2011
College Football
Season Preview

Oregon Tabbed To Win Pac-12 Title By Media

PAC-12 Press Release
July 26, 2011

LOS ANGELES - Defending Pac-12 champion OREGON is the choice to win the 2011 Pac-12 Conference football title in a preseason poll of media members who regularly cover the league. The Ducks were listed in the top spot in the North Division by 29 of the 42 voters participating in the poll, collecting 239 points. Twenty-eight of those pollsters tabbed the Ducks to come out on top in the inaugural Pac-12 Championship Game. STANFORD was picked to finish second in the North Division, collecting the other 13 first-place votes in the balloting for the division race, with 11 of those members of the media casting a vote for the Cardinal to capture the Pac-12 title.

USC was picked to win the South Division with 230 points, edging out ARIZONA STATE, which tallied 207 points. Due to NCAA sanctions, USC is on probation and ineligible to participate in the postseason. Therefore, the Trojans would not be able to represent the South Division in the Pac-12 Championship Game. Should USC capture the South Division crown, the team finishing second would be the South Division's representative in the Pac-12 Championship Game. Arizona State collected 13 first-place votes in the division race, with three of the pollsters predicting a Pac-12 Championship crown for the Sun Devils.

The media poll has correctly selected the Conference Champion in 27 of 50 previous polls, including 10 of the last 11. 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:
Oregon (28 votes)
Others receiving votes: Stanford (11), Arizona State (3)