TERRY MOSHER
Mosher’s Pac-12 football poll
- Washington
- Washington State
- Utah
- California
- Oregon
- Stanford
- Arizona State
- Arizona
- USC
- UCLA
- Oregon State
- Colorado
It took most of the season, but Washington is where is should be – on top of the conference standings. It isn’t over, though. It has to get past Utah in the conference championship game on Friday in Santa Clara and that will not be an easy picnic. The Utes lost to Washington (21-7) and Washington State 28-24 in back-to-back weeks and then won seven of their last eight games, outscoring their opponents 30-18. Their only defeat in that span was to Arizona State 38-20. The Utes are tough, aggressive and hit very hard. They have the upper hand on the Huskies on special teams – kicking and punting and returns – and are about equal on offense and defense. It should be a donnybrook and to the winner goes the spoils, a Rose Bowl game berth. An overview of the conference shows the development of coach Justin Wilcox at California. He was the defensive coordinator for Washington in 2012-13 and was associated with Husky coach Chris Petersen before that as a graduate assistant and defensive coordinator with him at Boise State. He had the Cal Bears improving each week and managed to defeat Washington 12-10. The Bears did not play the Utes. Also showing improvement was former Washington offensive coordinator/ quarterbacks coach Jonathan Smith at Oregon State. The Beavers sucked on defense, but Smith had the Beavers rolling on offense. Give him another year or two and they could be big factors in the conference. UCLA had a tough time in Chip Kelly’s first year at coach, but the Bruins were young and showed flashes of what can be. Major disappointments were the USC Trojans and the Colorado Buffalos. Coach Mike MacIntyre was fired near the season’s end after the Buffalos won their first five games and lost their last seven.