Colorado picked to finish at the bottom of the Pac-12

The Colorado Buffaloes were picked to finish fifth in the Pac-12’s South Division according to the poll of 42 media members released by conference Wednesday.

NORTH DIVISION

1. Washington (40)

2. Stanford (1)

3. Oregon (1)

4. California

5. Washington State

6. Oregon State

SOUTH DIVISION

1. USC (22)

2. Utah (14)

3. Arizona (3)

4. UCLA (2)

5. Colorado (1)

6. Arizona State

PAC-12 TITLE GAME CHAMPION: Washington (37), USC (2), Oregon (1), Stanford (1), UCLA (1).

If you take these votes seriously, it’s not a good sign for the Buffs–but just two years ago Colorado won the Pac-12 South when they were picked to finish dead last in the conference.

I tend to think optimistically and believe the Buffs will finish above their predicted fifth-place finish. One reason for my optimism? Scheduling.

The Buffs do not have to play Oregon and Stanford this season–two teams that are predicted to finish higher in the overall standings.

The overall predictions by the media members is fairly in line with the power rankings we did just a few days earlier.

We agree on Washington being the class of the Pac-12, but the biggest disagreement we have is USC. The Trojans are predicted to finish at the top of the South division by the media, but we ranked them sixth in the conference. Despite having a stellar defense, I’m not sold on the young, inexperienced offensive weapons on their squad.

With the season beginning in one month, the Pac-12 figures to be a competitive conference, but how many bowl teams there are remains to be seen.