Pac-12 preseason poll: ASU tied for 3rd in division, Arizona predicted 5th

Media members covering Pac-12 football teams voted the Arizona State Sun Devils to finish the 2019 season tied for third place in the Pac-12 South, according to the conference’s preseason poll released Wednesday.

The Utah Utes earned 33 of 35 first-place votes as the favorite to win the division with 206 points, while the second-place USC Trojans earned the other two first-place votes to finish with 167 points in the poll.

ASU and the UCLA Bruins came in tied for third at 118 points.

Arizona State is coming off a 7-6 season in the first year under head coach Herm Edwards.

The Arizona Wildcats (85) and Colorado Buffaloes (46) are polled to finished fifth and sixth in the Pac-12 South in 2019, respectively. The Wildcats went 5-7 last season in head coach Kevin Sumlin’s debut season in Tucson.

The Oregon Ducks (190) were selected to win the Pac-12 North by a single point. They and the Washington Huskies (189) each earned 17 first-place votes, while Washington State took one first-place vote to finish fourth in the preseason poll with 108 points.

The Pac-12 North’s third-place team, Stanford, earned 129 total points. California (81) and Oregon State (38) rounded out the poll in fifth and sixth.

Utah earned 12 votes to win the Pac-12 Championship Game, while Oregon (11), Washington (9), USC (2) and Washington State (1) also earned votes.

The media has correctly picked the conference champion in 31 of the 58 previous years but only in four of the last 12 polls.

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