Pac-12 media picks Wazzu to finish seventh in preseason poll

The Pac-12 preseason media poll has been released ahead of Friday’s Pac-12 Media Day in Los Angeles. Utah has been selected to repeat as champions in the conference after picking up 26 of the 33 possible first-place votes. Oregon received two of the first place votes and edged out USC, which gained five first-place votes, by just four points to secure the second spot in the preseason poll.

UCLA, Oregon State and Washington round out the top six while Washington State, Stanford, Cal, Arizona State, Arizona and Colorado make up the second half of the preseason poll.

Voters were asked to rank teams regardless of divisions in this year’s poll after the conference previously made the decision to do away with separating the teams into the North and South. Instead, the two top teams will meet up for the Pac-12 Championship at the end of the season.

Outside of just four points separating Oregon and USC, the next closest race was between Bay Area foes Cal and Stanford. The Cardinal edged out the Bears by just five points to secure the eighth spot in the preseason projection.

Should both Oregon and Utah finish as the two top teams this season, it would mean a rematch of the 2021 Pac-12 Championship that was ultimately won by the Utes, 38-10.

There will be several head coaches making their debuts in September, and while Jake Dickert is going into his first full season leading the Cougars it will not be his first time doing so. Wazzu put together a strong finish under Dickert when he took over as interim head coach partway through the 2021 season.

He eventually earned the permanent job after guiding the Cougs to a second-place finish in the North Division with 7-6 record. Only two teams, Oregon and Utah, won more games that WSU last season.

There have been some key additions to the roster this offseason and none more important than quarterback Cameron Ward, who made the move to Pullman from Incarnate Word earlier in the year. Ward shined as a quarterback at IWU where he passed for 4,648 yards and 47 touchdowns in 2021.

Wazzu also has some key returners including first-team all-conference defensive lineman Ron Stone, Jr. and first-team all-conference kicker Dean Janikowski.

Washington State will open up the season on Sept. 3 at home against Idaho with kickoff set for 6:30 p.m. PT at Martin Stadium.

Pac-12 Media Day from The Novo theater in Los Angeles will begin at 8 a.m. PT with Wazzu's press conference slated to begin at 1:30 p.m. PT.

(first-place votes)

1. Utah (26) - 384 points

2. Oregon (2) - 345

3. USC (5) - 341

4. UCLA - 289

5. Oregon State - 246

6. Washington - 212

7. Washington State - 177

8. Stanford - 159

9. Cal - 154

10. Arizona State - 123

11. Arizona - 86

12. Colorado - 58