Preseason Pac-12 power rankings 2020: Can anyone play spoiler to Oregon-USC?

Oregon and USC are on a collision course to meet in the Pac-12 Championship Game.

It sure feels like the Oregon Ducks will face the USC Trojans for a Pac-12 football title.

The Pac-12 returns in full force this weekend as the last Power 5 conference to begin playing ball this fall. Though the conference’s overall reputation has taken massive hit after massive hit in the last few years, the one thing the Pac-12 has going for it is every team has not lost yet. While six will in its first weekend slate, let’s take a look at how the conference stacks up before play begins.

Preseason Pac-12 power rankings

Nick Rolovich is in for a rough first year leading the Washington State Cougars. He takes over for Mike Leach, who left for the Mississippi State Bulldogs this offseason. While Rolovich had success with the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, it is a step up in competition in the Pac-12. With him inheriting pieces to run an Air Raid offense, how sure are we the Cougs will win a few games this season?

Karl Dorrell enters a tough situation with the Colorado Buffaloes. With Mel Tucker leaving Boulder for the Michigan State Spartans so late in the cycle after only one year with the program, the Buffs are destined to wind up in the Pac-12 South basement. Though Dorrell has experience leading a Pac-12 team while he was with the UCLA Bruins, things will not really get going here until 2021.

If not for a pair of rebuilding projects in their respective divisions, Kevin Sumlin’s Arizona Wildcats may have ended up at the bottom of the Pac-12. It has been a fall from grace for the former head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies. He used to be an ace recruiter when it comes to quarterbacks, now he is coaching little more than an afterthought with a Pac-12 South bottom feeder.

We must appreciate the job head coach Jonathan Smith is doing with the Oregon State Beavers. He was the most anonymous head coach at the most anonymous program in the Pac-12, but the Beavers are no easy any more under his watch. Though they will not challenge the best teams in the conference, it will be interesting to see if the Beavers can climber higher than No. 9 in 2020.

When the UCLA Bruins hired offensive guru Chip Kelly to be their head coach, they were expecting the program to be better than lower-middle in the Pac-12 hierarchy a few years into his Westwood tenure. Recruiting has not and never will be Kelly’s thing, but he might be able to surprise a few people this year if his Bruins get off to a hot start. Or they could be flat-out terrible.

If it were Chris Petersen still leading the Washington Huskies, the Dawgs would be a few spots higher than No. 7. However, this is Jimmy Lake’s first year in charge in Seattle. The last time the Huskies promoted from within after replacing a legendary coach, it did not go over well. Though Lake could be good, Washington will only be middle of the pack in his first season.

The Stanford Cardinal are a prime example of how coaching matters. Having David Shaw in charge bodes well for the Cardinal to navigate a football season in the age of the coronavirus. With Davis Mills at quarterback, Stanford will be better than they were a season ago. However, the Cardinal play in the wrong division to have any hopes of getting to the Pac-12 Championship game.

We are in the territory of teams who have a realistic shot of getting to the conference title bout. Herm Edwards‘ Arizona State Sun Devils are certainly trending up this year. While they might be a tad overhyped, we know the defense will be rock solid. If quarterback Jayden Daniels is as good as advertised, it would not be shocking if Arizona State sneaks into the championship game.

The California Golden Bears will take advantage of much of the Pac-12 North being in flux. Justin Wilcox is an underrated head coach. While Cal is not on par with Oregon, the Golden Bears are the only team in the Pac-12 North who have a snowball’s chance of getting to the conference championship game if the Ducks were to stumble. This could be a big year for the Cal program.

As it is with Arizona State, coaching matters in Salt Lake City with the Utah Utes. Though the Hallandale Trio is no more, Kyle Whittingham will have his team overachieve and contend for a Pac-12 title. They may not have the talent of the USC Trojans in a rebuilding year of sorts, but this is a program capable of getting to the title bout and playing in a New Year’s Six bowl game.

This is the year Clay Helton needs to make it happen at USC. He has a fantastic quarterback in Kedon Slovis, who is in his second year in offensive coordinator Graham Harrell‘s system. With Utah losing a lot to the NFL in the spring and Arizona State not quite there, USC needs to win the Pac-12 South in order for things to be heading in the right direction in Los Angeles for the Trojans.

The only realistic shot the Pac-12 has at getting a team into the College Football Playoff is if Oregon goes undefeated and dominates everyone. While the Ducks don not have the best quarterback in the conference, they have the best roster and one of the best coaches in the sport in Mario Cristobal. Oregon should be New Year’s Six bowl bound. If not, something went wrong.

Overall, the Pac-12 is not expected to factor in the College Football Playoff picture, unless Oregon proves it belongs as the No. 4 team as an undefeated Power 5 champion. But even if the Pac-12 misses out on the big dance for the fifth time in seven years, it is great to have major West Coast football back in our lives. Here is to the Pac-12 having a successful and healthy football season.

We cannot wait to see what the 2020 Pac-12 football season has in store for us.

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