This early it’s always a balance of weighing “eye tests” and resumes. In no particular order, let’s go through the undefeated:
Utah – Certainly the best resume with 3 P5 wins including a couple ranked opponents. Defense is incredible, but offense is a massive concern. You’re not going to hold Penix or Williams or OSU to 7 on the road. Will not make the Pac-12 championship without significant improvements.
Washington – The best “passes the eye test” team. Regardless of how you view the quality of their opponents, the UW offense is a machine that hasn’t been stopped since mid season last year. Their defense has also looked very good.
USC – Survived a battle in the desert last night against a team that lost 29-0 to a Mtn west foe the week before. Caleb Williams and their weapons can still carve you up, but that defense is still very flawed.
Oregon – Most talented team in the conference. They’re also considered villains now (and racist to some) by the Deion media brigade. Lanning has his feet under him more now than last year, and they’re a balanced team.
Washington State – Great resume with wins over ranked Wisconsin and OSU. Ward made a statement last night with 400+ and 4 TDs against a good beavers defense. The way this realignment thing has shaken out has given them a massive chip on their shoulder, and they play like it.
If California can put up over 30 points/500+ yards versus the Huskies in Seattle, that doesn’t bode well for Washington when they play the top echelon of the conference.
So, what are you saying? That Washington stopped playing completely in the second half? I once saw Miami lose a 31 point halftime lead to Maryland in the Orange Bowl, so I’m not buying the “garbage time” mantra for an entire half.
1. Washington (look unstoppable)
2. Oregon (OR and WA are probably 1a and 1b, tbh)
3. Utah (elite defense, lackluster offense)
4. USC (elite offense, lackluster defense)
5. Wazzu (solid team, slight edge after last night)
6. Oregon State (gonna be really tough)
7. UCLA (talent and speed, will be interesting to see if/how they respond)
8. Arizona (plays hard, not enough talent yet)
9. Colorado (the Deion experience could be in for a rough ride now that teams have film and depth becomes an isssue)
10. Cal (good D but not enough talent, similar to AZ)
11. ASU (showed a pulse against USC, which is more than can be said for previous weeks)
12. Stanford (Turrible)
Based on the record and SOS, I’d say Utah, WSU, UO. Based on eye-test, UO, UW, WSU/OSU. Based on who’d beat us if we played them today, I’d put UO, UW, USC, WSU, OSU in front of us. Overall, I’d say UO, UW at 1a, 1b, with a slight edge to UO because they’re more balanced.
Utah has their fourth string QB. Their backup TE and RB. Utah has 8+ starters out. Utah has by far the toughest SOS. Utah is the defending PAC-12 Champion.
And Utah is undefeated.
Until someone beats Utah, it’s Utah. They shown more, they’ve proven more, and they have the best record. Until someone beats them, it’s Utah.
I didn’t watch much of the Washington game, but I heard that they started to put in their backups which is why Cals offense started producing more, but I am not sure. Also, I think that Washington is the best team from what we have seen, sure their defense gave up points, but Arizona state stopped USCs offense a couple of times, and if Washington can stop USCs offense 1 time which is very likely, their offense will capitalize on a USC defense that let Arizona state score 28 points.
Washington hasn’t played a close game this year so it’ll be interesting to see how they perform in Arizona this weekend. That game could be very intriguing. Classic trap game before the huge collision the following week versus Oregon in Seattle. I’m definitely going to watch it. Last year, both Arizona schools game the Huskies all they could handle and the scandal-plagued/rudderless Sun Devils actually pulled off a massive upset in Tempe. The Wildcats are a better team than that ASU squad so you never know. Strange things happen to cold weather dogs in the desert.
The problem (and reality) is we are missing our Starting QB and 8 or 9 more. We are probably down to RB3 as a starting RB. We have managed to win our first 3 games on the backs of our incredible defense, but right now with our offense there are several teams in the PAC that are probably better than we are.
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