clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Pac-12 Football: Week 7 in Review

The Washington schools didn’t have luck on their side in week seven.

Washington v Arizona State Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

ASU knocks off No. 5 Washington to cap off a wild week of college football

Week seven wasn’t just a wild week in the Pac-12, but it was crazy throughout college football as the nation saw four top-10 teams go down and was the first time in college football history that two top-10 teams lost on a Friday night. Most people wrote off ASU (3-3, 2-1 Pac-12) and gave the win to Washington (6-1, 3-1 Pac-12) as soon as they landed in Tempe this week, but the Sun Devils had other plans in mind. For the first time this season ASU played phenomenal defense and executed in the clutch on offense. ASU limited Jake Browning, one of the best quarterbacks in the Pac-12, to only 139 yards through the air, held running back Myles Gaskin to only 67 rushing yards, and restricted Dante Pettis to only 56 receiving yards and contained him on punt returns. The Sun Devils upset the Huskies 13-7 and who would have thought only 20 total points would be scored in this game? This is Arizona State’s seventh straight victory over Washington and the Huskies haven’t beaten the Sun Devils in Tempe since 2001. The Sun Devils played their best game of the season against the best team they will face this season and resulted in pandemonium on the field in Sun Devil Stadium.

Cal blows out No. 8 Washington State

The then-ranked No. 8 Washington State Cougars (6-1, 3-1 Pac-12) were not only upset by Cal (4-3, 1-3 Pac-12) 37-3, but they were blown out by the Golden Bears. The Cougars Friday night and coincidentally they upset the No. 5 USC Trojans two weeks ago on a Friday night. Washington State was the second team to go down on Friday the 13th and Cougars quarterback Luke Falk had his worst game of the season. Falk threw five interceptions and no touchdowns in the loss, but still managed to throw for 286 yards. Nothing worked for the Washington State and almost everything worked for Cal.

Run Tate, Run!

Arizona (4-2, 2-1 Pac-12) quarterback Khalil Tate cannot be stopped on the ground. In Arizona’s 47-30 win over UCLA (3-3, 1-2 Pac-12). Tate ran for 230 yards on just 15 carries for two touchdowns. He also threw for 148 yards and a touchdown. Over the last two games Tate has racked up 557 yards on the ground which is almost unheard of. Tate is very similar the next Lamar Jackson or Michael Vick and his breakaway speed is just plain scary and impressive.

USC Escapes Utah

No. 13 USC (6-1, 4-1 Pac-12) and Utah (4-2, 1-2 Pac-12) went down to the wire Saturday night, as it looked like USC might be the seventh top-25 team to be upset in week seven. The Utes and Trojans went back and forth scoring all night, but USC didn’t take the lead until 4:54 left in the fourth quarter. Utah quarterback Troy Williams led the Utes down the field and scored with 40 seconds left. Utah head coach Kyle Wittingham decided to go for the win, but failed on the two-point conversion and USC got the ball back and ran out the clock en route to the Trojans 28-27 victory. USC quarterback Sam Darnold had a solid game through the air with 358 passing yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. The most acrobatic play of the night though was Ronald Jones’s front flip into the end zone on his 11-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that gave the Trojans the lead for the first time in the game.

Rankings:

No. 11 USC - The Trojans move up move up two spots and are now the highest ranked Pac-12 team after Washington and Washington State were upset this weekend.

No. 12 Washington - The Huskies move down seven spots after they were upset by the Sun Devils Saturday night. Washington was already on a short leash to get into the College Football Playoff and Arizona State dimmed hope for Washington to get in this season.

No. 15 Washington State - The Cougars also move down seven spots after their embarrassing loss to Cal on Friday night. Luke Falk and this high-powered offense that we’ve seen this whole season was no where to be found and the Golden Bears took advantage of it on defense as they held the Cougars to only three points and the Cougars then top-20 defense allowed 37 points. Falk is also in the running for the Heisman, but this game certainly didn’t help his case.

No. 22 Stanford - The Cardinal move up one spot after they stomped the Oregon Ducks 49-7. Keller Chryst played well with three passing touchdowns, but it was Bryce Love who was the true work horse as he ran for 147 yards and two touchdowns and continues to prove he is a legitimate candidate for the Heisman Trophy.