Pac-12 Power Rankings: Utah dethrones USC, throws title race into turmoil

There’s a new team at the top of the Pac-12 Power Rankings following Week 7 after Utah knocked USC from its perch and the ranks of the unbeaten.

That was the major result on Saturday but there were a few other surprising developments, as well. Stanford pulled out a road win at Notre Dame, while Colorado scored its first win of the season against California.

Two other league results also provided more clarity and more confusion at various spots in the rankings, so let’s do our best to untangle the mess.

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Today we update the Pac-12 Power Rankings following Week 7 games.

2022 Pac-12 Power Rankings – Week 7

1. UCLA (+1)

Chip Kelly‘s Bruins now stand as the conference’s lone unbeaten team and who would have seen that coming two months ago? The Bruins were on a bye week ahead of what is now an even more important showdown with No. 10 Oregon. They are the two remaining unbeaten teams in conference play, and Oregon does not face USC this season. Lot on the line.

2. Oregon (+1)

Like UCLA, Oregon also had a bye this weekend and benefited from the Utah upset. Oregon will face Utah later in the season but first gets a shot to knock off unbeaten UCLA at home. All eyes in the league will be on Autzen Stadium this Saturday.

3. Utah (+1)

The Utes had already lost two games this year and were coming off a tough defeat at UCLA. But my goodness, what a home crowd and what an environment previously unbeaten USC walked into on Saturday night. Utah quarterback Cameron Rising was terrific, finishing with 415 yards passing, 60 yards rushing and five total touchdowns. He also ran in the game-winning two-point conversion in the 43-42 win over the Trojans with 48 seconds left to play.

4. USC (-3)

The Trojans jumped out to an early 21-7 lead over the Utes but lost elite pass-catcher Jordan Addison right as the game had turned into a full-fledged shootout in the third quarter. Utah’s defense simply came up with enough stops at the end to allow Rising to outduel Caleb Williams, who threw for 381 yards and five touchdowns without an interception in the game. USC has to hope for help in the Pac-12 now; it gets a shot at UCLA later this year but won’t face Oregon, which is currently 3-0 in league play.

5. Oregon State

Despite playing without starting quarterback Chance Nolan (concussion), the Beavers were able to work their gameplan to a 24-10 win over Washington State. That gameplan? A heavy dose of the run and stingy defense. The Beavers ran for 203 yards and limited the Cougars to just 23 yards on the ground.

6. Washington

You won’t find a whole lot of aerial displays like Washington and Arizona treated viewers to on Saturday. The two teams combined for 916 yards passing, both quarterbacks threw four touchdown passes and the Huskies pulled out a 49-39 shootout win. The Huskies separated by scoring two touchdowns within 54 seconds of game time, separated by the halftime break.

7. Washington State

The Cougars tripped up on the road at Oregon State and now limp into their bye week having lost three of the last four games, albeit to quality teams. Next up is a Thursday night showdown against Utah on Oct. 27. Utah also has a bye this week.

8. Stanford (+3)

The Cardinal had one of the surprise results of the weekend, going on the road and managing a 16-14 win over Notre Dame. The 8-10 spots in this week’s Pac-12 Power Rankings are tough to sort. Stanford beat Notre Dame while California lost to the Fighting Irish. California beat Arizona head to head. Arizona might well be the best of the three, but recency bias and head to head dictate the order for this week, even with Stanford having one fewer win than California and Arizona currently. Needless to say, though, these three teams are closely bunched for us.

9. California (-1)

The Bears have hardly been great this year but even so Saturday’s loss at Colorado was a bit stunning. Colorado couldn’t come up with a defensive stop in time to prevent a 34-yard field goal that sent the game to overtime on the final play in regulation, but the Buffaloes got one in overtime to win 20-13. Cal now returns home from a two-game road swing to host Washington.

10. Arizona (-1)

As noted above, Arizona may well be the ‘best’ of the three-team bunch from spots 8-10, but the head-to-head loss to California is hard to overlook. Bottom line for the Wildcats right now is that while they have one of the nation’s most explosive offenses there isn’t a whole lot more to supplement it. Arizona will get a bye week before hosting No. 12 USC.

11. Arizona State (-1)

The Sun Devils were off over the weekend following an impressive 45-38 win over Washington before the break. Arizona State still has some issues to sort out, but the next couple weeks set up for a potential move up the Pac-12 Power Rankings. The next two: road games at Stanford and Colorado.

12. Colorado

Is this the year of the interim coach or what? It seems like just about every team that has made a coaching change early in the season has been rewarded with a jolt of new life by the interim coach at some point or other. Mike Sanford played the role on Saturday, guiding his players to an emotional win over California. Now we’ll see if the Buffaloes can sustain that momentum with this week’s trip to Oregon State.

Want to see how this week’s power rankings compare to our previous edition? Check out the 2022 Week 6 Pac-12 Power Rankings here!