Stanford Rises, Washington and Arizona State Fall in Week 5 Pac 12 Power Rankings

Saturday Blitz Pac 12 Power Rankings Week 5

1. Oregon Ducks, 4-0 (1-0), Idle Last Saturday

Oregon still belongs in the top spot despite UCLA’s blowout victory last week. The Ducks have been doing that all season, so we’re not going to bump UCLA for one game where they simply had lots of big plays. And a close win against Washington State now looks better given the fact that the Cougars beat Utah over the weekend.

Oregon’s offense is obviously anchored by Marcus Mariota, who looks like the most efficient quarterback in college football right now, but we also have to pay attention to so many other guys on the group that have stepped up to make this a balanced rushing and passing attack to average 48.5 points a game. That includes Royce Freeman at running back and Devon Allen, Byron Marshall, and Keanon Lowe all coming through at receiver. Because they are turning games into such high-scoring affairs, the defense also deserves credit for holding teams to only 21 points per game. That’s the big story for this team so far.

Going forward, if the defense keeps up, this team will be every bit as good as advertised. A game against Arizona Thursday night and then at UCLA next Saturday will finally separate the undefeated teams in the conference and give us a clear-cut No. 1 team, but for right now the Ducks have proven far beyond anybody else that they deserve the top spot in the conference.