The Washington Huskies nearly pulled off a come-from-behind victory in the Rose Bowl on Tuesday, and they finish the season atop our Pac-12 power rankings.
The Pac-12 season has officially come to a close, as the Washington Huskies were the last team to take the field this past Tuesday night. The Huskies fell to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl after a tremendous comeback, fighting back from a 28- 3 deficit in the fourth quarter to lose 28-23.
Here are our final Pac-12 power rankings after the end of bowl season.
For the second year in a row, the Oregon State Beavers come in at the bottom of our final Pac-12 power rankings, though they do have some bright things to look ahead to. The first is running back Jermar Jefferson, who was the Pac-12 Offensive Rookie of the Year, after rushing for 1,380 yards and 12 touchdowns in his first season as the feature back for the Beavers.
First-year head coach Jonathan Smith may have only won two games, but he does have Conor Blount coming back at quarterback, and the Beavers will lean heavily on Jefferson in year two. Oregon State also has their leading tackler returning in Jalen Moore, as well as Hamilcar Rashed Jr., who racked up 12.5 tackles for a loss in 2018.
In Chip Kelly’s first season at the helm of the UCLA Bruins football program, he did not have nearly the same kind of success that he had with the Oregon Ducks. In fact, the Bruins were one of the worst teams in the conference and will need to replace their starting quarterback, Wilton Speight, as well as their best defensive player, Ardarius Pickett heading into next season.
Luckily for the Bruins, they do have Dorian Thompson-Robinson to step into the quarterback, a position where he got a few starts as a freshman this season. Joshua Kelley was an absolute monster at running back, rushing for over 1,200 yards and 12 touchdowns, and will likely be back for his senior season, where UCLA will likely take a major step forward.