Pacific Takes Pac-12 power rankings: USC takes a major step back

After doing our pre-season and Week One Pacific Takes Power Rankings as an objective poll voted on by Pac-12 bloggers, we decided to change it up and for the rest of the season, we will be polling our readers, Pac-12 fans, to decide how the Pac-12 power rankings shake out.

North

1. Oregon (Last Week #1)

The Ducks are nearly unanimous here and did what they have always done last week by destroying a decent Virginia team on the road. It looks like we are in for another season of high-scoring Oregon beat downs.

2. Stanford (Last Week #2)

The Cardinal made a good initial statement by handling a solid San Jose State relatively easily, showing that they are capable of blowing teams out.

3. Washington (Last Week #3)

The Huskies got a week off before they head to Chicago to play Illinois where they can prove that they can win games on the road under Steve Sarkisian.

4. Washington State (Last Week #5)

The Cougars continue to creep up and got some serious respect points with their upset of USC.

5. Cal (Last Week #4)

The Bears look like they finally have a quarterback who can move the ball, but also have a defense that can't stop anyone... even Portland State.

6. Oregon State (Last Week #6)

The Beavers can start crawling out of the cellar if they can keep winning games, but it's not going to be very easy.

South

1. UCLA (Last Week #1)

The Bruins' grip on the top spot is weakening, as more readers like Arizona State than bloggers. The Bruins will almost assuredly have to win at Nebraska to hang onto this spot.

2. Arizona State (Last Week #3)

The Trojans' fall from grace means that it's probably UCLA and Arizona State fighting it out up top and the Sun Devils can make a major statement when they play Wisconsin on Saturday.

3. Arizona (Last Week #4)

The Wildcats are another team that hasn't done much yet, but benefitted from USC's loss. They won't have a challenge until the last weekend of the month when they travel to Washington.

4. Utah (Last Week #5)

The Utes have proven that they can beat a solid non-BCS rival, but can they prove that they can beat Pac-12 teams when they play Oregon State in Salt Lake City this weekend?

5. Colorado (Last Week #6)

I never thought that this could happen so early in the season, but the Buffs are not at the bottom of the Pac-12 South.

6. USC (Last Week #2)

It was the closest gap in voting points there was, but yes, the Trojans got edged out by Colorado.