Power Rankings Post Pac-12 Week 0: Despite a Shaky Defense, USC Holds Strong

It’s football season once again and we’re ready to get into the nitty gritty of what makes this America’s favorite sport. Pac-12 Week 0 has come, and with it, we’ve got a good set of teams to mull over and analyze. Soon we’ll be faced with the matchups we’ve all been waiting for playing all across the nation. You can watch Pac-12 games without cable.

Here I’ll be going over our power rankings after Week 0.

12 Stanford Cardinal

Associated Press Ranking: N/A

Next Game: Hawaii Rainbow Warriors; Friday at 8 p.m. PT

Analysis: Coach Troy Taylor shouldn’t be admonished for working with what he’s got. He’s a great recruiter, but the team he has right now is in dire need of some assistance. I don’t foresee many wins in Stanford’s favor this season.

11 Colorado Buffaloes

Associated Press Ranking: N/A

Next Game: TCU Horned Frogs; Saturday at 9 a.m. PT

Analysis: Deion Sanders is someone we’ve all been looking forward to, but with how much new material is taking place overall, we shouldn’t expect much. At least, not early on.

10 Arizona State Sun Devils

Associated Press Ranking: N/A

Next Game: Southern Utah Thunderbirds; Thursday at 7 p.m. PT

Analysis: Due to infractions from the previous coaching staff, ASU has placed a self-imposed bowl ban for the season, but it’s not like they were going to go to the bowl anyhow. Sorry to say, but they’re not quite a fret right now.

9 California Golden Bears

Associated Press Ranking: N/A

Next Game: North Texas Mean Green; Saturday at 1 p.m. PT

Analysis: The Golden Bears are a team with quite a bit of potential, and you can envision a timeline where they really bring it home. However, what we see is a lot of struggle and much room for improvement.

8 Arizona Wildcats

Associated Press Ranking: N/A

Next Game: North Arizona Lumberjacks; Saturday at 7 p.m. PT

Analysis: The Wildcats have a great offense, but their defense is extremely questionable. The defense has a lot to prove if they want the world to take them seriously.

7 UCLA Bruins

Associated Press Ranking: N/A

Next Game: Coastal Carolina Chanticleers; Saturday at 7:30 p.m. PT

Analysis: The team is pretty solid all around, but I place them a little lower due to their QB situation being a bit of a mess. Once that’s resolved, I’m sure they’ll be a force to be reckoned with.

6 Washington State Cougars

Associated Press Ranking: N/A

Next Game: Colorado State Rams; Saturday at 4 p.m. PT

Analysis: The defense is promising, but the offense is fairly shaky. They’ll need to work on that offense to keep up.

5 Oregon State Beavers

Associated Press Ranking: 18th

Next Game: San Jose State Spartans; Sunday at 12:30 p.m. PT

Analysis: This one has a great team, but the questions lie in leadership. I have my doubts about the QB spot in particular. The Beavers scored a top 25 slot preseason.

4 Utah Utes

Associated Press Ranking: 14th

Next Game: Florida Gators; Thursday at 5 p.m. PT

Analysis: I’m sure Utah will be a great team, especially further in the season. The concern is with Cameron Rising, whose health is questionable. If he isn’t doing so hot by the time Florida rolls around, they could have a problem.

3 Washington Huskies

Associated Press Ranking: 10th

Next Game: Boise State Broncos; Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PT

Analysis: I consider the Huskies and Ducks to be a tie. Huskies have a better offense than the Ducks, and the Ducks have a better defense than the Huskies. The key difference is that they lost RB Cameron Davis.

2 Oregon Ducks

Associated Press Ranking: 15th

Next Game: Portland State Vikings; Saturday at 12 p.m. PT

Analysis: Like I said with the Huskies, the Ducks have a great defense (which has improved greatly since last year) with a skeptical offense, but under Will Stein and Bo Nix, there’s a lot of hope to be had. Here is the full Oregon Ducks schedule.

1 USC Trojans

Associated Press Ranking: 6th

Next Game: Nevada Wolfpack; Saturday at 3:30 p.m. PT

Analysis: The Trojans made sure to make the weekend more than entertaining as they doubled the score of their opponent, the San Jose State Spartans, ending with a score of 56-28. Their defensive performance was worrying, but with an offense under Caleb William and Lincoln Riley, we know they’re on the right path at least.