USC Picked to Finish Third in Pac-12 Preseason Poll
In a preseason poll of 33 media members who cover the Pac-12 conference, the USC Trojans were picked to finish third in Lincoln Riley’sinaugural season in Los Angeles.
Utah is the overwhelming favorite to repeat as conference champions. The Utes collected 26 of the 33 first-place votes to easily outpace Oregon, which finished second. Utah earned 384 total points, ahead of Oregon with 345. USC finished a close third, with 341 points. The Trojans earned more first-place votes than the Ducks (5 to 2) but clearly finished behind Oregon on a number of ballots.
An Oregon – Utah matchup in the Pac-12 Championship Game would be a repeat of last season, in a game won 38-10 by the Utes.
This will be the first time since the conference moved to 12 teams for the 2011 season that the conference championship game won’t necessarily pit the winners of the North and South divisions against each other. Instead, the two programs with the highest conference winning percentage will face off. That means USC and Utah could potentially play twice this season if those programs are as good as believed to be and the North champ finishes with multiple losses.
Previous Preseason Pac-12 Polls
In the 11 years of the existence of a Pac-12 championship game, USC has been the preseason selection as the South champion seven times. USC fans need no reminding that the Trojans have played in just three conference championship games (Although the Trojans would have gone in 2011 had they been eligible for the postseason).
USC was selected as the South winner last season before finishing in a tie for fourth.
The media selected Oregon as the North winner each of the past three seasons. The Ducks played in all three conference championship games. Though, they got significant help in 2020 when Washington was unable to play in the game against USC.
The only time before this that Utah was selected as a preseason division winner came in 2019. The Utes went on to win the South but dropped the conference championship game to Oregon.
Full 2022 Pac-12 Poll
The full results of the Pac-12 Preseason Media Poll:
1. Utah – 384 points (26 First Place Votes)
2. Oregon – 345 points (2)
3. USC – 341 points (5)
4. UCLA – 289 points
5. Oregon State – 246 points
6. Washington – 212 points
7. Washington State – 177 points
8. Stanford – 159 points
9. Cal – 154 points
10. Arizona State – 123 points
11. Arizona – 86 points
12. Colorado – 58 points
