I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a Colorado game at Folsom field this weekend. Before we get to a largely mediocre week for the Pac 12 let me give you my stadium review. Folsom isn’t a giant cathedral to the sport like the Coliseum, that doesn’t make it a bad stadium though. It’s quaint surrounded by three field houses. The field is hemmed into the middle like a town square. The South end zone opens into a bowl yet the north end zone is particularly shallow. It’s a unique stadium to the Pac 12 and one that isn’t done justice on television. Alright, now to the rankings. This week a lot of Pac 12 teams played FCS opponents and won, however most all teams gave up garbage time points, so the score lines seemed closer than they actually were. Not a good look for the Pac 12. Meanwhile Utah lost to Washington (on two ridiculous targeting calls if you ask me) in the only in conference game of the week. Let’s roll.
1. Stanford (1): The Cardinal didn’t win as convincingly as one would have liked but this is a team that looks like a defensive juggernaut more than an offensive one going into conference play. Trevor Speights filled in nicely for Bryce love running for 87 yards on 11 touches. KJ Costello took a step back throwing two picks and looking flustered early. This team needs Bryce back for a key matchup against Oregon next week.
2. Washington (3): I get it, Utah isn’t a Pac 12 juggernaut ready to contend for the South. However winning in Utah in primetime is no small task. Washington deserves major props for this win even though about five calls went there way. Utah couldn’t hang onto the ball, turning it over three times, and again struggled on offense as Washington’s defense flexed it’s muscles allowing less than 300 yards.
3. Colorado (4): Blew out an FCS team at home, coughed up garbage time points. Steven Montez looked good, running back Travon McMillian looked better running for 162 yards. The Buffs seem ready for conference play.
4. Arizona State (2): Choked away the game in the second half but Manny Wilkins is getting a rhythm as a passer. They get this spot because San Diego State is better than every other out of conference team the Pac 12 played. Props to them for not facing cup cakes in the pre season.
5. Oregon (5): Justin Herbert dominates again, the ducks give up lots of points in garbage time.
6. Cal (7): Chase Garbers played well and so did the defense until they were blowing the team out in the second half. I wouldn’t be shocked if this team got into the top 25, that win against BYU looks awful nice right now.
7. Washington State (8): For a team that got killed all off-season Washington State looks like a good football team. They’ll get a great test Friday against USC.
8. USC (6): There will be growing pains through JT Daniels first season. This stretch is one of those times. USC got banged by a bad call (a clear safety that got over turned) and lost momentum from there on out. They took chances throughout though going for it on fourth down several times. This isn’t a good loss standings wise but this is a game that this young USC team will learn from, this isn’t there year, it’s next year.
9. Utah (10): Utah looked awful on offense due to Zack Moss fighting through two ankle injuries. The Utes aren’t done yet but this ends any hope fans may have had for a magical undefeated season, though that was unlikely to happen from the get go.
10. Arizona (12): Bounce back against Southern Utah. A little concerning they allowed 30 plus points. Outside of that though, not a lot of takeaways from this game.
11. Oregon State (9): A loss to a very good Nevada team and putting up 30 plus points in all your pre season games including against Ohio State. This Oregon State team is taking steps in the right direction to rebuild.
12. UCLA (11): UCLA once again embarrasses the Pac 12 and gets blown out by Fresno State. It’s not to early to be wondering what the hell is going on in Hollywood.
Game picks for week four (this week I went 7-4)
Washington State 31 USC 20
Arizona 35 Oregon State 21
Stanford 27 Oregon 24
Washington 35 ASU 17