SI Pac-12 Power Rankings Week 3: Undefeated UCLA Football Slips

A second-straight win over an inferior opponent was not enough to get the pundits on the Bruins' side heading into the end of nonconference play.

The Fan Nation and Sports Illustrated publishers of the Pac-12 have come together to unveil their takes on the conference's hierarchy heading into Week 3 of the 2022 season.

UCLA football dropped from No. 3 to No. 4 in the latest edition of the SI Pac-12 Power Rankings following its 45-7 win over Alabama State on Saturday. There was not a consensus on the Bruins' current standing relative to their conference foes, and some outlets even had them bordering on a bottom-half team.

All Cardinal, All Bruins and All Utes were the highest on UCLA, slotting them in at No. 3 behind only USC and Utah. Cal Sports Report had the Bruins at No. 4, Ducks Digest has them at No. 5 and Inside the Huskies and All Trojans have them at No. 6.

USC held onto the No. 1 overall spot in the Pac-12 after handling Stanford, but there is now another challenger who has stolen a vote away. Utah remains in second with one of those first-place votes, while Washington State nabbed the other following its 17-14 road win against Wisconsin on Saturday.

Here are the full preseason power rankings, as well as some brief thoughts from each of the publishers:

2022 PRESEASON SI PAC-12 FOOTBALL POWER RANKINGS

1. USC, 82 points (5 first-place votes)
2. Utah, 74 points (1 first-place vote)
3. Oregon State, 62 points
4. UCLA, 61 points
5. Washington State, 58 points (1 first-place vote)
6. Washington, 52 points
7. Oregon, 51 points
8. Stanford, 28 points
9. Cal, 27 points
10. Arizona, 23 points
11. Arizona State, 21 points
12. Colorado, 7 points

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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