Around the Pac-12: Week 11
After an amazing weekend of Pac-12 football that included a Washington upset in Eugene, the race for the championship game berth remains a tight one.
USC is leading the way with a 7-1 record after blowing out Colorado on Friday night but this week they will face a tough test in UCLA.
The Trojans are still in the race for the college football playoff as a one loss Pac-12 champion would have a good shot at getting in depending on what help they get around them in the rankings.
Oregon lost their first conference game to Washington in a thriller on Saturday night, but the silver lining was Bo Nix’s injury does not look to be serious at all.
The Ducks will need a major rebound this week against a hungry Utah team on Saturday night.
Utah needs to beat the Ducks in order to get a spot in the championship game but there are also other scenarios that they would need help to get in so this would be the easiest.
The Utes have scored at least 42 points in back-to-back games since quarterback Cameron Rising returned and they will need to keep up this pace to beat Oregon.
UCLA is also still in the race but a loss to Arizona made it a lot more difficult as they need to beat USC this week to have a shot at getting in.
The Bruins are 2-2 in their last four games and have looked very shaky whenever they played but will look to Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s leadership to get back on track.
Washington is coming off of a huge victory over Oregon in Eugene where Michael Penix Jr looked like a star.
Washington will need some teams ahead of them to lose but coming off of back-to-back ranked wins they should be able to run the table with Colorado and Washington State in the Apple Cup left.
Oregon State needs a lot to happen in order to be considered for the championship game but the most they can do is beat Arizona State this weekend.
The real test for this team comes after Thanksgiving when they host Oregon in a rivalry game.
Washington State just clinched a bowl game last week and will travel to take on Arizona this week.
The Cougars’ defense has been what has gotten them this far and will continue to be the reason why they succeed led by linebacker Daiyan Henley.
Arizona is coming off of a huge win against UCLA and needs to win out to get to a bowl game.
The good news for the Bobcats is that they do not face any ranked opponents and they finish the season at home.
Arizona State will not be getting to the postseason this year and will host Oregon State this weekend before traveling to Arizona for the rivalry game.
It has been a nightmare of a season for Colorado who is in the toughest patch of the schedule right now as they still have to play Washington and Utah.
California has a chance to play spoiler after Thanksgiving against UCLA but first they will have to take on Stanford.
Stanford will not be going bowling this year so these last two games against California and BYU will be the last two looks against college opponents for likely NFL draft prospect Tanner McKee.
James Morrison is a Junior majoring in Broadcast Journalism. To contact him, email jpm6920@psu.edu.
