Pac-12 Power Rankings updated after Week 11 of college football

Welcome back, folks, to another edition of On3’s Pac-12 power rankings. Just below, we’re looking back at an action-packed Week 11 slate and glaring ahead at Week 12.

For the preamble, we’ll address the Pac-12 title race. Of course, Washington has the inside track with an undefeated record. Assuming they beat the plummeting Washington State Cougars at home or Oregon State on the road, they’ll have a spot locked in. After that, Oregon has one loss while Oregon State and sneaky Arizona both have two losses. Oregon just has to win out at Arizona State and then vs. Oregon State at home to secure a spot, it’s as simple as that. But a loss makes things complicated. Come back next week and we could have a very simple Pac-12 title situation or a very confusing one.

Format: Team (Record) (Movement in Rankings vs. Last Week)

1. Oregon (9-1)

The Ducks caught USC at a great time with the Trojans in free fall over the last month. Caleb Williams still put up a respectable performance — 291 yards and a score — and kept USC within striking distance throughout, but the better team from top to bottom won on their home field.

Now, the Ducks have two games to go before sealing their trip to the Pac-12 title game. First, they hit the road this week for a road matchup against an Arizona State team that’s playing better by the week but will still be immense underdogs against Oregon. Then, the season ends with all the marbles on the line in the Civil War as Oregon State comes to town. If the Beavers and Ducks both take care of business this weekend, that game could be for a spot in the Pac-12 title game.

2. Washington (10-0)

The Huskies keep on winning. After defeating USC on the road, UW returned home and held off Utah 35-28, despite a nearly catastrophic fumble on an easy touchdown late in the game. Nonetheless, Washington is now one win away from locking up a spot in the Pac-12 title game, but a pretty hefty challenge awaits.

This coming weekend, Washington travels to Corvalis to face the team right below them on these rankings, Oregon State. The Beavers are currently ranked No. 12 in the CFP rankings and are hungry for a league title spot themselves. With that game plus a potential rematch with Oregon in the conference championship, the road is still rocky for these Huskies.

3. Oregon State (8-2)

That loss to Washington State has become pretty tough to swallow, but otherwise, Oregon State has certainly cemented themselves as a contender in the Pac-12 as the regular season winds to a close. Most recently, they annihilated Stanford, posting a season-high 62 points to the Cardinal’s 17.

Frankly speaking, Oregon State has had a friendly run of Pac-12 games to date, and while that 8-2 record looks terrific, it could very well be 8-4 come the end of the year. Why? Because OSU is looking at a tandem of games at home vs. undefeated Washington and then one the road vs. top-10-ranked rival Oregon. Tough sledding ahead but a chance to really make a dent in a Pac-12 race that’s long been seen as a two-horse sprint.

4. Utah (7-3)

Utah had trouble with the top clubs in the conference, losing to Washington last weekend after getting drilled by Oregon a few weeks back. Those losses plus a defeat on the road against the No. 3 squad in the conference, Oregon State, are the difference between a Pac-12 title defense and sitting on the sidelines of the race with two weeks to play.

But that doesn’t mean 2023 is a disappointment by any stretch for Kyle Whittingham’s club. The Utes experienced an impossibly tough QB situation to manage and never had returning starter Cam Rising at any point in the year, but were still strong on defense and, so far, have only lost to top teams and beat everyone else. We’ll see which category Arizona falls into after their matchup this weekend…

5. Arizona (7-3)

No Pac-12 team is surging like the Wildcats and they’ve surged right into the middle of the Pac-12 title race. That’s right, Arizona, who once seemed unlikely to make a bowl game and have lost their star quarterback, are sneakily right in line to contend for a spot in the conference title game after winning four straight.

With a win over Oregon State in their back pocket, if the Beavers were to somehow topple the Huskies and Ducks while Arizona wins out, it would trigger a three-way tie with the Wildcats’ win over OSU granting them the edge. But that’s still far down the road and Arizona has another big test this weekend at home vs. Utah. Will the Noah Fifita thrill ride continue against a stout Utes defense?

6. USC (7-4) (+1)

USC continued their clean sweep of losses to ranked teams after losing their fourth such matchup over the last five weeks. The one that didn’t qualify, at California, Caleb Williams needed to make a few miracles out of the pocket in order to pull off the 50-49 win. But the latest misstep was a competitive loss at Oregon.

What a shame that USC simply couldn’t compete this year with such a special talent under center. Last season was the prime opportunity and it was the Utah offense, not defense, which twice spoiled the party for USC. Win either of those games and there’s a decent shot the Trojans make it in the playoff.

7. UCLA (6-4) (-1)

What’s the joke about UCLA around here? That they’re predictable, they beat the lesser teams and fall to the greater ones. Well, the Bruins finally broke serve on that narrative by losing at home to Arizona State, giving the Sun Devils their second conference win of the season.

Chip Kelly again had multiple quarterbacks throw passes and started Collin Schlee, who is currently third on the team in passing attempts, against ASU. The position has been a mess for UCLA since Ethan Garbers went down and the offense is sputtering because of it. Without a dominant defense, but still a very good one, UCLA just wasn’t able to produce enough points in consecutive losses against representatives of the Grand Canyon State.

8. California (4-6) (+3)

Few teams with losing records pack the punch that California does on the offensive side of the football, averaging a top-40 mark of 31.9 points a game. Particularly, the Golden Bears are extremely formidable on the ground, averaging a 26th-ranked 189 rush yards per game on the back of Jadyn Ott, who just crossed the 1,000-yard threshold vs. Washington State.

Speaking of that game vs. WSU, Cal was able to keep their slim bowl chances alive. Needing two wins in the final two weeks, Cal gets trips to Stanford and UCLA. The Cardinal are a very possible win for the Bears while UCLA is coming apart towards the end of the season here.

9. Stanford (3-7) (-1)

The Cardinal also toppled Washington State in last week’s game before traveling to Corvalis to take a hide-tanning from the Beavers this past Saturday. A big matchup awaits this weekend in Palo Alto, though, as Stanford will try to spoil California’s quest for bowl eligibility in a battle between two lower-tier Californian Pac-12 squads.

The Cardinal still have some offensive playmakers in Elic Ayomanor and Ashton Daniels who have flashed at times throughout the year, most notably against Colorado. However, they’re facing a California team that’s likely a bit more talented up and down the roster.

10. Colorado (4-6)

Well, the Buffaloes are 1-6 in Pac-12 play and have a shot to take sole possession of last place in the conference this weekend, as they’ll face the only team currently tied with them in the standings: Washington State. Really, this is a bout between two programs in utter free fall after starting out the year strong.

Each team was ranked in the top-20 at one point this season after scoring a massive out-of-conference victory. However, the days have been dreary since September, as Colorado has lost every Pac-12 game except one, by three points to Arizona State, while the Cougars scored a home win vs. Oregon State before running off six straight losses.

11. Arizona State (3-7) (+1)

Arizona State has now played pretty well in six of seven games since the great Fresno State debacle. They even found their second win of conference play over the weekend, and their most impressive result of the season, by traveling to Los Angeles and beating UCLA. The Bruins were teetering on the brink of falling apart and the Sun Devils made sure of it.

Punts and turnovers dominated the first half as ASU escaped with a three-point lead. Out of the halftime break, and the Sun Devils took their second possession of the third quarter 99 yards over nearly eight minutes to punch in a touchdown just before the fourth. Down to their third option at QB, UCLA just didn’t have the juice to score two times.

12. Washington State (4-6) (-3)

The downfall is so horrible it’s almost hard to believe. Washington State ranked No. 16 in the Week 5 AP Poll after starting out 4-0 with wins over Wisconsin and Oregon State. Since that victory over OSU, the Cougars have dropped SIX in a row, losing to the best, mediocre and worst in the conference along the way.

The slide began with a one-possession loss at UCLA before the Bruins also imploded. Then, the tumble grew much steeper as Washington State returned home to lose to Arizona 44-6 in a humiliating defeat that also helped spark Arizona’s run the opposite way. A loss to Oregon was fine, but then Arizona State won its first league game just before Halloween vs. WSU, and then the Cougars dropped games to other bottom-feeding teams Stanford and California.

Now, Washington State will face the only squad in the Pac-12 tied with them at 1-6 and in dead last: Colorado. After losing to the 8th, 9th and 10th ranked teams the last three weeks, it would only be fitting for Wazzu to drop a game to No. 11 and fall to the bottom.