2015 Pac-12 Conference football 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.

2015 Pac-12 Spring Football and number of signees on signing day:

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

• 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).

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

Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season

All times Mountain time. Pac-12 teams in bold.

Rankings reflect those of the AP poll for that week.

Players of the Week - September 7

Players of the Week- September 14

Players of the Week - September 21

Players of the Week - September 28

Players of the Week - October 5

Players of the Week - October 12

Players of the Week - October 19

Players of the Week - October 26

Players of the Week - November 2

Players of the Week - November 9

Players of the Week - November 16

Players of the Week - November 23

Players of the Week - November 28

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.

Pac-12 team is bolded.

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):

2015 records against non-conference foes:

AP College Football Player of the Year

• Christian McCaffrey, Stanford

Lou Groza Award

• Ka'imi Fairbairn, UCLA^[7]

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):^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

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)

The following individuals won the conference's annual player and coach awards:^[13]

• 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

The following players earned All-Pac-12 honors.^[14]

Offense:

Defense:

Specialists:

First team

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

• October 12, 2015 – USC terminated Steve Sarkisian as its head football coach^[15][16]
• October 30, 2015 – USC Athletic Director Pat Haden resigned from the College Football Playoff Selection Committee
• November 30, 2015 – Clay Helton was named USC's permanent head coach.