CGB Pac-12 Week 6 Power Rankings

1. Oregon (holding steady)

atomsareenough: Best team in the country.

norcalnick: Will destroy Washington because it's what they do.

Sam Fielder: Interesting to see them this week in their first real test against Washington. BTW, they are averaging 59.2 points per game so far.

2. Stanford (holding steady)

Sam Fielder: A win is still a win even if it takes some dubious officiating to get it. I'm keeping them here bc UCLA's win over Utah wasn't much better.

norcalnick: If the Huskies had decent kick-off coverage (or simply kicked the ball out of the endzone) they probably beat Stanford.

atomsareenough: I spent the first few weeks thinking the Cardinal were massively overrated, only for them to spend the next couple of weeks convincing me they were actually a very good football team. I thought they'd beat Washington a lot more impressively than they did, but maybe Washington is legit too. God I hope not. P.S. The ball hit the ground, so quit whining Sark.

3. UCLA (holding steady)

atomsareenough: Closer-than-expected game against the Utes has me dropping the Bruins a spot to #4.

Sam Fielder: Managed to get a W in a game where they clearly weren't playing their best. Seem to be slow starters though, so this week vs. Cal could be ugly in the 1st Q.

Berkelium97: The defense looked questionable against Utah, but the team's body of work speaks for itself.

norcalnick: Needed six interceptions to barely beat Utah. If you're going to be ultra-reliant on one player, it may as well be Brett Hundley. But at some point somebody will corral him and UCLA will lose.

4. Washington (up one spot)

Sam Fielder: Unlucky (robbed?) to not get a win against furd. This is a solid team with good balance on O and a good D. We'll see what they're made of against Oregon this week.

norcalnick: I'm voting Washington 3rd, because a 3 point road loss to Stanford is more impressive than a 7 point road win over Utah. As of right now, I think that Washington is a better team than UCLA. And if I'm right, that means the three best teams in the conference are in the North. Bummer.

ragnarok: Well, when your team is arguably the worst team in the conference, it doesn't much matter if the top of your division is stacked, now does it?

Berkelium97: I was quite impressed by their performance this weekend. Sark looks like he'll finally break the 7-win barrier this season.

atomsareenough: Sigh. They look pretty darn credible, don't they? Hopefully it's all a mirage and they lose their next 4 in a row. They're almost certainly going to lose the next one against Oregon, at least.

5. Arizona State (down one spot)

Berkelium97: They're probably not Pac-12 South contenders, but they're better than at least seven other Pac-12 teams.

Sam Fielder: Up and down. Probably should have beat Notre Dame but didn't but still are better than any of the teams below them.

atomsareenough: Should have beaten Notre Dame. Didn't. I guess that karmically evens things out for the game they should have lost against Wisconsin, but didn't.

6. Utah (up one spot)

Berkelium97: That was the best performance I have ever seen by a team that threw six interceptions.

Sam Fielder: Their reward for almost beating UCLA? Getting to take on furd at home this week. They should lose easily.

atomsareenough: I'm beginning to feel like the Utes are kind of generally reminiscent of the Riley-era (by which I mean the last several years and not specifically this year) Beavers of the Pac-12 South. Plucky, well-coached, and kind of sneaky-good. They'll usually play anybody tough, even if they don't come out on top.

norcalnick: A spirited effort in defeat. Utah being in the conference sure does make the rest of the conference look good. Every year they beat BYU, then lose a bunch of painful games to everybody else.

7. Washington State (up two spots)

Berkelium97: With a win this weekend, the Cougs have a great shot at going bowling. Let that thought sink in for a few minutes.

atomsareenough: What Leach has done for the Cougs has me hopeful for Cal next year. Boy, that was a painful sentence to type.

Sam Fielder: They can't run the ball but they can throw it and their D is just good enough to beat inferior teams.

norcalnick: I almost put Wazzu above Utah, but then I thought about how they were outgained by Cal and I decided against it.

8. Arizona (down two spots)

Sam Fielder: Will they hammer USC? Will they get run over? I think anything is on the table here.

Berkelium97: Until they develop a passing game, they will likely remain a bottom-half team.

atomsareenough: They didn't play this week, and I didn't notice.

norcalnick: I have run out of uninteresting things to say about this uninteresting team.

9. Oregon State (down one spot)

Sam Fielder: Who'd have thought they'd end up here after their opening loss?

norcalnick: An off-week from trolling the rest of the conference.

atomsareenough: I have no idea who will win between the Cougars and Beavers next week.

Berkelium97: This team looks eerily similar to Cal (but with a cupcake-loaded OOC schedule). Let's see if they also get Couged this weekend.

10. USC (up two spots)

Sam Fielder: Move up by virtue of Cal moving down. We'll see how the head coaching change affects them this week when they take on Arizona.

atomsareenough: I have no idea who will win between the Trojans and Wildcats next week, either, but I know they're both better than the bottom two teams right now.

norcalnick: Our entire season comes down to ending the streak. IF THERE IS A MERCIFUL DEITY IT WILL HAPPEN.

11. Colorado (holding steady)

norcalnick: I hate talking about teams after they play Oregon. Such meaningless games.

atomsareenough: Got walloped by Oregon at home, similar margin as Cal did. They are bad and Oregon is fantastically good. Getting walloped moves the Buffs down below USC for me.

Berkelium97: If Paul Richardson played for one of college football's blue-bloods, he'd be hailed as one of the best receivers in the country.

Sam Fielder: Kept things close early against Oregon but ultimately just didn't have the firepower to stay with them.

12. California (down two spots)

Berkelium97: Feels bad man.

Sam Fielder: Young, inexperienced, under talented, injured, and undisciplined. Not really the makings of a team that is going places. No where to go but up I suppose.

norcalnick: I still think Cal has more talent than Colorado, but the standings tell me that said, hypothetical, mostly injured talent doesn't matter at the moment.

atomsareenough: Oh, Cal. As Coach Dykes himself noted, the team is in a "fragile" state right now. Fragile, indeed. Getting pasted by Wazzu after the decade we've had against them is rather unsettling to say the least. An already suspect defense is now even worse thanks to an absolutely horrific and unending epidemic of injuries. The offense is still somewhat functional despite the lack of a consistent run game, but it's been better at piling up yards than points so far. We're tentative, afraid, mistake-prone, and in desperate need of some good fortune to shine on us. However, to the extent that a team makes its own luck, it looks like the beatings will continue until morale improves. The Bruins get handed the paddle next.