Around the Pac-12: Week 3
Oregon leads the way and continued its playoff push with a beatdown of Stony Brook this past weekend, but the rest of the Pac-12 is not as encouraging.
California and Washington picked up their first wins of the season and USC picked up its first win with interim coach Donte Williams. Arizona’s season looks to be done, ASU lost to BYU and Stanford picked up its first conference win of the season.
Here are the latest headlines around the Pac-12 conference:
UCLA is No Longer Undefeated
While its Rose Bowl bid isn’t dead, UCLA is no longer undefeated. The Bruins dropped their game 40-37, where Jake Haener carved the Bruins up. Heaner looks like one of the top quarterbacks in college football, as he went for 39-for-53 to the tune of 455 yards, two touchdowns and an interception to secure the win for Fresno State.
The Bruins defense looked bad, but the offense continued to look strong. Dorian Thompson-Robinson had 278 yards and 3 touchdowns in a very good showing.
Moving forward, the team will look to rebound in a matchup highlighted later on in the article.
Trouble All Over the State of Arizona
Arizona now holds a 15 game losing streak, as the Wildcats dropped another one, this time to NAU. The team looks lost on offense with no rushing touchdowns this season, three different quarterbacks rotating around and a defense that looked unprepared for the Northern Arizona rushing attack.
The entire team looks lost, and it won’t get any easier as they have a matchup with the juggernaut that is Oregon this weekend.
Arizona State looked strong to start the year, but after a 2-0 start, they dropped a 27-17 heartbreaker to No. 15 BYU. Arizona State turned the ball over four times and committed 16 penalties in a poorly coached and undisciplined performance at Brigham Young.
The team takes on 1-2 Colorado this week with a chance to right the ship after an abysmal performance this past weekend.
Utah’s Quarterback Debacle
This past weekend, Utah took on San Diego State, and after a late rally, took them to triple overtime. Unfortunately, the team took a loss, but a quarterback change sparked momentum for the offense. Baylor transfer Charlie Brewer went 14-for-26 with 104 yards and an interception before being benched for sophomore Cameron Rising. Rising put up a very good line of 153 yards and three touchdowns.
Rising proved he could jumpstart the offense, and sparked a quarterback controversy. That ended quickly though, as Charlie Brewer announced he will be leaving the program, forcing Utah to start Rising moving forward.
Game of the Week: No. 24 UCLA vs Stanford
This week, Chip Kelly will look to lead the Bruins to a bounce back win against David Shaw’s Stanford program.
Both squads are 2-1 and look like the two strongest teams not named Oregon in the Pac-12 to this point. If Oregon makes the CFB Playoff, this game could hold significant Rose Bowl implications moving forward, making this a must win game for both teams.
