Pac-12 Football: Week 9 in Review

Thriller in Corvallis

Stanford (6-2, 5-1 Pac-12) was the unquestioned favorite coming into Corvallis and for good reason. The Cardinal have a top-20 offense led by running back Bryce Love, who is the No. 1 rusher in the country. However, Love did not play for Stanford due to an ankle injury and Oregon State (1-7, 0-6 Pac-12) took advantage of his absence. The Beavers held the Cardinal to 81 rushing yards and quarterback Keller Chryst only threw for 141 yards, one touchdown and an interception. What killed the Beavers Thursday night was turnovers. Oregon State had the ball five minutes and 32 seconds longer than Stanford, but they turned the ball over three times compared to Stanford’s one and turned out to be the difference in the game, as Stanford was able to drive down the field and score with less than a minute left and score the game winning touchdown.

Upset of the week

It seems like there’s been an upset almost every week since Pac-12 play started. This week featured the Arizona Wildcats’ (6-2, 4-1 Pac-12) upset win over then-ranked No. 15 Washington State (7-2, 4-2 Pac-12). Khalil Tate continues his sensational campaign as he had another big game on the ground with 146 rushing yards and a touchdown and had his best passing game this season with 275 yards, two touchdowns and two touchdowns. According to ESPN, Tate has 840 yards on the ground in October which is the most by any top-5 conference player in the last 10 seasons and has four straight games with a rush longer than 70 yards. The Cougars defense wasn’t the only unit that struggled on Saturday. Luke Falk and the WSU offense struggled throughout the night and Falk was benched later in the second quarter. Sophomore Tyler Hilinski took over the reins and finished with 509 yards through the air, two touchdowns, and four interceptions in the Cougars 58-37 loss.

USC is back on track

After a tough loss to No. 9 Notre Dame, the USC Trojans (7-2, 5-1, Pac-12) were looking to bounce back in Tempe against the Arizona State Sun Devils (4-4, 3-2 Pac-12) who were tied for second place in the Pac-12 South and coming off two big wins against Washington and Utah. The Trojans came out of the gates on fire and never looked back. USC had a commanding 31-3 lead with under 10 seconds left in the half and then ASU brought back “Jael-mary” memories for USC as Manny Wilkins chucked up a pass before the half that was tipped multiple times before Kyle Williams caught it. Williams was initially ruled down inside the 1-yard line as he had to come back to the ball and dove out of the endzone to make the catch and both teams went into the locker room. However, it was ruled a touchdown and both teams came back out of their locker rooms for the PAT just to go right back in as the score was 31-10 USC. ASU scored on its first drive of the second half, but that was the end of the rally for the Sun Devils as Sam Darnold and the Trojans ran away with this one 48-17 to get back in the win column.

Colorado dominates Cal

Colorado (5-4, 2-4 Pac-12) flattened Cal (4-5, 1-5 Pac-12) on Saturday in their 44-28 rout of the Golden Bears. Quarterback Steven Montez led the charge for the Buffaloes after being benched last week after Colorado was shut out against Washington State. Montez threw for 347 yards and three touchdowns and no interceptions to lead the Buffs to a 44-28 win over the Golden Bears.

Rankings:

No. 12 Washington - The Huskies remain at No. 12 despite their 21-point victory over UCLA.

No. 17 USC - The Trojans move up four spots after stomping the Sun Devils in Tempe, 48-17. Sam Darnold, Ronald Jones II and Deontay Burnett found their rhythm once again as the USC offense racked up over 600 total yards.

No. 18 Stanford - Stanford moves up one spot after its one-point win over Oregon State.

No. 23 Arizona - The Arizona Wildcats are ranked for the first time this season after their 21-point upset over Washington State.

No. 25 Washington State - The Cougars fall ten spots after their aforementioned loss to Arizona.