When it comes to the media’s view of the Pac-12, there’s one team... and then everybody else.
Ahead of its Media Day (singular) kickoff, the Pac-12 released its 2018 preseason poll, with Washington the overwhelming favorite to claim both its division and the conference championship. 40 of the 42 voters tabbed UW to win the Pac-12 North -- Stanford and Oregon each received one first-place vote -- while 37 voters have the Huskies claiming the league crown at the end of the regular season.
The other division is projected to be slightly more competitive, with USC (22 first-place votes) and Utah (14) in virtual dead heat in the South. Arizona (three), UCLA (two) and Colorado (one) each received first-place votes in that division.
As for the overall Pac-12 champion, defending champ USC (two), Oregon (one), Stanford (one) and UCLA (one) were the only others to get a nod.
For the record, the conference noted in its release that "[t]he media has correctly selected the Conference Champion in 30 of 57 previous polls, but only three times in the last 11 polls.” So the rest of the league has that going for it, which is nice.
