2014 Pac-12 preseason poll, SB Nation edition: Oregon edges out UCLA

The status quo seems to hold. But it's a lot closer.

By Avinash Kunnath@avinashkunnath Jul 22, 2014, 4:34pm PDT

Our SB Nation braintrust of Pac-12 writers from around the network got together and submitted our Pac-12 ballots in preparation for Pac-12 Media Day. The results are pretty conventional and most people seem to agree on where everyone belongs, but you can see that there isn't much division between the top and the bottom.

Pac-12 champions: Oregon (20 votes), UCLA (10), Stanford (3), USC (1)

The Oregon Ducks again are the consensus pick to win the Pac-12, but it's not an overwhelming majority of votes they hold. A significant minority believes that the UCLA Bruins have a chance to win this (and they are a popular pick to disturb the status quo), with a few stray votes also going to the Stanford Cardinal and the USC Trojans.

You can check out the writers who took part below and follow them on Twitter. Before that though, the raw data.

Pac-12 North standings

1. Oregon Ducks: 198 (29)
2. Stanford Cardinal: 166 (5)
3. Washington Huskies: 134
4. Oregon St. Beavers: 103
5. Washington St. Cougars: 77
6. California Golden Bears: 36

By a wide margin, Oregon dominated the first place ballots, with Stanford also getting the nod from a few voters. The order is pretty much the same as last season in the aggregate totals, with Washington, Oregon State, Washington State and Cal going right in order.

Pac-12 North ballots

1st: Oregon (29), Stanford (5)
2nd: Stanford (20), Washington (9), Oregon (4), Oregon State (1)
3rd: Washington (16), Stanford (9), Oregon State (7), Oregon (1), Washington State (1)
4th: Oregon State (18), Washington State (9), Washington (7)
5th: Washington State (22), Oregon State (8), Washington (2), Cal (2)
6th: Cal (32), Washington State (2)

As you can see, the most disagreement comes with Washington and Oregon State, with ballots ranging from 2nd to 5th. Washington State also goes from 3rd to 6th. Oregon and Stanford have a lower range of 3rd place. Almost everyone agrees that Cal will be last once again in the North.

Pac-12 South standings

1. UCLA Bruins: 192 (25)
2. USC Trojans: 160 (9)
3. Arizona St. Sun Devils: 142
4. Arizona Wildcats: 101
5. Utah Utes: 79
6. Colorado Buffaloes: 40

UCLA, USC, and Arizona State looks like it'll be a three horse race for first, although all the first place ballots went to the Trojans and the Bruins. Utah and Colorado seem stuck in the bottom level.

Pac-12 South ballots

1st: UCLA (25), USC (9)
2nd: Arizona State (14), USC (11), UCLA (6), Arizona (3)
3rd: Arizona State (13), USC (10), Arizona (6), UCLA (3), Utah (2)
4th: Arizona (13), Utah (11), Arizona State (6), USC (3), Colorado (1)
5th: Utah (17), Arizona (11), Colorado (4), Arizona State (1), USC (1)
6th: Colorado (29), Utah (4), Arizona (1)

You can see there's even greater variance in the South. USC has ballots ranging from first to fifth. Arizona has ballots ranging from 2nd to last. Almost every team aside from the Bruins and the Buffs seems to have no exact spot. ASU & USC split 2nd and 3rd place ballots, Arizona and Utah split 4th and 5th place ballots. UCLA seems to be the prohibitive favorite, with most ballots going in the 1st-2nd region.

Thanks to our Pac-12 writers who participated in the poll! The list of writers from each site who contributed are mentioned below. Additionally, you can view the ballots by clicking here.

Pacific Takes (@PacificTakes)