Pac 12 Power Rankings Week 8: Oregon, USC, Arizona State Rise, Stanford Falls
Saturday Blitz Pac 12 Power Rankings Week 8
All of a sudden, Steve Sarkisian’s USC Trojans look like the Trojans who dominated the Pac-12 for years under Pete Carroll. A 56-28 win over Colorado is very impressive given how tough the Buffaloes have played other opponents. That follows a win over Arizona, who at the time was the only remaining undefeated team in the Pac-12. You could honestly make a case for the Trojans playing better than anybody in the conference.
Cody Kessler has emerged as a superstar after throwing for 7 touchdowns last week in the win against Colorado, which is incredible to do for an offense based on balance. On the year he now has 18 touchdowns to only 1 interception while completing nearly 70 percent of his passes, which is incredible. USC also has a very balanced attack with Javorius Allen in the mix at running back, and he followed up his 205-yard effort against Colorado with 128 yards despite Kessler still putting up huge numbers. This is a complete offense, even if the defense is inconsistent.
And if the defense can step up, it won’t lose a game going forward. If now, we could be dropping this team again soon enough because Utah and UCLA are road games, and Notre Dame is still on the schedule at the end of the year. So this team is good enough to go 10-2 and win the Pac-12. But it could also fall to 7-5.
Until it stumbles though, we’re keeping USC among our Pac-12 elite.