#23 Oregon State @ Washington
The #RankTheBeavs campaign has finally come to fruition, and Oregon State faces a true road test to keep that ranking this week on a Friday night Pac 12 After Dark game vs Washington. Washington features a high-powered offense and a defense that runs on a hamster wheel.
The Beavers are preparing for a wild and wet one in Seattle by…yes, you guessed it, having a fridge on the field to cool the balls before dipping them in water. Sounds like a good use of a football intern.
But actually, this game will feature some pretty nasty weather with an atmospheric river passing through on Friday. I have no idea what that is but that Oregon State intern deserves a raise.
If you remember the last time a doomed Pac 12 After Dark game came through Seattle, #14 Washington fell to the Cal bears after a 2 ½ hour rain delay. Clearly the Huskies don’t have strategic thinking interns
Bad weather typically the advantage to the team that runs the ball the best, which has been Oregon State of late with RB Damien Martinez emerging. Should be an interesting Friday night.
#8 Oregon @ Colorado
Luckily Oregon escapes any awful, terrible PNW weather this weekend and gets the beautiful 45 degrees weather of Boulder.
We find our Duck faithful unconcerned with this game, and more concerned with how the team will dress on Saturday. The fashionistas of Eugene should have little concern as they go up against one of the worst teams in college football.
Sadly, Colorado fans are only concerned about two things: how badly they are going to lose and how ugly the Oregon uniforms will be.
While we hope the Ducks feel *cute* in their uniforms, we know they’ll feel good coming home after this game with a large margin of victory.
Washington State @ Stanford
These two teams are an enigma to me. For one, Washington State goes on the road into a hostile Camp Randall and pulls out a win vs a fairly bad Wisconsin team. On the other hand, Stanford has gone on the road and beaten a decent Notre Dame team.
Wazzu fans feel good about this one if their offense can actually move the ball. The issue here is their offensive line has been inconsistent at best, and their best play is a bubble screen left and right. To win, Ward needs to be sharp and move the ball consistently down the field.
Stanford has a lot to young player to look forward to, especially with David Bailey on the edge. The issue is David Shaw. David Shaw has consistently wasted talent over the past few years and the fans are sick of it. As sick of it as Stanford admin were of Da Tree holding a sign that says “Stanford Hates Fun”.
You know who likes fun? Wazzu. Let’s see if fun wins out here.
Arizona @ #14 Utah
Last week I made the dumb statement that Utah without Cam Rising is Stanford. No, they’re much better. This game, however, provides a tough matchup if Cam Rising is unable to play.
Arizona has one of the best WR core in the Pac 12, and possibly the country. De Laura has been fire lately. And the Utah secondary is ehhh after Clark Phillips. Could Arizona pull off the W?
NOT SO FAST, MY FRIENDS! Weather in Salt Lake is making this a more difficult game for a pass-first team to overcome. Pound the ball and good things should come with an Arizona defense that is absolutely putrid.
Should be one of the more interesting games this week to watch, and definitely has upset potential if Rising is unable to play.
#12 UCLA @ Arizona State
Should any team feel more disrespected by the College Football Playoff committee than the Bruins of UCLA? Saturday night’s matchup is a tough one for the Bruins in Tempe representing only their 3rd road game of the season, first night road game of the season, and Arizona State’s homecoming that should have the crowd drunk..err, rocking.
UCLA fans have mixed opinions about it. Sure, it’s a “losable” (UCLA education, clearly) game, but if you score more points than the other team than you win.
Meanwhile, Arizona State fans are pessimistic. And they should be, Charbonnet is one of the best and most underrated RBs in college football.
I’d expect DTR and UCLA’s offense to put up a ton of good offense and show the committee they deserve R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
California @ #9 USC
Cal has done an admirable job of putting together an offense that has a very solid run game behind Freshamn phenom Jaydn Ott. Sadly they have Jack Plummer at QB who is also nursing an injury. Meanwhile the reigniting of the USC Trojans by Lincoln Riley is in full force as the Trojans carry one of the most prolific offenses in all of college football.
The good news in Berkeley is they aren’t Vandy. The bad news? Wilcox is around for 5 more years so they can certainly become as bad, if not worse than Vandy. Unfortunately their team stinks as bad as every unshowered Cal student.
USC fans are confident in this one. Why shouldn’t they be? Caleb Williams is playing at a Heisman level and they should get a few key players on defense back from injury.
USC fans on the east coast (me) should sleep well by halftime of this Pac 12 After Dark game and know they look forward to Colorado next week.
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