The season is fast approaching and will be here in a little over two months. We have gotten a good look at teams during spring and can now start comparing and contrasting these teams. Let’s take a look at my power rankings for the Pac-12 heading into 2023.
1. USC
The Trojans are the clear-cut number one in the conference in a lot of people’s eyes. I have them at the top right now, but this is a lot closer than people think. There is a four-headed monster atop the Pac-12 that includes USC, Utah, Washington, and Oregon. I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of them win the conference. Due to coaching and Caleb Williams, I have USC ahead of the others at the moment.
2. Utah
Utah is the team that beat USC to win the Pac-12 title game in 2022, and they return their starting quarterback, Cam Rising, again. This is a veteran team that also added Mycah Pittman at wide receiver from Florida State. They’ll look for revenge in that first game against Florida and I think they will. That should set them up for another successful season.
3. Washington
Washington surprised everyone with how good they were in year one under head coach Kalen DeBoer. Indiana transfer Michael Penix Jr. had a great year as well and looks to duplicate that this season. I really like this team and don’t expect to see much drop-off, if any, from this team. Look for them to compete for a conference championship and playoff appearance in 2023.
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4. Oregon
The Ducks had another good season last year in Dan Lanning‘s first season at the helm. They went 10-3 and will be looking to improve on that. With veteran quarterback Bo Nix returning, the offense should be in great hands. They should be able to score with anyone they play. The defense should be improved as well with another year of Lanning’s coaching. Watch out for Oregon as a sneaky playoff team in 2023.
5. Oregon State
Oregon State beat Oregon last season and that should give them some momentum going into this season. They added DJ Uiagalelei, a quarterback transfer from Clemson, and they look to see his career turn around out west. This is a very similar situation to Bo Nix leaving Auburn for Oregon. We’ll see how it pans out, but if it works well, the Beavers could be really good next year.
The rest of the list looks like this…
6. UCLA
7. Washington State
8. Arizona
9. Colorado
10. California
11. Arizona State
12. Stanford
