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Pac-12 Media Days: Stanford picked to win conference

By Patrick Schmidt

Dec 5, 2015; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal head coach David Shaw stands on the field during a timeout against the Southern California Trojans in the fourth quarter of the Pac-12 Conference football championship game at Levi
Dec 5, 2015; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal head coach David Shaw stands on the field during a timeout against the Southern California Trojans in the fourth quarter of the Pac-12 Conference football championship game at Levi /
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The Stanford Cardinal made history on Thursday when the Pac-12 football media picked them as the preseason pick to win the conference at Pac-12 Media Days.

Pac-12 Media Days got underway on Thursday and things began with the release of the preseason picks to win the conference and for the first time it was the Stanford Cardinal.

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Led by All-American all-purpose running back Christian McCaffrey, the Cardinal look to repeat as conference champions and won’t settle for a Rose Bowl berth this year after they were left out of the College Football Playoff.

If they hope to make the Playoff, they’ll have to win the Pac-12, but also win the conference with no more than one loss on their record.

Stanford received 24 of a possible 33 first-place votes with the Washington Huskies coming in second place with eight and finished a total of 23 votes behind Stanford and the Oregon Ducks came in third and received one first-place vote.

Washington State, California and Oregon State were picked to round out the North.

The South sees the UCLA Bruins edge the rival USC Trojans with 180-173 votes and had 19 to 12 first-place votes. However, the media gave USC five votes to UCLA’s three when it voted on the Pac-12 champion. This means, despite UCLA being picked to win the division, the media believes USC still has a better shot to win the conference.

Both divisions look to be two-team races with a clear divide after the top two in each division. In the South, Utah is up the pack as the third best team in the division with Arizona and Arizona State separated by two votes for fourth and fifth in the division. The Colorado Buffaloes are picked to finish in last place.

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Stanford received 20 votes to win the Pac-12 Championship Game with USC (5), Washington (4), UCLA (3) and Utah (1) receiving votes for the game that takes place Friday, Dec. 2 at 6 p.m. PT at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. and televised on FOX.

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