Pac-12 Power Rankings Part 1: Team Rankings

By Andrew Brown 

Aside from Oregon and Stanford, it will be a steep hill to climb for other teams in the conference to garner the national respect and notoriety of the Pac-12's two alpha teams...but the talent is certainly there.

1. Stanford

Team Breakdown: Without a doubt, David Shaw is the best coach in the conference. They win the battle in the trenches with an overpowering, grind it out, in your face and right down your throat style of play. Smash mouth football and top-tier coaching will always provide a winning formula. Also, Shaw has had a couple of years to look at every team in the conference so he should have a solid game plan for every one. Oregon is their biggest competitor, and if they win that game then I could see this team in the title game. They may actually prove to be Alabama’s toughest matchup this year.

Key Strength: As previously stated, the biggest strength of this Cardinal team is its smash-mouth, in-your-face and down-your-throat pro-style system. This is a physically imposing team that is extremely well coached and executes with precision. What they may lack in terms of elite athleticism, they make up for by out thinking and overpowering the opposition.

Key Weakness: The biggest weakness for this team is its lack of a homerun threat. Barry Sanders Jr. may prove to be as shifty as his father but expectations can’t be too high for an 18-year-old coming off a nasty injury. Ty Montgomery will have a nice year at receiver but he is more of a well-rounded receiver than a big play threat. Most of their touchdowns will probably be the result of drives of eight or more plays. If they get into a shootout with, say, Oregon then they will be in trouble. A lack of a deep threat on the edge puts a lot of pressure on the offensive line and defense, although I think both are up to the task.

Trap Game: Obviously Oregon is going to be Stanford’s toughest task but I think the game that the Cardinal are susceptible to getting stung comes against Oregon State, the week before Oregon. The fact that it is on the road against the highly underrated Beavers only adds to the fact that the players will have to keep focused and not look ahead to the impending match up that most believe will decide the Pac-12 winner.

Heisman Contender: It is hard to say because the team doesn’t have a ton of star talent, but Sanders could turn some heads. If he performs well early on then the talking heads of the media will become pretty attached to his story. After JFF breaking the seal last year there is no reason a freshman can’t win the Heisman now.

Projected Finish: 11-1, Depending on who that one loss is to will decide if they play in the conference championship. If they fall to a team other than Oregon than they will have a good shot at playing Bama for the national title.

2. Oregon 

Team Breakdown: The puppeteer is gone but the puppets are still in place. Chip Kelly left behind a wealth of talent, both in terms of the coaching staff and the players, and all that talent is experienced within Kelly’s system. I don’t think there will be much drop-off from the Kelly-led Ducks. Mariota is my pick to be the player of the year in the Pac-12 this season, and De’Anthony Thomas should have a Reggie Bush caliber season. They have a challenging schedule but they should come out to finish first or second in the conference. The game against Stanford will be decided by coaching.

Key Strength: Speed, speed, speed, and more speed. Everything about this team will be fast. I wouldn’t be surprised if new coach Mark Helfrich tries to make his mark and turns up the tempo even more. They will use their superior athleticism and speed to just overwhelm and blow by their opponents. You know the saying: speed kills.

Key Weakness: Lack of coaching experience. David Shaw proved at Stanford that a great coach doesn’t just train his players but his assistants too, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Helfrich has huge success early (actually I would by surprised if he didn’t) but there is no way to prepare yourself for making game-time decisions until you are actually there calling the shots. The Pac-12 may not be a deep league in terms of talented teams and players, but they are deep with experienced veteran coaches and Helfrich will be thrown into the fire early.

Trap Game: At Washington really stands out to me. I think Washington will be a vastly different team this year and they will be head and shoulders above the teams that Oregon beats up on for the first five weeks. Maybe they won’t lose necessarily, but odds are that the game will be a helluva wakeup call.

Heisman Contender: Really they have two. I think this is going to be very similar to when Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush tore it up (illegally) in the 04-05 season. De’Anthony Thomas will be an all-purpose monster this year and should score somewhere around 17 total touchdowns. If he can up that number to the 20-23 range with some highlight returns and runs then he has a great shot and hoisting the trophy at the end of the year. Mariota, as noted, I am also super high on. I think that he will put up some huge numbers and provide some highlights of his own. The problem is that he will always be overshadowed by his flashier backfield partner.

Projected Finish: 11-1, loss coming to Stanford. I think Shaw wins that coaching matchup.

3. Washington 

Team Breakdown: Like I said, this team is going to be vastly improved from a year ago. Keith Price is a hidden gem that not nearly enough people know about. I think he will prove to be something of a poor man’s Geno Smith, although I expect Price to make more plays with his legs. Assuming the young offensive line grew up over the summer then this team could easily come out clicking from the start and put up huge numbers on offense.

Key Strength: This team is very overlooked and I think they will use that to their advantage nicely. This team has a lot of talent at the skill positions and will catch better teams off guard. I think they will play with something to prove this year and be one of those bulldog teams that top teams hate having to play late in the year.

Key Weakness: It is a toss up between depth and defense. The offense will do its part but the defense has to hold up on its end if they expect to win many games. Shaq Thompson makes up for a lot of that though, as the safety/linebacker hybrid is an absolute monster who will make plays from all over the field. This squad has depth issues too, with not a lot of second-string talent so key players will need to stay healthy.

Trap Game: At UCLA will be a nationally televised Friday night game. The Huskies will have to come out with something to prove if they hope to avoid getting overwhelmed by the environment.

Heisman Contender: Jadeveon Clowney is the only defensive player with a legitimate shot at winning the Heisman, but Thompson is probably the Huskies’ best bet. He should post some pretty gaudy numbers, both in terms of tackles and picks/deflections.

Projected Finish: 9-3 would be a great season for the Huskies. I don’t think they can beat either Stanford or Oregon and wouldn’t be surprised if they dropped the opener against Boise State.

4. Oregon State 

 Team Breakdown: This team may have overachieved a little bit last year, working their way into the top 10, but I still have a little bit of the Beaver fever so I think the Beavers could really turn some heads this year. The team has a complicated quarterback situation but they have done a nice job acquiring talented skill players and they are a squad that always plays with something to prove.

Key Strength: This is a team that had a lot of young players get meaningful experience a year ago and took Texas to the wire in the bowl game, so I think that experience will translate to success this year. In a lot of ways I think they are being overlooked which could really play to their advantage

Key Weakness: The team needs to hurry and pick a quarterback because the two-QB system is one of the stupider philosophies in college football. The team needs a leader to develop chemistry with his offense. The one thing that the lead Beaver (whomever that may be) has going for him is that they won’t be challenged until late in the season. Their early schedule is weak and their first seven games should all result in W’s, regardless of which QB is at the helm.

Trap Game: On the road at Arizona State will be a pretty tough game to begin with, but mix in that the game is wedged between USC and Washington and that makes that game a very easy one to overlook. I could easily see the Beavers dropping this one.

Heisman Contender: There isn’t really a Heisman candidate on this team but their best player is running back Storm Woods. Woods had a solid season a year ago and will likely shoulder more of the offense this season. Woods finished the season strong last year with a 118 yard, two-touchdown performance against Texas.

Projected Finish: 8-4, the Beavers should start 7-0 and get a lot of praise early, but they have a bit of a gauntlet to finish the year and I could see them losing 4 out of five to close the season.

5. UCLA 

Team Breakdown: Whoever was in charge of UCLA’s schedule this year should be fired because they have one of the harder schedules in the Pac-12. Their four toughest games (USC, Oregon, Stanford, and Nebraska) are ALL on the road, which could well result in four losses. It’s a shame too because this is one of the more talented teams UCLA has had in quite a while. Brett Hundley is in for a breakout year.

Key Strength: They are a talented team all around with stars on both sides of the ball in Hundley and linebacker Anthony Barr. Having two quality field generals on both sides of the ball is a luxury that cannot be understated.

Key Weakness: Their schedule will be their downfall. They will just be in too many tough situations this season to carry momentum from week-to-week. It really is a shame too because I think this is going to be a fun team to watch this year, but they are probably looking at three or four sure losses.

Trap Game: I actually think their opener against Nevada is a bit of a trap game. It comes the week before their big matchup at Nebraska, and although they have been preparing for Nevada all off-season, the pistol is a tough offense to game plan for.

Heisman Contender: Brett Hundley is their best player who should put up some pretty sexy numbers, but he is probably only the 3^rd or 4^th best QB in the league this year so it will be hard for him to secure any kind of realistic Heisman hype.

Projected Finish: 7-5, I think they have the talent of a 9 or 10 win team but the schedule will just be too much.

6. USC

Team Breakdown: The Trojans coach is in for a pretty pivotal season. The string of recent mediocrity is surely not sitting well with the USC faithful and Kiffin needs to have a good season this year to save his job. They are still loaded with top recruits and talent and so the team’s success will hinge more on institutional control and coaching. I think that by the end of the year USC will be ranked higher than this but at the moment they have quite a bit to prove. Also their defense has been a question mark for a few years now.

Key Strength: They still have talent, which is their biggest strength right now. They should get by early by just being better than opponents but there are several equally talented teams on their schedule that should give them a run for their money. That being said though, this team is a sleeping dragon and if it wakes up then watch out.

Key Weakness: Lane Kiffin. I don’t think he is the right guy for the job honestly. In fact, if Kiffin underachieves this year and Washington has a good season then I think Steve Sarkisian may be getting a call from his old team. This team’s success depends on whether or not Kiffin can rise to the challenge.

Trap Game: At Oregon State on a Friday night on the national stage, the Beavers will want to come out and make a huge statement against the former bullies of the Pac-12. I think the Trojans drop that one.

Heisman Contender: Who else but the best receiver in the country? Marquise Lee is just a supernatural freak athlete who can do anything on the football field. He is definitely going to get his this year, although without Robert Woods lining up next to him he will draw all the attention from the opposing team’s defense, making life quite unpleasant for him at times.

Projected Finish: 8-4, by my count there are about three sure losses and a few others that could go either way so I think that 8-4 is a reasonable prediction for the soon-to-be-without-a-head-coach USC Trojans

7. Arizona State

Team Breakdown: This is just always one of those teams that finds ways to underperform. They certainly have the talent of a top 25 team but always bounce in and out of being ranked. I think it is probably because it is hard to play football every Saturday when you are hung-over as death with itchy nether regions.

Key Strength: They have a huge home-field advantage when that rowdy student section packs the stadium, and they have a lot of their tougher games in Tempe this year so they could find themselves on the right side of a handful of upsets, including week two against Wisconsin at home.

Key Weakness: Lack of culture. They have just built a culture of mediocrity that they can’t really seem to break out of. This is a school, that in my mind, should be like the LSU of the West but they just can’t break through. They just seem complacent sometimes.

Trap Game: At UCLA in the week before their rivalry game with Arizona is sure to trip them up. I think they could potentially be looking at getting blown out by the Bruins.

Heisman Contender: None, really.

Projected Finish: 7-5

8. Arizona

Team Breakdown: Rich Rod is actually, despite being a colossal douche, a great coach. So they have the man for the job and the facilities to have a solid program. They are going to have a down year but I really doubt that they will stay down for long. I wouldn’t be surprised if they make their way back pretty soon. It won’t be this season though.

Key Strength: The Rich Rod offense is one that is always going to put points on the board and Ka’Deem Carey is one of the best running backs in the country.

Key Weakness: At this point they are pretty much a one trick pony. If they can’t run the ball with Carey then they are going to struggle to move the ball at times so it is pretty imperative that they break in a new QB fast.

Trap Game: At USC on a Thursday is one that they could win but will probably end up dropping.

Heisman Contender: Unlike the other bottom feeders in this conference they actually have a Heisman contender in Carey. Carey is one of the best runners in the country this year and although I think it is pretty highly unlikely that he would win the Heisman this year I wouldn’t rule it out altogether.

Projected Finish: 4-8, HOWEVER I do think that this team could surprise people (including me) and be a lot better than anybody thinks. They need to get a QB though.

9. Cal

Team Breakdown: It has been a while since the slew of talent that passed through Berkley. At this point the program’s tradition seems to be as dead as a heroin-overdosed hippie at Woodstock. They need direction, although they still have talented players on their roster.

Key Strength: Nothing comes to mind right away, although they are more talented than the three teams they are ranked above so they should have pretty good odds against them.

Key Weakness: They have to play Ohio State and Oregon in back-to-back weeks so they are sure to have some pretty heavily sodomized egos by week five.

Trap Game: They are probably going to get their hopes up pretty high for the home game against Oregon State, which will lead to much disappointment when they lose. In that sense, it’s a trap game.

Heisman Contender: None.

Projected Finish: 5-7, which may be generous.

10. Utah

Team Breakdown: They have had a much harder time adjusting to a BCS conference than most probably thought they would. I think that this could be a pretty make-or-break year for head coach Kyle Whittingham. I don’t think he is on the hot seat right now, but another lackluster season and we will see just how patient the Utes are.

Key Strength: They have a proud fan base and a solid tradition so that will at least drive them to try to live up to the standard of their predecessors.

Key Weakness: Not a ton of talent on the roster.

Trap Game: Opening the season against in-state rival Utah State will be a tough early matchup.

Heisman Contender: None.

Projected Finish: 5-7, a good season would get one more win and put them in a bowl game but I can’t see that happening with their lesser talent. At least their campus is really pretty.

11. Washington State

Team Breakdown: Leach’s career has kind of been locked in the closet since he left Texas Tech. The Cougars aren’t very good and the talent is pretty bad so I don’t see them doing very much this year. If Leach can’t lock kids in utility closets anymore then I don’t see how he can teach his players, so thanks a lot NCAA.

Key Strength: Um, pass?

Key Weakness: They aren’t particularly talented. At all.

Trap Game:  playing at USC in the second week is a rough way to start the season. They are gonna lose most of their games but that one is one that they probably will be pretty excited for.

Heisman Contender: None.

Projected Finish: 2-10

12. Colorado

Team Breakdown: This is one of the sadder programs in college football because they actually have a very proud tradition but at this point pretty much nobody knows about it. They flirted with mediocrity for a long time and now they just suck. It is too bad because they really used to be one of the premiere programs when they were in the Big 12 oh so long ago. They are scraping the bottom now though.

Key Strength: Drugs are basically legal in their state so the players have a way to take the edge off when they get shalacked every week.

Key Weakness: Everything about their team.

Trap Game: I would say that Central Arkansas is their one really winnable game so hopefully they don’t mess it up and choke it away.

Heisman Contender: None.

Projected Finish: 1-11, I mean, they’re pretty bad.