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USC embarrassed Arizona State, the Wildcats thumped the previously surging Cougars and the Huskies crushed the Bruins in Seattle. Let’s take a look at how week eight impacted our power rankings:
Pac-12 Power Rankings Week 9
| Destin | Tonis | Madden |
|---|---|---|
| Destin | Tonis | Madden |
| USC (+3) | Arizona (+2) | USC (+3) |
| Stanford (-1) | Stanford (-1) | Stanford |
| Washington (-1) | USC (+3) | Washington (-2) |
| Arizona (+2) | Washington | WSU (-1) |
| WSU (-2) | WSU | Arizona (+1) |
| ASU (-1) | ASU (-4) | ASU (-2) |
| Oregon (+3) | Oregon (+3) | UCLA |
| Colorado (+3) | Colorado (+3) | Colorado (+2) |
| UCLA (-1) | Cal (-1) | Oregon |
| California (-1) | Utah (-3) | Utah (-3) |
| Utah (-4) | UCLA (-2) | Cal (-3) |
| Oregon State | Oregon State | Oregon State |
Destin: USC's 31-point shellacking of ASU surely proved they have college football playoff potential, though they likely won't play in it. Arizona is seriously a contender for the Pac-12 championship, while Colorado and Oregon pulled off some surprising wins by large margins. Most surprisingly to me is Utah. They have dropped four games straight after being ranked as high as No. 20 for consecutive weeks.
Tonis: I fell into the same trap as many around the Pac-12, thinking that ASU could sustain its success for a third straight week. Whoops. The Sun Devils don't fall too far, as the conference stayed chalk this week, despite a scare for Stanford to the plucky Beavers. However, Arizona and USC both rose after big wins set up a huge matchup in Los Angeles next weekend. In the North, Wazzu stays put because I don't think any of the other losing teams this week showed enough to move ahead of the Cougars. Oregon impressed despite freshman quarterback Braxton Burmeister's struggles and Colorado showed signs of life, both moving within a victory of bowl eligibility. This is the least clear the conference has be to me in weeks, meaning the final third of the season should be in for some surprises.
Madden: Though the majority of the conference went chalk this week, there were a couple semi-surprising results in USC’s beatdown of the Sun Devils and Arizona blowing out Washington State. It seems that California, Oregon State, Utah, Colorado and UCLA will keep beating each other while the teams in the middle tier (ASU, WSU, Arizona) will drop chances to move into the top group with USC, Stanford and Washington.