| UCLA's Sheldon Price will get another chance to stop Stanford's Zach Ertz in Friday's Pac-12 title game. (US Presswire) |
Here's the CBSSports.com Rapid Reports Pac-12 power ranking:
1. Stanford (10-2, 8-1 Pac-12): "Hey guys, I hope you really liked watching that UCLA film last week, because we're watching more of it this week." This isn't an actual quote from a Stanford coach, but it could be. The Cardinal will play the Bruins for the second time in six days on Friday. Stanford's probably hoping the second game goes a lot like the first game. Last week's ranking: 1. Next up: vs. No. 17 UCLA in Pac-12 Championship game at Stanford, Friday, 8 p.m. ET (Fox).
2. Oregon (11-1, 8-1): After losing to Stanford, coach Chip Kelly and his Ducks needed to take their frustrations out on someone or something and that someone or something happened to be Oregon State and the Reser Stadium scoreboard operator. Oregon scored four straight touchdowns in the second half to put away the Beavers. The Ducks should be waddling to a BCS bowl, they'll find out for sure when the BCS Selection Show airs on Dec. 2. Last week's ranking: 2. Next up: Bowl game TBA.
3. Oregon State (8-3, 6-3): Oregon ran circles around the Beavers in Saturday's 48-24 Civil War win. Well, it wasn't actually circles, it was more like a lot of straight lines to the end zone. OSU surrendered 430 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns in the loss. That probably won't happen on Saturday against Nicholls State. Last week's ranking: 3. Next up: vs. Nicholls State, 2:30 p.m. ET (Pac-12 Network).
4. UCLA (9-3, 6-3): After losing 35-17 to Stanford on Saturday, UCLA now has four days before the Pac-12 title game to figure out how to get 19 points better -- or are they already 19 points better and they were just playing possum against the Cardinal? Last week's ranking: 4. Next up: at No. 8 Stanford in Pac-12 Championship game, Friday, 8 p.m. ET (Fox).
5. Arizona (7-5, 4-5): Most fan bases love when their team is leading a game by double-digits in the fourth quarter, not Arizona's. In October, the Wildcats blew a two touchdown fourth-quarter lead to Stanford and lost. On Saturday, Arizona blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead to ASU and lost. Wildcats fans will probably have their fingers crossed for no double-digit fourth-quarter leads in whichever bowl game they play in. Last week's ranking: 5. Next up: Bowl game TBA
6. Arizona State (7-5, 5-4): ASU RB Marion Grice is officially on our list of "best Pac-12 players you've never heard of, but you've now heard of them because we just mentioned them." Grice ran for 156 yards and three touchdowns in the Sun Devils' 41-34 Territorial Cup win over Arizona. Last week's ranking: 8. Next up: Bowl game TBA.
7. Southern Cal (7-5, 5-4): When QB Matt Barkley decided to come back for his senior year, you have to think 7-5 and unranked at the end of the regular season wasn't exactly what he had in mind. How bad are things in Troy? The Trojans lost four of five to close the regular season and didn't beat a team this year with more than seven wins. Last week's ranking: 7. Next up: Bowl game TBA.
8. Washington (7-5, 5-4): There are bad losses, ugly losses and then there's Washington's loss to WSU on Saturday, which was kind of a combination of both. The Huskies blew an 18-point fourth-quarter lead to a team that didn't even score 18 points in six entire games this season. Last week's ranking: 6. Next up: Bowl game TBA.
9. Utah (5-7, 3-6): If Utes fans are looking for something to do this offseason, we suggest watching Reggie Dunn highlights. Dunn returned his NCAA-record fifth kickoff for a touchdown in Utah's 42-35 win over Colorado on Saturday. Last week's ranking: 9. Next up: Season complete.
10. Washington State (3-9, 1-8): If you thought New York was the city that never sleeps, head to Pullman, Wash., after an Apple Cup win. There are probably people in Pullman still celebrating Saturday's stunning overtime win over Washington and they'll probably be celebrating until next August. We can't blame them. Last week's ranking: 11. Next up: Season complete.
11. Cal (3-9, 2-7): You may notice that the two teams at the bottom of our rankings have something unique in common: They're both coachless. The lesson here: Don't be at the bottom of our rankings. Last week's ranking: 10. Next up: Season complete.
12. Colorado (1-11, 1-8): Coach Jon Embree's 1-11 season was rewarded with a pink slip on Sunday. The moral of the story here seems to be "don't finish in last in our power ranking" -- or maybe its "win more than one game." It's definitely one of those. Last week's ranking: 12. Next up: Season complete.
For all the Pac-12 news you can handle, follow @CBSSportsPac12, @JohnBreech and @TheCoolSub.