With the conference schedule now in full swing, the Emerald sports desk ranks the Pac-12 contenders from top to bottom.
1. Oregon (5-0, 2-0 Pac-12)
Last week: 1
The Ducks continued their hot start by dismantling Washington State in Seattle last week. The Ducks started slow, leading only 23-19 going into halftime, but three unanswered touchdowns in the third quarter blew the game wide open. Oregon is scoring as much as ever and the Ducks defense is turning more than a few heads this year, too. In a conference like the Pac-12, anything can change in any given week, but for the time being, it’s the Ducks, and then everybody else.
T2. Oregon State (3-0, 2-0 Pac-12)
Last week: 4
A back-heavy schedule means the Beavs have played just three games so far this season, but two of those three have been on the road and last week’s win over Arizona was the Beavers’ first game of the year against a team outside of the Top 25. There are those who aren’t ready to call the Beavs a legitimate threat, but it’s getting hard to ignore the facts. The Beavers are one of just two undefeated teams left in the Pac-12, and the other is about fifty miles to the south of Corvallis. This year’s Civil War, simply put, could be quite interesting indeed.
T2. USC (3-1, 1-1 Pac-12)
Last week: 3
The Trojans were off last week and play Thursday night against Utah this week. The Men of Troy’s season took a serious step back when they lost to Stanford — and Washington’s upset of the Cardinal didn’t make that loss look any better — but they still have a tremendous amount of talent on the field with Matt Barkley, Robert Woods and Marquise Lee. Thanks to a Nov. 10 date with Arizona State, the Trojans also still control their own destiny in the Pac-12 South.
4. Washington (3-1, 1-0 Pac-12)
Last week: 6
Ask anyone in Seattle and they’ll tell you the Huskies are peaking at the right time.  Nobody needs reminding how long it’s been since UW beat the Ducks, but an upset of Stanford last week has Husky fans confident they’ll be successful in Autzen Stadium. The only time the Huskies have played away from home this year, however, they were dismantled by LSU 41-3.
5. Stanford (3-1, 1-1 Pac-12)
Last week: 2
Heading into last week it seemed like Stanford might be a threat in the Pac-12 North. A win over USC in the Cardinal’s conference opener had fans and media alike declaring that Stanford would be fine without Andrew Luck, and Stanford even cracked the top ten in the AP poll. But when the Cardinal marched onto CenturyLink Field as the No. 8 team in the nation, Washington had other ideas, coming away with a 17-13 win.
6. UCLA (4-1, 1-1 Pac-12)
Last week: 5
The Bruins bounced back from a home loss to UCLA by picking up their first win of Pac-12 play by throttling Colorado 42-14, but it’s hard to really give a team a tremendous amount of credit for blowing out Colorado. The Bruins take to the road again this week with a matchup against a California team in dire need of a win to get their season back on track.
7. Arizona State (4-1, 2-0 Pac-12)
Last week: 8
Another team whose reputation is somewhat a victim of its schedule, Arizona State is 2-0 in the Pac-12 with those wins coming against Utah and California. It doesn’t get any tougher for ASU this week as the Sun Devils travel to Folsom Field to take on Colorado, but we’ll probably learn a lot more about them two weeks from today when they host the Ducks.
8. Arizona (3-2, 0-2 Pac-12)
Last week: 7
Another week, another loss to an Oregon-based team for Arizona. Beavers quarterback Sean Mannion@@http://www.pacifictakes.com/2012/10/3/3447948/sean-mannion-oregon-state-beavers-brett-hundley-ucla-bruins-kenjon-barner-oregon-ducks@@ threw for over 400 yards, none more important than the nine-yard pass that gave OSU the lead with just over a minute left to play. After starting the season with great expectations in Rich Rodriguez’s first year at the helm, Arizona finds itself still looking for its first conference win.
9.Utah (2-2, 0-1 Pac-12)
Last week: 10
Utah was considered a dark horse in the Pac-12 South when the season began and in many ways, the jury is still out on Utah’s season. They opened conference play with a loss to Arizona State but they are 2-0 at home, including a 24-21 win over then No. 25 BYU, and return to Salt Lake City Thursday with a chance to get back into the conference championship discussion with an upset over USC.
10. California (1-4, 0-2 Pac-12)
Last week: 9
The Bears’ third loss in as many weeks has the blogosphere (along with sports radio hosts and journalists alike) suggesting that Jeff Tedford @@http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/46198/pressure-mounts-on-tedford-cal@@is on the hot seat. Cal faces no easy task this weekend either in welcoming an upstart UCLA team that is clinging to a No. 25 ranking in the AP Poll behind Jonathan Franklin and the Bruins’ top-15 rushing attack.
11. Washington State (2-3, 0-2 Pac-12)
Last week: 11
For 30 minutes on Saturday, it looked as if maybe there was more to this year’s incarnation of the Washington State Cougars than had previously been known — and then the second half happened. Washington State’s inability to move the ball on the ground (they average less than 50 rushing yards per game) makes them entirely too one-dimensional and is no small part of their 0-2 start to conference play.
12. Colorado (1-4, 1-1 Pac-12)
Last week: 12
It’s a rough time to be a Buffs fan. In theory, Colorado still controls its own destiny in the Pac-12. If they win out, they will host the Pac-12 title game. While that’s technically true, it’s about as likely as the Pac-12 title game being played on the moon. The Buffs are home against Arizona State this week then play Oregon and USC on the road in consecutive weeks before returning home to play Stanford.