PAC 12: Week 9

USC 6-1 / 4-1 @ Arizona 4-3 / 1-3: SC is showing signs of life after stumbling against Stanford, 21-14, in week three @ Stanford Stadium. Matt Barkley’s (USC’s QB) performance vs Colorado has elavated him back into the Heisman conversations and his team back into the “what if” scenarios for a spot in the BCS national Championship game. Meanwhile, Rich Rod’s (Rich Rodriguez, UA’s HC) defense has been absent when facing offenses that have a balanced approach to moving the ball. In three of the past four weeks, the Wildcats have given up 49 to Oregon, 38 to Oregon State, & 54 points to Stanford. This pattern has continued from his years at Michigan, where they were able to put points on the board, but unable to stop most (any) offenses.

UCLA 4-2 / 2-2 @ Arizona State 5-2 / 3-1: Arizona State is home for the second straight week, having taken a pounding in week 8 @ the hands of Oregon, 43-21! A score, that quite franlly, that does not reflect the manner in which they were dominated by the Ducks (43-7) before Kelly substituted and ASU scored two meaningless TD’s!. UCLA is coming off a bye week, having split their four conference games. The Bruins beat Utah, 21-14 and Colorado, 42-14 while losing to Oregon State, 27-20 and Cal, 43-17. This is a South Division battle leaving the winner in position to challenge USC for the right to play in the PAC 12 title game.

California 3-5 / 2-3 @ Utah 2-5 / 0-4: Neither one of these teams have a shot at their respective divisional titles, but both are still in the running to become bowl eligible. Cal ends the season with Oregon State (on the road) and Oregon (@ home) and will need to win one of these games, as well as this game (Utah) and the Washington tilt @ home. Meanwhile, Utah has Washington & Colorado on the road and WSU & Arizona @ home, the Utes must win four of the next five, this includes the game with Cal, to become eligible for bowl selection!  

Oregon State 6-0 / 5-0 @ Washington 3-4 / 1-3: This could be a very difficult game for the undefeated OSU, as the Washington Huskies have already taken down Stanford, 17-13! That said, the Huskies have lost three in a row and need to find some energy from this home crowd. The Beavers, on the other hand, have found ways to win close games; 27-21 vs UCLA, 10-7 against Wisconsin & 38-35 @ Arizona. OSU faces Stanford on the road and host’s ASU and Oregon in Corvallis. Given the challenges that the teams remaining on their schedule will bring to the front gates, the Beavers can not afford a slip up vs the Huskies. 

 Colorado 1-6 / 1-3 @ Oregon 7-0 / 4-0: This is without question the biggest mismatch in the FBS, let alone in the PAC 12, in week nine! Colorado’s lone win was a come from behind, 35-34 shocher against Washington State.  The Buffs lost to Sacramento State, an FCS team, 30-28 and their two most recent losses have not been close …. Arizona State 51-7 and USC, 50-6! The Ducks, at home, if motivated to do so, could score @ or near 100 points vs the Buffs defense. Coach Kelly (Oregon’s Head Coach) will not do that for any number of reasons … but the potential is present in this extremely uneven contest!   

Washington State 2-5 / 0-4 @ Stanford 5-2 / 3-1: WSU has lost four straight to Stanford and are 9-24 in the last 33 games played against the Cardinal. To make a bad situation worse, the Cougars have lost 16 straight to ranked teams by an average of 29 points and are 3-19 vs PAC 12 Teams on the road! The Cardinal won the last 4 games by an average score of 45-14 and need this win to keep pace with Oregon & Oregon State.