The Pac-12 is down to just one undefeated team as the final month of the regular season approaches but the soon-to-be-defunct conference is still one of the most competitive and wide-open in college football.
The Washington Huskies are the only ones unscathed thanks to their victory over Oregon a couple of weeks ago. But Michael Penix's squad has had some shaky outings. The Ducks, meanwhile, have bounced back from their loss with emphatic wins over Washington State and Utah as they look to prove they still have College Football Playoff potential.
USC has looked significantly diminished from last season but they're still right in the conference title battle with a matchup against Washington coming up in Week 10.
Pac-12 standings after Week 9
- Washington: 8-0 (5-0)
- USC: 7-2 (5-1)
- Oregon: 7-1 (4-1)
- Oregon State: 6-2 (3-2)
- Utah: 6-2 (3-2)
- Arizona: 5-3 (3-2)
- UCLA: 6-2 (3-2)
- Colorado: 4-4 (1-4)
- Cal: 3-5 (1-4)
- Arizona State: 2-6 (1-4)
- Washington State: 4-4 (1-4)
- Stanford: 2-6 (1-5)
But what if the standings were ordered by point differential, a measure that helps differentiate which teams are winning well.
Pac-12 standings by point differential
- Oregon: 29.9
- Washington: 19.8
- UCLA: 15.9
- Oregon State: 15.3
- USC: 13.3
- Arizona: 10.3
- Utah: 3.8
- Washington State: 1.2
- Cal: -1.2
- Colorado: -2.8
- Arizona State: -6.9
- Stanford: -14.7
Oregon suffered a disappointing loss to Washington but they're still winning more emphatically than anyone else in the conference on average. They're facing Cal next.
The Huskies have won their last two games by just eight and nine points despite being favored by 28 and 27.5 over ASU and Stanford respectively. Can they break out of the funk and bury USC at the Coliseum on Saturday?
The Trojans are effectively fighting for their lives in the Pac-12 title race but they're coming off their own struggles against Cal.
Oregon State, Arizona, Utah and UCLA aren't out of it yet, but they need help to get t the Pac-12 title game.