| USC coach Lane Kiffin is obviously thrilled his team is No. 1 in the inaugural CBSSports.com Rapid Reports Pac-12 power ranking. (Getty Images) |
Here's CBSSports.com Rapid Reports Pac-12 power ranking:
It was an extra long weekend of football for Pac-12 fans. It started on Thursday and didn't end until 2:30 a.m. ET Sunday morning when Arizona slipped by Toledo in overtime. Now that we've had Sunday to think about it, we give you our Week 1 CBSSports.com Rapid Reports Pac-12 power ranking.
1. USC (1-0): Anything UCLA does, USC comes along and does it better. Bruins QB Brett Hundley scores on a 72-yard run on UCLA's first play from scrimmage this season. Quarterback Matt Barkley opens up USC's game against Hawaii with a 75-yard touchdown pass to Marqise Lee. Bruins win by 25, Trojans win by 39. Barkley gets billboards in L.A., Hundley probably has a picture up at a local Denny's. Next up: vs. Syracuse at MetLife Stadium, Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (ABC).
2. Oregon (1-0): If you missed Oregon's 57-34 win over Arkansas State, here's what you missed: De'Anthony Thomas touched the ball seven times on offense (three runs, four receptions), totaled 119 yards and scored three touchdowns. Fox, ESPN and the Pac-12 Network have rights to Oregon's games, so if they want to make billions of dollars, they will cut-in to Oregon games every time Thomas is on the field. Next up: vs. Fresno State, Saturday, 6:30 p.m. ET (Pac-12 Network).
3. Stanford (1-0): One year after pasting the Spartans 57-3, things were a little closer in Palo Alto Friday. In Josh Nunes' debut, the Cardinal pulled out a 20-17 win. Spartan QB David Fales picked the Stanford secondary apart, so the Cardinal have two weeks to patch up their problems before a slightly better QB comes to Palo Alto: USC's Barkley. Next up: vs. Duke, Saturday, 10:30 p.m. ET (Pac-12 Network).
4. Washington (1-0): The win over San Diego State was nice, but now Washington has real things to worry about: like a trip to Death Valley to take on No. 3 LSU. If the Huskies -- who are early 22-point underdogs -- want to pull off the upset in Baton Rouge, they're going to need more than the 106 yards they got from their running game against San Diego State. Next up: at No. 3 LSU, Saturday, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN).
5. Utah (1-0): It's hard prove anything in Week 1 when you're playing an FCS team that went 0-11 in 2011. The good news for the Utes is that quarterback Jordan Wynn came out of the game in one piece. Next up: at Utah State, Friday, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN2).
6. UCLA (1-0): The only thing more impressive than the performance of Hundley (202 yards passing, 68 yards rushing) was the play of RB Johnathan Franklin. The senior running back opened his season with 215 yards and three touchdowns against Rice. The showing earned Franklin the Pac-12's offensive player of the week award. If UCLA shucks the Cornhuskers Saturday, poll voters might begin to notice there's a team in Los Angeles that's not USC. Next up: vs. No. 17 Nebraska, 7:30 p.m. ET (Fox).
7. Arizona (1-0): The Wildcats may have had the most impressive Pac-12 win of the weekend that nobody saw. Arizona's 24-17 victory came over a Toledo team that went 9-4 last season. The most impressive thing about Arizona, which may not actually have been impressive, was their ability to roll up yards without scoring points. The Wildcats rolled up 624 total yards, but only managed to score 24 total points. The good news though is if QB Matt Scott can repeat his performance from the Toledo game, the Wildcats could put themselves in a position to upset No. 19 Oklahoma State. Next up: vs. Oklahoma State, Saturday, 10:30 p.m. ET (Pac-12 Networks).
8. Arizona State (1-0): The 63 points scored by Arizona State Thursday were the most ever scored by a coach making his Sun Devil debut. Though the scoring record is nice, if Todd Graham wants to keep the good will going in Tempe, he'll probably want to avoid becoming the first ASU coach ever to lose a home game to a Big Ten opponent. The Sun Devils are 7-0 all-time against the Big Ten at home. Next up: vs. Illinois, Saturday, 10:30 p.m. ET (ESPN).
9. Cal (0-1): The Bears are here because of the baffling way their quarterback situation was handled against Nevada. Coach Jeff Tedford benched Zach Maynard for the team's first three series against the Wolfpack, but didn't tell the team that Maynard was going to be benched until the day before the game. Tedford had known since June that Maynard wasn't going to start. Finding out your starting QB's been benched less than 24 hours before your season opener can't be great for team chemistry. Next up: vs. Southern Utah, 3 p.m. ET (Pac-12 Network).
10. Washington State (0-1): Besides the fact that there were a lot Cougars on the field Thursday, it's tough to take anything away from WSU's loss to BYU. BYU could end up being a top-20 team this season and if that's the case, then the 30-6 loss doesn't look so bad for Washington State. The one thing to keep an eye will be QB Jeff Tuel. Tuel looked lost at times running Leach's Air Raid offense. If Tuel can't keep the pirate happy, he may have to walk the plank AKA get benched in favor of Connor Halliday. Next up: vs. Eastern Washington, 3 p.m. ET (Pac-12 Network).
11. Oregon State (0-0): Since the Beavers game against Nicholls State was postponed, we had to rank them based on their practice Saturday. It sounds like things went well, according to the Oregonian, but not well enough for us to move them any higher than No. 11. The Beavers will shoot up our rankings if they win their new home opener Saturday. Next up: vs. Wisconsin, 4 p.m. ET (FX).
12: Colorado (0-1): The Colorado running game averaged 2.0 yards per carry in Saturday's loss to Colorado State. If Matt Barkley's your quarterback, you can probably win with that number, otherwise you're probably going to lose. If FCS school Sacramento State manages to upset the Buffaloes Saturday -- they upset Oregon State last year -- the 0-12 talk might start in Boulder. Next up: vs. Sacramento State, 6 p.m. ET (Pac-12 Network).
For all the Pac-12 news you can handle, follow @CBSSportsPac12, @JohnBreech, and @TheCoolSub on Twitter.