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The Daily Wildcat

The Daily Wildcat

 

Power Rankings: Pac-12 Football

North

1 Stanford — While the Cardinal may not be completely out of the College Football Playoff, they need a ton of help to make it. Currently ranked No. 7, Stanford would need both Michigan State and Alabama to lose Saturday to have a realistic chance. Kevin Hogan won Pac-12 Championship MVP in 2012 and has a chance to end his collegiate career the same way.

Oregon — Quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. has led the Ducks to six straight wins since returning from injury. One has to wonder if his presence would have changed the outcome of the Washington State loss and given Oregon an outside shot at the playoff.

Washington State — The Cougars ended their season with a whimper as Washington stomped them 45-10. It is only fitting a team that lost to Stanford by two would get blown out by a team needing a win to gain bowl eligibility.

California — The Golden Bears spotted ASU a 21-point lead before coming back and winning as time expired. A thrilling game with over 1,000 yards of offense became even better when the Sun Devils’ hearts were ripped out to top it off.

Washington — The Huskies throttled Washington State in the Apple Cup to gain bowl eligibility. On a side note, Chris Petersen has already lost as many games (12) in his two seasons at Washington, as he did in his eight at Boise State.

Oregon State — The two-win Beavers were one of only two teams in the Pac-12 to not reach bowl eligibility this year. Their season is finally over, but plenty of question marks remain for a team that is 7-17 over the past two years.


South

USC — The Trojans fell to 3-3 just five days after their coach was fired in the beginning of the season. They would beat a ranked Utah the next week to begin a miraculous run to the South title. USC will look for their sixth win in seven games in the Pac-12 Championship in Santa Clara, California on Saturday.

Utah — The Utes improved to 6-0 on Oct. 17 and rose all the way to No. 3 in the country. The Utes would then proceed to lose three of their next six games. As bad as the second half of their season was, at least they did not lose to Colorado.

UCLA— The Bruins are going to end the season at 8-4, but there is reason for optimism for UCLA fans. Josh Rosen is a freshman and has a very good chance of becoming one of the two best quarterbacks in the conference next season, as UCLA will look to finally live up to preseason expectations.

ASU — The Sun Devils gained their bowl eligibility after beating rival Arizona 52-37 in the Territorial Cup. A few untimely turnovers by the third-string quarterback brought the Cup back to Tempe for the time being. ASU just needs to remember who won the Pac-12 South last year.

Arizona — This time last year, Arizona was in the same position Stanford was: No. 7 in the playoff poll with two losses and needing a conference title and multiple breaks to reach the playoff. The Wildcats lost that game. That was back in the good ole’ days when Arizona was a heavyweight for a season in the college football world.

Colorado — The Buffaloes lost again to bring their pitiful season to 4-9. Alas, I do not get to make fun of their coach’s inability to beat any conference team besides Oregon State.


Follow Ivan Leonard on Twitter.


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