Slaughter's Preseason Pac-12 Power Rankings

With the Pac-12 football season just a little over a month away, BeaversEdge.com takes a look of who's gonna be a contender and who's gonna be a pretender in our Pac-12 Power Rankings.

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1. Washington

Chris Petersen’s Huskies earn the nod of No. 1 in the Pac-12 for 2018 based on returning talent, superb coaching, and experience. UW welcomes back All-Pac-12 and borderline Heisman Trophy hopefuls in seniors Jake Browning and Myles Gaskin. Both spurned the NFL draft to return to Washington and that will set the Huskies up for immediate success. With the recruiting classes that Petersen and Co. have put together over the past few seasons, it’s not a matter of rebuilding, but rather reloading year in and year out. The Huskies will be the team to beat in the Pac-12 this season.

2. Stanford

Checking in at No. 2 is the Stanford Cardinal led by the ever-steady David Shaw. Shaw sports a 73-22 overall record during his time on the farm and there’s no reason while he won’t continue his success in 2018. In a move that sent shockwaves throughout the college football world, Heisman Finalist Bryce Love opted to return to Stanford for his senior season giving the Cardinal perhaps the best all-around running back in the country with emerging quarterback KJ Costello. The Cardinal’s throwback offensive style makes them one of the toughest gameplan’s in the Pac-12 and with the talent returning in Palo Alto, Shaw’s Cardinal will look to make a push for a new year's six bowl once again.

3. USC

The Men of Troy come in at No. 3 as they return perhaps the most talented roster from top-to-bottom in the Pac-12 conference. USC usually gets the cream of the crop when it comes to recruiting and that gives Clay Helton a wide variety of options to field yet another talented team in 2018. The Trojans didn’t reach their full potential in 2018 with Sam Darnold at the helm, but given the amount of sheer talent the Trojans possess, there’s no doubt they’ll be one of the best teams in the Pac-12 come September.

4. Utah

Over the past several seasons, Kyle Whittingham’s Utah Utes have become a model of consistency in the Pac-12 by taking care of business and being competitive year in and year out. The Utes were the sole Pac-12 team to win their bowl game after a 6-6 regular season and welcome back an emerging quarterback in Tyler Huntley. Combine Huntley’s dual threat ability with the impending return of offensive dynamo Britain Covey who is back after serving a two year mission, and this Utah team could be headed for big things in 2018.

5. Oregon

After plummeting to the depths of the Pac-12 north and firing head coach Mark Helfrich at the conclusion of the 2016 season, the Oregon Ducks had a one year rental of head coach Willie Taggart in 2017 before ultimately watching Taggart leave for Florida State. His replacement, former offensive coordinator Mario Cristobal, didn’t get off to a good start as the Ducks’ head coach by bowing down to Boise State in the Las Vegas Bowl. However, the Ducks are very talented and return perhaps the best quarterback in the Pac-12 if not the country in junior Justin Herbert. Who knows where the Ducks would have ended up if Herbert didn’t break his collarbone early in the season, but Oregon will be banking on him staying healthy in 2018. Combine Herbert with a Pac-12 defensive player of the year candidate in Troy Dye, and Oregon figures to be near the top of the conference in 2018.

6. Washington State

Devastation struck the Washington State football program in the offseason with the passing of presumptive quarterback starter Tyler Hilinski. It’s hard to predict how such a tragedy will affect the players on the team and because of that, there are a lot of question marks surrounding Washington State. Mike Leach has been a model of success in Pullman in the past couple seasons with the Air Raid offense, but the Pac-12 north in continuing to improve. Washington State has been one of the surprise teams in the conference the past three seasons, but this year there are a lot of question marks with unproven talent at quarterback and the departure of perhaps one of the most up and coming defensive coordinators in Alex Grinch, who went to Ohio State.

7. UCLA

Coaches around the Pac-12 groaned when they learned that one of the most innovative coaches in college football history was returning to the collegiate ranks. After two NFL stops in Philadelphia and San Francisco, the perfecter of the “blur” offense is back in the Pac-12. However, unlike his previous stint at Oregon, Kelly is starting from scratch with a new team. Prior to being the head coach at Oregon, he spent several seasons as the offensive coordinator developing his offensive talent. He won’t have that luxury in Westwood as he inherits a team that has underperformed over the past couple seasons under Jim Mora Jr. While I believe Kelly will be extremely successful back in college, I don’t believe it will be immediate. The Bruins lost a good amount of defensive and offensive talent including first round pick Josh Rosen and the transition might be a little rougher than expected.

8. Cal

In his first season as Cal head coach, Justin Wilcox exceed all expectations en-route to a 5-7 season. After surrounding himself with top-flight assistants in offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin and defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter, Wilcox took was supposed to be a rebuilding 2-3 win team and put them on the path to success right off the bat by being competitive in every single game this season with the exception of a blowout loss to Washington. The emerging duo of quarterback Ross Bowers and running back Patrick Laird give the Bears some intriguing options offensively while the defense continues to improve under the tutelage of DeRuyter. Time will tell what the Bears are going to do this season, but make no mistake, Wilcox has the Bears on the uprise.

9. Arizona State

Ah. The curious case of Arizona State. In a move that was unprecedented and still somewhat surprising to some, the Sun Devils plucked ex-NFL coach Herm Edwards out of the ESPN studios to kickstart their football program that has largely treaded water for the past few seasons under former coach Todd Graham. While the Sun Devils have had quite a good amount of talent over the past few seasons, they’ve struggled to put it all together on the field. Edwards inherits a talented team featuring the services of do-it-all receiver N’Keal Harry who could end up being a first round pick in the 2019 NFL draft. The Sun Devils are a real wild card in 2018 and could be a boom or bust team depending on how Edwards adapts to the college game.

10. Arizona

With the departure of Rich Rodriguez in the midst of a scandal, it was a high-profile offseason for the Arizona Wildcats for all the wrong reasons. Luckily for Arizona, they came out of it about as good as possible given the circumstances as they hired former Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin as Rodriguez’ replacement. The intriguing thing about the Wildcats is that they return most of the team that went 7-6 in 2017. Dynamic dual threat QB Khalil Tate is similar to former A&M QB Johnny Manziel and if Sumlin can replicate that success at Arizona, the Wildcats might not miss a beat in their re-ascension to the top of the Pac-12 south.

11. Colorado

After winning the Pac-12 South in 2016 in a resurgent season under Mike McIntyre, the Buffaloes regressed in 2017, missing out on a bowl game en-route to a 5-7 campaign. The jury is still out on whether or not McIntyre is a one season wonder. Outside of the 10-4 campaign in 2016, the Buffs have won just 10 combined games since he arrived in 2013. The Buffaloes have a talented returning in quarterback Steven Montez, but lost offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren to OSU in the offseason. The seat is getting warm for McIntyre and he needs to deliver a good season for the Buffs to avoid any talk of a coaching change in Boulder.

12. Oregon State

The Jonathan Smith tenure is going to start with an uphill climb as the Beavers check in last in the preseason Pac-12 Power Rankings. While I expect the Beavers to finish higher than last in the Pac-12 in 2018, we don’t know just how big of a learning curve there will be for the Beavers. Will we will the OSU team that had Colorado, Stanford, and even Washington to a degree on the ropes last season? Or will we see a team that is struggling to adjust in year one of a new coaching staff? Like Arizona State, the Beavers could be a boom or bust team this year depending on how quickly the players acclimate to their new coaching staff.