Preseason College Football Rankings 2012: Pac-12 Finally Gets Deserved Respect

With the AP College Football Poll soon to be announced, the Pac-12 conference seems to making a ranking resurgence.

In the Coaches Top 25 Poll, Pac-12 Southern division darling USC is ranked No. 3 overall. After being suspended from bowl play last season due to recruiting violations, USC has received 19 first place votes (more than last year’s BCS Champion, the Alabama Crimson Tide) to give them an overall score of 1388. They narrowly trail Alabama (1399) for the No. 2 spot.

In the Pac-12 North, the 2011 Pac-12 Champion Oregon Ducks come into the upcoming season ranked No. 5 in the coaches poll. The Ducks went on to win the Rose Bowl last season.

The Oregon Ducks come in as the only team to finish in the top five in BCS rankings in the past two seasons.

Also in the Pac-12 North is an appearance by Stanford, who ranks No. 18 in the coaches poll. Stanford was a highly competitive BCS team last season. and came away with a victory against USC. But with the loss of star quarterback and 2012 NFL Draft No. 1 overall pick Andrew Luck, their odds for an equally successful season are improbable.

Finishing just outside of the Top 25 rankings were the Washington Huskies. With an overall score of 64, they trail the 2011 BCS National Champions in Auburn, who tout a score of 66.

These rankings are the first that have been announced that have any stake in the BCS rankings, considering that the BCS uses the Coaches Poll, the Harris Poll, and six computer rankings to determine the BCS score.

The preseason USA Today Coaches Poll was announced Thursday afternoon. The remainder of the list can be found here.

For teams like USC and Oregon, this year is considered to be a legitimate season for a chance at the national championship. In a sport constantly dominated by the SEC year after year, the Pac-12 is considered by many to be the only other threat to take away the national title.

The last time that a team outside of the SEC won the national title was in 2005, when the Texas Longhorns narrowly beat USC by a field goal in one of the most exciting Rose Bowl victories of all-time. Vince Young and Reggie Bush were two of the most electrifying players in college football at that time.

Only one team from the Pac-12 has ever won the BCS National Championship since the system was introduced in 1998. That team was USC, and they demolished Oklahoma in the 2004 Orange Bowl.

Coming off of a season of ineligibility, the USC Trojans look to be back in the hunt after many thought that their star QB Matt Barkley would turn pro. Instead, he opted to come back and join WR Marquise Lee and WR Robert Woods.

USC was also able to land former Penn State star RB Silas Reed in a relatively controversial transfer following the Penn State sanctions.

According to this article in USA Today, the Pac-12 is the fourth most competitive conference in college football based on a complicated formula developed by Jeff Sagarin.

And in this Bleacher Report article published last season, the Pac-12 was ranked No. 3 without USC being an eligible team.

With USC’s return to eligibility, the Pac-12 has become an even more competitive conference, and they have a fighting chance at a national title this season. The preseason college football rankings only reflect that.

Of the Top Five teams currently ranked by the Coaches Poll, USC and Oregon both hail from the Pac-12 conference. With the SEC, that ties the Pac-12 for most top five teams coming into the 2012 season with two.

The Oklahoma Sooners are the only team ranked in the Top Five that are not from the Pac-12 or the SEC.

With Washington and Utah (ranked No. 24 in the CBS Sports Poll) both legitimate contenders in the Pac-12 North, which leaves Oregon and Stanford with some real competition heading into the season.

While Oregon and USC are the heavy favorites coming into the upcoming season to win the Pac-12, there are five teams that could come away with a spot in the Top 25 rankings.

With the preseason rankings slowly unfolding, look for the Pac-12 to continue to make an appearance as more information comes out.

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