Trojans Wire, Ducks Wire, and Buffaloes Wire 2023 Pac-12 football writer poll
College football season is here. It’s time for the last season of Pac-12 football, at least for the conference as we have known it. Next year everything will be wildly different. This is our final time to savor the familiar rhythms, rivalries and matchups of the Pac-12 that we have enjoyed for a very long time, ever since Arizona and Arizona State left the Western Athletic Conference to form the Pacific-10 Conference in 1978.
We gathered a panel of Pac-12 College Wire site writers to make their picks on the order of finish in the Pac-12 standings for 2023. Our panelists are Jack Carlough of Buffaloes Wire, Zachary Neel and Donald Smalley of Ducks Wire, Matt Wadleigh of Trojans and Buffaloes Wire, and Matt Zemek of Trojans Wire.
We will give you the consenus order of finish based on our five combined votes. We will provide the full vote tallies for each team in each position. We will then share each individual writer’s full order of finish for the Pac-12 football standings this year.
The envelope, please:
12 -- STANFORD
Stanford received four 12th-place votes and one 11th-place vote.
11 -- CALIFORNIA
Cal received two 11th-place votes, one ninth-place vote, one 10th-place vote, and one 12th-place vote.
10 -- WASHINGTON STATE
Washington State received two 10th-place votes — more than any other team in the Pac-12 — plus one ninth-place vote, one eighth-place vote, and one seventh-place vote.
9 -- ARIZONA STATE
Arizona State received three ninth-place votes. The Sun Devils also received a 10th-place vote and a seventh-place vote.
8 -- COLORADO
Colorado received two eighth-place votes, tied with Arizona. CU is eighth because the Buffaloes received two 11th-place votes and a 10th-place vote while Arizona’s other votes were much higher in the standings.
7 -- ARIZONA
Arizona received two seventh-place votes, two eighth-place votes, and a sixth-place votes, pushing the Wildcats ahead of Colorado, which — like the U of A — had two eighth-place votes in the poll.
6 -- UCLA
UCLA received four sixth-place votes and one seventh-place vote.
5 -- UTAH
Utah received three fifth-place votes, one fourth-place vote, and one third-place vote.
4 -- OREGON STATE
Oregon State received two fourth-place votes, two fifth-place votes, and one third-place vote.
3 -- OREGON
Oregon received two third-place votes, two second-place votes, and one fourth-place vote.
2 -- WASHINGTON
Washington received three second-place votes, one third-place vote, and one fourth-place vote.
1 -- USC
USC was the only team on which all five writers agreed on the team’s position in the standings. UCLA had four of five writers placing the Bruins sixth. Stanford had four of five writers placing the Cardinal 12th. USC had all five writers placing the Trojans first in the standings.
Now let’s go to each writer’s full predicted Pac-12 football standings for 2023:
MATT WADLEIGH'S 2023 FINAL PAC-12 FOOTBALL STANDINGS
Wadleigh’s predicted order of finish:
12 Cal
11 Stanford
10 Washington State
9 Arizona State
8 Colorado
7 Arizona
6 UCLA
5 Utah
4 Oregon State
3 Oregon
2 Washington
1 USC
DON SMALLEY'S FINAL PAC-12 STANDINGS
Smalley’s picks:
12 Stanford
11 Colorado
10 WSU
9 Cal
8 Arizona
7 ASU
6 UCLA
5 Utah
4 Washington
3 OSU
2 Oregon
1 USC
JACK CARLOUGH'S FINAL PAC-12 STANDINGS
Carlough’s picks:
12 Stanford
11 Cal
10 Arizona State
9 Washington State
8 Colorado
7 UCLA
6 Arizona
5 Oregon State
4 Utah
3 Oregon
2 Washington
1 USC
ZACHARY NEEL'S FINAL PAC-12 STANDINGS
Neel’s picks:
12 Stanford
11 Colorado
10 Cal
9 ASU
8 Washington State
7 Arizona
6 UCLA
5 Utah
4 Oregon State
3 Washington
2 Oregon
1 USC
MATT ZEMEK'S FINAL PAC-12 STANDINGS
Zemek’s picks:
12 Stanford
11 Cal
10 Colorado
9 Arizona State
8 Arizona
7 Washington State
6 UCLA
5 Oregon State
4 Oregon
3 Utah
2 Washington
1 USC
