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 (CFP) semifinal game at the Rose Bowl, where they defeated Florida State 59–20, advancing to their second-ever national championship game (the first-ever CFP 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
 * California: March 9 – April 18 with 24 signees
 * Oregon: March 31 – May 2 with 22 signees
 * Oregon State: March 3 – April 18 with 22 signees
 * Stanford: February 23 – April 11 with 22 signees
 * Washington: March 30 – April 25 with 24 signees
 * Washington State: March 12 – April 28 with 24 signees

South Division
 * Arizona: March 4 – April 10 with 25 signees
 * Arizona State: March 16 – April 10 with 22 signees
 * Colorado: February 13 – March 15 with 19 signees
 * UCLA: March 31 – April 25, 2015 with 18 signees
 * USC: March 3 – April 11 with 24 signees
 * Utah: March 24 – April 25 with 20 signees

Pac-12 Media
2015 Pac-12 Media Day was held at Warner Bros. in Burbank, California on July 30–31, 2015.

Preseason polls
North Division
 * 1. Oregon (37), 262 pts
 * 2. Stanford (8), 232 pts
 * 3. California, 174 pts
 * 4. Washington, 129 pts
 * 5. Washington State, 89 pts
 * 6. Oregon State, 60 pts

South Division
 * 1. USC (32), 254 pts
 * 2. Arizona State (7), 200 pts
 * 3. UCLA (6), 180 pts
 * 4. Arizona, 155 pts
 * 5. Utah, 105 pts
 * 6. Colorado, 46 pts


 *  Predicted Pac-12 Championship Game Winner: USC (21) was picked to win the Pac-12 Championship over Oregon (17) for the first time since 2012. Others receiving votes were ASU (3), UCLA (2), and Stanford (1).

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

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 (and the fifth win for the North), with Stanford appearing for the third time (and winning for the third time) and USC appearing for the first time.

Bowl games
Pac-12 team is bolded.

Pac-12 vs Power Conference matchups
This is a list of the power conference teams (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC) the Pac-12 plays in the non-conference (Rankings from the AP Poll):

Records against other conferences
2015 records against non-conference foes:

Regular Season

Post Season

Awards and honors
AP College Football Player of the Year Lou Groza Award
 * Christian McCaffrey, Stanford
 * Ka'imi Fairbairn, UCLA

All-Americans
The following Pac-12 players were named to the 2015 College Football All-America Team by the Walter Camp Football Foundation (WCFF), Associated Press (AP), Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), Sporting News (SN), and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA):
 * First team
 * Joshua Garnett, OL, Stanford (WCFF, AP, FWAA, SN, AFCA)
 * Christian McCaffrey, RB, Stanford (SN, AFCA)
 * Ka'imi Fairbairn, K, UCLA (WCFF, AP, FWAA, AFCA)
 * Tom Hackett, P, Utah (WCFF, AP, FWAA, SN, AFCA)
 * Christian McCaffrey, All-purpose, Stanford (AP)
 * Christian McCaffrey, KR, Stanford (FWAA)


 * Second team
 * Tyler Johnstone, OL, Oregon (FWAA)
 * Christian McCaffrey, RB, Stanford (WCFF)
 * Royce Freeman, RB, Oregon (FWAA)
 * JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR, USC (AP, FWAA, SN)
 * DeForest Buckner, DE, Oregon (AP, FWAA)
 * Ka'imi Fairbairn, K, UCLA (SN)
 * Christian McCaffrey, KR, Stanford (WCFF)
 * Dante Pettis, PR, Washington (SN)


 * Third team
 * Royce Freeman, RB, Oregon (AP)
 * Austin Hooper TE, Stanford (AP)
 * Kenny Clark, DT, UCLA (AP)
 * Su'a Cravens, LB, USC (AP)
 * Blake Martinez, LB, Stanford (AP)
 * Aidan Schneider, K, Oregon (AP)

Academic All-America Team Member of the Year (CoSIDA)

Conference awards
The following individuals won the conference's annual player and coach awards:
 * Offensive Player of the Year: Christian McCaffrey, Stanford
 * Pat Tillman Defensive Player of the Year: DeForest Buckner, Oregon
 * Offensive Freshman of the Year: Josh Rosen, UCLA
 * Defensive Freshman of the Year: Cameron Smith, USC
 * Coach of the Year: Mike Leach, Washington State; David Shaw, Stanford

All-Conference teams
The following players earned All-Pac-12 honors.

Offense:

Defense:

Specialists:

All-Academic
First team

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