[2023] PAC Quarter-Season Update

[tsweezy]

After 3.5 weeks of play, most schools have wrapped up their OOC games and now we can take a little quick peek and see how they are performing vis-a-vis my initial preseason power rankings for each conference. First up: the PAC:

 

Team	Conf	Overall	Preseason Power Rank	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	New Rank	Notes
Colorado	0-0	3-0	4	W at CSU 13-5	W vs BAMA 41-0	W vs FCS 55-3	2	An absolute obliteration of Bama in week 2 was the highlight here, but now perhaps Bama is just bad? Either way they're winning and looking good the last 2 weeks while others have faltered
Washington State	0-0	3-0	6	W vs PNST 14-7	W vs CINC 27-17	W vs FCS 31-0	6	3-0 is a great way to start the season, although I don't quite see them keeping pace with the upper crust of the conference
USC	0-0	2-0	2	W vs UKEN 44-20	W at BC 28-9		1	Longacre has been an absolute stud thus far, and that win against Kentucky was one of the best that anybody has. We'll see if they have staying power but for now they're my number 1
California	0-0	2-1	5	W vs Duke 65-0	W at USA 30-0	L vs NEB 28-10	5	Mudholed Duke and USA, but those are bad teams. Then they were losing to Nebraska, lost their Starting QB and it remains to be seen where the season goes from here
Oregon State	0-0	2-1	3	W vs MIAF 27-12	L at LOU 27-35	W vs FCS 28-3	4	Great (expected) win against MIAF and then a tough loss at a really solid Louisville team. They still have the talent and capacity to win the North though
UCLA	0-0	2-1	1	W at UHOU 41-34	W vs MICH 30-21	L vs BALL 20-26	3	Looking good, solid win against Houston but playing close with Michigan. Who knows how Ball State got the best of them, but Hiram might want to get back on the grind instead of assuming he's already a Heisman finalist
Oregon	0-0	1-1	10	L vs TTU 17-23	W vs FCS 17-6		10	Not a great win against FCS and TTU wasn't a phenomenal loss either. Pretty low in the PAC pecking order right now
Stanford	0-0	1-1	8	W vs FCS 69-10	L at UGA 6-10		7	Weird weather in Athens and it's tough to glean a lot from the loss. I'm putting them middle of the pack for now but they can move up dramatically
Utah	0-0	1-1	11	W vs FCS 32-3	L at UTST 14-34		8	Lost their in-state game, but I have some hope for them now that they won't be the bottom of the conference
Arizona	0-0	1-2	12	L at WYOM 6-17	W vs FCS 33-10	L at UNT 13-28	11	These were bad losses, no way around it. At least they got their FCS punching bag
Washington	0-0	0-2	7	L at OSU 7-14	L vs VT 7-10		9	Two tough close losses, but you need to notch a win before you're allowed in the top half of the league
Arizona State	0-0	0-3	9	L vs ND 10-28	L at WAKE 17-24	L at UNLV 9-28	12	These aren't bad losses per se, but they certainly aren't good. 0-3 puts them at the bottom

 

Overall OOC record: 18-13 (.581)

Biggest surprise (good): Washington State

Biggest surprise (bad): Washington

They are who we thought they were: Oregon State

Number of (currently assumed) nationally relevant teams: 6.5

 

[Bingo415]

This is hard to argue against. Wazzu being good is something that needed to happen for this Conference. Just hope to keep pace with SC and UCLA best we can in the south, and see what happens in the North. Biggest OUCH is Cal QB situation.