2016 Pac-12 Conference football season


The 2016 Pac-12 Conference football season is the sixth season for the conference as a twelve-team league. The season began on August 26, 2016, with California vs. Hawaii. The final game was the 2016 Pac-12 Football Championship Game at Levi's Stadium on December 2, 2016, with Fox televising the game.

Preseason

2016 Pac-12 Spring Football and number of signees on signing day:
North Division
  • California – 25 signees
  • Oregon – 19 signees
  • Oregon State – 24 signees
  • Stanford – 30 signees
  • Washington – 18 signees
  • Washington State – 25 signees
South Division
  • Arizona – 22 signees
  • Arizona State – 18 signees
  • Colorado –18 signees
  • UCLA – 27 signees
  • USC – 13 signees
  • Utah – 24 signees

Pac-12 Media

The Pac-12 conducted its annual media days at the Loews Hollywood Hotel, – The Loews Hollywood Hotel in Hollywood, California between July 14 and July 15. The event commenced with a speech by Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott, and all 12 teams sent their head coaches and two selected players to speak with members of the media. The event along with all speakers and interviews were broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network. The teams and representatives in respective order were as follows:
Thursday
  • Arizona – Head Coach Rich Rodriguez, Nate Phillips, WR & Sani Fuimaono, DL
  • California – Head Coach Sonny Dykes, Steven Moore, OT & DeVante Wilson, DE
  • Oregon – Head Coach Mark Helfrich, Royce Freeman, RB & Johnny Ragin, LB
  • Washington State – Head Coach Mike Leach, Gabe Marks, WR & Parker Henry, LB
  • Utah – Head Coach Kyle Whittingham, JJ Dielman, OT & Justin Thomas, DB
Friday
  • Arizona State – Head Coach Todd Graham, Tim White, WR/KR & Tashon Smallwood, DL
  • Oregon State – Head Coach Gary Andersen, Victor Bolden, WR & Nick Porebski, P
  • UCLA – Head Coach Jim Mora, Conor McDermott, OT & Jayon Brown, LB
  • Stanford – Head Coach David Shaw, Christian McCaffrey, RB & Solomon Thomas, DE
  • Washington – Head Coach Chris Petersen, Darrell Daniels, TE & Kevin King, DB
  • Colorado – Head Coach Mike MacIntyre, Sefo Liufau, QB & Chidobe Awuzie, CB

Preseason Media Polls

Pac-12 Championship Game Voting
North Division
South Division
  • 1. UCLA Bruins
  • 2. USC Trojans
  • 3. Utah Utes
  • 4. Arizona Wildcats
  • 5. Arizona State Sun Devils
  • 6. Colorado Buffaloes
  • Predicted Pac-12 Championship Game Winner: Stanford Cardinal was picked to win the Pac-12 Championship over UCLA for the first time since 1960. Others receiving votes were Washington, ASU, USC, Oregon and Utah.
'''References:'''

Recruiting classes

TeamESPNRivalsScout24/7Signees
Arizona3941414225
Arizona State2620171922
California-29363424
Colorado-71756919
Oregon1517211622
Oregon State-71636022
Stanford2718252422
UCLA111391218
USC311226
Utah-41534520
Washington2830232724
Washington State-55384124

Head coaches

Coaching changes

There were no coaching changes following the 2016 season.

Coaches

Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season

Schedule

All times Mountain time. Pac-12 teams in bold.
Rankings reflect those of the AP poll for that week.

Week 1

'''Players of the Week – Sept 5'''

Week 2

'''Players of the Week- Sept 12'''

Week 3

'''Players of the Week – Sept 19 '''

Week 4

'''Players of the Week – Sept 26'''

Week 5

'''Players of the Week – Oct 3'''

Week 6

'''Players of the Week – Oct 10'''

Week 7

'''Players of the Week – Oct 17'''

Week 8

'''Players of the Week – Oct 24'''

Week 9

'''Players of the Week – Oct 31'''

Week 10

'''Players of the Week – Nov 7'''

Week 11

'''Players of the Week – Nov 14'''

Week 12

'''Players of the Week – Nov 21'''

Week 13

'''Players of the Week – Nov 28'''

Championship game

The championship game was played on December 2, 2016. It featured the teams with the best conference records from each division, Washington from the North and Colorado from the South. This was the sixth championship game, with both Washington and Colorado appearing for the first time.

Pac-12 vs Power Conference matchups

This is a list of the power conference teams the Pac-12 plays in the non-conference :
DateVisitorHomeSiteSignificanceScore
September 1Oregon State[2016 2016 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team|Minnesota Golden Gophers football team|Minnesota]TCF Bank Stadium • MinneapolisMinnesota 30–23
September 2Kansas State#8 StanfordStanford Stadium • Stanford, CaliforniaStanford 26–13
September 3[2016 2016 BYU Cougars football team|BYU Cougars football team|BYU]ArizonaUniversity of Phoenix Stadium • Glendale, ArizonaCactus Kickoff ClassicBYU 18–16
September 3#20 USC#1 [2016 2016 Alabama Crimson Tide football team|Alabama Crimson Tide football team|Alabama]AT&T Stadium • Arlington, TexasAdvocare ClassicAlabama 52–6
September 3#16 UCLATexas A&MKyle Field • College Station, TexasTexas A&M 31–24OT
September 3Rutgers#14 WashingtonHusky Stadium • SeattleWashington 48–13
September 10Texas TechArizona StateSun Devil Stadium • Tempe, ArizonaArizona State 68–55
September 10BYUUtahRice-Eccles Stadium • Salt Lake CityHoly WarUtah 20–19
September 10Virginia#24 OregonAutzen Stadium • Eugene, OregonOregon 44–26
September 17UCLABYULaVell Edwards Stadium • Provo, UtahUCLA 17–14
October 15StanfordNotre DameNotre Dame Stadium • South Bend, IndianaNotre Dame–Stanford football rivalryStanford 17–10
November 26Notre DameUSCLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum • Los AngelesNotre Dame–USC football rivalryUSC 45–27

Records against other conferences

2016 records against non-conference foes:
Regular Season
'''Post Season'''

Postseason

Bowl games

* Rankings based on CFP rankings, Pac-12 team is bolded
Selection of teams:
  • Bowl eligible: Colorado, Stanford, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington State
  • Bowl-ineligible: Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA

All-Pac-12 Individual Awards

The following individuals won the conference's annual player and coach awards:

All-Conference teams

The following players earned All-Pac-12 honors.
Offense:
Defense:
Specialists:
Honorable Mentions

All-Americans

The following Pac-12 players were named to the 2016 College Football All-America Team by the Walter Camp Football Foundation, Associated Press, Football Writers Association of america, Sporting News, and American Football Coaches Association :
;First team
;Second team
;Third team
'''Academic All-America Team Member of the Year'''

All-Academic

'''First team'''

Home game attendance

TeamStadiumCapacityGame 1Game 2Game 3Game 4Game 5Game 6Game 7TotalAverage% of Capacity
ArizonaArizona Stadium56,02945,68650,11648,74755,463†46,74041,06850,197338,01748,28886.18%
Arizona StateSun Devil Stadium56,23245,30044,51149,29548,50950,582†48,220—286,41747,73684.89%
CaliforniaCalifornia Memorial Stadium62,46750,44846,61843,04847,75652,266†39,633—279,76946,62874.64%
ColoradoFolsom Field50,18339,50546,83948,58843,76148,65852,301†—279,65246,60992.88%
OregonAutzen Stadium54,00053,81753,77453,97458,842†53,89853,757—328,06254,677101.25%
Oregon StateReser Stadium45,67438,05242,84634,06632,09337,08135,05944,160†263,35737,62282.37%
StanfordStanford Stadium50,42446,14748,76350,424†44,53538,81336,171—265,03344,17287.60%
UCLARose Bowl92,54263,71270,83368,01366,24364,81371,137†—404,75167,45872.89%
USCLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum93,60762,48771,21468,30261,72574,625†72,402—338,35367,67072.29%
UtahRice-Eccles Stadium45,80745,94546,91546,13345,91747,801†46,327—279,03846,506101.53%
WashingtonHusky Stadium70,08358,64060,67857,15172,02765,79672,362†65,467452,12164,58892.16%
Washington StateMartin Stadium32,95232,95228,47732,95229,31033,547 30,13533,773†187,37331,22894.77%

Bold – Exceed capacity

†Season High
Attendance for neutral site games:
  • August 26 – Cal vs. Hawaii, 61,247
  • September 2 – Colorado vs. Colorado State, 69,850
  • September 3 – Arizona vs. BYU, 50,528
  • September 3 – USC vs Alabama, 81,359
  • December 2 – Colorado vs Washington, 47,118