Pac-12 Power Rankings updated after Week 3 of college football

Welcome back, folks, to another edition of On3’s Pac-12 power rankings. This time, we’re looking back at an action-packed Week 3 slate.

Full-blown league play is just around the corner as most teams took care of business against non-conference clubs. Top dog USC was off, but Washington continued to torch everything in its path, as did Oregon, while Utah found a way to win, Washington State lit up the scoreboard and Stanford and Arizona both came up empty in home games against lower-conference competition.

After all the madness, check out right here how the On3 Pac-12 Power Rankings shake out ahead of Week 4. (Movement in rankings vs. last week)

1. USC (3-0)

Week 3: Idle – After playing in Week 0 and rolling off three straight wins by four touchdowns or more, the Trojans were idle in Week 3 but return to begin conference play this coming Saturday at Arizona State, perhaps the only team in the league as bad as Stanford, whom they’ve already pummeled.

Expect yards in mass amounts, plenty of touchdowns, and if we’re lucky, a few jaw-dropping highlights from Caleb Williams or Zachariah Branch. The Trojans have at least one more week of such antics before the serious portion of the schedule begins as a trip to Boulder vs. an explosive Colorado team awaits in Week 5.

2. Washington (3-0)

Week 3: 41-7 win at Michigan State – Another week and it’s another Washington beatdown. This time, the Huskies visited a town in tumult, East Lansing, and whupped up on a Michigan State program that’s dealing with issues on and off the field. In a league full of star quarterbacks, the Huskies may have the top dog this year, as super-senior Michael Penix is annihilating defenses with every drop-back.

Seriously, he’s averaging 11.8 yards per pass attempt right now and has 1,300 yards in just three games. He’s throwing for an average of 444 yards each game and is gaining more than 10 yards each time he passes the ball — and that average includes the incompletions that all count for 0! He’s spinning the ball like a future Heisman winner and this Husky offense is steamrolling their competition.

3. Oregon (3-0)

Week 3: 55-10 win vs. Hawaii – The Ducks gained 560 yards of offense in their late-evening win over Hawaii, and Dan Lanning really spread with the wealth. Bo Nix thew for a smidge under 250 yards and tallied three touchdowns before bowing out to allow for Ty Thompson to get some run, where he completed 4/6 passes for 85 yards and a TD.

Meanwhile, the run game was strong against the 50th State, as no ball carrier broke 100 yards, but Noah Whittingham led with 80 while Jordan James and Bucky Irving both totaled roughly 60. Plus, the Duck D held the Rainbow Warrior offense in check for just 201 total yards. A terrific all-around performance.

4. Utah (3-0) (+1)

Week 3: 31-7 win vs. Weber State – The Utes’ passing game remains a work in progress without Cam Rising as Nate Johnson stepped up under center this week. He threw all 21 of Utah’s passes in the win over local rival Weber State and recorded 193 passing yards along with 71 rushing yards and two total touchdowns on the day.

Led by Johnson, the Utes rushing attack propelled them to another victory. Behind him, Ja’Quinden Jackson and Jaylon Glover combined for over 100 yards as that three-headed monster has powered the entire Utah offense on the ground and will continue to until Rising gets back. For now, they’re surviving on offense and winning with defense as the No. 9 team in the country in points allowed per game so far.

5. Colorado (3-0) (-1)

Week 3: 43-35 (2OT) win vs. Colorado State – East coast folks had to give themselves the Clockwork Orange treatment to keep their eyes open well past 2 a.m. eastern time as Colorado erased an 11-point fourth quarter deficit and drove 98 yards to score a game-tying touchdown and two-point conversion with just seconds remaining to force overtime.

In OT, Colorado didn’t mess around. The Buffaloes made the odd but aggressive decision to take the ball first in the extra period and drove right down for a touchdown. But CSU responded. Then, in the second OT, the Buffs again scored a TD and added the two-point conversion before stopping the Rams on the other end to seal the deal. By the skin of their teeth, Deion Sanders’ boys are 3-0.

6. Washington State (3-0)

Week 3: 64-21 win vs. Northern Colorado – In a conference full of eight-cylinder offenses and dazzling quarterbacks, Washington State and quarterback Cameron Ward are flying under the radar. If these rankings were based on nothing but resume and final scores alone, the Cougars could make a strong argument for the top spot. Just look at their results:

In Week 1, Wazzu went on the road to face a Colorado State team that just took Colorado to OT and doubled them up 50-24 thanks to 491 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns from Ward. No. 22 Wisconsin came to Pullman in Week 2 but left unranked after losing 31-22 to the Cougars. And this most recent Saturday, WSU raced out to a 43-7 halftime lead and eventually won 64-21 against Northern Colorado.

7. Oregon State (3-0)

Week 3: 26-7 win vs. UC Davis – Oregon State finds themselves ranked No. 14 in the country by the Associated Press, but are in the back half of their own conference’s power rankings at No. 7. That’s just life in the final year of the Pac-12 as we know it — which features by far the deepest pool of dangerous teams this season.

The Beavers have performed as expected, beating up on San Jose State and UC Davis before handling San Diego State in an odd 26-9 ballgame. Now, the cupcake matchups end and the serious tests begin as OSU hosts Utah and UCLA in two of their next three games.

8. UCLA (3-0)

Week 3: 59-7 vs. NC Central – Like Oregon State, UCLA is an AP-ranked team (No. 22 this week) that falls in towards the bottom of the Pac-12 power rankings. While the Bruins are off to a 3-0 start like much of the league, they probably have the most suspect quarterback situation of the eight teams that are ranked — which is quite a statement considering there’s a five-star taking snaps back there.

Thanks to five first-quarter touchdowns and five rushers totaling more than 60 yards apiece, the Bruins decimated NC Central 59-7 last Saturday. However, that freshman five-star, Dante Moore, only totaled 182 yards and threw the ball just 12 times. On the year, he has just 32 completions and 615 yards, both low numbers in comparison to many of the league’s passers

9. Arizona (2-1)

Week 3: 31-10 win vs. UTEP The Wildcats have the lone loss at Mississippi State, which didn’t look great this weekend when the Bulldogs took a beating on that same field against LSU. But otherwise, the Wildcats are playing good football having beat Northern Arizona 38-3 and topping UTEP by three touchdowns this past weekend.

They get an easier game once again vs. pitiful Stanford this week, who could be the weakest opponent AZ has faced after they just lost to FCS power Sacramento State. Look for Jayden de Laura to maintain his 300 pass yard per game average in a likely win, even on the road.

10. California (2-1)

Week 3: 31-17 win vs. Idaho – Cal allowed Idaho put the first three scores on the board to go up 17-0 midway through the second quarter on the Golden Bears’ home field. However, they rallied to save face and ran off 31 straight points to win by two touchdowns. It’s a good thing they won vs. the Vandals and against North Texas a couple weeks back, because the road is impossibly tough from here.

Cal faces terrible Arizona State in two weeks, but otherwise plays these six opponents in their next seven games: No. 8 Washington, No. 14 Oregon State, No. 11 Utah, No. 5 USC, No. 10 Oregon and No. 21 Washington State. It’s brutal out west.

11. Stanford (1-2)

Week 3: 30-23 loss vs. Sacramento State – We’ll get to the Sun Devils in a second, but Stanford made a strong push for the very bottom of these rankings by following up a 46-point loss in their Pac-12 opener with a home defeat vs. an FCS team. The Cardinal are 1-2 and looking at Arizona plus their own run of six straight ranked foes, which doesn’t even include No. 9 Notre Dame at the end of the year.

Let’s highlight that FCS team, though. Sacramento State is no comer at their respective level, and finished last year as the two-seed in the FCS Playoff, where they lost in a 66-63 firework show against Incarnate World, the highest-scoring FCS playoff game ever. Now, they showed they can play with the big boys by beating Stanford over the weekend.

12. Arizona State (1-2)

Week 3: 29-0 loss vs. Fresno State – Settle in and hear how Arizona State made historical follies on the offensive side of the ball. ASU’s starting QB, Trenton Bourguet, threw “one of the worst interceptions you will ever see on his second pass of the game,” according to Sun Devil beat writer Jesse Morrison. Bourget returned for the next drive and actually drove the team down the field before leaving with gnarly left leg injury.

On his first snap, a third down deep in Bulldog territory, backup QB Drew Pyne was strip sacked for the second turnover of the game. Next time ASU had the ball, Pyne was again strip-sacked on third down, this time deep in his own team’s territory. The team’s fourth turnover of the day occurred on the following drive, when Pyne’s 4th-and-goal pass from the Fresno one-yard line fell incomplete.

Pyne got one more chance in the first half as ASU got the ball down 16-0 with 24 seconds left but threw an interception on the second play of the drive to setup a Fresno State field goal try to end the second quarter, which they missed. Pyne trotted back out there for the third quarter had another terrible turnover on a third down, this time an interception.

Arizona State opted simply to run the ball on their next possession, but on the second down carry, RB Tevin White coughed the ball up and into Fresno’s hands. Pyne had left the game with some sort of leg issue and Jacob Conover became the third ASU quarterback to turn the ball over on the second play of the fourth quarter when he whipped a pass straight into FSU coverage.

Two possessions later, Conover found the Bulldog defense for his second pick and the team’s NINTH and final turnover of the day before the clock ran out with Fresno up 29-nothing. Some Pac-12 teams may be unhappy with their team’s ranking, but just remember, at least you aren’t Arizona State.