Pacific Takes Pac-12 Power Rankings 12/1: Stanford and USC take back divisions

North

1. Stanford (#2 last week) - A big win over Notre Dame was enough to get the Cardinal back past the Ducks despite their loss to them a few weeks ago. The Cardinal now have the Rose Bowl and a longshot Playoff run in their sights.

2. Oregon (#1 last week) - A big national win for Stanford and a bad second half in the Civil War knocked the Ducks out of the top spot in the North.

3. Washington State (#3 last week) - The Cougars nearly lost their third spot after getting demolished in the Apple Cup, but their eight wins were good enough to give them the edge.

4. Washington (#5 last week) - An Apple Cup blowout was enough to get the six-win Huskies past a seven-win Cal team that actually beat them in their Pac-12 opener.

5. Cal (#4 last week) - This has to be tough for Cal since they beat both of the Washington teams at the beginning of the year, but they have suffered from a dark stretch that they barely crawled out of with a win over Arizona State.

6. Oregon State (#6 last week) - The Beavers nearly pulled off the impossible against Oregon, but came up short and will finish without a Pac-12 win.

South

1. USC (#2 last week) - It's official, the Trojans won the South in convincing fashion and not just against UCLA. They beat UCLA, Utah and the Arizona schools by a combined average of 18 points.

2. Utah (#3 last week) - The Utes got past UCLA because the Bruins got pounded by USC, but I'm not sure it was fully deserved since they didn't look great against Colorado.

3. UCLA (#1 last week) - UCLA's one-week reign atop the South is over. They now tumble a long ways down the Pac-12 bowl slot mountain.

4. Arizona State (#4 last week) - The Sun Devils made it to a bowl (barely) and edged out Arizona in an overall very disappointing season.

5. Arizona (#5 last week) - The Wildcats are going to a bowl, but won just three Pac-12 games and may owe their bowl eligibility to a really weak non-conference schedule.

6. Colorado (#6 last week) - The Buffs showed improvement again by competing with Utah, but once again, they didn't win enough games in a season.