Utah Picked Third in Pac-12 Preseason Media Poll

Pac-12 Media Day took place today in Hollywood, Calif., and one of the biggest things to come out every year is the preseason media poll. The poll is of 33 members of the media, and for the first time, Stanford was the favorite to win the Pac-12 this year, effectively defending their 2015 Pac-12 title. UCLA barely edged out USC as the favorite to win the Pac-12 South. The Utah Utes were picked third in the Pac-12 South and received two first place votes and one vote to win the Pac-12 title. Oregon State was picked sixth in the North by every media member polled. It is important to note that only twice in the last nine preseason polls have the media correctly picked the Pac-12 champion (though the poll has been right 29 times out of the 55 times it has occurred). Below is the complete media poll rankings with first place votes in parentheses.

Pac-12 Title Game Champion: Stanford (20)

Others receiving votes: USC (5), Washington (4), UCLA (3), Utah (1)

Per the Pac-12,

The 2016 Pac-12 Football Championship Game will take place Friday, Dec. 2 at 6 p.m. PT and will be telecast to a national audience on FOX. The Championship game will match the winner of the North Division vs. the winner of the South Division at Levi's® Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

All information came courtesy of the Pac-12 press release which can be found here.