Week Three Sports Illustrated Pac-12 Football Power Rankings

There were a lot of exciting games in the Pac-12 this past week. Who's on top entering week three?

Max Torres | Sep 13, 2022

This past weekend of Pac-12 football brought plenty of exciting games. Whether it was Washington State's upset of Wisconsin on the road in Madison or Jonathan Smith and Oregon State getting the program's first ever win over the Fresno State Bulldogs, fans had plenty of great football to watch.

Now heading into week three, some schools will get their final, or in some cases their first real test with a non-conference opponent.

Our group of Pac-12 publishers got together to give you our weekly power rankings for the conference of champions.

Week 3-SI Pac-12 Football Power Rankings

1. USC (2-0) (5)...82 votes

2. Utah (1-1) (1)...74

3. Oregon State (2-0)...62

4. UCLA 2-0...61

5. Washington State (2-0) (1)...58

6. Washington (2-0)...52

7. Oregon (1-1)...51

8. Stanford (1-1)...28

9. Cal (2-0)...27

10. Arizona (1-1)...23

11. Arizona State (1-1)..21

12. Colorado (0-2)...7

Here are the rankings from each of our Pac-12 publishers, along with their thoughts from week two.

Jake Curtis, Cal Sports Report

1. Washington State, 2. USC. 3. Oregon State, 4. UCLA, 5. Washington, 6. Utah, 7. Oregon, 8. Cal, 9, Arizona, 10. Stanford. 11. Arizona State. 12. Colorado

Comment: If you look at results and not preseason expectations, which team has had the best results? WSU beat a ranked team (Wisconsin) on the road. No other Pac-12 team has done that. The only certainty in these rankings is that Colorado is last.

Max Torres, Ducks Digest

1. USC; 2. Utah; 3. Washington State; 4. Oregon State; 5. UCLA; 6. Oregon; 7. Washington; 8. Stanford; 9. Arizona State; 10. Arizona; 11. Cal; 12. Colorado

Comment: Oregon bounced back in a big way and looked even better than I anticipated against Eastern Washington. That being said, hanging 70 on an FCS school isn't anything to write home about and their Pac-12 trajectory will become much clearer when they face No. 12 BYU this week in a much more difficult and physical game. Their conference opener against Washington State looks all the more intriguing after the Cougs upset Wisconsin on the road.

Kevin Borba, All Cardinal

1. USC; 2. Utah; 3. UCLA; 4. Oregon State; 5. Oregon; 6. Washington; 7. Washington State; 8. Arizona; 9. Stanford; 10. Cal; 11. Arizona State; 12. Colorado

Comment: Not a lot of movement this time around, but USC did seem to solidify itself as the best team in the conference right now. Stanford, on the other hand, has a very early bye week in which it will look to get some key people healthy, and prepare for Washington next week.

Sam Connon, All Bruins

1. USC; 2. Utah; 3. UCLA; 4. Washington; 5. Oregon; 6. Oregon State; 7. Washington State; 8. Cal; 9. Arizona State; 10. Arizona; 11. Stanford; 12. Colorado

Comment: Outside of the Trojans, the rest of the supposed top-tier teams in the conference played and defeated a bunch of cupcakes last weekend. That gave Oregon State, Washington State and Cal a chance to assert themselves as teams to take seriously, and they each did just that. Wins over Wisconsin, Fresno State and UNLV show how the Pac-12 has improved from last year – even if they were offset slightly by Arizona and Arizona State's losses to Mississippi State and Oklahoma State – and the middle of the pack could prove to be more disruptive than initially thought.

Wyatt Allsup, All Trojans

1. USC; 2. Utah; 3. Oregon State; 4. Oregon; 5. Washington State; 6. UCLA; 7. Stanford; 8. Washington; 9. Arizona; 10. Arizona State; 11. Cal; Colorado.

Comment: Utah bounced back nicely with a strong win against a weaker opponent. Stanford gave USC a decent fight in the second half, but USC is still the team to beat in this conference. Oregon State is starting to put it together; don’t be surprised if they find themselves in the AP Top 25 soon.

Cole Bagley, All Utes

1. Utah; 2. USC; 3. UCLA; 4. Washington; 5. Oregon State; 6. Oregon; 7. Washington State; 8. Cal; 9. Stanford; 10. Arizona State; 11. Arizona; 12. Colorado

Comment: Not much changed from the previous week. USC has firepower, but the defense is unproven. Washington still may be a dark horse and Oregon somewhat bounced back. More conference matchups will tell us what we really need to know.

Dan Raley, Inside the Huskies

1. USC; 2. Utah; 3. Washington State; 4. Oregon State; 5. Washington; 6. UCLA; 7. Oregon; 8. Cal; 9. Stanford; 10. Arizona State; 11. Arizona; 12. Colorado

Comment: We've come to a Kalen DeBoer crossroads with the Huskies hosting Michigan State and tasked with showing whether or not they can score at will against a Big Ten team. Or beat one by a field goal, such as WSU did. Considering the Big Ten's pilfering of USC and UCLA, these are statement games now.

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Published Sep 13, 2022

MAX TORRES

Max Torres is the publisher and lead editor of Ducks Digest. He's covered the Oregon football and recruiting beats for four years. He's based out of Long Beach, CA and travels around Southern California and the country covering top high school football prospects.