Not a ton of movement this week, with the Pac-12 posting a perfect non-conference record, though Oregon State's overtime victory over Utah is starting to look more like an outlier than a trend.
1. Oregon (holding steady)
atomsareenough: Off this week, but still top duck.
2. Stanford (up one spot)
atomsareenough: Actually looked the part of a top five team this week, dominating a solid ASU squad. They move ahead of the Bruins for me this week due to opponent quality.
norcalnick: Prior to knee-capping ASU, I thought Stanford's offense would cost them somewhere between one and three game this year. Now I'm not so sure.
Berkelium97: Until the Lobsterbacks start consistently and decisively putting away opponents, they will remain stuck behind the Ducks. That first half against ASU was very impressive, but I'm not sure why Shaw pulled his starters so early.
3. UCLA (down one spot)
Sam Fielder: Hammered an overmatched team so we didn't really learn anything here.
norcalnick: Should be 5-0 before visiting Stanford in what should be the 2nd biggest game during the Pac-12 regular season.
4. Washington (holding steady)
atomsareenough: Demolished Idaho State. Racked up 56 points, and pitched a shutout on defense.
Berkelium97: I still don't know what to make of this team. They're definitely good, but how good? Their next four opponents (Arizona, Stanford, Oregon, ASU) should show us how good UW is.
5. Arizona State (holding steady)
ragnarok: Holding steady at 5th only because there's not much justification to drop them below an Arizona team that has played nobody at all this year.
Sam Fielder: Could have made it a game if they'd showed up for the first half against furd.
Berkelium97: I thought this team would be much, much better than they are. I picked them to win the Pac-12 South but now I'm not even sure they'll finish in the top half of the division.
atomsareenough: They won the second half against Stanford when the Cardinal let up a little, is about the nicest thing you could say about it.
norcalnick: I'm not totally selling on the Sun Devils. Plenty of teams have been embarrassed by Stanford over the last few years. I still think this group can compete for the South title, mostly because UCLA has a tougher conference schedule.
6. Arizona (holding steady)
atomsareenough: The Wildcats take a week off after their cupcake binge, and finally get their first test of the season when they play at Washington. That game should give us a better idea of the quality of both of those teams.
norcalnick: The most mysterious team in the conference finally gets tested this week. If you ranked them last for having played nobody, I wouldn't necessarily argue.
7. Washington State (holding steady)
Sam Fielder: Is the Air Raid finally taking off?
norcalnick: So far, the best of the flawed teams in the conference thanks to their win over USC.
atomsareenough: Like their in-state counterparts, the Cougars also brutalized a team from across the border in Idaho, putting up lots of points and shutting them out. Wazzu looks much improved. I can see a bowl team here.
Berkelium97: The 3-1 start looks great. The rest of their schedule doesn't.
8. Utah (up three spots)
norcalnick: A team that could easily be 1-3 or 4-0 after three nail-biters against decent competition. Still, their next six games are rough - the easiest is probably a trip to the Coliseum. Ouch.
Sam Fielder: Beating BYU on the road is nothing to sniff at. This team is frisky.
Berkelium97: Travis Wilson looks solid this year. Utah could be a surprise team in the South.
atomsareenough: Went on the road to archrival BYU, played solid defense to hold on for the win, and claimed bragging rights for a couple years as the Holy War goes on hiatus. Solid win for the Utes.
9. USC (down one spot)
Berkelium97: Fancy Clancy's D looked great as it passed its first real test. Iffy Kiffy's offense continues to struggle.
norcalnick: Any team that can provide passingly decent downfield coverage can completely shut down the USC offense.
atomsareenough: The Trojans had some tough sledding in their victory against a feisty Utah State Aggies team. The defense continued its strong play in bottling up Chuckie Keeton, but the offense was once again disappointing. It shouldn't have been nearly this close; USC started many drives in Aggie territory, but simply were not able to take advantage.
10. Colorado (holding steady)
norcalnick: Might be significantly improved from last year, still haven't had a chance to adequately prove it.
Sam Fielder: Preserved their perfect record with another off week. We get the bottom dweller matchup for next week when they face OSU.
11. California (up one spot)
Sam Fielder: Move up by virtue of OSU's terrible win.
ragnarok: Well, the Bears defense didn't get scored on last weekend, so that was a bonus. And I know Florida A&M is just an FCS patsy, but Ohio State's 76-0 destruction of the Rattlers (yes, I had to look that up) makes the Cal score not look bad at all in comparison.
norcalnick: Any team that can provide passingly decent downfield passing can completely destroy the Cal defense.
atomsareenough: The Bears didn't lose this week! They probably will next week against Oregon, though.
12. Oregon State (down three spots)
norcalnick: Lost to an FCS team, perhaps should have lost to an FBS team that lost to a different FCS team. I don't know how they beat Utah. And yet. AND YET: Thanks to an absurdly backloaded schedule, could conceivably be 6-1 before hosting Stanford in late October.
Sam Fielder: This team is bad. There is a chance they could lose out the rest of their schedule if they don't get things turned around.
atomsareenough: They won, but it was ugly. They needed all three of their 4th quarter touchdowns to come back late against San Diego State, and the Aztecs are NOT good this year. The Beavers still have no running game to speak of. They drop back to the bottom for me.
Berkelium97: I was ready to drop OSU back into 12th for losing to a SDSU team that was blown out by an FCS team. But they managed to steal a win. Although Sean Mannion looked great at the start of the year, he looked skittish after being sacked a couple times by SDSU.
ragnarok: Berkelium, you were the only one to give OSU the benefit of the doubt. Everyone else dumped them to last place for yet another uninspiring performance, and who can blame them?