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- Washington State (9-2, 6-2 conference) - The Cougs are in the driver’s seat in the North, and a win in the Apple Cup will get them a rematch with the Trojans. Even better news, rival Washington was officially eliminated from the race this weekend, and might come into the rivalry game on a bit of a down note.
- Southern California (10-2, 8-1) - Things worked out for the Trojans regarding their bye week, as they now have a week of rest before the Pac 12 Championship game. That said, the Trojans completely underwhelmed against a bad UCLA defense, and they’ll have a lot to fix before that game.
- Stanford (8-3, 7-2) - The Cardinal still have a shot at winning the North as long as Washington State loses. But the upcoming game against Notre Dame will give a better idea if Stanford has a shot to win the conference against USC.
- Washington (9-2, 6-2) - Thanks to a Stanford victory in the Big Game, the Huskies were eliminated from winning the North. That said, their performance against Utah would have landed them this low among the top tier regardless. It wasn’t a great performance, and the game would have gone to overtime had Kyle Whittingham not called a bad timeout late in the game (oh hey, another red flag).
- Arizona (7-4, 5-3) - The Wildcats held onto this spot, but just barely, as they got smoked by Oregon on the road. They still have a shot at a decent bowl with a win over their rivals, which would still be tremendous progress for Rich Rodriguez’s team.
- Oregon (6-5, 3-5) - With Justin Herbert back, Oregon looks like a much different team, and now Ducks fans are left asking “what if?” for the two months that he was out.
- Arizona State (6-5, 5-3) - The battle for the Territorial Cup will also be for second place in the South, so a decent bowl game is on the line. I still think Arizona is the better team, but it definitely helped that ASU got an easy game against Oregon State as a warmup.
- UCLA (5-6, 3-5) - The Bruins had the best loss of the bottom group, as they looked like a team that probably should have beaten their rivals on the road. A Friday after Thanksgiving game against the Bears will decide if we get one extra game of Josh Rosen or not.
- Utah (5-6, 2-6) - The Utes probably take Washington to overtime had Kyle Whittingham not called a timeout late in the game, and considering how poorly the Huskies had been executing all game, they would have had a good shot at winning. Now the Utes enter the last game of the season with their bowl streak on the line.
- UC Berkeley (5-6, 2-6) - Lost the Big Game, but didn’t play poorly. Unfortunately, their last game is on the road against a UCLA team that plays much better at home. But they also just fired their head coach, so anything is possible.
- Colorado (5-6, 2-6) - The Buffaloes made a great decision to not play football this week, which gave them a ton of time to prepare for Utah with bowl eligibility on the line.
- Oregon State (1-10, 0-8) - I’m actually interested in seeing what direction the Beavers take in their coaching search.