Colorado Buffaloes Picked Fourth in Pac-12 Preseason Poll

With Pac-12 Media Days beginning Wednesday the conference has released the annual preseason media poll. The Colorado Buffaloes have been predicted to finish fourth in the Pac-12 South Division, one year after winning it and punching a ticket to the conference championship game.

Expectations are new again for a Buffaloes team used to being selected, and finishing, near the bottom in the preseason polls but this is a program that now expects more. A young defense will have to learn on the fly in order for the Buffs to again exceed expectations. If this gets you down remember that Colorado was selected to finish in the division basement last year and we all know how that turned out.

LOS ANGELES – USC was chosen the favorite to win the 2017 Pac-12 Conference football title in a vote of 52 media members who cover Pac-12 football. The Trojans received 28 votes to earn the preseason favorite pick over defending Pac-12 Champion WASHINGTON, which received 22 votes. Both the Trojans and Huskies garnered 49 first-place votes and 309 points to hold down the top spots in their respective divisions.

STANFORD holds firmly to second in the North Division after collecting one first-place vote and 247 points. WASHINGTON STATE and OREGON picked up the two remaining first-place votes in the North Division.

In what appears to be a tightly-contested race for second in the South Division, UTAH (220 points) edges UCLA (209) and COLORADO (182). All three received one first-place vote in the South.

The media has correctly selected the Conference Champion in 29 of 56 previous polls, but only twice in the last 10 polls. Following are the results of the preseason media poll (points 6-5-4-3-2-1, first-place votes in parentheses):

PAC-12 TITLE GAME CHAMPION: USC (28 votes)

Others receiving votes: Washington (22), Oregon (1), Utah (1)

The 2017 Pac-12 Football Championship Game will take place Friday, Dec. 1 and will be telecast to a nation audience on ESPN (game time TBD). 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.