Pac-12 Football Wrap Up: Week 3

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Week 3 is over in the world of college football and it turned out to be a good one for Pac-12 fans. Out of the 11 teams that played this weekend nine of them won, and two of those wins came against ranked opponents. The Pac-12 flexed its muscles this weekend proving once again why they should be in contention with the SEC for best conference. So many games are certainly worthy to be the best from the weekend lets take a look at each game.

#16 UCLA- 41 #23 Nebraska -21

This one certainly ended differently than it started with UCLA scoring 38 unanswered points to put down the Cornhuskers and their black-shirt defense. Six days after the death of UCLA receiver Nick Pasquale the Bruins found themselves trailing 21-10 at the half  and had no answers for the Cornhusker offense. The second half was the story of the game as UCLA scored 35 points in 16 minutes and the defense pitched a second half shutout. Bruin’s quarterback Brett Hundley shined as he threw for 294 yards and 3 touchdowns, the defense was lead by standout linebacker Anthony Barr who had 11 tackles and forced 3 fumbles.

#5 Stanford- 34 Army- 20

When halftime approached the 30-point underdog, the Army Black Knights, trailed the fifth-ranked Stanford Cardinal 20-13 with their triple-option offense causing fits for the Cardinal defense. The Black Knights played a flawless first half forcing a turnover and playing penalty free. Coming out of the half, Army had a costly turnover that led to a 23-yard touchdown pass from Kevin Hogan to Tyler Gaffney that put the Cardinal up 27-13 and sucked the life out of the Black Knights. Gaffney carried the ball for 132 yards as the Cardinal avoided disaster.

USC-35 Boston College- 7

A week coming off an embarrassing loss to Washington State the Trojans were playing for their season, coach, and pride. After head coach Lane Kiffin finally named Cody Kessler full time starter at quarterback the USC offense looked to find their identity and they did. The Trojan offense had 521 yards of total offense as Kessler shined completing 15 of 17 passes for 237 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Trojan defense played lights out again holding the Boston College Eagles to just 184 yards. The Trojan running game was once again on spot with Tre Madden and Justin Davis both going over the century mark. Kiffin opened up the play book from the first play with a deep ball to Lee which was overthrown but the Coliseum cheered nonetheless. The bubble screens were at a minimum and Kiffin silenced the criticism for now.

#2 Oregon-59 Tennessee- 14

There is not much to say about this one as the Oregon Ducks easily put down their SEC opponent. The Oregon offense had 687 total yards and Marcus Mariota is putting up a Heisman campaign as he was 22 for 33, 456 yards, and 4 touchdowns with zero interceptions.

#19 Washington- 34 Illinois- 24

In a classic Pac-12 vs. Big Ten match-up the Huskies did just enough to beat the Fighting Illini. Sitting with a 21-point lead in the third quarter the Huskies seemed to step off the gas as Illinois cut down that lead to just 7 in the fourth. Washington looked poised to get their first out of conference road win since 2007 early in the game but sloppy second half play kept us on the edge of our seats. Washington running back Bishop Sankey and quarterback Keith Price combined for 550 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Washington St- 48 Southern Utah-10

A week after a shocking win at USC the Washington State Cougars faced lowly Southern Utah and didn’t even blink as they racked up 464 yards. Quarterback Connor Halliday aired the ball out for the Cougars as he passed for 383 yards and five touchdowns and connected with ten different receivers. The Cougar defense forced three interceptions and for the second straight game only allowed one touchdown.

#4 Ohio State- 52 California- 34

With Ohio State star Braxton Miller out and fifth-year senior quarterback Kenny Guiton getting his first start the California Golden Bears looked to sneak a win against the number four team in the nation. They didn’t. On their first drive Guiton threw a 90-yard bomb for a touchdown to get the school record and after that the Buckeyes never slowed down. Cal’s true freshmen quarterback Jared Goff played well but two costly turnovers never gave a chance for the Golden Bears to rally back. Both defenses did not play well as the offenses combined for 1,111 yards and 86 points.

Oregon St- 51 Utah- 48

The only conference game of the week turned into an overtime thriller as Oregon State barely squeezed by the Utah Utes. Oregon State converted two fourth downs in the fourth quarter to keep themselves alive as quarterback Sean Mannion directed the Beavers to a win. With both defenses struggling Utah quarterback Travis Wilson tied the game, 45-45, on a nine yard run with 21 seconds remaining in the game. In overtime the Beavers defense held the Utes to a field goal and trailed 48-45. Sean Mannion still had some magic left in him as he threw a six yard touchdown to Brandin Cooks to seal the win.

#20 Wisconsin-30 Arizona St- 32

Arizona State won this one in a very sloppy and confusing manner. After stopping Arizona St and pinned on their on 17 yard line the Wisconsin Badgers had just 1:36 left on the clock to get into field goal range. The Badgers trailed 32-30 but moved the ball quickly and efficiently to get the ball on ASU’s 13 yard line with 18 seconds left. Now in field goal position Wisconsin quarterback Joel Stave tried to knee and center the ball from the right hash mark but he knocked into his linemen  and placed the ball on the ground and the Arizona St. defenders jumped on it like a fumble. The officials called it a dead ball and the clock continued to run midst the confusion. Stave realized the clock was running but could not get the ball off for a spike in time and gave Arizona St. a win they did not deserve.

Arizona-38 University of Texas San Antonio-13

Arizona was able to get a win that they expected to get and not much more. If you look at the stat line of this game you may be surprised that they are very similar the difference in this one is that Arizona was able to turn their drives into points while UTSA did not. As the Arizona passing game struggled Ka’Deem Carey carried the ball for 128 yards and two touchdowns.

This was clearly a great week for the Pac-12 and we hope to have this trend continue. Of these games which did you enjoy the most? Feel free to comment below, we love to hear your opinion!