Pac-12 football rankings after Week 11: USC rises after Oregon and UCLA fall
It’s really very simple: Two teams in front of USC lost, so the Trojans naturally stood to benefit from the events of Week 11 of the 2022 Pac-12 football season.
Rankings, of course, are meant to give you a measurement of what teams have actually achieved on the field each week. USC is still looking for a statement win, a high-end result which catapults the Trojans to a higher tier in college football.
The moment of opportunity has arrived for the Men of Troy.
UCLA this week, Notre Dame the next. Two ranked teams await. We can debate where USC should be ranked, but we can’t debate that if the Trojans win their remaining games, they will be the best team in the Pac-12 for 2022,
Let’s rank the Pac after an upset-filled weekend:
COLORADO
We all had to watch Colorado play football against the Trojans this past Friday. USC was legitimately awful for the first 17 minutes of this game and STILL beat the Buffaloes by 38 points. Does that tell you anything?
CAL
The Golden Bears were flattened by Oregon State. Their loss to Colorado remains atrocious.
ARIZONA STATE
The Sun Devils were horrible against Washington State. They will not make a bowl this season. Their loss to Stanford continues to look worse.
STANFORD
The Cardinal have been torn to shreds in November the past few years under David Shaw.
ARIZONA
The Wildcats are No. 8, but they’re now well ahead of teams 9-12 in the standings after their shocking upset of UCLA.
The bigger news for the Wildcats: Win out — against Washington State and ASU — and they’re going bowling this December. That would be a titanic feat for Jedd Fisch.
WASHINGTON STATE
Where did this come from? The Cougars looked awful against Utah on a night when Cam Rising and several other key Utes did not play. Since then, Wazzu has dominated Stanford and Arizona State. The Cougars will play in a bowl game.
OREGON STATE
The Beavers have to be kicking themselves for losing both the USC and Washington games, which were very winnable and slipped through their fingers. Imagine what could have been.
OSU figures to put up a fight against Oregon in two weeks.
WASHINGTON
The Huskies won’t rise in the overall rankings because their Arizona State loss is still terrible and they lost head-to-head versus UCLA, but they’re a very strong No. 5, miles ahead of Oregon State. They could win 10 games, which would be phenomenal. Kalen DeBoer was a great hire by athletic director Jen Cohen.
UCLA
The Bruins fall to fourth after their stunning loss to Arizona. They’re ahead of Washington due to a head-to-head win but are behind two-loss Oregon because they fell to the Ducks.
Speaking of which:
OREGON
The Ducks fall from first to third in our rankings after the loss to Washington. Oregon shouldn’t be worried about its Pac-12 position, however: Beat Utah and Oregon State, and the Ducks will be in Las Vegas on Dec. 2.
USC
It’s very simple now: Beat UCLA, make the Pac-12 Championship Game. The Trojans win, they’re in. Period.
UTAH
We remind you one more time that rankings and predictions are not the same thing.
If you asked me to predict whether Utah or Oregon will win next week in Eugene, I’m taking the Ducks. Utah is significantly more banged up than Oregon, and the Ducks losing two straight in Autzen Stadium is unlikely.
However, Utah beat USC and Oregon has not. USC does not yet have a high-end win in the conference or anywhere on its 2022 resume. Until that changes, Utah is No. 1.
All of this can change next weekend, and USC fans certainly hope it will.
