Pac 12 Power Rankings, Week 1: Washington edges USC for top spot; Arizona Wildcats No. 10

Pac-12 season opens Thursday night with games at Utah, ASU

Pac-12 football is back in full force this week, and so are the Star’s Pac-12 Power Rankings.

Each week during the football season, three Star sports staffers will rank the conference’s teams 1-12. Those votes will be compiled to form our Pac-12 Power Rankings.

We got a sneak peek at two league members last week. One (Stanford) performed exceptionally well; the other (Oregon State) not so much.

The Beavers’ performance did not sit well with this week’s voters: Michael Lev, Zack Rosenblatt and Ryan Finley. Michael has the comments to kick off the season.

One thing to note about this initial set: The “previous rank” for each team refers to where they finished in our rankings at the end of the 2016 regular season.

1. Washington

1. WASHINGTON (0-0; PREVIOUS RANK: 1)

Last week: N/A

This week: at Rutgers (Friday, 5 p.m., FS1)

Comment: Zack and I ranked the Huskies first; Ryan had them second. Regardless, with QB Jake Browning leading a deep, talented roster, UW is expected to compete for its second straight Pac-12 championship. Will lowly Rutgers – the Arizona of the East (sorry, couldn’t resist) – give Washington any trouble? Probably not. But it’s still a slightly tricky spot having to traverse the country and play under the Friday-night lights. If the game goes expected – UW is a 27.5-point favorite – we won’t find out what the Huskies are really made of until Week 4, when they visit Colorado. It’s all cupcakes (Montana, Fresno State) between now and then.

2. USC

2. USC (0-0; PREVIOUS RANK: 2)

Last week: N/A

This week: vs. Western Michigan (Saturday, 2:15 p.m., Pac-12 Networks)

Comment: Here’s a fun fact for you: USC has played in exactly the same number of Pac-12 Championship Games (one) as Arizona. That comes with an asterisk, of course: The Trojans would have represented the South in 2011 had they not still been serving that ridiculous NCAA punishment for the Reggie Bush scandal. Anyway, back to 2017: There’s a lot to like here, starting with Heisman favorite Sam Darnold. The lines on both sides worry me a bit, as does the kicking game. Just enough to give Washington the nod. For now.

3. Stanford

3. STANFORD (1-0; PREVIOUS RANK: 4)

Last week: Defeated Rice 62-7

This week: Bye 

Comment: Poor Rice. The Owls traveled all the way to Sydney, and all they got was an absolute shellacking. (And then, to make matters worse, they couldn’t go home because of Tropical Storm Harvey.) So many positives came out of this game for the Cardinal. First and foremost, Keller Chryst seemed healthy, or at least healthy enough to pass for 253 yards and two touchdowns. Bryce Love, meanwhile, rushed for 180 yards on 13 carries in his first outing as Christian McCaffrey’s successor. After an off week, the first true test comes: at USC on Sept. 9.

4. Washington State

4. WASHINGTON STATE (0-0; PREVIOUS RANK: 5)

Last week: N/A

This week: vs. Montana State (Saturday, 7:30 p.m., FS1)

Comment: I’m buying Cougars stock. The offense will continue to score points in bunches, and the defense is sneaky decent. But there’s one thing Wazzu absolutely must do to prove its legitimacy: win the freaking FCS opener. WSU opened last season with a loss to Eastern Washington. The year before that, it was Portland State. How is the college football world supposed to take the Cougars seriously if that keeps happening? Things get tougher next week against Boise State, also in Pullman, where WSU inexplicably plays each of its first five games.

5. Utah

5. UTAH (0-0; PREVIOUS RANK: 6)

Last week: N/A

This week: vs. North Dakota (Thursday, 4:30 p.m., Pac-12 Networks)

Comment: Kudos to Kyle Whittingham and his staff for giving sophomore Tyler Huntley the nod at quarterback. It’s definitely the riskier play – but it’s also the higher-upside move. If USC had done the same with Sam Darnold a year ago, the Trojans might have made the College Football Playoff. Not saying Huntley will remotely approach Darnold’s production. But Huntley was the Florida Gatorade Player of the Year in 2015, so you know he’s talented. With Huntley at quarterback and Troy Taylor, via Eastern Washington, coordinating the offense, these won’t be your father’s Utes.

6 (tie). Colorado

6T. COLORADO (0-0; PREVIOUS RANK: 3)

Last week: N/A

This week: vs. Colorado State (Friday, 5 p.m., Pac-12 Networks) 

Comment: I had the Buffaloes eighth, and I don’t feel good about it. I projected them to finish 3-6 in the conference, and I don’t feel good about that either. Colorado probably will regress a bit after last year’s run to the Pac-12 Championship Game. But the Buffs might have the best offense in the league. Pro Football Focus said the Pac-12 South has three NFL quarterbacks – Darnold, UCLA’s Josh Rose and CU’s Steven Montez. Pac-12 Networks’ Yogi Roth is a Montez fan too. We’ll find out right away where the Buffs stand: The rival Rams looked fantastic in dismantling Oregon State last week.

6t. Oregon

6T. OREGON (0-0; PREVIOUS RANK: 8)

Last week: N/A

This week: vs. Southern Utah (Saturday, 5:15 p.m., Pac-12 Networks) 

Comment: Like Colorado, opinions varied widely on Oregon, from as high as No. 4 (me) to as low as No. 8 (Ryan). If you believe in the power of coaching, the arrivals of Willie Taggart and Jim Leavitt in the offseason will make a significant difference. One of the moves they made was to shift sophomore Brenden Schooler from safety to receiver. That means there’s a real possibility that Brenden could be on the field at the same time as younger brother Colin, a freshman linebacker for Arizona, when the Wildcats visit the Ducks in November. How cool would that be?

8. UCLA

8. UCLA (0-0; PREVIOUS RANK: 10)

Last week: N/A

This week: vs. Texas A&M (Sunday, 4:30 p.m., Fox)

Comment: The Bruins shouldn’t be this low – but they’re in prove-it mode until they actually live up to expectations. I remain bullish on quarterback Josh Rosen, who could be primed for a big bounce-back season under new offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch. Here’s what Fisch told the Southern California News Group about Rosen: “I’ve learned that he’s extremely hard-working. That he is extremely diligent. That the game is extremely important to him. That his talent level, while special, also has a lot to do with how much he works at it.” Kudos to Fisch for not letting Rosen’s reputation precede him.

9. Arizona State

9. ARIZONA STATE (0-0; PREVIOUS RANK: 12)

Last week: N/A

This week: vs. New Mexico State (Thursday, 7:30 p.m., Pac-12 Networks)

Comment: Are we sure Blake Barnett is good? At Alabama, the former four-star recruit got leapfrogged by true freshman Jalen Hurts. After he transferred to ASU, most assumed Barnett would beat out incumbent Manny Wilkins. It didn’t happen. Wilkins will open the season behind center for the Sun Devils. He performed decently as the main starter last year as a redshirt sophomore, completing 63.3 percent of his passes and accounting for 17 touchdowns. Frankly, though, it’s the other elements that need to come together for ASU to reverse course. The Sun Devils averaged 3.3 yards per rush last season. They allowed 7.1 yards per play (rush or pass). That can’t happen again.

10. Arizona

10. ARIZONA (0-0; PREVIOUS RANK: 11)

Last week: N/A

This week: vs. Northern Arizona (Saturday, 8 p.m., Pac-12 Networks)

Comment: Kudos to the UA athletic department for setting up a donation truck to aid the victims of Tropical Storm Harvey. Arizona also invited Houston – its Week 2 opponent – to come to Tucson early next week. The Cougars have been in Austin for several days, and their game at UTSA scheduled for Saturday has been postponed. It’s hard to imagine what those players and coaches – and everyone in and around the Houston area – are going through right now. Hopefully the fans at Arizona Stadium will give the Cougars the welcome they deserve next Saturday. I’m confident they will.

11. Oregon State

11. OREGON STATE (0-1; PREVIOUS RANK: 7)

Last week: Lost to Colorado State 58-27

This week: vs. Portland State (Saturday, 11 a.m., Pac-12 Networks)

Comment: What the heck happened last week? The Beavers were down 24-20 at halftime; in the second half, they got run out of CSU’s new building. Turning the ball over five times obviously isn’t a formula for success. OSU coach Gary Andersen was understandably displeased. "We need to be even a little bit more edgy than we have been in the past. Am I? Hell yeah I am,” the usually mild-mannered Andersen told reporters. “I'm more edgy, and I'm not gonna stop. I'm not gonna stop pushing them. I'm not gonna stop expecting them to carry themselves at a high level. … I refuse to let them make excuses. We're past all that. That's a bunch of BS.”

12. Cal

12. CAL (0-0; PREVIOUS RANK: 9)

Last week: N/A

This week: at North Carolina (Saturday, 9:20 a.m., ESPN3) 

Comment: For those who want Arizona to play a tougher non-conference schedule, be careful what you wish for. In addition to visiting Chapel Hill to launch the Justin Wilcox era, the Golden Bears host Ole Miss in Week 3. Sure, the Rebels are in turmoil; but they’re still an SEC team loaded with highly ranked recruits. There’s a good chance Cal will start 1-2 before facing USC, Oregon, Washington and Washington State to open conference play. Ouch. The scheduling formula for middle-class Pac-12 schools should be as follows: one patsy, one Group of Five foe, one Power Five foe. Two of the latter is one too many.