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The Pac-12 Conference released its preseason poll of media members who cover the Pac-12 and UCLA has been picked to win the Pac-12 South. Stanford was picked to win the Pac-12 North as well as the conference championship.
A total of 33 media members were polled. The Bruins collected 19 first-place votes and 180 total points to top the South poll, but, indicative of UCLA’s recent troubles with Stanford, only three votes were cast for the Bruins to win the conference championship.
According to a Pac-12 Conference press release, "the media poll has correctly selected the Conference Champion in 29 of 55 previous polls, but only twice in the last nine polls."
Here's the divisional breakdown of the poll. First-place division votes in parentheses.
|
North
|
South
|
|||
| 1 |
Stanford (24)
|
186
|
UCLA (19)
|
180
|
| 2 |
Washington (8)
|
163
|
Southern Cal (12)
|
173
|
| 3 |
Oregon (1)
|
132
|
Utah (2)
|
127
|
| 4 |
Washington State
|
112
|
Arizona
|
87
|
| 5 |
California
|
67
|
Arizona State
|
85
|
| 6 |
Oregon State
|
33
|
Colorado
|
63
|
As for the Pac-12 Conference Championship Game, I mentioned above that Stanford received 20 votes. Southern Cal received 5 votes, Washington got 4 votes, UCLA got 3 votes, and Utah received 1 vote.
So, while the media thinks UCLA will edge out Southern Cal for the South Division championship, they are not convinced that UCLA will win the Conference Championship.
Go Bruins.