Washington picked to win Pac-12 in preseason poll; Colorado receives a first-place vote

Washington was picked as the preseason favorite to win the 2018 Football championship by the 42 media members at the Pac-12 conference’s media day on Wednesday. The Huskies took the top spot with 40 first-place votes over defending champions USC, who gathered 22 first-place votes— but was picked to win the South Division.

Colorado received a first-place vote despite being picked to finish fifth in a very competitive South Division and 10th in the conference overall. This marks the second year in a row the Buffaloes were chosen by a media member to finish on top.

Here’s the official press release from the Pac-12 Conference.

“Washington (249 points) was the overwhelming selection to capture the North Division ahead of STANFORD (198) and OREGON (178), which each picked up single votes to win the division.

The media expects the South Division to provide a competitive race with USC (225) topping Utah (209) and ARIZONA (178), which picked up three first-place votes. UCLA collected two votes, and COLORADO one vote, to represent the South Division in the Pac-12 Championship Game.

The media has correctly selected the Conference Champion in 30 of 57 previous polls, but only three times in the last 11 polls. Following are the results of the preseason media poll (points 6-5-4-3-2-1, first-place votes in parentheses):

North Division

1. Washington (40)......... 249

2. Stanford (1)............. 198

3. Oregon (1)............. 178

4. California.............. 108

5. Washington State........ 98

6. Oregon State...........45

South Division

1. USC (22)............... 225

2. Utah (14)............ 209

3. Arizona (3)............ 178

4. UCLA (2).............. 116

5. Colorado (1)............. 80

6. Arizona State............ 72

PAC-12 TITLE GAME CHAMPION: Washington (37 votes)

Others receiving votes: USC (2), Oregon (1), Stanford (1), UCLA (1)

The 2018 Pac-12 Football Championship Game will take place Friday, Nov. 30 and will be telecast to a national audience on FOX at 5 p.m. PT. The Championship Game will match the winner of the North Division vs. the winner of the South Division at Levi’s® Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.”