The only others receiving votes were Arizona State (three), UCLA (two) and Stanford (one).
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The media picked USC to win the 2015 Pac-12 Conference championship, according to the annual preseason poll released Thursday morning.
The Wildcats, who received zero first place votes, lost some talent on defense and along the offensive line but return plenty at the skill positions. Arizona, which won the South last year, is picked fourth. The schools they send have no rhyme or reason to them (they choose one half of each region for each day), so we have Stanford today, Cal tomorrow; Oregon State today, Oregon tomorrow, and so forth. Since the conference expanded to 12 teams in 2011, the Ducks have been the media’s pick to win the North each year. USC collected 254 points for the top spot in the South Division, holding 32 of 45 first-place votes. That trio was following in the voting by Arizona, Utah and Colorado. “But as a whole, the Pac-12 is incredibly competitive”, UCLA coach Jim Mora said Thursday.
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In 2014, the Pac-12 tied a conference record with six bowl wins and led the nation with 15 AP All-Americans. It was the preseason choice every year from 2003 to ’09.
