The Pac-12 didn’t get off to the best start in 2011, but it’s picking up steam nationally.
The conference has four teams ranked with another standing close by.
No. 6 Stanford, if it wins out, has the chance to play for the national title with No. 7 Oregon firmly in the race for an at-large BCS selection if it doesn’t win the Pac-12.
Southern California and No. 21 ASU provide depth for the conference.
Here’s how the Pac-12 shakes out with five weeks remaining in the regular season.
12. Colorado (1-7, 0-4 Pac-12)
The Buffaloes have tried; they just don’t have the personnel to succeed yet. They lost in overtime to Cal, by 10 to Ohio State and by four to WSU. Against UO and Stanford though, CU was outscored 83-9.
Senior quarterback Tyler Hansen has 13 touchdowns with only four interceptions on the season but the CU defense hasn’t been able to stop anyone.
11. Utah (3-4, 0-4 Pac-12)
BCS conference football hasn’t been kind to the Utes. In four Pac-12 games, they’ve been outscored 113-52. It hasn’t helped that junior quarterback Jordan Wynn was lost for the remainder of the season in the team’s loss to UW.
The Utes rank dead last in the Pac-12 in total offense, only picking up 309 yards per game.
10. Washington State (3-4, 1-3 Pac-12)
At 3-1, the Cougars were a surprise story in college football. But after dropping a tough one to UCLA by three points, WSU has lost its last two games by a combined 53 points. Its schedule doesn’t get much easier from here with matchups against UO, ASU and UW.
The Cougars rank second in the Pac-12 in passing offense with 313 yards per game through the air. Sophomore kicker Andrew Furney has made all nine of his field goals this season, including a season-long 51-yarder.
9. UCLA (3-4, 2-2 Pac-12)
The Bruins were absolutely embarrassed on national television last Thursday, giving up six touchdowns on six consecutive possessions to UA. They may have two Pac-12 wins, but they didn’t even seem like they wanted to play the second half. Whether UCLA’s most recent performance carries over to its next game remains uncertain, but if Rick Neuheisel wants to keep his job, his team better find a way to bounce back.
The Bruins are still, in all likelihood, the only team in the Pac-12 South with a realistic chance to challenge ASU for the division crown. They’ll need to beat the Sun Devils in Los Angeles in two weeks to keep that dream alive.
With its quarterback situation in constant flux, UCLA relies on its running game to carry the load. The team ranks fourth in the conference in rushing with 172 yards per game.
8. California (4-3, 1-3 Pac-12)
After taking on UW, UO and USC in their first three Pac-12 games, the Golden Bears got back on track with a 34-10 thrashing of Utah. They’ll play three more very winnable games before finishing the regular season with visits to Stanford and ASU.
Cal’s biggest strength is its pass defense, which ranks first in the Pac-12. The Golden Bears allow just 214 yards per game through the air in a conference filled with marquee quarterbacks.
7. UA (2-5, 1-4 Pac-12)
The Wildcats were a dead team under Mike Stoops. Their ridiculously tough schedule, including three games against top-10 teams to start the season, didn’t help either. But after a coaching change and a bye week, UA destroyed UCLA by putting up 42 points in the first half.
The Wildcats’ toughest remaining game comes against ASU. With matchups against CU, Utah and Louisiana-Lafayette on the horizon, a win over UW this weekend would put the once left-for-dead Wildcats in great position to finish the season bowl-eligible.
Senior quarterback Nick Foles leads the Pac-12 in passing yards per game by 77 over USC’s Matt Barkley. Foles throws for 363 yards per game and completes 70.9 percent of his passes.
6. Oregon State (2-5, 2-2 Pac-12)
Give the Beavers some credit. After a miserable start to their season, they’ve bounced back by winning two of their last three games. Mike Riley-coached teams tend to play better as the season goes on and OSU can build even more confidence with a win this weekend in Salt Lake City against a down-and-out Utah team.
In his first two Pac-12 starts, freshman quarterback Sean Mannion threw five interceptions and two touchdowns. He's since completed 72 percent of his passes for seven touchdowns.
5. Washington (5-2, 3-1 Pac-12)
The Huskies received a reality check in a 65-21 loss to Stanford last week, but they are still one of only five Pac-12 teams with three conference wins. UW already beat Colorado and Utah, so the meat of its schedule is still ahead of it. The Huskies host a reborn UA team before taking on the Ducks and Trojans in the weeks following.
Sophomore quarterback Keith Price and junior running back Chris Polk look like a duo that can carry this team. The UW offense ranks third in the Pac-12 in scoring offense. Its defense, however, allows 431 yards per game and ranks 10th.
4. Southern California (6-1, 3-1 Pac-12)
The Trojans got a marquee win at Notre Dame last week, but they don’t have time to celebrate with Stanford coming to town. ESPN’s “College Gameday” will be in Los Angeles as USC tries to play spoiler again. The Trojans haven’t beat anyone worth noting yet, but a win against the unbeaten Cardinal would go a long way in smoothing over another bowless season.
Junior quarterback Matt Barkley, along with his powerful receiving duo of Marqise Lee and Robert Woods, will test the Stanford defense.
It’ll be up to Monty Kiffin to try to slow down Andrew Luck and the Cardinal offense.
3. ASU (5-2, 3-1 Pac-12)
Sitting pretty in the Pac-12 South are the Sun Devils. They’ll likely be favored by at least a touchdown in all of their remaining five regular season games.
ASU hosts the bottom-feeding Buffaloes this weekend before traveling to UCLA and WSU. If all goes right, the Sun Devils could have the division clinched by the time they return home for matchups with UA and Cal.
With the injury bug being a huge storyline for ASU all season, it’ll be intriguing to see how Dennis Erickson handles the potential of a couple meaningless games at the end of the year. None of the players or coaches think this way, but the Sun Devils really don’t have all that much to gain until the Pac-12 title game.
2. Oregon (6-1, 4-0 Pac-12)
No starting quarterback or starting running back? No problem. The Ducks pulled away from ASU when Darron Thomas went down then clobbered CU on the road with neither of them seeing any action.
UO gets WSU at home this week before traveling to Seattle and Palo Alto for two marquee games. The Ducks are the highest rated one-loss team in the country, so there’s still national championship hope in Eugene. But even if UO lost to Stanford, its BCS aspirations wouldn’t be dead. The Ducks would then pull for the Cardinal to run the table and hope for an at-large invitation to the Rose Bowl.
1. Stanford (7-0, 5-0 Pac-12)
Undefeated and untested, the closest an opponent has gotten to the Cardinal is 27 points.
Quarterback Andrew Luck has the talent to win any game by himself, while the rest of the team feeds off the future No. 1 overall NFL draft pick. Junior running back Stephan Taylor flies under the radar a bit, but his explosiveness compliments Stanford’s elite passing game perfectly.
The Cardinal’s schedule gets much harder the final five games of the season with back-to-back road games at USC and OSU before hosting UO, Cal and Notre Dame. While Stanford is firmly in the national title race, one loss could mean the school watching the Pac-12 title game from home.
Reach the reporter at tyler.emerick@asu.edu Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
