2015 Pac-12 Conference football season


The 2015 Pac-12 Conference football season was the fifth season for the conference as a twelve-team league. The season began on September 3, 2015 with a trio of games, Arizona hosting UTSA, Utah hosting Michigan, and Hawaii hosting Colorado. The final game was the Pac-12 Championship Game at Levi's Stadium on December 5, 2015, with ESPN televising the game.

Previous season

Oregon, the North Division Champions, defeated Arizona, the South Division Champions, 51–13 to claim their second conference title and the chance to play in the College Football Playoff semifinal game at the Rose Bowl, where they defeated Florida State 59–20, advancing to their second-ever national championship game, where they were defeated by the Ohio Buckeyes, 42–20.
A record nine conference teams played in a post-season bowl game, with six winning. Arizona, the South Division Champion, was also a bowl game loser, losing to Boise State 38–30 in the Fiesta Bowl. Bowl game winners were: Arizona State defeated Duke 36–31 in the Sun Bowl, Stanford defeated Maryland 45–21 in the Foster Farms Bowl, UCLA defeated Kansas State 40–35 in the Alamo Bowl, USC defeated Nebraska 45–42 in the Holiday Bowl, and Utah defeated Colorado State 45–10 in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Pre-season

2015 Pac-12 Spring Football and number of signees on signing day:
North Division
South Division
2015 Pac-12 Media Day was held at Warner Bros. in Burbank, California on July 30–31, 2015.

Preseason polls

North Division
South Division

Head coaches

Coaching changes

There were one coaching change following the 2015 season including Gary Andersen with Oregon State.

Coaches

Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season

Rankings

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 - September 7

Week 2

Players of the Week- September 14

Week 3

Players of the Week - September 21

Week 4

Players of the Week - September 28

Week 5

Players of the Week - October 5

Week 6

Players of the Week - October 12

Week 7

Players of the Week - October 19

Week 8

Players of the Week - October 26

Week 9

Players of the Week - November 2

Week 10

Players of the Week - November 9

Week 11

Players of the Week - November 16

Week 12

Players of the Week - November 23

Week 13

Players of the Week - November 28

Championship game

The championship game was played on December 5, 2015. It featured the teams with the best conference records from each division, Stanford from the North and USC from the South. This was the fifth championship game, with Stanford appearing for the third time and USC appearing for the first time.

Week 14 (Pac-12 Championship Game)

Bowl games

Pac-12 team is bolded.
Bowl GameDateStadiumCityTVTime Winning TeamScoreLosing TeamScore
New Mexico BowlSaturday, December 19, 2015University StadiumAlbuquerque, New MexicoESPN12:00 PMArizona45New Mexico37
Las Vegas BowlSaturday, December 19, 2015Sam Boyd StadiumWhitney, NevadaABC1:30 PM#20 Utah35BYU28
Sun BowlSaturday, December 26, 2015Sun Bowl StadiumEl Paso, TexasCBS11:00 AMWashington State20Miami 14
Heart of Dallas BowlSaturday, December 26, 2015Cotton BowlDallas, TexasESPN11:20 AMWashington44Southern Miss31
Foster Farms BowlMonday, December 28, 2015Levi's StadiumSanta Clara, CaliforniaESPN6:15 PMNebraska37UCLA29
Armed Forces BowlTuesday, December 29, 2015Amon G. Carter StadiumFort Worth, TexasESPN11:00 AMCalifornia55Air Force36
Holiday BowlWednesday, December 30, 2015Qualcomm StadiumSan Diego, CaliforniaESPN7:30 PM#23 Wisconsin23USC21
Rose BowlFriday, January 1, 2016Rose BowlPasadena, CaliforniaESPN2:10 PM#5 Stanford45#6 Iowa16
Alamo BowlSaturday, January 2, 2016AlamodomeSan Antonio, TexasESPN3:45 PM#11 TCU47#15 Oregon413OT
Cactus BowlSaturday, January 2, 2016Chase FieldPhoenix, ArizonaESPN8:15 PMWest Virginia43Arizona State42

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 3MichiganUtahRice-Eccles Stadium • Salt Lake City, UtahUTAH W 24–17
September 5Arizona StateTexas A&MNRG Stadium • Houston, TXTexas KickoffTAMU L 17–38
September 5StanfordNorthwesternRyan Field • Evanston, ILNW L 6–16
September 5VirginiaUCLARose Bowl • Pasadena, CAUCLA W 34–16
September 12Oregon StateMichiganMichigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MIMICH L 7–35
September 12Washington StateRutgersHigh Point Solutions Stadium • Piscataway, NJWSU W 37–34
September 12OregonMichigan StateSpartan Stadium • East Lansing, MIMSU L 28–31
September 19CaliforniaTexasDarrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium • Austin, TXCAL W 45–44

Records against other conferences

2015 records against non-conference foes:
Regular Season
Power 5 ConferencesRecord
ACC1–0
Big Ten2–3
Big 121–0
SEC0–1
Notre Dame1–1
Power 5 Total5–5
-
Other FBS ConferencesRecord
American1–0
C-USA1–0
MAC1–0
Mountain West11–2
Independents 1–0
Sun Belt3-0
Other FBS Total18–2
-
FCS OpponentsRecord
Football Championship Subdivision7–1
-
Total Non-Conference Record30–8

Post Season
Power Conferences 5Record
ACC1–0
Big Ten1–2
Big 120–2
Power 5 Total2–4
-
Other FBS ConferencesRecord
C–USA1–0
Independents 1–0
Mountain West2–0
-
Other FBS Total4–0
Total Bowl Record6–4

Awards and honors

AP College Football Player of the Year
Lou Groza Award
The following Pac-12 players were named to the 2015 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

Conference awards

The following individuals won the conference's annual player and coach awards:
The following players earned All-Pac-12 honors.
Offense:
Defense:
Specialists:

All-Academic

First team

Home game attendance

TeamStadiumCapacityGame 1Game 2Game 3Game 4Game 5Game 6Game 7TotalAverage% of Capacity
ArizonaArizona Stadium56,02951,11151,49456,00452,98747,84748,912—308,35551,39391.72%
Arizona StateSun Devil Stadium64,24846,50043,31061,90444,15756,53451,69564,885368,98552,71282.04%
CaliforniaCalifornia Memorial Stadium62,46760,60650,83042,04252,06041,874—247,41249,48279.21%
ColoradoFolsom Field53,61335,09437,30246,22239,66640,142—198,42639,68574.02%
OregonAutzen Stadium54,00058,12856,85957,14557,77556,60459,094345,60557,601106.67%
Oregon StateReser Stadium45,67435,16034,57337,30236,97738,07434,390—216,47636,07978.99%
StanfordStanford Stadium50,42450,42046,62850,46450,42448,63351,424297,99349,66698.50%
UCLARose Bowl91,13668,61567,61280,11357,04651,50876,255—401,14966,85873.36%
USCLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum93,60779,80972,42278,30663,62373,43576,309443,90473,98479.04%
UtahRice-Eccles Stadium45,80747,82546,01147,79846,19245,85346,230279,90946,652101.84%
WashingtonHusky Stadium70,08355,01059,46461,06669,28550,66761,420356,91259,48584.88%
Washington StateMartin Stadium32,95224,30231,10532,95230,01232,95225,121—176,44429,40789.24%

Game played at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, CA.
Game played at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, WA.
Bold – Exceed capacity
†Season High