The art of ranking football teams every week is based on evaluating resumes and seeing if there are meaningful differences between the two. However, the practice of carrying out rankings throughout a season is profoundly substantive only when we arrive at the final few games, and it becomes necessary to establish if one or more teams have a true College Football Playoff portfolio. We’re not at that point yet, midway through the season.
If fans get caught up in rankings in September or early October, they shouldn’t. Why? It’s simple: Rankings generally sort themselves out within conferences. National (cross-conference) comparisons are difficult, but internal comparisons aren’t that hard since teams within a conference usually play each other.
We have that precise scenario this coming weekend when Oregon faces Washington. The Pac-12 football rankings will look different after Week 7, so we don’t need to spend too much time worrying about Week 6. Nevertheless, here are the Week 6 Pac-12 rankings, based solely on results and not at all on future projections or betting odds: