Pac-12 Roundup Week 6

Went 4-1 last weekend, and would have been a perfect 5-0 if the Bruins had just beaten Cal like I predicted-er...ahem. Go Bears.

I'll take improving to 31-17 on the season.

Washington 21 Oregon 52
Nothing to see here. Oregon continued their annual ass whupping of the Huskies. The Ducks were up 21-0 in the first quarter and they never looked up.

Fine, I'll say a few more words. One of the biggest surprises of the season has been Keith Price's season. The offensive line's deficiencies has led to Keith Price being completely handicapped, and it showed in his 19/31 passing night for just 145 yards, no TDs and 2 INTs. Price currently ranks last in the conference in terms of QB rating and isn't much better in his ypg.

The Huskies have have been brought promptly back down to earth as most expected they would. Things don't get much easier with the Trojans coming to town.

Washington State 6 Oregon State 19
There's good news and bad news for both teams. Who wants to go first? Umm...let's go with...

...The Beavers! OSU has already topped their win total from last year and is 4-0 for the first time in 10 years. Their defense also continued their strong play as they held WSU to just 6 points, with Jordan Poyer's three interceptions paving the way. The bad news for the Beavers is that Sean Mannion just is scheduled to have knee injury and is out for the foreseeable future. That's tough news as Mannion is the biggest reason why the Beavers are showing their best offensive output in years.

As for the Cougars, there isn't much good news, but here's what I can say: WSU's playing their best defense in years. They held the Beavers to just 370 yards, limited OSU's running game to just 2.5 yards a carry, and picked off Sean Mannion 3 times.

That's about as good as it gets, as the Cougars fell to 2-4 on the season. They also seem to have a QB controversy on their hands, though neither did much good on Saturday. Both combined for just 207 yards and 4 interceptions with no TDs. That's got to be maddening for Mike Leach, especially when he's essentially abandoned the run game in hopes of some effective gains through the air.

USC 38 Utah 28
At first glance it looks like Utah really pushed USC to the edge. But anyone who watched the game knows it was two early USC turnovers that really padded the score for the Utes who were simply outplayed for the following three quarters. USC overcame a 14-0 deficit and and simply blew past the Utes with their speed and talent. For as well as Utah's defense is playing, they simply don't have the speed in the secondary and perimeter to keep up with USC's playmakers with Trojan wide receiver Marqise Lee putting up a ridiculous 192 receiving yards. What was most evident though was Utah's offense, which has stagnated to the point that they rank dead last in the Pac-12 in total offense.

Arizona 48 Stanford 54
This was far from the type of game that I had expected headed into this one. We all knew the Wildcats could put up points, but I fully expected Stanford's defense to limit Arizona in the red zone while Stanford's offense would wear down Arizona's shaky defense. Well, Arizona's speed in space proved to be troublesome for the Cardinal, while Stanford's offense showed its best balance all season.

Ultimately, Stanford moved the chains when it counted, scoring TDs on its last two drives in regulation while Stanford's defense scored its critical 3 and out. Rich Rod also made what I thought was a hugely questionable call by not going for the win with 40+ seconds and two timeouts left in regulation. That's a call that would have gotten most other coaches in the conference torn up by critics.