Emerald City Swagger: PAC-12 Football Power Rankings week of 9/24
By Ed Stein
The Top Three
3) Oregon (3-1, 0-1) – Ranked 19. Last Week: If you were Oregon and you had a 24-7 lead most of the way through the third quarter and the potential top pick of the 2019 NFL draft, leading your team, you would be pretty confident. Nope, Ducks QB Justin Herbert couldn’t put the game away. #7 Stanford rallied to a 38-31 win in overtime. Herbert threw for 346 yards on 26 completions and CJ Verdell ran for 115 yards to lead Oregon’s offense. Next Week: at 24 Cal. Note: It doesn’t get any easier for Oregon this week.
2) Washington (3-1, 1-0) – Ranked 11. Last Week. The Washington Huskies won their conference opener 27-20 over Arizona State. UW’s defense was stout once again, led by back-to-back PAC-12 Defensive Player of the Week, Ben Burr-Kirven who had 20 tackles. On offense, the Huskies had 171 yards rushing, behind an offensive line that gets better by the week.
1) Stanford (4-0, 2-0) – Ranked 7. Last Week: Pulled out a huge come from behind win at Oregon 38-31. If the Cardinal needed a signature win, they got it. Quarterback K.J. Costello proved he was every bit the equal of Herbert, throwing for 327 yards and three touchdowns. This Week: at Notre Dame Note: No rest for the victors this week. A win Saturday puts Stanford in position for one of the four playoff spots come January.
* There will be one edition after the PAC-12 Championship game and one after the final Bowl game.