TV: Fox Sports 1. Notes: Stanford leads series. 47-32-1 and won last year's meeting 52-27 in Eugene. TB. Bryce Love, the
THIS wEEk IN THE INSIDE ONE OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL’S PREMIER CONFERENCES | COmPILED BY PaTRICk STEVENS, SPECIaL TO GaTEHOUSE mEDIa BY THE NUmBERS
GamE OF THE wEEk UTAH (4-1, 1-1 PAC-12) AT NO. 13 USC (5-1, 3-1)
POwER RaNkINGS
STANDINGS
When: 5 p.m. PDT Saturday Where: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum TV: ABC
Breaking down the Pac-12
(Through Oct. 7) NORTH Team Washington Washington State Stanford Oregon California Oregon State
Conf. 3-0 3-0 3-1 1-2 0-3 0-3
All 6-0 6-0 4-2 4-2 3-3 1-5
T25 0-0 1-0 1-2 0-1 0-2 0-3
SOUTH Team USC Utah Arizona UCLA Arizona State Colorado
Conf. 3-1 1-1 1-1 1-1 1-1 0-3
All 5-1 4-1 3-2 3-2 2-3 3-3
T25 1-1 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-1 0-1
1. Washington (6-0): Regardless of the time of day the games start, the Huskies keep plowing through opponents. (Last week: 1)
Utah quarterback Troy Williams (3) carries the ball in the second half during a game against Stanford Oct. 7 in Salt Lake City. [RICK BOWMER/THE ASSOCIATED
2. Washington State (6-0): The Cougars passed their first road test of the year, a good sign for a team that four more over its next six games. (LW: 2)
PRESS]
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS (Through Oct. 7) PASSING YARDS Player 1. Josh Rosen, UCLA 2. Luke Falk, WSU 3. Sam Darnold, USC 4. Steven Montez, COLO 5. Jake Browning, WASH
Yds. 2,135 2,000 1,705 1,523 1,466
PASSING TOUCHDOWNS Player 1. Luke Falk, WSU 2. Josh Rosen, UCLA 3. Jake Browning, WASH 4. Sam Darnold, USC 5. Steven Montez, COLO
No. 19 17 14 12 10
RUSHING YARDS Player 1. Bryce Love, STAN 2. Phillip Lindsay, COLO 3. Royce Freeman, ORE 4. Myles Gaskin, WASH 5. Ronald Jones II, USC
Yds. 1240 810 654 559 529
RECEIVING YARDS Player 1. Darren Carrington II, UTAH 2. Darren Andrews, UCLA 3. Deontay Burnett, USC 4. Caleb Wilson, UCLA 5. N’Keal Harry, ASU
Yds. 584 553 527 490 476
SCORING Player 1. Erik Powell, PK, WSU 1. Matt Gay, PK, UTAH 3. Jet Toner, PK, STAN 4. Royce Freeman, RB, ORE 4. Myles Gaskin, RB, WASH
Pts. 64 64 62 60 60
TEAm STATISTICS (Through Oct. 7) TOTAL OFFENSE Team Oregon Washington State USC UCLA Stanford Colorado Washington Arizona Utah Arizona State California Oregon State
Yds./G 494 475 468 551 448 440 432 496 431 427 345 321
Pts./G 43.0 39.7 35.5 41.4 36.3 28.3 43.0 42.0 32.0 32.6 24.3 19.3
PASSING OFFENSE Team Washington State UCLA USC Colorado Washington
Yds. 2,352 2,179 1,717 1,583 1,573
Yds./G 392.0 435.8 286.2 263.8 262.2
RUSHING OFFENSE Team Arizona Stanford Oregon USC Colorado
Yds. 1,597 1,560 1,436 1,090 1,057
Yds./G 319.4 260.0 239.3 181.7 176.2
STaRS OF THE wEEk • WR Hunter Bryant, Washington: Hauled in nine catches for 121 yards and a TD as part of the Huskies’ 38-7 rout of California. • TB Bryce Love, Stanford: Rushed 20 times for 152 yards and a TD as the Cardinals handled host Utah. • K Erik Powell, Washington State: Connected on all four of his field goal attempts as the Cougars won 33-10 at Oregon.
STaT OF THE wEEk
7-23
Record for Oregon State coach Gary Andersen, who resigned Monday with the Beavers at the midpoint of a miserable season. Interim coach Cory Hall will take over as the Beavers prepare to face Colorado at home on Saturday.
MARCH TO COLISEUM
UTAH WILL LEAN HEAVILY ON RUSH DEFENSE IN UPSET BID OF TROJANS kEYS FOR UTAH Quarterback stability. With Tyler Huntley out with an injury last week, the Utes turned back to 2016 starter Troy Williams against Stanford. The opponent didn’t help, but Williams was 20 of 39 for 238 yards, a TD and two interceptions. Huntley could return this week, the Utes could stick with Williams or they could give Alabama graduate transfer Cooper Bateman a look. Contain the run. Year in and year out, this is what the Utes do, and this season has proven to be no different. Utah ranks 20th nationally against the run, giving up just 108.8 yards per game on the ground. But Southern Cal enjoyed some success in the running game in a loss to the Utes last
year, rolling up 213 yards. kEYS FOR USC No sluggishness. The Trojans are the nation’s least consistent good team, but they showed some signs of progress last week when they had little difficulty dispatching a poor Oregon State bunch. Another strong performance this week — against a much better opponent — will go a long way to alleviating some concerns about a team that might see only one ranked opponent (Notre Dame) between now and the end of the regular season. Grind it out. Utah’s defense is going to make Southern Cal work for everything it gets this week. However, there’s a
good sign in the first half of the Trojans’ season. Stanford presented a similar (and better) challenge in the second week of the season and had a bye week to work with as well. pREDICTION Southern California 31-21. Aside from next week’s trip to Notre Dame, the Trojans have nothing but Pac-12 South opponents remaining in the regular season. This is probably the trickiest game of the bunch, but Utah’s quarterback issues are a major concern at this stage. Southern Cal is probably getting the Utes at the right time, and should begin their march through the division with a triumph at home.
BEST OF THE REST THIS WEEk’S OTHER TOp GAmES
UCLA (3-2, 1-1) at ARIZONA (3-2, 1-1)
No.5WASHINGTON (6-0, 3-0) atARIZONAST.(2-3,1-1)
OREGON (4-2, 1-2) at No. 23 STANFORD (4-2, 3-1)
When: 6 p.m. PDT Saturday Where: Arizona Stadium, Tucson, Ariz. TV: Pac-12 Networks Notes: UCLA leads series 24-15-2 and has won the last five meetings. Bruins QB Josh Rosen pilots the nation’s best passing attack (435.8 yards per Rosen game), while the Bruins’ rushing attack (115.0 yards per game) remains tepid. Of greater concern is a rushing defense that checks in at No. 128 nationally, giving up 284.2 yards per game on the ground.
When: 7:45 p.m. PDT Saturday Where: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Ariz. TV: ESPN Notes: Arizona State leads series 19-15. Huskies QB Jake Browning, TB Myles Gaskin and the rest of the Washington offense had Gaskin little trouble getting going last week against California and should continue to thrive against a Sun Devil defense that ranks 118th in the country in yards allowed and 119th against the pass.
When: 8 p.m. PDT Saturday Where: Stanford Stadium, Palo Alto, Calif. TV: Fox Sports 1 Notes: Stanford leads series 47-32-1 and won last year’s meeting 52-27 in Eugene. TB Bryce Love, the nation’s leading rusher, eventuChryst ally broke loose for a long TD run last week at Utah, and Stanford is likely to continue to rely heavily on him as it rotates QBs Keller Chryst and K.J. Costello.
ROUNDING IT OUT THE REST OF THE mATCHUpS
Time (PDT) Matchup FRIDAY 7:30 p.m. PDT No. 8 Washington St. at Cal
TV
SATuRDAY 1 p.m.
Colorado at Oregon State
ESPN
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Pac-12
3. Southern California (5-1): Clay Helton’s offense got well against Oregon State, as teams tend to do. Can it carry over for a meeting with Utah? (LW: 3) 4. Stanford (4-2): A grind-it-out triumph at Utah reminded everyone that David Shaw’s bunch will be a factor in the Pac-12 North. (LW: 5) 5. Utah (4-1): Took their first league loss, but the Utes still look like the team most likely to cause Southern Cal fits in their division. (LW: 4) 6. Oregon (4-2): Their showing last week against Washington State makes it clear it will be tough to do enough on offense against the best the Pac-12 has to offer. (LW: 6) 7. UCLA (3-2): The Bruins are undefeated at home and winless on the road. They’ll try to reverse that trend as they visit Arizona. (LW: 7)
8. Arizona (3-2): Rich Rodriguez is one step closer to sticking around Tucson for at least another year thanks to Khalil Tate’s monster game against Colorado. (LW: 11) 9. Colorado (3-3): Threatening to piece together the rare worst-to-firstto-worst season, though the Buffaloes ought to get well as they visit Oregon State. (LW: 8) 10. California (3-3): The antidote for getting steamrolled at Washington is definitely not facing Washington State on a short week. (LW: 9)
11. Arizona State (2-3): After yielding more than 300 yards to Stanford’s Bryce Love, the Sun Devils had a week to rest up for Washington. (LW: 10) 12. Oregon State (1-5): The school’s first one-win season since 1995 might be in the cards after the resignation of Gary Andersen. (LW: 12)
