The Pac 12 has really been turned up outside down with some upsets including one team picking up their first Pac 12 win and another falling hard after a great start to begin the year.
#23 Utah 41, UCLA 10
Wilton Speight was able to get UCLA a win after DTR went down last week. Utah made sure to limit UCLA’s passing game and that’s exactly what they did. Speight went 20/40 for 164 yards and 2 interceptions. Zack Moss showed out in this game and he’s caught a lot of attention recently as he posted another All-PFF performance with 211 yards and 3 touchdowns. Moss has been stellar all year and posting an All-Pac 12 like season, overpassing the century mark 5 of the 8 games and over 150 three times. Linebacker Cody Barton led the way for the Utes with a team leading 7 tackles and an interception. Utah is in a good position to make the Pac-12 title game, they play in Tempe against Arizona State. UCLA is on the road as well against an angry Oregon team.
#14 Washington State 41, #24 Stanford 38
The lone Top 25 matchup in the conference had offense, offense, and more offense. Gardner Minshew and K.J. Costello combined for 761 yards and 7 touchdowns as both rushing games for the most part was pretty average. In a back and forth affair, Wazzou reigned supreme in the end with a game winning 42 yard field goal by Blake Mazza with 23 seconds left in the game. Minshew was 40/50 for 438 yards and 3 touchdowns as Washington State had 2 players break a 100 yards in Jamire Calvin and Dezmon Patmon. JJ Arcega-Whiteside continues to show his dominance as he had 10 catches for 111 yards and 2 touchdowns as well as Tight End Kaden Smith having 9 grabs for 112 yards and a touchdown. Bryce Love showed a flash of his last year self with a 43 yard run down the sideline. But that was unfortunately, his only breakout run as he carried the ball 6 times for 71 yards. Washington State controls it’s own destiny and leads the entire Pac 12. They go back to Pullman to play Cal Saturday night. Stanford will be on the road to face the other half of Washington, the Huskies.
Cal 12, #15 Washington 10
In one of the more uncommon scores you’ll ever see out of a Pac 12 game, the team that didn’t score an offensive touchdown ended up winning this game. This was a huge win for the Golden Bears and very demoralizing loss for the Huskies. Browning found Ty Jones in the back of the end zone for the first touchdown halfway through the first quarter to give them the early lead. The Washington QB’s were both picked off, the first one on an unbelievable play by Sophomore CB Camryn Bynum. As he made a jumping catch and was able to get one foot in bounds. Backup QB and Freshman, Jake Haener came into the game and threw an interception to Eric Weaver and Weaver would return it 37 yards and hit the pylon to give Cal the lead late. Browning nearly got picked off again late in the game but thanks to a heads up play by Aaron Fuller to strip it out of the DB’s hand to make it an incompletion. Eric Weaver led the defense with that pick 6, 11 total tackles, and one for loss. Cal is back on the road facing Top 10 Washington State. Washington is back at home facing another team that lost in Week 9, Stanford.
Arizona 44, #19 Oregon 15
In another upset, Arizona completely shut down Oregon’s offense, limiting them to just a little over 250 total yards. JJ Taylor continues to show he’s one of the top running backs in the conference with Eno Benjamin, Jermar Jefferson, and Zack Moss. On 30 carries, he rushed for 212 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a 19 yard run to put the final dagger in and complete the upset. Khalil Tate was 19/33 for 189 yards and 3 touchdowns, 2 of those to Shawn Poindexter. Oregon was one dimensional on offense, only rushing for 84 total yards and Herbert was their leading rusher with 31 yards. Dillon Mitchell led the Ducks in recieving with 69 yards and touchdown. In a game that came out of nowhere for Arizona, Kevin Sumlin lived up to his potential and picked up his first marquee win in Tucson and is looking to pick up steam with a talented team with all the potential in the world with this offense they have. Arizona is home again next week against a mightily struggling Colorado team. Oregon is back home against UCLA.
Oregon State 41, Colorado 34
The upsets keep coming as Oregon State picks up their first conference win of the year on the road in Boulder on Saturday night. Jake Luton showed more in this game than him or Blount had showed all year long. He was 28/39 for 310 yards and 3 touchdowns on a 85.5 QBR. Isiah Hodgins played fantastic, hauling in 11 passes for 146 and 2 touchdowns. Jermar Jefferson played relatively well, rushing for 135 yards on 30 carries, but could not find the end zone. Steven Montez didn’t play a bad game as he kept the Buffs in it for the most part. He passed for 319 yards and 2 touchdowns, (both of those going to K.D. Nixon). Nixon has recently been filling in for Laviska Shenault to pick up the production as he did exactly that with 198 yards and 2 touchdowns. Colorado was able to bring pressure early and often as they sacked Oregon State 6 times, including 2 from Sophomore Linebacker Nate Landman. Colorado also got a pick 6 from Dante Wigley. Colorado has truly fallen on hard times after a special start to the year. Colorado is back on the road to face Arizona, as Oregon State is at home facing USC.
Arizona State 38, USC 34
Before this recap begin, let’s just appreciate the greatness that is N’Keal Harry. A projected first round pick in the draft and going to get paid Millions of dollars this upcoming year made an Odell Beckham like catch along the sidelines that has CFB buzzing about it. Now continue with the recap, In a back and forth affair, that ended up coming down to a failed onside kick attempt, had ASU pick up a big time win. N’Keal Harry had 198 total yards and 2 touchdowns (1 receiving, 1 punt return) as explosive plays were happening all over the field. Eno Benjamin finished with 185 yards and 2 touchdowns. Freshman, Jake Sears got his first start and played pretty well, throwing for 235 yards and 2 touchdowns. Finding Tyler Vaughns and Michael Pittman Jr. On a trick play, Tyler Vaughns threw his first passing touchdown to Michael Pitman from 36 yards out. But a 92 yard punt return by N’Keal Harry and a 45 yard run by Manny Wilkins was just enough for the Sun Devils to pull out a win on the road.
Offensive POTW: Garnder Minshew, QB, Washington State (Other Candidates: JJ Taylor HB, Arizona. Jake Luton QB, Oregon State. Zack Moss, HB, Utah)
Defensive POTW: Eric Weaver, LB, Cal
Season Predictions: 44-23
