Teams always insist that their sole focus is on themselves, but the Ducks had to let out a little fist pump when they heard that Alabama lost to Texas A&M. That, combined with a six-touchdown victory over Cal on the road, propelled Oregon to No. 1 in the latest AP Top 25 (and USA Today Poll as well) and No. 2 in the new BCS standings. Despite the Ducks winning by a score of 59-17 on Saturday, Stanford now has a blueprint on how to beat Oregon. Though it was a 42-point blowout by 60 minutes’ end, it was just a 24-17 lead at one point in the third quarter.
The biggest matchup of the weekend lived up to the hype, as an imperfect Stanford came back to beat Oregon State 27-23 in the Cardinal’s home finale. First-time starter Kevin Hogan threw two picks, but he also threw for three touchdown passes and completed more than 75 percent of his throws, including tossing the game-winning score to Zach Ertz with about five minutes remaining. The Card can’t rest on its laurels, however, as Stanford faces an unhappy truth in having to play Oregon in Eugene next weekend.
Oregon State running back Storm Woods says the loss to the Cardinal hurts because he wants to help get the seniors to the best bowl game possible. A good bowl game is still certainly up for grabs, and the Oregonian’s Lindsay Schnell and John Hunt discuss what’s next for the Beavers.
There have been a lot of impressive individual offensive performances around the conference lately, but Ka’Deem Carey may have taken the whole dang cake with a 366-yard, five-touchdown performance in Arizona’s 56-31 win over Colorado. The Arizona running back set all sorts of records on Saturday. Man, Ka’Deem Carey is scary.
The big news out of Pullman all week surrounded Marquess Wilson. Now Marquess Wilson has announced that he has left Washington State and had some harsh words for the way Mike Leach runs things in the Palouse. Here’s AD Bill Moos’ response, along with a statement from Washington State president Elson Floyd saying the university will investigate Wilson’s claim of player mistreatment, as will the Pac-12.
On the field, Washington State lost 44-36 to UCLA, a result that showed the Cougars didn’t quit when they had every reason to. It was a 30-point game at the half, but Washington State kept chipping away and came within an onside kick of making it really interesting.
UCLA improved to 8-2 with the win in Pullman, and now the Bruins can look ahead after nearly taking a step back. Guess which team the Bruins play next… It just might be a big game.
USC used a strong second half effort to beat Arizona State 38-17 in large thanks to the play of Marqise Lee, who caught 10 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown to go along with 66 rushing yards on six carries. As a result, the Trojans are still alive in the Pac-12 South, and only their rivals can stop them.
Washington beat Utah 34-15 to achieve bowl eligibility and extend its winning streak to three games. Perhaps more importantly, though, is that the old Keith Price is back - the quarterback completed more than 70 percent of his passes, accounted for three Husky touchdowns and didn’t turn the ball over. And we saw that signature smile of his once again. Hello, Teeth.
With the loss and White’s 142-yard output on the ground, the Utes are no longer perfect when John White rushes for at least 100 yards. He wasn’t the issue in the loss, but a muffed punt when the Utes were down just six was.
Cal is now 3-8 on the season thanks to Oregon pulling away in the second half. For 35 minutes or so, the Golden Bears played Oregon as well as just about anybody save for USC, but of course, the Ducks brought Cal back to reality and ran off 35 straight points to end the game.
Colorado’s 56-31 defeat at the hands of Arizona was another embarrassing loss for the Buffs that showed all the holes in the Colorado defense, but at least the offense looked good.
Arizona State’s sputtering offense should be worrisome to fans after the 38-17 loss to USC. The Sun Devils have now lost four in a row after a promising 5-1 start.