2012 Pac-12 Football Standings: Stanford 3rd, Cal out of Pac-12 North basement

Stanford and California both moved up in the Pac-12 North standings after wins on Saturday.

By Mark Sandritter Oct 8, 2012, 5:31am PDT

Stanford needed overtime to get past Arizona, but with their 54-48 win, the Cardinal were able to take over third place in the Pac-12 North.

Stanford moved to 2-1 in conference play, moving ahead of 1-1 Washington, who lost to Oregon this week. The Cardinal are now just a game behind both Oregon and Oregon State, both of which sit at 3-0 in conference play. At 2-1, Stanford is currently tied for fifth place overall in the Pac-12, a standing which could impact bowl selections later in the year.

With six conference games remaining, including games against Oregon and Oregon State, the Cardinal are now nearly in control of their Pac-12 fate. If they were to win out -- and assuming Washington lost one more Pac-12 game -- the Cardinal would win the Pac-12 North based on head-to-head tiebreakers.

California picked up its first conference win of the season its 43-17 upset win against then No. 25 UCLA. With the win, Cal moved to 1-2 in conference play and ahead of Washington State, who now sits alone in the Pac-12 North cellar. The Bears are now a half-game behind Washington for the No. 4 spot.

Here are the complete Pac-12 standings through Week 6:

NORTH (overall, conference)

No. 2 Oregon 6-0, 3-0

No. 10 Oregon State 4-0, 3-0

No. 17 Stanford 4-1, 2-1

Washington 3-2, 1-1

California 2-4, 1-2

Washington State 2-4, 0-3

SOUTH

Arizona State 4-1, 2-0

No. 11 USC 4-1, 2-1

Colorado 1-4, 1-1