I’ve always been afraid of what Steve Sarkisian would be able to do at UW once he managed to keep his offensive line healthy for an entire season. This season saw him overcome some of the O-line issues with a hurry-up version of his offense, and the Husky offense exploded as a result. But the O-line still had issues with blocking and were consistently dominated throughout the 2013 season.

Despite the O-line issues, and the deep Pac-12, UW still went 8-4 (5-4) this season…the program’s best record in a 12 years.

Apparently, that was all Pat Haden (USC’s Athletic Director) needed to hire the former Trojan offensive co-coordinator:

Steve Sarkisian has accepted the USC head coaching position

— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) December 2, 2013

So some Husky boosters got their wish, Sark is gone; and now UW is in the market for a new head coach. It will be interesting to see who Scott Woodard (UW’s AD) goes after.

Now onto the power rankings:

1. Stanford Cardinal: Stanford captured the Pac-12’s only win against a mediocre Notre Dame squad, and will be traveling to Sun Devil Stadium to take on ASU, and Todd Graham, in the Pac-12 title game.
2. Arizona State Sun Devils: ASU has risen quite a bit since they lost to WSU in Pullman back in 2011…I guess you have to ask, how much longer is Todd Graham going to be in Tempe?
3. Oregon Ducks: The Ducks narrowly beat Oregon State at home…and are in need of some miracles in the next week to get to a BCS bowl.
4. UCLA Bruins: The Bruins may not run LA yet, but they sure as hell have a right to be celebrating after their second straight win over USC…and first in the Coliseum since 1997.
5. Washington Huskies: The Huskies just lost their head coach after his best record at UW…how does this impact recruiting and their eventual bowl game? Only time will tell.
6. USC Trojans: Losing to your inner city rival is always bad…but getting curbed stomped is even worse.
7. Washington State Cougars: The Cougs may have lost the Apple Cup, but they were one bad pass away from a 24-20 lead with two minutes left in the game. Now is also a good time to point out that WSU dominated the line of scrimmage for the majority of the game.
8. Arizona Wildcats: The Wildcats are…wildly inconsistent /PutsOnSunGlasses //WalksIntoDoorFrame
9. Oregon State Beavers: OSU outplayed Oregon for 2.5 quarters, but that wasn’t enough for the Beavers to overcome the athletic advantage that the Ducks have.
10. Utah Utes: Utah is now 2-1 in the Rocky..Mounta…ya, I’ve got nothing.
11. Colorado Buffaloes: 4-8 isn’t a bad record for McIntyre in his first season. Especially when you consider the situation he inherited.
12. California Golden Bears: The Bears are getting to experience the wealth of off-season defections that are going to occur always occur after a new coach is brought in…it gets better Cal fans, I promise.

Hey Coach, what do you think about Oregon State’s bowl hopes?