Pac-12 Power Rankings Week 4 - 2023

[David Marsh]

Week Four is over, so now I will dip my toe into Pac-12 Power Rankings. Until week 4 they are really irrelevant and too difficult to try get any sort of grasp on. My goal with these rankings is to try and take into consideration how good the teams stack up against each other where they are right now. Things will change and it will be interesting to see how this season develops. 

 

Tier 1 

 

1. Oregon (4-0) - Dare I put Oregon at No. 1? I feel the Ducks have the potential to be the most complete team in the Pac-12 with a strong offense and defense both of which currently rank within the top 20! But who have the Ducks played? PSU and Hawaii are not that good and Colorado was held to fewer points than both of those teams, though I do feel Colorado is Oregon’s most complete game to date and Colorado was at least ranked as a top 25 team deservedly or not. And then Oregon escaped Lubbock Texas with a win but only just. Tyler Shough at Texas Tech is out for the season with a broken leg but before this happened I had Texas Tech pinned as a Top 25 team by the end of the season, I feel that is probably a long shot now. In the three blow out wins it is clear that Oregon's back-ups are strong and give Oregon by far the most depth in this conference.

 

2.  Washington (4-0) - Does Washington deserve No.1 over Oregon? I'm not sure, I originally placed them there but I'll be honest I don't think they have played any quality opponents in Boise State, Tulsa, Michigan State and Cal. And of that lot Boise State is by far the best team of them all as they did give Washington a bit of a scare in the first half. The Huskies are dangerous that’s for sure but I also feel they are over-hyped and have some glaring weaknesses like their offensive line has yet to be truly tested and their defense may be a bit suspect. I’m not really buying the hype but I do think Washington is probably the biggest threat to the Ducks right now but they certainly don't have the depth Oregon has and any injuries may derail them entirely.

 

3.USC (4-0) - Trojan fans would think this is disrespectful but let’s get real, USC’s defense let ASU score 28 points on them and also let San Jose State score 28 points on them. Their defense will be a liability. It’s not a matter of if but when. 

 

Tier 2 

 

4. Washington State (4-0) - The Cougars are doing what they typically do at the start of the year, start out strong. This team is doing exactly what you’d expect them to do with a pass heavy offense that is making life more difficult for opposing defenses and they have taken care of business. They narrowly survived an Oregon State comeback this last weekend and get to enjoy a bye week before playing UCLA. 

 

5.Oregon State (3-1) - Oregon State lost a close one of the Cougars in Pullman. But they are still a very good team. They get Utah next and will probably be looking for revenge. Right now I give the Beavers the edge to knock Utah out of this one. 

 

6.Utah (4-0) - Am I disrespecting Utah by putting them at No. 6? Probably. The Utes have managed to go undefeated so far this season and doing it without starting quarterback Cam Rising. But they are mortal and their defense is carrying this team so far and that has allowed their offense to stay in it but unless they get Rising back soon they may see a few significant losses come their way and one may be coming at them this weekend as Utah travels to Corvallis to take on the Beavers. 

 

7. UCLA (3-1) - Is No.7 too high? Probably not, UCLA has shown a strong defense so far this year but they haven’t played any explosive offenses. Then on the offensive side of the ball they were stopped by Utah this last weekend as the offense only managed to score 7 points and also gave up 7 in a pick six. Dante Moore will be a future star but right now UCLA has some quarterback problems. 

 

Tier 3 

 

8. Colorado (3-1) - I don’t think Colorado could beat anyone above them on this list right now. Maybe in a few weeks that would change. Colorado is a good team but not in the top tiers of the Pac-12 that’s for sure. Do they belong in Tier 3? We’ll have to wait and find out but their wins are looking less impressive after that Oregon beat down. For Colorado to truly move up they need to prove themselves by at least being competitive against a tier 1 team and potentially even beat a tier 2.

 

9. Arizona (3-1) - Arizona is a team that I have loved their progression through the past three years. Jedd Fisch has done an amazing job with that program so far as it was really in a place worse than Colorado. At this time I’m not sure who is better, Colorado or Arizona but I think Colorado has the better quarterback so that gives Colorado the edge. 

 

10. Cal (2-2) - Lost to Auburn and Washington and looked rather unimpressive. Justin Wilcox may be leaving Cal at the end of the year and in truth that might be a blessing for him. Cal is not a program that has a lot of upside to it especially next year when they get to travel to the east coast for half their games. 

 

11. Arizona State (1-3) - Kenny Dillingham has his team improving that’s for sure. They were shut out a week ago against Fresno State and turned around and put up 28 on USC, is that an indictment on USC? But let’s get real this ASU team is at least a year or two behind Arizona in the rebuild process and though Dillingham is making the best of what he has they aren’t going to win many more games. They might steal one from someone along the way. 

 

12. Stanford (1-3) - Stanford is bad. How bad? Bad enough that they dragged Oregon, a top 10 team, onto the Pac-12 network to play them, bad. Stanford has major problems and Troy Taylor has been putting new life into the program but the fact remains that Stanford will only ever lose to the transfer portal and never gain from it. The rebuild for Stanford is going to take years if it ever truly happens. These are institutional problems that will probably never be fixed and Stanford has always recruited with one hand tied behind their backs and now they might as well tie a second as well.