CGB Pac-12 Week 5 Power Rankings

Not a ton of movement this week, with the Pac-12 posting a perfect non-conference record, though Oregon State's overtime victory over Utah is starting to look more like an outlier than a trend.

Sam Fielder: These teams were what we thought they were. (HT: Dennis Green) The top tier teams in the conference pretty emphatically beat down the lower tier teams and widened the gap between the haves and the also-rans. I'm confident in my top 5, but after that things get murky. Except for the bottom. Cal might be bad, but at least we didn't fire our coach in the parking lot (or on the runway or wherever it was).

NorCalNick: There's going to be unanimous agreement on the first five teams in our poll, right? Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, UW and ASU are all undefeated except for against each other and have impressed in non-conference play. It would be an upset for any of the top five to lose to any of the bottom seven.

1. Oregon (holding steady)

atomsareenough: I think they are better than Alabama. Sigh. Teams shouldn't be allowed to be this good.

Berkelium97: Even though Mariota has not yet returned to his brilliant 2012 form, this is still one of the best teams in the nation.

2. Stanford (holding steady)

atomsareenough: The Cardinal look like a legitimately elite team as well. Double sigh.

Berkelium97: Hogan is quietly having an excellent season.

3. UCLA (holding steady)

Sam Fielder: Off this week.Staying firmly at #3 for now.

4. Arizona State (up one spot)

atomsareenough: How much better does Stanford look now after seeing what ASU was able to do to USC? Anyway, the Sun Devils got a guy fired, that's gotta move them up the power rankings in my opinion.

Sam Fielder: Hammered SC and brought about an end to the Lane Kiffin era. Not sure I'm happy about that last part.

5. Washington (down one spot)

Sam Fielder: Looks like they can run the ball and play D. Definitely a solid team in the top half of the conference.

NorCalNick: Will go as far as Bishop Stankey's tired, tired legs carry them.

6. Arizona (holding steady)

NorCalNick: Maaaaaaybe B.J. Denker isn't really that bad, and the weather in Seattle was to blame. But the Wildcats didn't look competitive and could fall even further as they continue to face legit opposition.

Berkelium97: They challenged a tough Washington team on the road in the rain. Their one-dimensional offense will be their downfall, but they're not yet falling towards the bottom of my poll.

7. Utah (up one spot)

Sam Fielder: Off this week. Move up as others move down.

NorCalNick: Holding steady for now. I suspect that Utah might be the most complete team in the bottom seven, but that crazy home loss to Oregon State really hurts.

8. Oregon State (up four spots)

atomsareenough: The Beavers make a huge jump for me due to the fact that their defense finally showed up (albeit against a pretty terrible Colorado team), and other teams in the conference got beaten rather badly. Also, don't look now, but the Beavers are 4-1 already, which is a huge testament to their crappy schedule so far. They should be 5-0.

Berkelium97: At least this time they actually managed a decisive win. I'm not convinced that this is one of those typical OSU slow starts, however.

9. Washington State (down one spot)

NorCalNick:The win over USC doesn't seem especially impressive, but it's a conference win. True, the Stanford loss wasn't competitive, but then it's not like any of the teams below them would be competitive with Stanford at the moment either.

10. California (up one spot)

atomsareenough: Terrible game in awful conditions against arguably the best team in the country. The beatdown was unsurprising but still somehow more miserable than we could have reasonably expected. Is there a QB controversy now? How will the team handle Chris McCain's dismissal? Will the Bears ever get any more defenders back? Are the coaches losing the locker room? How long will Kam Jackson be out for? So many question marks. The homecoming game against Washington State next week looms incredibly large.

Sam Fielder: Boy oh boy. About as terrible of an opening quarter as you can imagine. Injuries piling up, one of the best defensive players on the team now gone...we knew the first 4 games would be rough, but good grief, this is ridiculous. Really, really need to turn things around against WSU on Saturday to salvage this season and point things back in the right direction.

NorCalNick: We now can confidently state that the Bears are NOT a top five football team. Stay tuned next week for more updates as this situation progresses.

11. Colorado (down one spot)

NorCalNick: If you get crushed by a team that lost to an FCS team, you're probably going to get a last place vote in my Pac-12 power poll. The Buffs were exposed against their first legit opponent.

Berkelium97: They only scored two garbage time touchdowns against that Oregon State defense? This team is worse than I thought.

12. USC (down three spots)

ragnarok: By all rights, Cal should be dead last in this league, but if firing your head coach five games into the season doesn't drop you into last place in the Power Rankings for at least a week, I'm not sure what we're even doing here.

atomsareenough: LOL. The score itself was actually slightly more competitive than some of the other Week 5 Pac-12 games, but at the same time, ASU is no Stanford or Oregon, and the Trojan defense, which was the only thing going right for them, apparently didn't even board the flight to Tempe. I'm not exactly sure if losing Lane Kiffin renders 'SC rudderless or is more akin to cauterizing a wound, but this is a complete tire fire right now. Oh how the mighty have fallen. heheheheheheh

...of course now watch them make a great hire within the next few weeks/months, haul in another fantastic recruiting class, and quickly return to the top.