Pac-12 Preseason Media Poll: Oregon State Tabbed 5th in North Division, Oregon Takes Top Spot

The Pac-12 preseason media poll was released for the 2020 season and the Oregon State Beavers are projected to finish 5th in the North Division, ahead of only Washington State. Oregon took the top spot overall and USC grabbed first place in the North Division. Oregon, USC, Utah, California and Arizona State all garnered first-place votes.

North Division

1. Oregon (35) 222

2. California (3) 176

3. Washington 161

4. Stanford 105

5. Oregon State 76

6. Washington State 58

South Division

1. USC (32) 220

2. Arizona State (2) 181

3. Utah (4) 168

4. UCLA 109

5. Colorado 63

6. Arizona 57

Overall, the poll didn’t give too many surprises as the Sun Devils are a trendy team nationally to make some noise in the Pac-12 picture and this might be the weakest Utah team we’ve seen in some seasons. The battle between Washington and Stanford in the North Division will be something to watch, as the Huskies enter in a new era under first-year head coach Jimmy Lake and the Cardinal are coming off a 4-8 campaign in 2019, the worst-even under David Shaw.

The release of the media poll comes nearly two weeks after the Pac-12 green-lighted a seven-game schedule for the 2020 campaign and features ballots from 38 media members.

Sticking the topic of projected finishes, SportsBetting.com released their Pac-12 odds and in contrast to the media poll, they have USC as the best bet to win the Conference of Champions with Oregon trailing closely behind. Arizona State has some surprising 9-1 odds, which may be good to remember if you’re traveling to the desert soon and Oregon State comes in as long-shots for another season with 100-1 odds, tied for dead last with Arizona and Colorado.