Pac 12 Power Rankings Week 8: Oregon, USC, Arizona State Rise, Stanford Falls
Saturday Blitz Pac 12 Power Rankings Week 8
The Washington State Cougars had the benefit of not playing last week, meaning they had the benefit of not losing. All the hype surrounding Mike Leach’s third team has gone out the window, though, and this team looks like it is in some big trouble. They have lost to mediocre and good teams, and the only reason their record isn’t worse is because of one lucky upset they had over Utah.
Connor Halliday is running a Leach-led air raid system the way you would expect him to, with 490 yards per game passing. But even with that, this team has had two games where it scored less than 20 points. That’s the last thing you can afford when you rely on scoring 50 points a game, and the defense is worse than usual in a Leach system. That makes for a terrible combination.
And the Cougars don’t have the best outlook going forward. Arizona is up next, followed by USC, and they still have to play Oregon State, Arizona State, and Washington. All of those teams have been wildly inconsistent, just like the Cougars, so this team honestly has a chance at reaching 6 or 7 wins or falling to 2-10.
But at 2-5, the latter seems more likely, which is why we have to put them next to last in our Pac 12 Power Rankings.