TERRY MOSHER
Mosher’s Pac-12 football poll for November 11, 2018
- Washington State
- California
- Washington
- Utah
- Stanford
- Oregon
- Arizona State
- USC
- Arizona
- Oregon State
- UCLA
- Colorado
This is a crazy conference season. Not just because the Washington State Cougars, long the underdogs, are soaring with a 9-1 record behind quarterback transfer Gardner Minshew II, the guy who has added excitement and a mustache to college football. Minshew is the latest, and maybe the best, quarterback to play in the conference throughout history. At the very least, he is a perfect fit for coach Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense. But the conference is crazy also because California is the surprise team this conference season. Under second year coach Justin Wilcox, the Golden Bears have become golden on defense. They have beaten Washington 12-10 and USC 15-14 and are on the rise. Wilcox served four years as defensive coordinator under Washington coach Chris Petersen at Boise State and later served the same position at Washington under Steve Sarkisian and when Sarkisian left for USC, Wilcox left with him and was the defensive coordinator there with the Trojans. And Utah, surprisingly, has a leg up on the South Division title, and the North Division will come down most likely to the Apple Cup on Nov. 23 in Pullman. Washington is host to Oregon State and Washington State entertains Arizona this Saturday. So it’s probable that the Apple Cup winner will be the North champion. I suspect Washington State will be favored in that confrontation. They get the edge by a mustache and I believe will win the overall conference championship and advance to the Rose Bowl.