Pac-12 Football Power Rankings, Week 1: Can Utah be stopped?

Pac-12 football is back, folks, and Week 1 did not disappoint. There were some big wins, shocking losses and teams making moves.

After a summer of slander, Pac-12 football finally kicked off in Week 1. The teams heard all summer that the conference was irrelevant, and that they wouldn’t see a playoff team again in 2019. Then, the teams of the Pac-12 went 8-4 in Week 1, including a 1-2 record against other Power Five teams.

It wasn’t the start the conference wanted, but there was a lot of positives for teams to look at overall. Washington and Washington State looked commanding in Week 1, Utah looked the part after a summer of playoff hype and the conference might’ve found a sleeper in the state of Colorado.

Here are the power rankings from Week 1.

While usually you say a team is No. 1 until proven otherwise, Oregon State is last until proven otherwise. The 36 points and 448 yards of offense was promising, but it wasn’t enough at home. They surrendered 52 points and still look the bottom-feeders of the conference. It won’t get any easier next week when they play Hawaii.

Year two in the Chip Kelly era, and UCLA left a lot to be desired. It wasn’t that they lost to a very good Cincinnati team, but more of how they lost. They looked anemic, Dorian Thompson-Robison created more questions than answers and now I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. Surely, there’s no where to go but up.

Let’s talk positives. After a slow start, Khalil Tate was awesome, and the defense was shaky, but intercepted Cole McDonald four times, with six turnovers overall. I think this team has a lot of room to grow, and were one yard away from being higher on this list. Why don’t they give JJ Taylor the ball more, though?

Agonizingly close, with the Pac-12 on its shoulders. That loss to Auburn has to hurt for the Ducks, as they were the better team for over three quarters, but the defense was gassed at the end of the game. I thought the play0calling was tough, at best, as Oregon played not to lose instead of playing to win. They won’t be this low the rest of the season, but it’s a game that should’ve won. The Ducks will look to rebound against upset-minded Nevada.

The first winner of the weekend, Cal was able to overcome a first-quarter scare to beat UC Davis 27-14. The Bears were down 10-0 at the end of the first and rode Christopher Brown Jr. to 197 yards. The defense will keep the Bears in a lot of games, but the offense will need to find more balance to win games. They have a tough game against Washington next week.