Tag: Pac-12 Football Standings

Pac-12 football standings: USC to Pac-12 title game, Oregon 1 win away from Vegas

If Oregon beats Oregon State, the Ducks will meet #USC in the #Pac12 title game. If the Ducks lose, things could get complicated.

USC stunned the country by knocking off UCLA at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night. Oregon finished out the weekend slate by defeating Utah in a tight game, and an Oregon-USC Pac-12 title game is looking more and more realistic.

Oregon State and Washington both won their games easily against inferior opponents, and we are just one more week away from the conference title game, which means bowl season is that much closer.

With the Pac-12 season reaching its end (and the college football season, for that matter), let’s examine the newest standings as we prepare for the final weekend of the regular season.

Pac-12 football standings after crazy Week 11 with Oregon and UCLA stunners

Guess who sits atop the #Pac12 football standings? #USC is in the Pac-12 Championship Game with a win over UCLA next weekend.

There it is.

With all eyes looking forward to next week’s slate of Utah-Oregon and UCLA-USC, we saw some stunning outcomes.

It began with Washington upsetting Oregon in Eugene, sending the Ducks out of the College Football Playoff picture and giving Kalen DeBoer another signature victory in his first season as the Huskies’ head coach.

Then, it ended with Arizona — yes, the Wildcats — defeating UCLA at the Rose Bowl to shatter the Bruins’ playoff hopes.

All of a sudden, USC is in the driver’s seat, and next week’s games will still be mammoth for standings purposes.

Let’s examine the Pac-12 standings after a wild week of football.

Pac-12 football standings after Week 10: Heavyweights win, move closer to Nov. 19

#USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Utah all won, moving closer to a Showdown Saturday on Nov. 19 for the #Pac12 Championship Game.

It was a close-call week in the Pac-12. With the Friday Washington-Oregon State game aside, every other matchup was essentially a consensus favorite pick.

However, UCLA escaped Arizona State, 50-36, and USC had an even closer shave against Cal, 41-35. Both of those teams, ASU and Cal, were 3-5 entering the weekend, so the Bruins and Trojans shouldn’t have even had things that close to begin with, yet it’s Pac-12 football.

Utah defeated Arizona easily, Washington State demolished Stanford, and Oregon made easy work of Colorado. The best game of all was Washington’s thrilling victory (and long, very long) over Oregon State on Friday night, 24-21.

Here are the latest standings for the Pac-12, whose four best teams are moving closer to Showdown Saturday on Nov. 19:

USC rises two spots in USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

Four #Pac12 teams are in the top 12 of the @USATODAYSports Coaches Poll. The conference is top-heavy, which has not been the norm.

The USC Trojans are No. 9 in the new USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.

The Trojans defeated Arizona to move to 7-1 on the season. What helped them rise two spots in the poll were the losses by Oklahoma State and Wake Forest, two teams which began the weekend in front of the Men of Troy.

There are some other notable details to pass along before we share the poll.

First, Ole Miss won at Texas A&M, but the Rebels have to play Alabama later this season. They are jostling with USC for New Year’s Six bowl positioning.

Second, four Pac-12 teams are in the top 12. The conference is actually top-heavy, not a parity festival. That’s good. That’s what the league needs more of (not that USC fans will care when the school thankfully leaves for the Big Ten).

Third, Penn State’s loss to Ohio State should rule out the Nittany Lions as a New Year’s Six bowl candidate. USC should be ahead of PSU if it finishes 10-2 or better.

Now, on with the poll:

Pac-12 football standings after Week 9: just one month left in the regular season

The end of October means the home stretch is near. Here are the latest standings in #Pac12 football.

Everything was pretty straightforward in the Pac-12 this weekend. The teams that were predicted to win did just that: UCLA beat Stanford, USC defeated Arizona, Arizona State topped Colorado, Oregon beat Cal, and Utah escaped the Cougars of Washington State on Thursday night.

Oregon State and Washington both had bye weeks, and all eyes are on the Week 12 slate: Utah at Oregon and USC at UCLA.

Until then, the standings won’t change very much, barring some wild upset. Let’s take a look at the latest Pac-12 standings, and the Colorado Buffaloes are now officially at the bottom of the conference after another loss (their seventh loss of the year).

Jon Wilner evaluates USC’s College Football Playoff odds, resume, and more

Jon Wilner puts it plainly: Oregon’s 46-point loss to Georgia means #USC has the better playoff path from the #Pac12. That and much more inside:

It’s late October, which means the Pac-12 is in deep trouble as far as the College Football Playoff is concerned. You can pretty much set your watch to it every year.

The Pac-12, as you know, has not made the College Football Playoff since 2016, when the Washington Huskies went to the semifinals and lost to Alabama. That drought, if we are being brutally honest, is likely to continue for another year now that UCLA — the last unbeaten team in the conference — lost a game.

The Pac-12 isn’t officially eliminated, however. Jon Wilner of the Wilner Hotline lays out the landscape for USC and the other contenders in the Pac-12. Here’s what he said in his Saturday Night Five reaction column after Week 8’s games:

What will happen if Utah, Oregon and USC finish in 3-way tie for first in Pac-12 football race

Spoiler alert: #Utah will very likely make the #Pac12 Championship Game. Let’s go through the details of a 3-way tie in which UCLA is not involved.

You’re surely wondering, as a USC fan or as a Pac-12 fan, what will happen if there is a three-way tie atop the Pac-12 standings at the end of the season.

Because we’re a USC site, we’re obviously interested in three-way ties involving the Trojans. Naturally, we’re going to explore a three-way tie in which the Men of Troy are included.

Because UCLA lost to Oregon, USC and UCLA are currently in a situation where the winner of their Nov. 19 game finishes ahead of the other in the standings. There will likely not be a tie between the two teams.

So what’s left? A three-way tiebreaker scenario involving Utah, Oregon and USC. Let’s explore that scenario.

Analysis of Oregon’s blowout of UCLA, and what it means for USC

Oregon is better than UCLA. We know that much. What else do we know about these teams and the state of play in the #Pac12, including #USC? Let’s talk.

This game was not close. It wasn’t close midway through the second quarter. It wasn’t close at halftime. It wasn’t close in the third quarter. It wasn’t close in the fourth quarter.

As soon as Oregon grabbed a 24-10 lead over UCLA midway through the second quarter, it never led by fewer than 11 points. It led by at least 15 for nearly all of the game’s final 35 minutes. This was a comprehensive victory by the Ducks, who threw the ball and ran the ball exactly the way they hoped. They did whatever they wanted. They dominated on fourth down. They controlled this game and left no doubt about the final outcome.

Let’s make sense of this result and what it means for USC on various levels:

USC’s position in Pac-12 championship race just got better — thanks, Oregon!

The #Pac12 race looks very different after @Ducks_Wire’s Oregon team beat UCLA. Let’s go through the paths for USC after the Ducks dumped the Bruins.

It’s not as though USC needed Oregon to beat UCLA to have any chance of winning the Pac-12. A victory by UCLA would not have closed the door by any means. There was certainly a roadmap for the Trojans regardless of the outcome of UCLA-Oregon on Saturday afternoon.

However, now that Oregon has defeated UCLA, the outlook for the Trojans is clearer and — on balance — better.

The value of Oregon beating UCLA for USC is that the Trojans do have more paths to the Pac-12 Championship Game. They had paths with a UCLA win, but they have more paths thanks to the Ducks’ victory.

Let’s map out some of the dynamics of the new Pac-12 race:

Pac-12 standings to start October

UCLA up, Washington down, Cal gets a reality check, and Oregon State falls. The new #Pac12 standings are here.

October is here, and the Pac-12 continues to be a huge question mark. Coming into Week 5, the Washington Huskies, UCLA Bruins, and USC Trojans all had undefeated records.

At the conclusion of the weekend, just the two Los Angeles schools are left without a loss after the Bruins stunned Washington at the Rose Bowl, 40-32, on Friday night. Kalen DeBoer got his first loss as the Huskies head coach.

The Trojans took care of Arizona State, and Oregon demolished Stanford late Saturday night as well.

With the fifth week of college football over, let’s examine the Pac-12 standings with a jam-packed week coming up.