Saturday
- UCLA at No. 18 Utah, 1:30 p.m. (Ch. 11)
- Arizona at Arizona State, 1:30 p.m. (FS1)
- No. 22 USC at No. 23 Oregon, 1:30 p.m. (ESPN)
- Washington at Oregon State, 4 p.m. (Pac-12 Arizona)
- California at No. 15 Stanford, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN)
- Colorado at No. 24 Washington State, 7:45 p.m. (ESPN2)
Last week’s scores
- USC 27, Colorado 24
- ASU 27, Washington 17
- Oregon 38, Stanford 36
- Arizona 37, Utah 30
- California 54, Oregon State 24
- Washington State 31, UCLA 27
The Big Game
(and we’re not talkin’ Stanford-Cal)
USC at Oregon: We could’ve certainly went with this section’s namesake, as the Cardinal and Golden Bears face off in Palo Alto, Calif., but that’s not the biggest game in the conference this week.
That falls to USC’s showdown with Oregon, and the Utah-UCLA game a close second.
The Ducks and Trojans were preseason picks to win the Pac-12’s North and South divisions, with USC the overall conference favorite — but both faltered.
Now, both teams are hot — especially the Ducks — and playing for their Pac-12 championship lives. It’ll be harder road for Oregon, which needs to win out and hope Stanford loses its remaining games (not likely, but still a possibility).
“We just have more confidence now in how we approach teams like Cal, Stanford and now USC,” Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said.
USC won two close games that probably shouldn’t have been close (against Colorado and Arizona), and the Trojans are still loaded with talent.
“We’ve been in playoff football for the last four weeks,” USC interim coach Clay Helton said.
Going up
Washington State: We could put the Cougars (7-3, 5-2 Pac-12) here every week at this point. Washington State just keeps winning. It’s too late for a Pac-12 North title, but the Cougars are positioning themselves for a solid bowl game.
Jared Goff: The Cal quarterback struggled for a couple weeks, at least by his standards, but bounced back quite nicely against Oregon State, passing for 453 yards and six touchdowns in a 30-point win.
Coming down
Pac-12’s playoff chances: With Stanford falling to Oregon, and Utah to Arizona — and both now with two losses — the Pac-12’s likely last two chances at the college football playoff went out the window, barring some unforeseen craziness these next two weeks across college football.
“We’d like to see a Pac-12 team represented in the final four every year,” UCLA coach Jim Mora said. “That’s everyone’s objective, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case this year.”
Power Rankings
1. Stanford (8-2, 7-1 Pac-12)
2. Washington State (7-3, 5-2)
3. Oregon (7-3, 5-2)
4. Utah (8-2, 5-2)
5. USC (7-3, 5-2)
6. UCLA (7-3, 4-3)
7. California (6-4, 3-4)
8. Arizona State (5-5, 3-4)
9. Arizona (6-5, 3-5)
10. Washington (4-6, 2-5)
11. Colorado (4-7, 1-6)
12. Oregon State (2-8, 0-7)
Observe and report
A quick look around the Pac-12, with help from the coaches’ weekly Monday conference call:
1. Scarlett letter. Before this season, defensive end Brennan Scarlett did what many in the Bay Area might consider unfathomable — he transferred from California to Stanford as a fifth-year graduate transfer. Now, Scarlett has 3.5 sacks for Stanford’s talented defensive front. Don’t ask Cal coach Sonny Dykes about him, though.
“I only want to talk about our players,” Dykes said. “Brennan was a good player and a good student, but that’s all I want to say about that.”
2. Dykes happy at Cal. Rumors have circulated that Dykes might be trying to get out of Berkeley and find a new job. With all the rumors tied to Rich Rodriguez leaving Arizona, and Dykes’ connection to the UA — he was an offensive coordinator under Mike Stoops — the Wildcats made sense. But that probably won’t happen anymore: Rodriguez is expected to stay, and Calhas announced plans to sign him to an extension.
“It’s exciting to see that they have faith that we’ve made progress in trying to do the right things,” Dykes said. “Anytime people have confidence in you, it makes you feel good.”
Coach of the Year Rankings
A ranking of the Pac-12’s coaches in relation to their chances of winning the conference award after the regular season:
1. Mike Leach, Washington State
2. Kyle Whittingham, Utah
3. David Shaw, Stanford
4. Clay Helton, USC
5. Mark Helfrich, Oregon
6. Chris Petersen, Washington
7. Jim Mora, UCLA
8. Sonny Dykes, California
9. Rich Rodriguez, Arizona
10. Todd Graham, ASU
11. Mike MacIntyre, Colorado
12. Gary Andersen, Oregon State
