Storyline: With Washington victorious at Utah, the Huskies are in the PAC-12 driver’s seat. But let’s not count out Washington St., Colorado or USC. What upsets loom this week?
Thursday, November 3rd
(FS1) UCLA vs.Colorado- 9:00 – Colorado -12
Saturday, November 5th
(NO TV) Oregon St. vs. Stanford- 3:30 – Stanford -14
(PAC-12 Network) Arizona vs. Washington St.- 4:00- Washington St. -15.5
(ESPN) Oregon vs. USC- 7:00 – USC -16
(ESPN) Washington vs. California – 10:30- California +15.5
Byes: Arizona St, Utah
Lee Corso was right. (photo, ESPN and Seattle Times)
If you’re a PAC-12 fan, then Week #9 met your fancy: there was something for everybody last week. For one thing, the GOW in Salt Lake City ended up living up to the hype. Washington went into a hostile environment and walked out with a gritty, impressive 31-24 win. It was a win that the CFB committee can’t take lightly.
Washington St. did its part to keep up with UW by beating Oregon St., 35-31. Washington St. fell behind 21-0, but the Cougs stayed the course and recovered nicely to outscore the Beavers in the 2nd half, 29-7.
In other action, USC, Stanford, and Oregon won big over California, Arizona, and Arizona St., respectively. These three programs are trying to get in position for higher-level bowl games. USC is dreaming bigger, still in the hunt for the PAC-12 South crown.
This week there’s a Thursday night match-up in Boulder between UCLA and Colorado; a sneaky good game, Oregon vs. USC; and the league’s CFP hopeful, Washington, travels to Cal.
In other games, Stanford will make a trip to Oregon St. and Arizona heads to Pullman to take on the Cougars. ASU and Utah have byes.
No easy schedule down the stretch for USC Trojans (photo, USCTrojans.com)
Here Come The Trojans! The Trojans have won four games in a row, moving to 4-2 in the PAC-12, 5-3 overall. USC is in the mix to win the PAC-12 South at .5 game behind Colorado for first place and tied with Utah for second place. (Utah defeated USC this season and owns the tiebreaker.). But the schedule is challenging for the Trojans. After hosting a struggling Oregon team this week, they travel to Washington and UCLA in back-to-back weeks to finish up the conference slate, but not the season: Notre Dame comes to town after that. If USC can find a way to win its last three conference games–and Utah and Colorado falter one more time each–then The Men from Troy will have come back from the dead to win the South. Let’s see how much longer the Trojans can ride its wave of fantastic play.
Don’t Look Now Huskies! The Huskies’ path to the CFP is clear: win out and you’ll make The Dance. But the Huskies don’t have to look very far to find competitors. Washington St., which has won six games in a row overall, is an impressive 5-0 in the PAC-12 and has a very reasonable schedule (home games against Arizona and Cal). UW also plays Cal (on the road) and has a tough home match-up in two weeks with USC. With that, The Apple Cup may determine who represents the North in this year’s PAC-12 championship game.
Courtesy: 5280.com
The Time is NOW Colorado! With Utah losing to Washington last week, Colorado is the only team in the PAC-12 South that controls its own destiny. It’s not going to be an easy task but, with three of four games at home (including the rivalry game against Utah), it’s fair to say a division crown isn’t out of the question. That’s saying something because the Buffs were in a very different situation last year: 1-8 in the PAC-12 and last in the PAC-12 South. It’s a story that shouldn’t be overlooked by college football fans and experts around the country. The next step for Colorado is beating UCLA at home. Three months ago CU would have been a long shot v. the Bruins. Today? Colorado is the favorite. Can CU handle the pressure? Well, read on….
Game Of The Week, UCLA vs. Colorado: Colorado enjoyed a bye last week and now has the opportunity to keep a miracle season going on Thursday night. It plays a struggling UCLA team that’s also coming off a bye. I should be giving up on UCLA and giving full respect to the Buffalo. Colorado has everything to play for and UCLA is hoping to just win a game. While those are the facts I’m still worried about this game, even though I don’t have a good answer to the question why. Maybe it’s because I jumped on the Bruins’ bandwagon in the pre-season and then watched as the season became a train wreck. I may be a glutton for punishment (certainly all-in on metaphors) and willing to go down with the ship. In a surprise, I say UCLA, 31-28.
Underrated Game of The Week, Oregon vs. USC: At season’s start this match-up had all the makings of an appealing game. But Oregon has not lived up to expectations, even though they put up 54 points last week against a banged-up Arizona St. team. USC’s recent run of solid play is impressive, but the Trojans can’t afford slip-ups in conference play. This match-up reminds me of USC’s last game against California. Cal was able to move the ball against USC, but the Bears’ defense wasn’t able to slow down the Trojans. I see the same fate for the Ducks this week. Oregon’s defense won’t make as many stops as the Trojans will. So I see USC winning this game and then pivoting to two HUGE road conference tests. Give Coach Helton credit for making a QB change and pumping life into what was a dead team. I say USC, 41-24.
Courtesy: College Football News
Upset Of The Week, Washington vs. California: I don’t see a straight up upset this week in the PAC-12. With that being said, let me put Washington on “Be Careful Watch.” Washington is clearly the best team in the PAC-12 at this point in the season. The Cal game is sandwiched between the Utah game on the road and a home match-up with a red hot USC squad. Cal can score points, but struggles on defense. When everything is said, I still believe that Cal will keep this game closer than some think. I say Washington, 40-30.
Lock Of The Week, Oregon St. vs. Stanford: After last week’s USC pick I’m flying high. Not only did I pick the game right I almost hit the score dead-on. This week I’ll focus on Stanford at home against Oregon St. The big issue for me in this game is OSU’s road performance. The Beavers are 0-3 on the road and, to make matters worse, they’ve been outscored 88-23 in the last two of those road games. This is Stanford’s last conference home game of the year (with a home game v. Rice to follow) and the Cardinal want to play in a high-profile bowl game. Enough motivation, I think. So I say Stanford, 38-17.
