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Pac-12 power rankings: Week 14


Webeck's final Pac-12 bowl projections:

Oregon (predicting to win Pac-12 Championship Game): No. 2 College Football Playoff seed

UA: Cotton Bowl

UCLA: Alamo Bowl

USC: Holiday Bowl

ASU: Foster Farms Bowl

Utah: Sun Bowl

Stanford: Las Vegas Bowl

Washington: Cactus Bowl

Week 14 Oregon

The Ducks did what the Sun Devils could not: beat Oregon State at Reser Stadium. Both teams went into Corvallis, Oregon, with College Football Playoff hopes on the line, but only one exited with them still in tact. Since that fateful loss, ASU has gone 1-1 to finish 9-3. Oregon will try to finish better, with the Pac-12 Championship Game on Friday against UA and potentially the College Football Playoff after that. If one thing was certain in the Pac-12 this season, it was that Oregon was head and shoulders above the rest of the conference.

Week 14 UA

It took until the final week of the regular season, but UA has finally grabbed the No. 2 position in the power rankings. It's the Wildcats highest ranking of the season, just like their place in the Playoff poll should be. And it's deserved. I had my doubts of the Wildcats all season, which I believe were legitimate. But in the end, Rich Rodriguez's team got up for the big games. UA beat Oregon on the road, Utah on the road and ASU at home. All were convincing performances and showed the potential the team has -- something not seen in games such as one-score wins over UTSA and Nevada, whose fans stormed the field after beating two-win UNLV to end the season.

Week 14 ASU

It had long been a joke how ASU was going to flush its season down the drain. An 8-1 record, No. 6 in the country, its playoff and Pac-12 fates in its own hands. It was seemingly impossible to screw up, especially with just a three-game slate against Oregon State, Washington State and UA. Yet, the Sun Devils dropped two of their last three games. They lost the Pac-12 South not once but twice. After being upset by Oregon State, ASU was handed a gift by UCLA losing to Stanford and it still couldn't capitalize. Now, ASU's most likely bowl berth might be the Foster Farms Bowl. At best, it's the Alamo. And maybe the Sun Devils could get the Holiday Bowl for a second consecutive season. But you remember how that went last season.

Week 14 UCLA

The 2014 season college football season didn't have many teams that ebbed and flowed as much as UCLA did. A team that was expected to contend for a national title before the season quickly had those expectations adjusted after barely skating by a nonconference schedule of Virginia, Memphis and Texas. The Bruins then seemingly reached their potential to end the season, with statement wins over UA, Washington and USC. But not so fast. It just wouldn't be the 2014 Bruin season if it ended there. With the Pac-12 South in its hands, all UCLA had to do was beat Stanford to head to the title game. Instead, the Bruins came out flat and held just one lead all game against the Cardinal, allowing UA to reach its first Pac-12 title game.

Week 14 Stanford

Somehow, Stanford managed to end its regular season on high note. It was still the Cardinal's worst season under coach David Shaw and their worst season since 2009, which ended in a loss to Oklahoma in the Sun Bowl. That season ended 8-5. Stanford will have to win its bowl game this year to match that record. You only have to go another year back, when it went 5-7, to find the last time Stanford had seven or fewer wins on a season. Ironically, quarterback Kevin Hogan seemed to finally hit his stride, after nearly three full years of mediocrity. There had been rumors he might not return for his senior season, having already graduated. We'll see if a 16-of-19 performance against UCLA adds any weight to that decision.

Week 14 UW

Despite its rough patches, it's hard to categorize Chris Petersen's first season on Montlake as a failure. After beating Washington State 31-13 to win the Apple Cup, Petersen became the first coach in Huskies history to win eight games in his inaugural season. Granted, he had 13 games to do it in and still lost five of them. But in the end, the Huskies have strung together back-to-back eight-win seasons for the first time since 2000-01. The Huskies lose the majority of its talented front-seven but return all their secondary and much of their offense for Petersen's second season.

Week 14 USC

Maybe coach Steve Sarkisian can finally shake the "seven win Sark" nickname after finishing 8-4 in his first season at the helm of the Trojans. Thanks to a blowout win of Notre Dame in the final week of the season, it's hard to call Sarkisian's Los Angeles debut a failure, but it was far from a success. Sark did get stellar play out of Cody Kessler, who few ever expected to be the centerpiece of the Trojan attack. But overall, USC underperformed its talent level again. The Trojans should contend for the Pac-12 South next season, if not projected as the favorite, but first is a trip to another mid-level bowl game.

Week 14 Utah

It must be difficult for Kyle Whittingham and the Utes to imagine how the season could have turned out if receiver Dres Anderson hadn't gotten injured. They were 6-1 and 3-1 in the Pac-12 with a showdown against ASU on the horizon to determine who would be in the driver's seat for the division. In Anderson's first game out, the Utes passed for 54 yards against the Sun Devils. The loss would only serve as a preview of things to come. Similarly to the Sun Devils' collapse, Utah lost three of its last five games. Its only loss in its first seven was a one-point upset at the hands of Washington State.

Week 14 Cal

Neither Cal nor Oregon State was able to win either of its final two games to become the Pac-12's ninth bowl eligible team. The Golden Bears fell to Stanford then BYU to close the season. Nonetheless, they won their first conference games in more than a season and improved from 1-11 to 5-7. The future is bright. Cal resembles many once-rebuilding Pac-12 programs. It has the offense but needs a defense. Quarterback Jared Goff came into his own this season and should be an All-Pac-12 candidate in his final two seasons in Berkeley, California.

Week 14 OSU

Lightening couldn't strike twice in Corvallis this season. The Beavers had already upset then-No. 6 ASU on Nov. 15 but couldn't find their magic for the Civil War on Saturday, as they fell without much fight to No. 2 Oregon 47-19. It marks an end of an era, as quarterback Sean Mannion has played his last game in black and orange. He's seemingly led the Beavers forever, and it kind of has been. Mannion has been the Beavers starting quarterback since his freshman season. He might be the final quarterback of Mike Riley's tenure as head coach, too, but that is unlikely. It's doubtful the Beavers could ever find a coach the caliber of Riley on the open market, so despite the recent disappointing finishes, Riley should continue to be the man in Corvallis until he hangs 'em up.

Week 14 WSU

A long season of disappointments culminated Saturday night in Pullman, when the Cougars were blown out by their cross-state rivals, the Washington Huskies. After going bowling last season for the first time since 2003, the Cougars were expected to be even more competitive in 2014 and possibly win six or seven games again. Instead, Washington State won just three and couldn't even atone for the past 11 games with a win over Washington. The Cougars got a glimpse into the future with Luke Falk starting the final three games of the season, but they'd better hope he matures quickly and eliminates the six interceptions he threw in the last two games.

Week 14 Colorado

It's finally official: the Colorado Buffaloes didn't win a Pac-12 game in 2014. They came close a couple times, including on Saturday against Utah, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. On the bright side, there shouldn't be another team for a while as bad as Colorado was this season. The Buffaloes should be competitive next season, along with the other 11 schools in the conference. If I had to pick a favorite for 2015's worst team in the Pac-12, I'd pick Oregon State, with Washington State not far behind. But every team should win at least one conference game next season.

Graphics by Evan Webeck | Sports reporter

Reach the reporter at ewebeck@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @EvanWebeck

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