The 2016 Pac-12 Conference football season is the sixth season for the conference as a twelve-team league. The season began on August 26, 2016, with California vs. Hawaii. The final game was the 2016 Pac-12 Football Championship Game at Levi's Stadium on December 2, 2016, with Fox televising the game.
Preseason 2016 Pac-12 Spring Football and number of signees on signing day:
North Division California – 25 signees Oregon – 19 signees Oregon State – 24 signees Stanford – 30 signees Washington – 18 signees Washington State – 25 signees
South Division Arizona – 22 signees Arizona State – 18 signees Colorado –18 signees UCLA – 27 signees USC – 13 signees Utah – 24 signees
Pac-12 Media The Pac-12 conducted its annual media days at the Loews Hollywood Hotel, – The Loews Hollywood Hotel in Hollywood, California between July 14 and July 15. The event commenced with a speech by Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott, and all 12 teams sent their head coaches and two selected players to speak with members of the media. The event along with all speakers and interviews were broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network. The teams and representatives in respective order were as follows:
Thursday Arizona – Head Coach Rich Rodriguez, Nate Phillips, WR & Sani Fuimaono, DL California – Head Coach Sonny Dykes, Steven Moore, OT & DeVante Wilson, DE Oregon – Head Coach Mark Helfrich, Royce Freeman, RB & Johnny Ragin, LB Washington State – Head Coach Mike Leach, Gabe Marks, WR & Parker Henry, LB Utah – Head Coach Kyle Whittingham, JJ Dielman, OT & Justin Thomas, DB
Friday Arizona State – Head Coach Todd Graham, Tim White, WR/KR & Tashon Smallwood, DL Oregon State – Head Coach Gary Andersen, Victor Bolden, WR & Nick Porebski, P UCLA – Head Coach Jim Mora, Conor McDermott, OT & Jayon Brown, LB Stanford – Head Coach David Shaw, Christian McCaffrey, RB & Solomon Thomas, DE Washington – Head Coach Chris Petersen, Darrell Daniels, TE & Kevin King, DB Colorado – Head Coach Mike MacIntyre, Sefo Liufau, QB & Chidobe Awuzie, CB
Preseason Media Polls Pac-12 Championship Game Voting
North Division Stanford Cardinal (24 pts., 186 votes) Washington Huskies (8 pts., 163 votes) Oregon Ducks (1 pt., 132 votes) Washington State Cougars (112 votes) California Golden Bears (67 votes) Oregon State Beavers (33 votes)
South Division UCLA Bruins (19 pts., 180 votes) USC Trojans (12 pts., 173 votes) Utah Utes (2 pts., 127 votes) Arizona Wildcats (87 votes) Arizona State Sun Devils (85 votes) Colorado Buffaloes (63 votes)
Predicted Pac-12 Championship Game Winner: Stanford Cardinal (20 points) was picked to win the Pac-12 Championship over UCLA (19) for the first time since 1960. Others receiving votes were Washington, ASU (3), USC (2), Oregon (1) and Utah (2).
References:
Recruiting classes
+ Rankings Team ESPN Rivals Scout 24/7SigneesArizona 39 41 41 42 25Arizona State 26 20 17 19 22California - 29 36 34 24Colorado - 71 75 69 19Oregon 15 17 21 16 22Oregon State - 71 63 60 22Stanford 27 18 25 24 22UCLA 11 13 9 12 18USC 3 1 1 2 26Utah - 41 53 45 20Washington 28 30 23 27 24Washington State - 55 38 41 24
Head coaches
Coaching changes There were no coaching changes following the 2016 season.
Coaches Team Head coach Years at school Overall record Record at school Pac-12 recordArizona Rich Rodriguez 5 155–112–2 () 35–28 () 17–25 ()Arizona State Todd Graham 5 88–53 () 39–24 () 25–18 ()California Sonny Dykes 4 40–44 () 18–29 () 9–25 ()Colorado Mike MacIntyre 4 34–50 () 18–29 () 8–26 ()Oregon Mark Helfrich 4 36–15 () 36–15 () 23–11 ()Oregon State Gary Andersen 2 53–56 () 4–18 () 1–15 ()Stanford David Shaw 6 61–17 () 61–17 () 42–12 ()UCLA Jim L. Mora 5 41–22 () 41–22 () 25–18 ()USC Clay Helton 3 13–7 () 13–7 () 11–3 ()Utah Kyle Whittingham 12 103–48 () 103–48 () 25–27 ()Washington Chris Petersen 3 116–25 () 24–13 () 14–11 ()Washington State Mike Leach 5 113–74 () 29–31 () 20–23 ()
Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season
Rankings Increase in ranking Decrease in ranking Not ranked previous week Selected for College Football Playoff Number of first place votes Tied with team above or below also with this symbol
Pre Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 FinalArizonaWildcats AP C RV CFP Not released Arizona StateSun Devils AP RV RV RV RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV 24 RV CFP Not released CaliforniaGolden Bears AP RV RV C RV RV CFP Not released ColoradoBuffaloes AP RV RV RV RV 21 RV RV 23 21 16 12 9 9 11 C RV RV RV RV 23 RV RV 23 20 15 12 9 9 11 CFP Not released 15 12 10 9 8 10 OregonDucks AP 24 24 22 RV C 22 23 21 RV RV CFP Not released Oregon StateBeavers AP C CFP Not released StanfordCardinal AP 8 7 7 7 7 15 RV RV RV RV 17 16 C 7 5 6 6 6 15 RV RV RV RV RV 17 16 CFP Not released 24 24 18 18 UCLABruins AP 16 RV RV RV RV RV C 24 RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released USCTrojans AP 20 RV RV RV RV 15 12 10 9 3C 17 RV RV RV RV RV RV RV 19 12 11 9 5CFP Not released 20 13 12 11 9 UtahUtes AP RV RV RV 24 18 24 21 19 17 16 13 11 21 RV RV C RV RV RV 23 18 24 21 18 16 16 12 11 20 24 23 CFP Not released 16 15 12 22 20 19 WashingtonHuskies AP 14 8 8 9 10 5 5 5 4 4 4 7 6 4 4 4C 18 11 9 9 9 6 5 5 4 4 4 7 5 4 4 4CFP Not released 5 4 6 5 4 4 Washington StateCougars AP RV RV RV RV 25 23 20 23 RV RV C RV RV RV RV 25 23 20 23 RV RV CFP Not released 25 23 22 23
Schedule Index to colors and formattingPac-12 member wonPac-12 member lostPac-12 teams in bold All times Mountain time. Pac-12 teams in bold.
Rankings reflect those of the AP poll for that week.
Week 1
Players of the Week – Sept 5 Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Sefo Liufau Colorado Troy Dye Oregon Mitch Wishnowsky UtahReference:
Week 2
Players of the Week- Sept 12 Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Kalen Ballage Arizona State Sunia Tauteoli Utah Adoree' Jackson USCReference:
Week 3
Players of the Week – Sept 19 Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Chad Hansen California Treston Decoud Oregon State Zane Gonzalez Arizona StateReference:
Week 4
Players of the Week – Sept 26 Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Steven Montez Colorado Solomon Thomas Stanford Zane Gonzalez Arizona StateReference:
Week 5
Players of the Week – Oct 3 Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Davis Webb California Psalm Wooching Washington Davis Price ColoradoReference:
Week 6
Players of the Week – Oct 10 Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Jake Browning Washington Marcus Ball Arizona State Zane Gonzalez Arizona StateReference:
Week 7
Players of the Week – Oct 17 Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Phillip Lindsay Colorado Solomon Thomas Stanford Zane Gonzalez Arizona StateReference:
Week 8
Players of the Week – Oct 24 Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Joe Williams Utah Tedric Thompson Colorado Robert Taylor Washington StateReference:
Week 9
Players of the Week – Oct 31 Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Justin Herbert Oregon Azeem Victor Washington Dante Pettis WashingtonReference:
Week 10
Players of the Week – Nov 7 Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team John Ross III Washington Sidney Jones Washington Isaiah Oliver ColoradoReference:
Week 11
Players of the Week – Nov 14 Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Sam Darnold USC Hunter Dimick Utah Kaleb Fossum Washington StateReference:
Week 12
Players of the Week – Nov 21 Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Sefo Liufau Colorado Nick Fisher Colorado Mitch Wishnowsky UtahReference:
Week 13
Players of the Week – Nov 28 Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Ryan Nall Oregon State Tedric Thompson Colorado Adoree’ Jackson USCReference:
Championship game
The championship game was played on December 2, 2016. It featured the teams with the best conference records from each division, Washington from the North and Colorado from the South. This was the sixth championship game (and the sixth win for the North), with both Washington and Colorado appearing for the first time.
Week 14 (Pac-12 Championship Game)
Pac-12 vs Power Conference matchups
This is a list of the power conference teams (ACC, Big 10, Big 12 and SEC along with independents Notre Dame and BYU) the Pac-12 plays in the non-conference (Rankings from the AP Poll): Date Visitor Home Site Significance Score September 1 Oregon State Minnesota TCF Bank Stadium • Minneapolis Minnesota 30–23 September 2 Kansas State #8 Stanford Stanford Stadium • Stanford, California Stanford 26–13 September 3 BYU Arizona University of Phoenix Stadium • Glendale, Arizona Cactus Kickoff Classic BYU 18–16 September 3 #20 USC #1 Alabama AT&T Stadium • Arlington, Texas Advocare Classic Alabama 52–6 September 3 #16 UCLA Texas A&M Kyle Field • College Station, Texas Texas A&M 31–24OT September 3 Rutgers #14 Washington Husky Stadium • Seattle Washington 48–13 September 10 Texas Tech Arizona State Sun Devil Stadium • Tempe, Arizona Arizona State 68–55 September 10 BYU Utah Rice-Eccles Stadium • Salt Lake City Holy War Utah 20–19 September 10 Virginia #24 Oregon Autzen Stadium • Eugene, Oregon Oregon 44–26 September 17 UCLA BYU LaVell Edwards Stadium • Provo, Utah UCLA 17–14 October 15 Stanford Notre Dame Notre Dame Stadium • South Bend, Indiana Notre Dame–Stanford football rivalry Stanford 17–10 November 26 Notre Dame USC Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • Los Angeles Notre Dame–USC football rivalry USC 45–27
Records against other conferences 2016 records against non-conference foes:
Regular Season
Power 5 ConferencesRecordACC1–0Big Ten1–3Big 123–0SEC0–2Notre Dame2–0Power 5 Total7–5Other FBS ConferencesRecordAmerican0–0C-USA2–0MAC0–0Mountain West6–3Independents (Excluding Notre Dame)2–1Sun Belt2–0Other FBS Total12–4FCS OpponentsRecordFootball Championship Subdivision7–1Total Non-Conference Record26–10
Post Season
Power Conferences 5RecordACC1–0Big Ten2–1Big 120–1SEC0–1Power 5 Total3–3Other FBS ConferencesRecordAmerican0–0C–USA0–0Independents (Excluding Notre Dame)0–0MAC0–0Mountain West0–0Sun Belt0-0Other FBS Total0–0Total Bowl Record3–3
Postseason
Bowl games Legend Pac-12 win Pac-12 loss
Bowl gameDateSiteTelevisionPac-12 teamOpponentScoreAttendance Sun Bowl December 30 Sun Bowl Stadium · El Paso, Texas CBS No. 18 Stanford North Carolina W 25–23 42,166 Foster Farms Bowl December 28 Levi's Stadium · Santa Clara, California Fox No. 19 Utah Indiana W 26–24 27,608 Holiday Bowl December 27 Qualcomm Stadium . San Diego, California ESPN Washington State Minnesota L 12–17 48,704 Alamo Bowl December 29 Alamodome · San Antonio, Texas ESPN No. 10 Colorado No. 12 Oklahoma State L 8–38 59,815New Year's Six Bowls Rose Bowl (New Year Six) January 2 Rose Bowl · Pasadena, California ESPN No. 9 USC No. 5 Penn State W 52–49 95,128College Football Playoff bowl games Peach Bowl (CFP Semifinal) December 31 Georgia Dome • Atlanta ESPN No. 4 Washington No. 1 Alabama L 7–24 79,996
* Rankings based on CFP rankings, Pac-12 team is bolded
Selection of teams: Bowl eligible: Colorado, Stanford, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington State Bowl-ineligible: Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA
All-Pac-12 Individual Awards
The following individuals won the conference's annual player and coach awards:
2016 Pac-12 Men's Football Individual Awards Award Recipient(s)Offensive Player of The YearJake Browning, WashingtonCoach of the YearMike MacIntyre, ColoradoDefensive Player of The YearAdoree' Jackson, USCOffensive Freshman of The YearSam Darnold, USCDefensive Freshman of The YearTaylor Rapp, Washington
All-Conference teams The following players earned All-Pac-12 honors.
Offense: