Welcome to the early 1990s, football fans! For the first time since the turn of the century, nearly, the Washington Huskies and Colorado Buffaloes are nationally relevant simultaneously. There were also some shake-ups around the league, including a Los Angeles weekend sweep of Arizona for the second consecutive season and one state bringing up the rear of the rankings. Let's start with the obvious number one:
1. No. 5 Washington (5-0, 2-0 Pac-12)
OK, I admit it, I was wrong about the Huskies. They came out and laid the smackdown on Stanford in Seattle Friday, proving themselves as a contender in the Pac-12. Sophomore quarterback Jake Browning was spectacularly efficient and sophomore tailback Miles Gaskin and redshirt junior tailback Lavon Coleman teamed up to gash Stanford on the ground.
2. No. 21 Colorado (4-1, 2-0 Pac-12)
The Buffaloes are at the top of the Pac-12 South win two huge victories over the Oregon schools. Over its last two games, Colorado outscored the Beavers and Ducks a combined 88-44, asserting their dominance over the Pacific Northwest early.
3. No. 15 Stanford (3-1, 2-1 Pac-12)
The Cardinal, who have made a habit of winning ugly this year, lost ugly to Washington. Senior quarterback Ryan Burns not good, despite putting up a near identical completion percentage to Jake Browning, and junior running back Christian McCaffrey never got going, rushing for only 49 yards. The defense was even worse, failing to slow down the Huskies at all, letting them run away and hide with a win.
4. UCLA (3-2, 1-1 Pac-12)
The Bruins struggled in the first half but cruised to a home win over Arizona, restoring some faith from their fans. Sophomore quarterback Josh Rosen played pretty well, throwing for 350 yards on just over a 50 percent clip, but he was finally supplemented by a strong running game, which will be important going through conference play.
5. USC (2-3, 1-2 Pac-12)
The Trojans looked unstoppable for the middle half of Saturday's game, playing nearly perfect on both sides of the ball and making ASU look like a bottom-feeder in the process. Head coach Clay Helton's seat stays cool for another week, but we'll see if this is a peak or a stepping stone to bigger things for USC.
6. ASU (4-1, 1-1 Pac-12)
Yikes. The formerly undefeated Sun Devils were walloped on the road by USC to open conference play. Very little went right for ASU, so, in theory, there's no where to go but up. Next week, Rosen and UCLA travel to Tempe looking to revenge last year's loss to the Sun Devils, so ASU's pass defense has to figure it out before then.
7. Cal (3-2, 1-1 Pac-12)
The Golden Bears took down a ranked Utah team at Rice-Eccles Stadium thanks to a goal line stand, because some things can't be explained. Senior quarterback Davis Webb still played well, but the defense finally matched his efforts in order to secure a win. If the Golden Bear defense continues to play well enough to win, there could be a sleeper in the North.
8. No. 24 Utah (4-1, 1-1 Pac-12)
The Utes went from winning late to losing late, falling to Cal by failing to do what they're typically built on doing: running the ball and defending. Sophomore running back Armand Shyne had 99 yards on the ground, but one more would have made the difference between a loss and a win and in the highly-contested Pac-12 South, that's major.
9. Washington State (2-2, 1-0 Pac-12)
In a game that will be forever remembered as the Abuse on the Palouse, the Cougars finally got back on track with a dominant offensive effort. In addition to redshirt junior quarterback Luke Falk's gaudy passing numbers, Washington State ran the ball for 280 yards on Oregon, asserting their dominance in an un-Mike Leach-like way.
10. Arizona (2-3, 0-2 Pac-12)
The Wildcats fell on the road to UCLA, their second loss in a row. Arizona has played four of its five games tight, but injuries could mean they play less of those games moving forward and the heat that once belonged to Helton may move southeast to head coach Rich Rodriguez's office in Tucson.
11. Oregon (2-3, 0-2 Pac-12)
The Ducks have lost three games in a row for the first time since the final three weeks of 2007 after quarterback Dennis Dixon tore his ACL. Oregon fans wish they had something to blame this stretch on other than a lack of talent across the board, aside from junior running back Royce Freeman.
12. Oregon State (1-3, 0-1 Pac-12)
A banner week as both teams from the Beaver State are in the Pac-12 basement. The Beavers were shellacked by Colorado and, strangely, the Civil War is looking like the most winnable game on the schedule, despite it being in Eugene.
Reach the reporter at mtonis@asu.edu or follow @Tonis_The_Tiger on Twitter.
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