2022/23 PAC-12 Power Rankings

[Kachina]

After 4 weeks, I think this is something we can confidently put together.

---WEEK 4 POWER RANKINGS---
1. USC (4-0, 2-0)
2. Washinton (4-0, 1-0)
3. Utah (3-1, 1-0)
4. Oregon (3-1, 1-0)
5. Washington State (3-1, 0-1)
6. Oregon State (3-1, 0-1)
7. UCLA (4-0, 1-0)
8. California (3-1, 1-0)
9. Arizona (2-2, 0-1)
10, Arizona State (1-3, 0-1)
11. Stanford (1-2, 0-2)
12. Colorado (0-4, 0-1)

---WEEK 5 SCHEDULE---
Washington at UCLA (Friday, September 30)

Colorado at Arizona (Saturday, October 1)
Oregon State at Utah
California at Washington State
Arizona State at USC
Stanford at Oregon

---NOTES---
I think #1 is fairly clear cut at this point.

#2-#6 will change greatly. One week Oregon will look like #2, other times we see Wazzu up there. Despite UF's fall from grace, I still think Utah's close loss on the road in Gainesville is the best loss within the PAC 12.

I have no faith in UCLA (yet). If they win this weekend in front of their 2k fans, I'll be very impressed.

California could be undefeated, and might move themselves up as Plummer and Ott get more comfortable in the offense.

9-12 is what it is, and I don't think it'll move at all. I expect Buffs to remain the worst team, with Stanford just ahead, and the Arizona schools battling it out for the best of the worst.

 

[Wizardhawk]

Sure, you can do one of these if you don't mind it radically changing over the next 3-4 weeks. Way too many unknowns right now. You going with eye test? Best effort against the top team they have played?
Really haven't seen enough of the rest of the conf to have a deep opinion myself.

UW has an impressive offense, but we have no idea how they will respond when someone punches them in the mount since no one has done so yet. I'm still not fond of the LB and corner play, although their pass rush has been better than anticipated. I don't think we will learn much about what this team really is until November with the schedule they have. Don't expect they will be undefeated by the time the beavs roll into town, but those last 4 games have 3 of their biggest challenges. No clue at all how they will handle them.
Beavs and Utah looks to have tough defenses again. Not sold on either of their offenses, at least not to be elite.
Ducks are giving up 31pts per game average. That's not where you would expect them to be. Worse, they are dead last in the conference against the pass. Solid vs the run though.
Stanford didn't impress against either USC nor UW. Too many self inflicted wounds and Shaw failed to make any real adjustments on either side of the ball. Failed to make UW's sus corners be more of the story of the game given they gave up 8 sacks and had UW in their backfield all day. They have issues.

 

[trojanfan12]

Personally, I'd still have Utah number 1.

It says a lot that USC was able to win a game where the offense was struggling to move the ball and Caleb Williams played like a guy who doesn't have a full season as a starter under his belt yet (which he is). The defense stepped up and played their best game. But I'm still not sold. They are thin on the O and D lines, so if they have guys get hurt, they'll be in trouble.

My top 4 would be:

1. Utah
2. USC
3. Oregon
4, Washington

I see Oregon and Washington as pretty interchangeable.

I need to see another game or 2 before I'd put USC #1. Might even wait to see if they beat Utah.

 

[navamind]

Colorado may not win a game this season. They look abysmal. These next 4 games are probably their best shots (@Arizona, Cal, @Oregon State and Arizona St (I'd say this is their most likely)). After that, they play Oregon/@USC/@Wash/Utah. Yikes

They're currently 129th in scoring offense (11.8 PPG) and 126th in scoring defense (43.2). They're getting outgained by 3 yards per play (7.1 to 4.1).

 

[trojanfan12]

Colorado may not win a game this season. They look abysmal. These next 4 games are probably their best shots (@Arizona, Cal, @Oregon State and Arizona St (I'd say this is their most likely)). After that, they play Oregon/@USC/@Wash/Utah. Yikes

They're currently 129th in scoring offense (11.8 PPG) and 126th in scoring defense (43.2). They're getting outgained by 3 yards per play (7.1 to 4.1).

I don't see them having much chance against Oregon St. if the Beavs are healthy. That is a legit team and their starting DB's are all likely going to be playing on Sundays.

I can't remember ever seeing a college defensive backfield play as well as they did Saturday. They were playing a lot of zone and seamlessly passing USC's receivers on to the next zone. There are NFL teams that struggle with that.

A big part of why Caleb Williams struggled is because the receivers just couldn't get open.

 

[navamind]

I don't see them having much chance against Oregon St. if the Beavs are healthy. That is a legit team and their starting DB's are all likely going to be playing on Sundays.

I can't remember ever seeing a college defensive backfield play as well as they did Saturday. They were playing a lot of zone and seamlessly passing USC's receivers on to the next zone. There are NFL teams that struggle with that.

A big part of why Caleb Williams struggled is because the receivers just couldn't get open.

agreed, I was just comparing the four game stretches.

 

[Wizardhawk]

It's actually statistically harder to go winless for a full season than it is to go lossless. UW is the only team that has managed to do it. None of those awful WSU teams over the years. None of the bad beav teams. Those terrible zona squads.

I mean I get it, they look really bad, but it's very hard to not get a win somewhere.

 

[duckboy33]

It's actually statistically harder to go winless for a full season than it is to go lossless. UW is the only team that has managed to do it. None of those awful WSU teams over the years. None of the bad beav teams. Those terrible zona squads.

I mean I get it, they look really bad, but it's very hard to not get a win somewhere.

A huge part in finishing 0-12 is not having an OOC gimme. That happened to the Huskies in 2008 and it's happening to CU in 2022. Of all years not to play CSU...

There's a legit chance CU goes 0-12

 

[duckboy33]

I don't see a major difference in any of the 4 ranked teams in the PAC. Schedules favor USC and UW though. USC misses UO and UW out of the North. UW misses Utah and USC out of the South.

OSU, Wazzu and UCLA are all good enough to pull an upset if you aren't careful.

I haven't seen Cal this year but their offensive explosion vs. Arizona impressed.

Arizona, ASU, Stanford aren't good. Colorado is taking over for Kansas

 

[Wizardhawk]

A huge part in finishing 0-12 is not having an OOC gimme. That happened to the Huskies in 2008 and it's happening to CU in 2022. Of all years not to play CSU...

There's a legit chance CU goes 0-12

There were at least 3 conf games UW could have won that year.

Again, I'm just saying I always expect even great Pac teams to lose a game somewhere they shouldn't, and the worst of teams to find someone sleeping and pull off an upset somewhere. It's hard to bet on winless and lossless.

 

[duckboy33]

There were at least 3 conf games UW could have won that year.

Again, I'm just saying I always expect even great Pac teams to lose a game somewhere they shouldn't, and the worst of teams to find someone sleeping and pull off an upset somewhere. It's hard to bet on winless and lossless.

I get it. CU better get a win vs ASU, Zona or cal though. They end the year with UO, UW, USC and Utah.

Looking at that schedule, ASU is the only game where I see CU as single digit dogs

 

[Brutus]

After 4 weeks, I think this is something we can confidently put together.

---WEEK 4 POWER RANKINGS---
1. USC (4-0, 2-0)
2. Washinton (4-0, 1-0)
3. Utah (3-1, 1-0)
4. Oregon (3-1, 1-0)
5. Washington State (3-1, 0-1)
6. Oregon State (3-1, 0-1)
7. UCLA (4-0, 1-0)
8. California (3-1, 1-0)
9. Arizona (2-2, 0-1)
10, Arizona State (1-3, 0-1)
11. Stanford (1-2, 0-2)
12. Colorado (0-4, 0-1)

---WEEK 5 SCHEDULE---
Washington at UCLA (Friday, September 30)

Colorado at Arizona (Saturday, October 1)
Oregon State at Utah
California at Washington State
Arizona State at USC
Stanford at Oregon

---NOTES---
I think #1 is fairly clear cut at this point.

#2-#6 will change greatly. One week Oregon will look like #2, other times we see Wazzu up there. Despite UF's fall from grace, I still think Utah's close loss on the road in Gainesville is the best loss within the PAC 12.

I have no faith in UCLA (yet). If they win this weekend in front of their 2k fans, I'll be very impressed.

California could be undefeated, and might move themselves up as Plummer and Ott get more comfortable in the offense.

9-12 is what it is, and I don't think it'll move at all. I expect Buffs to remain the worst team, with Stanford just ahead, and the Arizona schools battling it out for the best of the worst.

This could be David Shaws fourth crappy season in a row at Stanford. Is he gone at the end of the year or has he built enough leeway for a 5th try?

 

[trojanfan12]

This could be David Shaws fourth crappy season in a row at Stanford. Is he gone at the end of the year or has he built enough leeway for a 5th try?

Hard to say.

They were 9-4 in 2018, 4-8 in 2019, 4-2 in 2020, then 3-9 last year.

Stanford doesn't really care a lot about athletics and they seem to understand that their academic standards create obstacles that don't exist at other schools. So they are likely to be fairly patient, especially when you consider his past success there.

I think they likely keep him at least until the end of his contract. Problem is, I can't seem to find anything that shows when his contract ends.

 

[OlyDuck]

After 4 weeks, I think this is something we can confidently put together.

---WEEK 4 POWER RANKINGS---
1. USC (4-0, 2-0)
2. Washinton (4-0, 1-0)
3. Utah (3-1, 1-0)
4. Oregon (3-1, 1-0)
5. Washington State (3-1, 0-1)
6. Oregon State (3-1, 0-1)
7. UCLA (4-0, 1-0)
8. California (3-1, 1-0)
9. Arizona (2-2, 0-1)
10, Arizona State (1-3, 0-1)
11. Stanford (1-2, 0-2)
12. Colorado (0-4, 0-1)

---WEEK 5 SCHEDULE---
Washington at UCLA (Friday, September 30)

Colorado at Arizona (Saturday, October 1)
Oregon State at Utah
California at Washington State
Arizona State at USC
Stanford at Oregon

---NOTES---
I think #1 is fairly clear cut at this point.

#2-#6 will change greatly. One week Oregon will look like #2, other times we see Wazzu up there. Despite UF's fall from grace, I still think Utah's close loss on the road in Gainesville is the best loss within the PAC 12.

I have no faith in UCLA (yet). If they win this weekend in front of their 2k fans, I'll be very impressed.

California could be undefeated, and might move themselves up as Plummer and Ott get more comfortable in the offense.

9-12 is what it is, and I don't think it'll move at all. I expect Buffs to remain the worst team, with Stanford just ahead, and the Arizona schools battling it out for the best of the worst.

I think Washington at 1 from what I have seen
USC still hasnt done much for me to say clear cut. Rice? Bowling Green? no. beating stanford? Washington did it better. I dont know if they won at Oregon State as much as escaped.
when has Wazzu looked like the #2? when has Oregon?
1. Washington
2. USC
3. Oregon better wins than Utah
4. Utah
5. Wazzu could really flip Oregon State but Wazzu has the better OOC win
6. Oregon State
7. UCLA Play someone already
8. Cal
9. Az
10. Az State
11. Stan
12. Colorado

 

[OlyDuck]

This could be David Shaws fourth crappy season in a row at Stanford. Is he gone at the end of the year or has he built enough leeway for a 5th try?

why does it feel like its been more?

 

[OlyDuck]

There were at least 3 conf games UW could have won that year.

Again, I'm just saying I always expect even great Pac teams to lose a game somewhere they shouldn't, and the worst of teams to find someone sleeping and pull off an upset somewhere. It's hard to bet on winless and lossless.

its been that way a long time
USC Pete days Oregon State UCLA
Chip in 4 years only really had like 1 vs Stanford all the rest were high ranked teams.
Helfrich was tormented by Arizona a couple times.
Petersen had AZ st and Cal
Shaw had UW and Utah get them in his early days
Utah had like 3 last year

 

[Kachina]

This could be David Shaws fourth crappy season in a row at Stanford. Is he gone at the end of the year or has he built enough leeway for a 5th try?

Hard to say, but I would think he has to be gone.

 

[osubuckeye89]

A huge part in finishing 0-12 is not having an OOC gimme. That happened to the Huskies in 2008 and it's happening to CU in 2022. Of all years not to play CSU...

There's a legit chance CU goes 0-12

I'm not sure many OOC games would be "gimmes" for Colorado this year, they are THAT bad.

Colorado vs Colorado State this year would be a trainwreck cripple fight.

 

[Kachina]

I'm not sure many OOC games would be "gimmes" for Colorado this year, they are THAT bad.

Colorado vs Colorado State this year would be a trainwreck cripple fight.

Colorado vs Colorado State
Iowa vs Iowa State

MUST WATCH TRAIN WRECKS.

 

[Kachina]

It's actually statistically harder to go winless for a full season than it is to go lossless. UW is the only team that has managed to do it. None of those awful WSU teams over the years. None of the bad beav teams. Those terrible zona squads.

I mean I get it, they look really bad, but it's very hard to not get a win somewhere.

We better beat the Buffs this weekend.

Buffs will beat Oregon, though.