LOS ANGELES — For the first time in the 56-year history of the Pac-12 preseason football poll, Stanford is No. 1.

Buoyed by Heisman Trophy candidate Christian McCaffrey, the Cardinal was the overwhelming pick to win the conference championship game in a vote of 33 media members.

Stanford received 20 votes, followed by USC (five), Washington (four), UCLA (three) and Utah (one).

The history-making choice at No. 1 even caught the eye of Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott.

“Hard to imagine that’s the first time in the history of the Pac-12 that Stanford has gotten that respect from the media,” he said during his morning address at Pac-12 media day.

Cal, which lost quarterback Jared Goff to the NFL, was picked to finish fifth in the six-team North Division. Bears coach Sonny Dykes said his players shrugged off the news, if they were aware of it at all.

“I’ve coached some teams over the years that were kind of obsessed with how we’re regarded in the preseason — ‘What was the media poll? Where were we picked?” Dykes said. “I never really got that vibe from any of our guys at Cal.

“It comes down to those guys being smart and mature and just saying, ‘Nobody cares.’ If we were picked first, I don’t think any of these guys would care.”

Stanford claimed its third Pac-12 title a year ago, beating USC 41-22 at Levi’s Stadium in the conference championship game. In that showdown, McCaffrey delivered a record-breaking 461 all-purpose yards.

The Cardinal went on to defeat Iowa in the Rose Bowl to finish 12-2 and rank third in the final Associated Press poll and final Coaches Poll.

USC coach Clay Helton saw no reason Thursday to argue with the Cardinal sitting atop the poll.

“Well, they deserve to be. They’re the Pac-12 champs right now,” Helton said during the opening session of media day at Hollywood & Highland Center. “The fact of the matter is we lost twice to Stanford last year. So we’ve either got to stay the same and get beat or change.”

McCaffrey returns for his junior season with a chance to become the school’s first Heisman Trophy winner since Jim Plunkett in 1970. The dangerous running back, receiver and return man led FBS with 3,864 all-purpose yards last season.

Here is the full poll released Thursday:

North Division: Stanford (24), Washington (8), Oregon (1), Washington State, Cal and Oregon State.

South Division: UCLA (19), USC (12), Utah (2), Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado.

Pac-12 championship: Stanford (20), USC (5), Washington (4), UCLA (3) and Utah (1).

Follow Daniel Brown on Twitter at twitter.com/mercbrownie.