Pac-12 Football Preseason Poll: Utah Favored; Cal Picked Ninth

All 12 teams are grouped together in the media poll as division standings no longer determine conference championship matchup

Cal was picked to finish ninth and Utah was chosen as the favorite to win the 2022 Pac-12 conference football championship in a vote of 33 media members who cover the league. The defending Pac-12 champion Utes received 26 of the 33 first-place votes to earn the preseason nod in the poll released Thursday.

The most significant aspect of this year's poll is that teams are not separated by divisions. That's because the Pac-12 championship game this year will match the two teams with the best conference records, not the two division champions, as was the case in previous years.

This change came about following the NCAA Division I Council decision in May to deregulate the rule that had limited an individual conference's autonomy to determine their football championship game participants. It was based on a motion brought by the Pac-12 and unanimously supported by all FBS conferences.

Oregon was picked to finish second, but it had a razor-thin margin over USC, which received more first-place votes than the Ducks.  If Utah and USC should finish with the best conference records, they would meet in the conference championship game, even though they both reside in the South Division.

Schedules are still set up in the divisional format, so that teams play every other team in their division and four of the teams from the other division.  For Cal, which is in the Pac-12 North, it means 2022 games against division foes Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State and Stanford as well as games against South Division teams USC, UCLA, Arizona and Colorado.  The Bears will not face Utah and Arizona State in their nine-game conference schedule unless they would meet in the conference title game.

Cal is picked to finish ninth, but it was just five voting points behind archrival Stanford, which holds down the No. 8 slot. The Bears finished 5-7 overall and 4-5 in the conference last year, which was the 12th straight season Cal ended up with a losing conference record.  The Bears lost a number of starters from last season, including quarterback Chase Garbers, their leading rusher (Christopher Brooks) and most of their top receivers.

Cal was picked sixth among the six North Division squads.

The media has correctly selected the conference champion in 32 of 61 previous preseason polls, including five times in the 11-year College Football Playoff era.

The 2022 Pac-12 Football Media Day will be held in Los Angeles on Friday, July 29. 

Following are the results of the preseason media poll (points 12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 with first-place votes in parentheses): 

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Cover photo by Stan Szeto, USA TODAY Sports

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