The college season is fast approaching, and it’s time to reveal the Last Word On Sports 2015 Pac-12 preseason rankings.
The Pac-12 North’s top spot was a tighter race than expected, as Stanford managed to pick up two first-place votes. After the top two, there was a big drop-off, as every voter had Oregon and Stanford as the top two teams. Washington and Cal were placed either third or fourth while Washington State and Oregon State were placed either fifth or sixth on every ballot.
USC received six out of the seven first-place votes, so there is a considerable gap between the Trojans and the rest of the Pac-12 South. Arizona State and UCLA were most commonly ranked as either second or third, but the Sun Devils picked up a first-place vote that propelled them ahead of the Bruins. Arizona was placed in the fourth slot by every voter, Utah was placed in the fifth slot by six out of seven voters, and Colorado was placed in the last slot by every voter, so there is some space between the final three teams.
The methodology of the poll is fairly simple. Seven of our college football writers (myself, Donald King, Tony Siracusa, John Bava III, Mike Loveall, Yesh Ginsburg, and Connor Ferguson) ranked the teams one through six in each division. The highest-ranked team received six points while the lowest team received one point. Each writer then picked a conference champion.
Last Word On Sports 2015 Pac-12 Preseason Rankings
Pac-12 North
1. Oregon (40 points, five first-place votes)
The Ducks are coming off a runner-up finish to the 2015 season, and they have an excellent shot at going back to the playoff. Oregon returns talented playmakers in Byron Marshall and Royce Freeman, but they will have to start a new quarterback after Marcus Mariota moved on. –Connor Ferguson
2. Stanford (37 points, two first-place votes)
Fourth-year starter at quarterback Kevin Hogan brings loads of experience and a stellar win-loss record into the 2015 campaign. To challenge Oregon for the North division title, Stanford’s young defensive line and defensive backs will have to grow up extremely quickly. –Donald King
3. Washington (25 points)
The Huskies look to take the next step in Chris Petersen’s second season. They only return nine starters total, but most of them are key players from last year. The biggest question mark will be on defense, especially against some great Pac-12 offenses. –Mike Loveall
4. Cal (24 points)
There’s cautious optimism in Berkeley as the Bears seem to be a popular “dark horse surprise” pick in the Pac-12 North. And with good reason. Sonny Dykes is in his third year, they return their quarterback, top five pass rushers, top nine receivers (!) and 17 starters overall. But they get USC, UCLA, Utah, and Arizona State from the South and Texas as a non-conference opponent. Can they survive a brutal schedule and build program momentum? –Mike Loveall
5. Washington State (11 points)
Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense is doing wonders at Washington State. The wonders this year will be if the defense can do anything and how well the offense can function without Connor Halliday. –Yesh Ginsburg
6. Oregon State (10 points)
The Beavers return perhaps the most underappreciated star player in the conference in Storm Woods. If they are to have a decent season in 2015, his sturdy legs will have to carry them to it. –Donald King
Pac-12 South
1. USC (40 points, six first-place votes)
Cody Kessler is ready to lead one of the most explosive offenses in college football as he enters his third season as the starting quarterback at USC. While this team is loaded with talent, the defense needs to do a much better job if the Trojans want to win the Pac-12. Will this be the season that Steve Sarkisian proves his worth as a head coach? –Al Preziosi
2. Arizona State (32 points, one first-place vote)
Todd Graham enters his fourth season at the helm of the Sun Devil program looking to guide the team to its third consecutive ten-win season, something that hasn’t been done since 1972. Senior Mike Bercovici is expected to be the go-to guy at quarterback and he has plenty of returning skill position players to throw to. The pieces are in place for success but can they challenge USC and UCLA in a loaded Pac-12 South? –John Bava III
3. UCLA (31 points)
The Bruins return 18 of 22 starters (tied for most in the country), including 10 of 11 on offense. However, the one they lost was Brett Hundley and that could be a big loss. Jim Mora swears there is a true quarterback competition between junior Jerry Neuheisel and true freshman Josh Rosen. Either quarterback will be able to lean on the Pac-12’s leading rusher Paul Perkins and the most experienced offensive line in the conference. –Tony Siracusa
4. Arizona (21 points)
The Wildcats are coming off an impressive Pac-12 season that ended with a disappointing loss to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. Anu Solomon is a year older and hopefully wiser, but I don’t know if Arizona is good enough yet to come out of an absolutely stacked South division again. –Yesh Ginsburg
5. Utah (16 points)
The Utes are coming off their best season since joining the conference in 2011, but this is a weekly gauntlet. Travis Wilson is the starting quarterback heading into the season, but it will be hard to shake Kendall Thompson, who is breathing down his neck. The defense lost Nate Orchard, but still has plenty of talent. Perhaps the biggest losses occurred when both the offensive and defensive coordinators left after last season. –Tony Siracusa
6. Colorado (7 points)
Life in the Pac-12 has not been kind to Colorado. However, the Buffaloes should be a more competitive team in 2015 as talented quarterback Sefo Liufau returns for his junior season. While they will almost definitely finish last in the crowded Pac-12 South again and fail to reach a bowl game, gradual progress is important for the future of this team and four wins would be a lot better than two wins. –Al Preziosi
Conference Champion: USC (four of seven votes)
What do you think? Leave a comment below with your thoughts or reach out to us on Twitter @LastWordOnCFB.
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