Pac-12 Power Rankings updated after Week 6 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 6 slate and glaring ahead at Week 7.

This past weekend featured another prime slate of intra-conference action. The top two clubs in the rankings had the week off, but teams like Oregon State and UCLA picked up some big wins to earn a boost up the standings. Meanwhile, the bottom tier of teams mostly still lost but did look respectable in the process at least. So below, go ahead and check out how the On3 Pac-12 Power Rankings shake out as we hit the mid-point in the regular season.

Format: Team (Record) | Movement in rankings vs. last week

1. Oregon (5-0) (+1)

BYE — For Oregon, a week off meant a leap to the very top of the On3 Pac-12 Power Rankings. We’ll get to why USC dropped, but for now, let’s take a look at the terrific start the Ducks have gotten off to in 2023.

Oregon is the most well-rounded Pac-12 team statistically, sitting as the No. 1 scoring defense at 11.8 points allowed per-game, and then No. 2 in scoring offense just a hair behind USC at 51.6 points per game. With a road power conference sin in the non-conference over Texas Tech, plus two identical 42-6 beatdowns of Colorado and Stanford to start league play, the Ducks are leaving no doubt.

2. Washington (5-0) (+1)

BYE — The Huskies have consistently landed at No. 2 in these rankings throughout the season and are back in such position again following their bye week. However, they’ll get a shot at taking over the No. 1 spot this coming weekend as they prepare for a home matchup with Oregon in front College GameDay.

Win that game and Washington will slide right into the College Football Playoff picture and should advance to 8-0 with games against Arizona State and Stanford coming up before the massive Nov. 4 battle with USC, which kick-starts a four-game stretch of ranked opponents to ends the year for UW.

3. USC (6-0) (-2)

Won vs. Arizona 43-41 in 3OT — USC was knocked off of their No. 1 perch for the first time this season despite advancing to 6-0 on the year. Though they won at home against Arizona, the Trojans needed three overtimes to pull it off while they were thoroughly out-gained by the Wildcats, allowing over 500 yards of offense and 300+ passing yards to backup QB Noah Fifita.

The USC offense wasn’t at its absolute best and neither was Caleb Williams, yet the Trojans still scored 40+ points and won the game. So that side of the ball is fine, but it’s the defense that continues to underwhelm significantly, having now allowed 110 points in three games vs. Pac-12 opponents (36.7 per game).

4. Oregon State (5-1) (+1)

Won at California 52-40 — The Beavers lost their only game of the season to date by a narrow margin in a shootout in Pullman vs. Washington State. Since that defeat a couple of weeks ago, OSU has rebounded to hand Utah their first loss of the year two Fridays ago before engaging in another offensive showdown in a 52-40 victory at California.

These teams went OFF on Saturday. After each punting on their second possession of the game, neither side punted again. In the second half, with the score at 21-17 in favor of Oregon State, the Beavers got the ball first and scored touchdowns on their first four drive before kicking a field goal and ending the game with a knee on their final two possessions.

5. Utah (4-1) (+2)

BYE — With Oregon State surging, the Utes’ lone loss on the year — a road defeat vs. the Beavers — is looking pretty good as they still have solid wins at against UCLA and Florida. With a bye this week and then a home matchup with California after that, Kyle Whittingham should have this group 5-1 heading into the USC matchup.

By that team, he would hope that quarterback Cameron Rising would be back, but given that he just revealed his torn ACL injury was even worse than was previously reported, who knows whether he’ll even be on the field by then. However, this club has shown they can win big games no matter who is under center.

6. UCLA (4-1) (+2)

Won vs. Washington State 25-17 — UCLA was the one highly-rated Pac-12 team that simply didn’t have a win to hang their hat on heading into this weekend. But they definitely picked a solid victory for the resume by knocking off an undefeated Washington State club at home.

The Bruins destroyed Wazzu in the total yards department with 470 to the Cougars’ measly 216, yet it was UCLA who was down most of the game. They entered the fourth quarter down 17-12 but sandwiched two Keegan Jones touchdown runs in between a one-play drive from WSU that resulted in an interception. Boom, it became a 25-17 score that held until the end.

7. Washington State (4-1) (-3)

Lost at UCLA 25-17 — It’d be hard to have a worse day of offense than Washington State did on Saturday in their loss to UCLA. Looking at the stats, it’s almost surprising that the Cougars led most of the game and even had a chance to win.

On the day, Washington State turned the football over five times, including a pair of fumbles in the first half followed by two backbreaking interceptions and a turnover on downs on their final possession to seal the deal. Luckily, the WSU defense kept things competitive with a pick-six towards the end of the first half.

8. Colorado (4-2) (-2)

Won at Arizona State 27-24 — Well, that wasn’t the prettiest win over a bottom-tier Pac-12 team, but Saturday was a victory Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes desperately needed and got. The road gets even easier, too, as 1-4 Stanford comes to town as CU can get to a terrific 5-2 start by simply taking care of business there.

Shedeur Sanders didn’t put on his best performance, but No. 2 in white came through on the most important series of the ballgame. With Colorado tied with ASU at 24 apiece, Sanders found Javon Antonio for a 43-yard gain that ultimately set up the game-winning field goal by Alejandro Mata.

9. Arizona (3-3) (+1)

Lost at USC 43-41 in 3OT — In most other years of the Pac-12, this Wildcat team would be a surefire top-six squad. It’s just unlucky they play in such a stacked year of the league. Arizona is now an even 3-3 with those losses at Mississippi State, at USC and home vs. Washington with all three coming by one score or less.

The cherry on top of this Bad Luck Sundae for Arizona is that the path to six wins is still brutal as a trip to Washington State is next followed by a visit from Oregon State. Bouts with UCLA, Utah and Colorado await as well. But if this group can hang with Washington and USC — without their starting quarterback — then surely they’re capable of knocking off a few of their upcoming foes.

10. California (3-3) (-1)

Lost vs. Oregon State 52-40 — Well, the Golden Bears allowed 50 points for the second time in three weeks but did manage to hang 40 on a really strong Beaver defense while accumulating just under 450 yards of offense. They can thank a great run game for a lot of that production.

Running backs Isaiah Ifanse and Jadyn Ott ran for 86 and 85 yards respectfully as quarterback Fernando Mendoza chipped in 41 yards on just four carries. On the day, Cal gained 7.3 yards per carry on the ground and 33 total carries. They just couldn’t stop the Beaver offense themselves, though.

11. Stanford (1-4)

BYE — After the bye, Stanford now sits in the bottom 15 in the country in two pretty important stats: 19.2 points scored per game (119th out of 133) and 34.6 points allowed per game (123rd). That’s about all you need to know to understand that the Cardinal are one of the worst-performing teams in the country.

With games at Colorado and then against four straight ranked Pac-12 teams, Stanford is staring down the barrel of a 1-9 start. Then, there’s a home matchup vs. California and a battle with Notre Dame to cap things off. There may not be another win on the schedule for these guys!

12. Arizona State (1-5)

Lost vs. Colorado 27-24 — Despite the close loss, Arizona State had a terrific day passing the ball, as quarterback Trenton Bourguet hit on 32 of 49 passes for 335 yards and a touchdown, which is more total yards than the Colorado offense put up (just 295).

As discussed in the Buffaloes’ section, Shedeur Sanders made magic happen to win this thing at the very end, but it was a respectable performance again for the Sun Devils, who have lost competitively in their last three games. Problem is… they really needed to win one of those before facing the two Washington schools and making trips to Utah and UCLA the next four weeks.