Pac-12 is 13-0 in 2023, sets the pace in college football
The Pac-12 won’t exist next year. It’s a real shame, because Pac-12 football is kicking butt right now. The Pac-12 is the only unbeaten Power Five conference in college football after Week 1. More than that, its teams regularly thrashed opponents. Colorado beat TCU by only three points, but as a 20-point underdog. Other Pac-12 teams won big in games which were expected to be close. It’s not just the winning, but the emphatic nature of the victories, which has affirmed the Pac-12 as a strong conference in the early part of the season.
This league was expected to be good … and that might have been an underestimation of its quality. This conference has a chance to be legitimately great. Think about the Heisman Trophy candidates in this conference. Think about how difficult it will be for any team, including USC, to go through this conference unbeaten. The obvious concern is that the Pac-12 will be so tough that the conference champion will have two losses and thereby miss the playoff. We will just have to wait and see.
Let’s rank all of the Pac-12 teams after their wins in Week 1:
Arizona State is clearly No. 12 after one week. This doesn’t mean it will stay there, but after one game, it’s obvious. ASU struggled against Southern Utah in a storm-delayed game. Let’s see where the Sun Devils go from here.
This ranking is highly unlikely to be permanent, but it is the correct ranking for Arizona after one game. Why? Simple: Arizona played Northern Arizona. Other Pac-12 teams did not play FCS opponents. That’s all. That’s the main reason for this ranking. Arizona will move up the rankings list when it wins games against better opponents.
Stanford looked good against Hawaii … and this is the 10th-best team in the Pac-12? That shows you how much of a statement the Pac-12 made.
Stanford is 10th and not higher because Hawaii — playing on a Friday the week after an emotional game at Vanderbilt — might have ran on fumes to a certain degree. That’s a small but real variable we will take into account. If this win had occurred on a Saturday and not a Friday, we might have slotted Cal here at 10.
We’re going to put Cal here because Stanford beat Hawaii on a short week for the Rainbow Warriors. Cal’s blowout win at North Texas is not that different from Stanford’s win at Hawaii. We’re looking at small degrees of difference here.
Colorado State might not be good, but Washington State did hammer the Rams on the road. If you wanted to say Cal’s win at North Texas is better, we wouldn’t put up any real argument. It’s a coin flip.
UCLA handled Coastal Carolina — a good program, but also a program without elite coach Jamey Chadwell (now at Liberty) — in Week 1. The Bruins didn’t score a blowout, but their opponent is better than other teams Pac-12 schools defeated this past weekend.
The Ducks scored 81 points against Portland State. How can they be sixth and not higher?
They played Portland State. Playing an FCS team brings about that penalty. Duck fans should still be thrilled with how clean and fluid their team looked. It was a good opener for UO.
For Oregon news and coverage, visit Ducks Wire.
Is USC going to be the fifth-best team in the Pac-12? No, not in a month or at the end of the season. Right now, based on two games? Four teams in the Pac-12 have accomplished more.
Oregon State’s win over San Jose State was slightly more impressive: It was on the road, and the game’s outcome was sealed a little sooner. Again: We don’t think USC will remain here at No. 5, but that’s part of honest rankings: They reflect what has happened week by week. They will change. They shouldn’t remain fixed if new information emerges.
Again, we don’t think USC will finish below Oregon State in the year-end standings. That’s not what these weekly rankings are about. However, if we’re going to compare USC-San Jose State with Oregon State-San Jose State, Oregon State controlled the game slightly better. USC led by just seven points at halftime. Oregon State established a bigger halftime lead.
Again: Rankings will change with new information and results. No one should get worked up about this.
Florida might not be very good, but Florida is better than San Jose State and Portland State.
If Coastal Carolina was still coached by Jamey Chadwell instead of by Tim Beck, we might have UCLA in this No. 3 spot … but Chadwell is coaching elsewhere, so that affects our rankings, which are results-based.
Washington hammered Boise State. Is Boise State better than TCU? That’s a tough call. Ultimately, Washington did what it was expected to do against a decent team and looked really good.
The Boise State team Washington beat might be better than TCU, but that’s something we will have to wait to discover over the course of the season.
Why is Colorado No. 1 and Washington No. 2? Colorado won outright on the road as a 20-point underdog. Washington merely did what was expected. Colorado’s degree of difficulty — therefore the enormity of its achievement — is greater. Colorado achieved the most. That’s why the Buffs are No. 1 after Week 1 in the Pac-12.
For Colorado news and coverage, visit Buffaloes Wire.
