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PAC-12 Power Rankings, week 8

How the PAC-12 looks after week eight

By Colton Molesky
Colorado v Stanford Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
  1. Washington- The Huskies handled Oregon State this weekend, as they should have, and now are establishing themselves as one of the top teams in the country. Jake Browning is starting to play himself into Heisman contention and nobody in the PAC-12 has the formula to beat this roster.
  2. Utah- This team is getting more impressive by the week. They can play in the low scoring slug fest or in shootouts. In a tight Pac-12 South division race they over USC, Arizona and UCLA. While the Utes have managed to continually stay afloat with Troy Williams and company the Washington Huskies come to town on Saturday in what could be a preview of the Pac-12 Championship game. They also wrap up the regular season with a road trip to Colorado in a game that could serve as a de facto Pac-12 South championship game.
  3. Washington State- They have only looked better since the Stanford game and still churn out loads of points. Their game against Washington may turn out to be the best PAC-12 game of the year. Luke Falk and Jake Browning are burning through the conference and set on a week 13 collision course.
  4. Colorado- It was not overly impressive or spectacular, but they went out and beat a Stanford team that has had their number since entering the PAC-12. In a 10-5 victory it did not have to be pretty, they just needed to grind it out. They rushed for over 200 yards, got to the opponents quarterback consistently and got the win.
  5. USC- Do you have your ticket? I know I have mine, because it is all aboard the Sam Darnold train as he is bringing this USC team back from the dead. The freshman had 235 yards a five touchdowns against Arizona and now has 1,334 yards and 13 touchdowns on the season. All that and only two interceptions. He is not only getting USC back to relevance he has also helped JuJu Smith-Schuster’s draft stock considerably as he has had over 100 receiving yards in the last three games. After a really slow start he has 565 yards and eight touchdowns. Of those totals 466 yards and six touchdowns have come from Darnold, who is elevating everyone as the defense and running game in Justin Davis have also improved.
  6. California- Be ready because this is all about Davis Webb. Yet again Cal won on the arm of their quarterback as he threw for 325 yards and five touchdowns. He has attempted under 40 throws in just one game this season and has a 62 percent completion rate. He has 2,581 yards and 27 touchdowns on the season and his team has needed every inch.
  7. Arizona State- While they started out strong, this team’s defense has caught up to them. They rank 127th in the country in total defense and are worst in the conference, giving up 34.4 points a game and giving almost 500 total yards against them. They cannot be expected to fight that game in and game out for a season.
  8. Stanford- The fall from greatness has been really ugly. Their offense seems to be regressing every week now and their defense is only consistently good on the back end. Even their special teams has been off with missed field goals. This has been a sad descent to mediocrity.
  9. UCLA- Really think they could have beat Utah if Josh Rosen was in this game. Unfortunately they had Mike Fafaul, which proved enough to make the game interesting but not enough for a win. This team desperately needs to find their running game that they started the season with as with or without Rosen, this offense is very one sided. The Bruins lose again and still have one, lone, conference win.
  10. Oregon State- After a blowout loss to the Cougars, this team returned to looking how we are used to seeing them. They had a few couple solid weeks and their run is over. I hope the Beaver faithful enjoyed it while it lasted, sincerely.
  11. Arizona- Every week it is the same thing: No quarterback play to speak of and not enough talent else where to compensate. They are in a quarterback heavy conference, which only compounds the problem.
  12. Oregon- Really want me to rant about a bad defense again? Fine I won't. The other problem is that all is not well with Royce Freeman. My three favorite running backs to start the season were McCaffrey, Cook and Freeman. However, Freeman has had injuries that have nagged him all season. It might be time for him to sit and wait this out till he is 100 percent back.