College Football Rankings: USC 3rd, Oregon 5th, Stanford 18th In Preseason Coaches Poll

The first major college football poll has been released, and we have only three Pac-12 teams in the top 25. However, the only two teams with real national championship aspirations in the conference are in the top 5, which should put them in great shape if they're able to run the table in the conference.

The USC Trojans are ranked 3rd in the Coaches Poll behind LSU and Alabama, and pretty much split the vote three ways. Right behind them after Oklahoma are the Oregon Ducks in 5th, who also figure to be in contention in the title race.

The biggest question: Can USC or Oregon get through each other twice to win a championship? They have one matchup in November. If they're as good as advertised and blow through the rest of the Pac-12, they will likely enjoy a rematch in December. If both these teams split against each other, would either of those teams be considered a good enough 11-1 squad to win the championship? The good news is that both teams don't have to worry about bad preseason rankings sinking their BCS hopes, so they have better at-large odds than the rest of the teams..

Stanford falls to 18th, which is still a respective position given all their personnel losses. Washington finishes right outside the rankings at 26th, but they will have trouble trying to get ranked after the difficult start to their season. If any team is going to sneak up and get in the rankings, it might very well be Utah at 32nd.