Tag: Pac-12 Conference

Pac-12 football predictions for Week 10

Pickin’ the Pac is back for Week 10.

The Pac-12 Conference is starting to form into a recognizable shape. Washington and Oregon are at the top, and USC has fallen behind.

With Week 10 here, there are some huge matchups on the slate, as there will be for the rest of the season. Washington travels to Los Angeles to face USC in an important matchup for Lincoln Riley and Company. Oregon State travels to Boulder to face the Colorado Buffaloes, who have lost four of the last five games after beginning the season 3-0. UCLA travels to Arizona after the Wildcats just upset Oregon State.

Here are the latest Pac-12 football predictions from Trojans Wire, Ducks Wire, and Buffaloes Wire writers and editors:

College basketball expert sizes up the Pac-12 before its last hoops season

Experts generally think USC, Arizona and UCLA will battle for the Pac-12 basketball championship.

We talked to college basketball expert Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated about the 2023-2024 Pac-12 college basketball season, the last season for this conference before it splinters next year.

“I do think that it has a chance to be a pretty good swan song for the league,” Sweeney told us. “To me, I would view it as tier one, some combo of USC, UCLA and Arizona. Tier two, Colorado and Oregon. You could potentially throw a couple other teams into that mix. I think Washington would be the team I probably like the most. But I have some questions with Mike Hopkins and how it breaks down. Then there are some teams I’m at least interested in in that 7 through 10 tier with Washington State, who’s been well coached; Craig Smith in Utah, starting to get on the right track; Stanford in a do-or-die year for Jared Haase, and then Cal with Mark Madsen has things going in the right direction quickly.”

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, and Ducks Wire.

Pac-12 football standings for Week 8

USC’s place in the standings took a hit, but worse, the Trojans’ reputation took a hit.

The USC Trojans had not lost a Pac-12 game before Saturday night’s 34-32 loss to Utah. Yet, the absence of a Pac-12 loss did not mean USC was producing a good season. The Trojans weren’t playing well. As soon as they went up against better opponents, the path was going to get a lot tougher. Sure enough, USC couldn’t even beat Utah at home with the Utes missing Cam Rising at quarterback, Brant Kuithe at tight end, and (for the first half) Cole Bishop at safety. Utah had to play backups at multiple positions, but the Utes were still better and tougher than the Trojans. USC was as close as it was only because Utah made a ton of mistakes in its own right.

The Trojans aren’t good, and they aren’t ready to win big. Their season is on life support. One more Pac-12 loss will knock them out of the conference championship chase.

Here are the Pac-12 football standings after Week 8:

Pac-12 power rankings following an upset-filled Week 7

There’s a new team atop our Pac-12 power rankings following a wild Week 7

The Pac-12 Conference has cooled a bit after as many as eight teams were ranked in the AP Poll. Colorado’s stunning double-overtime loss to Stanford was bad news, and Washington State was blown out by Arizona at home.

Then, USC lost to Notre Dame and Oregon State beat UCLA, so the conference is beginning to come back to reality.

At this rate, Washington is in the driver’s seat, but the situation will get interesting over the next few weeks

With Week 7 behind us and Washington defeating Oregon to become the lone undefeated Pac-12 team, here are our latest power rankings:

Pac-12 football standings through Week 7

Washington rules the roost, even though it is second in the standings.

Clarity. We received some of it in Week 7 of the college football season. Washington and Oregon are the two best teams in the Pac-12. USC doesn’t deserve to be in the discussion. Arizona is a good football team. The Wildcats proved that with their 44-6 demolition of Washington State on the road in Pullman.

Oregon State beat UCLA, but the Beavers didn’t play elite defense and UCLA’s offense finally began to look somewhat potent.

Oh, and remember Friday night? Colorado blew a 29-0 lead at home to Stanford with Travis Hunter back in the lineup for the Buffaloes.

Let’s give you the Pac-12 football standings after Week 7:

Colorado loss to Stanford puts bowl bid in jeopardy and raises questions

This was incredible. Will Deion Sanders and Colorado be shattered by this, or will they come back stronger than ever?

Questions are flying in Boulder. Questions surround Deion Sanders after his Colorado Buffaloes inexplicably blew a 29-0 lead at home to the lowly Stanford Cardinal on Friday night.

Before the collapse occurred, we asked our Pac-12 football panel this question:

“Colorado starting 3-0 was undeniably a great story, and the Buffaloes generated massive TV ratings for their games. It’s natural that the media wanted to cover Deion Sanders 24-7. However, now that CU is playing the way we all expected before the season, is there a risk of a negative blowback effect, or is this program clearly heading in the right direction regardless of the current level of play?”

Matt Wadleigh: This program is headed in the right direction regardless. Colorado was an afterthought for so long, and now top tier players and recruits are lining up to play there. Remember, they were 1-11 last season. If the Buffs make a bowl game, even at 6-6, it’s a smashing success story in Boulder.

Matt Zemek: I think Deion’s portal success story will keep the recruits flowing into Boulder, to the extent that the program will steadily grow and improve. I will say, however, that Deion hasn’t really tried to manage expectations. He is a “moonshot” visionary. Merely being a bowl team isn’t his goal. He wants it all. He will need to be careful about how he guides Colorado in its upward climb. If fans expect too much too soon and Deion doesn’t inject a little realism and caution into the picture, some frustration could seep in.

Zachary Neel: No matter where Colorado finishes the season, they already succeeded. They surpassed their expected win total in just 6 games, and they could very well be onto a bowl game. The great story should continue, and we shall continue to cover it and celebrate it.

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Follow Fighting Irish Wire for more on Notre Dame as the Irish prepare to face USC.

Follow Buffaloes Wire for complete coverage of Deion Sanders and Colorado.

Follow Ducks Wire for coverage of Oregon football leading into the big game against Washington on October 14.

Prominent Pac-12 sports journalist thinks USC is likely to fire Alex Grinch before season’s end.

USC and Lincoln Riley need to have a plan in place if Alex Grinch coaches poorly and loses to Notre Dame.

Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator might actually be worse than Alex Grinch, a fascinating plot point heading into the October 14 renewal of Irish-Trojans.

Brent Venables is coaching Oklahoma far better this year than Lincoln Riley is coaching USC. It’s up to Riley to change that reality against Notre Dame and Utah.

Pac-12 football game predictions: Week 7

It’s another installment of Pickin’ The Pac. The games are bigger and the stakes are higher.

Anothr loaded Pac-12 schedule is here, and this weekend has plenty of big matchups. Oregon and Washington face off. UCLA and Oregon State play each other, and Arizona against Washington State should be a good game.

USC faces Notre Dame in that storied rivalry, and the predictions are all over the place.

Matt Wadleigh, Donovan James, and Matt Zemek from Trojans Wire; Zachary Neel, Don Smalley, and Miles Dwyer from Ducks Wire; podcast producer Ian Hest; and Jack Carlough from Buffaloes Wire are here to make the selections once again.

Let’s remind you about our content on the College Wire websites this week:

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Follow Fighting Irish Wire for more on Notre Dame as the Irish prepare to face USC.

Follow Buffaloes Wire for complete coverage of Deion Sanders and Colorado.

Follow Ducks Wire for coverage of Oregon football leading into the big game against Washington on October 14.

Prominent Pac-12 sports journalist thinks USC is likely to fire Alex Grinch before season’s end.

USC and Lincoln Riley need to have a plan in place if Alex Grinch coaches poorly and loses to Notre Dame.

Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator might actually be worse than Alex Grinch, a fascinating plot point heading into the October 14 renewal of Irish-Trojans.

Brent Venables is coaching Oklahoma far better this year than Lincoln Riley is coaching USC. It’s up to Riley to change that reality against Notre Dame and Utah.

Here, below, are our Pac-12 predictions for Week 7. The USC-Notre Dame game looks like the biggest coin flip:

New reporting shows Pac-12 died because CEO Group didn’t grasp the situation

New reporting from John Canzano details how the Pac-12’s death was less the cause of one person and more due to group paralysis.

If you follow the Pac-12 on a regular basis, and if you have come here to Trojans Wire for realignment content, you probably know how the conference collapsed. The Pac-12 had a media rights offer from ESPN in 2022 which would have paid out $30 million per school to the 10 schools left after USC and UCLA bolted for the Big Ten.

We have collected various other details from reportage by John Canzano and Jon Wilner, plus statements from former television executives, which explain how the Pac-12 died.

One of the juicy details involved was that one Pac-12 president reportedly pushed for a higher dollar figure for the media rights deal. Given how much Arizona State truly didn’t want to leave the Pac-12, we speculated that the “unknown president” might have been in Tempe.

That did not turn out to be the case.

What is also emerging, however, is that one school president didn’t torpedo the ESPN deal last year. It was a collective effort in which the Pac-12 CEO Group couldn’t reach agreement and put up a united front.

Fresh reporting has unearthed the fuller picture of how the Pac-12 couldn’t get its act together in a moment of crisis:

(h/t John Canzano — subscription required)

We went behind the paywall for Canzano’s article and will share some of his important findings below:

Pac-12 football standings after Week 6

Washington State’s loss removes one more Pac-12 team from the ranks of the unbeaten.

The Pac-12 football race is about to get even more serious. The USC Trojans are thankful it didn’t get more serious on Saturday night. USC was able to avoid what would have been a catastrophic defeat against the Arizona Wildcats. The Trojans are 4-0 in the Pac-12. They still have Cal on their schedule, which should be a fifth win. The long and short of it for the Trojans is that if they can win three of their four tough games — Utah, Washington, Oregon, UCLA — they will return to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 Championship Game. Utah, Washington, and UCLA are all at home, so the Trojans know that if they can defend their home field, they will be in Vegas on December 1.

Let’s look at the full Pac-12 football standings following Week 6 of the season:

Pac-12 football standings after Week 5

Oregon State and Utah both have conference losses. That’s the big development in the #Pac12 entering October.

The Pac-12 Conference is beginning to look like we all thought: Oregon, USC, and Washington at the top. However, Oregon State and Washington State are making noise, and the Trojans defeated the Colorado Buffaloes in Boulder in an offensive fireworks show.

UCLA and Washington State had off weeks, and next week all of Oregon, Stanford, Utah, and Washington have idle weeks.

Here are the latest Pac-12 standings with the three top-10 schools remaining undefeated going into October: