2011 Pac-12 Conference football season

The 2011 Pac-12 Conference football season began on September 1, 2011 with Montana State at Utah and UC Davis at Arizona State. The conference's first game was played on September 10 with Utah at USC, and the final game played was the Pac-12 Championship Game on Friday, December 2. Oregon defeated UCLA to claim their third straight conference title. This is the first season for the conference as a 12-team league. In July 2011, Colorado and Utah joined the conference, at which time the league's name changed from the Pacific-10 Conference.

Seven teams accepted bowl bids, an improvement from four the previous season. The BCS bowls featured Oregon in the Rose Bowl against Big Ten champion Wisconsin and Stanford facing Big 12 champion Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl. The Ducks claimed their first Rose Bowl victory since 1917, while the Cardinal fell to the Cowboys in overtime. Of the non-BCS bowl participants, only Utah won their matchup against Georgia Tech in the Sun Bowl.

Four teams changed head coaches. Arizona head coach Mike Stoops was fired midseason, while UCLA's Rick Neuheisel, Arizona State's Dennis Erickson, and Washington State's Paul Wulff were let go at the end of the season.

Preseason 2011 Pac-12 Spring Football:

North Division California, Tue., March 15 – Sun., April 24 Oregon, Mon., March 28 – Sat., April 30 Oregon State, Mon., March 28 – Sat., April 30 Stanford, Mon., Feb. 21 – Sat., April 9 Washington, Tue., March 29 – Sat., April 30 Washington State, Mon., March 7 – Sat., April 16

South Division Arizona, Mon., March 21 – Sat., April 16 Arizona State, Tue., March 22 – Sat., April 23 Colorado, Fri., March 11 – Sat., April 9 UCLA, Thu., March 31 – Sat., April 23 USC, Tue., March 22 – Sat., April 16 Utah, Tue., March 8 – Sat., April 16

Head coaches

Mike Stoops (first six games)/Tim Kish (last six games), Arizona Dennis Erickson, Arizona State Jeff Tedford, California – 5th year Jon Embree, Colorado – 1st year Chip Kelly, Oregon – 3rd year Mike Riley, Oregon State – 10th year

David Shaw, Stanford – 1st year Rick Neuheisel (regular season and Pac-12 Championship Game – 4th year/Mike Johnson (Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl), UCLA Lane Kiffin, USC – 2nd year Kyle Whittingham, Utah – 7th year Steve Sarkisian, Washington – 3rd year Paul Wulff, Washington State – 4th year

David Shaw took over as head coach of the Stanford Cardinal after Jim Harbaugh was hired as head coach of the NFL's San Francisco 49ers. Mike Stoops was fired as head coach of the Arizona Wildcats on October 10 after starting the season 1–5 (their sole victory was against FCS Northern Arizona). Including the previous season, the Wildcats under Stoops had lost 10 consecutive games against FBS opponents, with their last victory over a FBS team taking place nearly a year earlier on October 30, 2010 against UCLA. They had then lost their final four games and the Alamo Bowl. Defensive Coordinator Tim Kish was named interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Former Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez was named the new head coach on November 22. Rick Neuheisel was fired as head coach of the UCLA Bruins on November 28, but coached his final game in the inaugural Pac-12 Championship Game on December 2. Offensive coordinator Mike Johnson will coach the Bruins in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. On December 10, 2011, Jim L. Mora was named new head coach of the Bruins. Arizona State announced on November 28 that Dennis Erickson will not return the following year as head coach, but will coach the Sun Devils in their bowl game. Former Pittsburgh head coach Todd Graham was announced as Erickson's successor on December 14. Paul Wulff was fired as the head coach of the Washington State Cougars on November 29. He was succeeded by former Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach on November 30.

Rankings + Legend     Increase in ranking   Decrease in ranking   Not ranked previous week RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll

  Pre Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 FinalArizona AP RV RV C RV RV Harris Not released BCS Not released Arizona State AP RV RV 22 RV 25 22 18 24 23 20 RV RV C RV 23 18 RV RV 24 20 25 20 18 RV RV Harris Not released 19 23 20 19 RV RV BCS Not released 21 19 California AP RV C RV RV RV Harris Not released BCS Not released Colorado AP C Harris Not released BCS Not released Oregon AP 3 13 12 10 9 9 9 9 7 6 6 4 9 8 6 4C 3 14 14 13 11 9 9 8 7 6 6 4 9 7 5 4Harris Not released 9 9 7 6 6 4 9 7 5 BCS Not released 10 7 8 7 4 10 9 5 Oregon State AP C RV Harris Not released BCS Not released Stanford AP 7 6 6 5 6 7 7 7 4 4 3 8 4 4 4 7C 6 6 6 5 4 4 5 5 3 3 2 9 5 4 4 7Harris Not released 7 7 4 4 3 7 4 3 4 BCS Not released 8 6 4 4 9 6 4 4UCLA AP C Harris Not released BCS Not released USC AP 25 RV RV 23 RV RV RV RV 20 21 18 18 10 9 5 6 CIneligible for ranking Harris Not releasedIneligible for ranking BCS Not releasedIneligible for ranking Utah AP RV RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV RV RV Harris Not released BCS Not released Washington AP RV RV RV RV RV 22 RV RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV 24 RV RV RV Harris Not released RV 25 RV RV RV BCS Not released 25 Washington State AP C Harris Not released BCS Not released

Schedule

Index to colors and formattingPac-12 member wonPac-12 member lostPac-12 teams in bold

Week one

Week two

Week three

Week four

Week five

Week six

Week seven

Week eight

Week nine

Week ten

Week eleven

Week twelve

Week thirteen

Week fourteen (Pac-12 Championship Game)

Pac-12 vs. BCS matchups Date Visitor Home Winning team Notes September 3 Minnesota #25 USC USC USC quarterback Matt Barkley and wide receiver Robert Woods set school records for completions and receptions, respectively. September 3 #3 Oregon #4 LSU LSU In the Cowboys Classic at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Oregon running back LaMichael James became the school's career rushing leader.September 8 Arizona #9 Oklahoma State Oklahoma State In a rematch of the 2010 Alamo Bowl, Oklahoma State receiver Justin Blackmon extended his NCAA record streak of at least 100 receiving yards for the 14th straight game. September 9 #21 Missouri Arizona State Arizona State Arizona State ended Missouri's 22 non-conference game winning streak in overtime. September 10 Oregon State #8 Wisconsin Wisconsin Wisconsin had its first shutout victory since 2009. September 10 #6 Stanford Duke Stanford Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck tied Jim Plunkett for the second-most wins in school history. September 17 #23 Texas UCLA Texas Texas defeated UCLA for the first time since 1971. September 17 Washington #11 Nebraska Nebraska Nebraska had its straight non-conference home win. September 17 #22 Arizona State Illinois Illinois Illinois had its first victory over Arizona State after losing in the two previous meetings. September 17 Syracuse USC USC In the teams' first meeting since 1990, the Trojans improved their record against the Orange to 3–0. September 24 Colorado Ohio State Ohio State The teams met for the first time since 1986. Colorado's record road losing streak was extended to 19 games. October 15 Utah Pittsburgh Utah Utah's record against Pitt improved to 3–0 and their record against the Big East Conference remained undefeated at 9–0. October 22 USC Notre Dame USC USC had its ninth victory in the ten most recent games of the Notre Dame–USC football rivalry in the first night game at Notre Dame Stadium in 21 years. November 26 #22 Notre Dame #4 Stanford Stanford Stanford's third consecutive victory in the Notre Dame–Stanford football rivalry. Quarterback Andrew Luck set new records for single-season touchdown passes, career touchdown passes, and total offense, and became only the third quarterback to defeat the Irish three straight times.

Bowl games Pac-12 teams played in the following bowl games. Pac-12 teams are bolded.

Bowl GameDateStadiumCityTelevisionTime (PST)TeamScoreTeamScoreMaaco Bowl Las VegasDecember 22Sam Boyd StadiumWhitney, NevadaESPN5:00 p.m.#8 Boise State56Arizona State24Holiday BowlDecember 28Qualcomm StadiumSan Diego, CaliforniaESPN5:00 p.m.Texas21California10December 29AlamodomeSan Antonio, TexasESPN6:00 p.m.#15 Baylor67Washington56Sun BowlDecember 31Sun Bowl StadiumEl Paso, TexasCBS11:00 a.m.Utah30Georgia Tech27 (OT)Kraft Fight Hunger BowlDecember 31AT&T ParkSan Francisco, CaliforniaESPN12:30 p.m.Illinois20UCLA14Rose BowlJanuary 2Rose BowlPasadena, CaliforniaESPN2:00 p.m.#6 Oregon45#9 Wisconsin38Fiesta BowlJanuary 2University of Phoenix StadiumGlendale, ArizonaESPN5:30 p.m.#3 Oklahoma State41#4 Stanford38 (OT)

Players of the week Following each week of games, Pac-12 conference officials selected the players of the week from the conference's teams. Week Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Position Team Player Position Team Player Position Team9/5/11 Robert Woods WR USC Desmond Trufant CB UW Erik Folk PK UW9/12/11 Paul Richardson WR COLO Cort Dennison LB UW Everrette Thompson DT UW9/19/11 Matt Barkley QB USC Trevor Reilly DE UTAH Brendan Bigelow KR CAL9/26/11LaMichael JamesRBOREShelly Lyons LB ASUJordan PoyerPR/KRORST10/3/11Matt BarkleyQBUSCAlex Hoffman-EllisLBWSUJamal MilesPR/KRASU10/10/11LaMichael JamesRBORELance Mitchell SORSTClayton YorkFBORST10/17/11Andrew LuckQBSTANDerrick Shelby DEUTAHColeman PetersenPKUTAH10/24/11Sean MannionQBORSTScott Crichton DEORSTJohn BonanoPKARIZ10/31/11Chris Polk RBUWTevin McDonald SUCLAEric WhitakerPKSTAN11/7/11Matt BarkleyQBUSCEddie PleasantDBORESean SellwoodPUTAH11/14/11Connor HallidayQBWSUTravis SandersfeldDBCOLOMarqise LeeKR/WRUSC11/21/11Marqise LeeWRUSCHayes PullardLBUSCColeman PetersenPKUTAH11/28/11Matt BarkleyQBUSCJon MajorLBCOLOGiorgio TavecchioPKCAL

Position key CenterCCornerbackCBDefensive backDBDefensive endDEDefensive linemanDLDefensive tackleDTGuardGKickoff returnerKROffensive tackleOTOffensive linemanOLLinebackerLBLong snapperLSPunterPPlacekickerPKPunt returnerPRQuarterbackQBRunning backRBSafetySTight endTEWide receiverWR

Home attendance TeamStadiumCapacityGame 1Game 2Game 3Game 4Game 5Game 6Game 7Game 8Total Average% of CapacityArizonaArizona Stadium57,803 51,76149,63656,09646,56550,83938,819293,71648,95384.69%Arizona StateSun Devil Stadium73,379 45,67170,23661,49557,43753,16872,69452,350413,05159,00780.41%CaliforniaAT&T Park41,91533,95244,04335,18235,50639,602188,28537,65789.85%ColoradoFolsom Field53,613 49,53251,92852,12350,08348,111251,77750,35593.92%OregonAutzen Stadium54,000 58,81858,84758,79660,05559,12659,93359,80259,376474,75359,344109.90%Oregon StateReser Stadium45,67441,58144,35240,40342,58442,83542,766254,52142,42092.88%StanfordStanford Stadium50,00047,81650,36050,36050,36050,36050,36050,360349,97649,99799.99%UCLARose Bowl91,13642,68554,58364,21755,60465,43857,334339,86156,64462.15%USCLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum93,607 68,27373,82165,87363,70793,60764,75693,607523,64474,80679.91%UtahRice-Eccles Stadium 45,017 45,311 45,412 45,089 45,017 45,039 45,026 270,894 45,149 100.29%WashingtonHusky Stadium72,500 58,08863,25260,43762,14759,82569,40764,559437,71562,53187.19%Washington StateMartin Stadium35,11722,03427,01830,84349,21927,21316,419 172,74628,79171.21% Due to reconstruction at California Memorial Stadium, California played their 2011 home games in AT&T Park in San Francisco, California. Washington official home game played versus Washington State in Seattle, WA at CenturyLink Field (capacity 67,000) as renovation began on Husky Stadium. This was an official Washington State home game played versus Oregon State at CenturyLink Field.

Notes

May 26, 2011 – The NCAA upheld all findings and penalties against USC in their infractions case on former players Reggie Bush and O. J. Mayo. The USC football team will not participate in the Pac-12 Football Championship Game or a bowl game.