season for the Beavers. It started that way — with a 3-0 open and a late lead against USC — but Chance Nolan has thrown six interceptions in his last 28 pass attempts and exited the Utah game with a neck injury. The Beavers have lost back-to-back games and can’t afford another poor showing against Stanford this week.
7. Arizona Wildcats
Prev. rank: 9
Quarterback Jayden de Laura tied a program record with six passing touchdowns, engineering an offensive day for the Wildcats that featured the most yards gained by an Arizona team in its Pac-10/Pac-12 history. In throwing for 484 yards, de Laura also set a Colorado opponent record. The Wildcats are yoyoing a bit in these rankings, which is to be expected given the reliance on youth. They play Oregon this week and will need another excellent performance from de Laura to have a chance.
6. Washington State Cougars
Prev. rank: 5
The Cougs’ defensive front is and continues to be nasty. They had seven tackles for loss and four sacks and, as mentioned above, shut down the California offense for most of the day. They technically drop a spot this week but only because one team who was artificially low finally proved deserving of a top-five spot.
5. Washington Huskies
Prev. rank: 1
The biggest drop of the week belongs to the Huskies, who got emotionally steamrolled by a UCLA team that was clearly sick of being told it wasn’t as good as its unbeaten record indicated. That was a tough spot for the Huskies. First road game under a new staff carries with it a lot of newness, and UW had to navigate that on a Friday night to boot. The Husky defense looked awful, and like it was going through the motions at times. It was good to see Mike Penix Jr. regain some composure in the second half and make it a game again, but UW just dug itself too big a hole early on.
4. UCLA Bruins
Prev. rank: 7
I wrote it before, UCLA just let inferior teams hang around a bit too long. It never really felt like it was operating at peak efficiency. It did on Friday night. Dorian Thompson-Robinson played the game of his life. We’ll see how that carries over. Any questions about the defense were resoundingly answered. The key to this start: UCLA is controlling the negatives. On the defensive side of the ball, the Bruins currently rank eighth nationally in yards per carry allowed. On offense, they’re 13th in yards per play gained in part because they’ve allowed the fewest tackles for loss of any team in the country. Staying ahead of the chains on both sides of the football leads to good things.
3. Utah Utes
Prev. rank: 4
Utah has won four straight games by 21 points or more. In the offseason, this defense said it thought it could be better than the one Utah put out a year ago. That felt like a pretty bold claim given the losses of Mika Tafuna and Devin Lloyd, but it looking truer by the week. Not sure what’s happening with the run game on offense, though, and it seems to be front and center for Coach Kyle Whittingham this week.
2. Oregon Ducks
Prev. rank: 3
Penalty concerns aside, Oregon is red-hot right now, having just beat Stanford 45-27. The offense can hurt teams in a multitude of ways. They have one of the most efficient run games in college football, and quarterback Bo Nix has produced 17 total touchdowns against just one turnover in his last four games. Bucky Irving is one of my favorite backs in the conference, showing everything you want in a running back. The offensive line, when the snap is able to go off without a penalty flag, has done well in both the pass and run games. The Ducks have impressive wins at home (BYU) and on the road (Washington State) and they’re getting better each week. The only thing keeping Oregon out of the top spot for me is the fact it has a loss and the Men of Troy don’t yet.
1. USC Trojans
Prev. rank: 2
Back to the top for USC, which clamped down in the second half against Arizona State to cruise to a 42-25 win. USC’s defense is what it is, which is not what it showed against Oregon State. The same can be said for the offense going the other way — it is what it is, which is not what it showed against Oregon State. There was an obnoxious amount of handwringing over quarterback Caleb Williams’ performance against the Beavers. And a week later he came out and produced nearly 400 yards of total offense and four touchdowns, reconnecting with wideout Jordan Addison and making do with shoddy offensive line play. USC needs to get the line of scrimmage ironed out before facing Utah or it won’t have the top spot much longer.