College football conference power rankings: Week 7

It’s becoming an increasingly viable question to ask if there are any top-tier teams in the Pac-12 this season. Coming into the year, we thought that the Stanford Cardinal could well be that team, but it’s looking more like that may not be the case. After getting the brakes beaten off of them by Notre Dame, they went out this past week — albeit without Bryce Love on the field — and got dominated by a slightly-above-average-but-nothing-more Utah Utes team at home.

That wasn’t all that was concerning in regards to the Pac-12 this week either. The highest-ranked team in the conference, the Washington Huskies, were able to secure another victory to move to 5-1 on the season. That’s good, certainly, but the fact that they only beat an often hapless and currently winless UCLA Bruins team by just a single touchdown (31-24) is not a great look for this team in the slightest.

The saving graces of the Pac-12 right now are one semi-expected team and two that don’t fall into that category. The Oregon Ducks, who were off this past week, continue to look impressive and, had it not been for a collapse against Stanford, might be considered one of the more dangerous teams in the country with an explosive offense.

Outside of the Ducks, though, the Washington State Cougars and Colorado Buffaloes are keeping the Pac-12 afloat at No. 4 in these college football conference power rankings. The Buffs finally played a good team in Arizona State and answered the call with a big win over the Sun Devils. Meanwhile, Washington State moved to 5-1 with a 56-37 win over Oregon State.

Without those two teams showing out like they have, this conference could well be bringing up the rear in these rankings.