Pac-12 Football: Ranking the Best Conference Games of 2014
With bowl season rapidly approaching, it's time to take a look back at the best Pac-12 games of the 2014 season.
Normally, this time of year would be cause for concern with no more Saturdays full of football to look forward to. But there's a plethora of bowl games along with the College Football Playoff, recruiting season, spring practice and before you know it, previews ramping up for 2015. When all else fails, however, we can reflect on the joy brought by yet another thrilling autumn of college football.
Late-night Pac-12 contests became must-see television, and Hail Mary odds were less wisps of a prayer and more like the flip of a coin as the league saw two at the tail end of games. Records were broken, individual players had all-time seasons and the Pac-12 as a whole continued to rise in status.
With several great games being played every weekend, it's impossible to include every game that made you text your friends to make sure they were watching. But we've whittled the list down to eight.
Click ahead to check out the very best football games from the Pac-12 conference in 2014.
All stats via cfbstats.com
8) Arizona vs. Arizona State
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The 2014 Territorial Cup was a rivalry contest for the ages, and with everything on the line, Arizona's 42-35 victory has to rank up there with the best conference games of the season.
The Wildcats never trailed in this one, although each time Rich Rodriguez's team scored in the first half, Todd Graham's squad would answer and the result was a 21-21 tie at halftime.
Running back Nick Wilson then turned on the jets in the third quarter, scoring two touchdowns—one from 72 yards out—and giving his team a 14-point lead. Offensive struggles caused the Sun Devils to bring in quarterback Mike Bercovici, whose poise off the bench helped his team bring the margin back down to seven.
In this one, however, Arizona's offense would not be stopped. It answered again in the form of an Anu Solomon-to-Samajie Grant pass, and despite another score from the Sun Devils, this day belonged to the 'Cats. The victory gave Rodriguez and company a South Division title. That it came at the expense of a rival made it one of the great days in Arizona football history.
7) Arizona vs. Washington
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Arizona deserves all the credit in the world for winning 10 games and emerging at the top of the pack in the rugged Pac-12 South, but luck definitely played a role in what Rich Rodriguez and his men accomplished.
Luck plays a role in almost every overachieving season, so it's not a negative thing, but if you deny it, you probably missed the Wildcats' 26-24 win over Washington.
On this day, quarterback Anu Solomon had zero touchdown passes and two interceptions and the team rushed for just 133 yards, well below its season average. After falling behind 17-7, the Wildcats scored two touchdowns to take a four-point lead. Washington then scored nine points of its own to go ahead 26-21.
Arizona tacked on a field goal to bring the deficit to two points, but Washington had the ball with less than two minutes left and could practically run out the clock. Had the Huskies taken a knee, it would have left fewer than 20 seconds before they needed to punt it back to Arizona. Instead, coach Chris Petersen elected to run the ball, resulting in a fumble and plenty of time for the Wildcats to get into field-goal range and kick a game-winner. It was one of the more bizarre sequences of the season and just another instance of 2014 magic in Tucson.
6) Cal vs. Washington State
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How you define "best football games" will determine where you place Cal vs. Washington State. On the one hand, it was a matchup with zero defense played between two teams who wouldn't even go on to play in a bowl game. On the other hand, it was filled with fireworks from start to finish and saw an unbreakable record toppled. In true college football fashion, it ended with a missed field goal.
While it might not have been the prettiest matchup in recent memory in terms of quality football, when the Bears traveled to Pullman to take on the Cougars, a game for the ages took place.
The halftime score was 24-13 in favor of Washington State, so nothing out of the ordinary in Pac-12 country. Both teams then proceeded to score 28 points in the third quarter to leave us with a 52-41 score heading into the final period. Two of Cal's touchdowns came on back-to-back kickoff returns by Trevor Davis to add to the madness.
With eight minutes left, the Bears scored a second straight touchdown but missed the extra point to go ahead 54-52. Washington State answered with four minutes left, and the Bears scored again less than a minute later, failing on the two-point conversion to lead by one, 60-59. Quarterback Connor Halliday then surpassed the 700-yard passing mark en route to a record 734 yards through the air as he led the Cougars inside the 5. With time running out, kicker Quentin Breshears missed a chip shot that would have won the game, and Cal came away victorious.
5) Cal vs. Colorado
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We promise you've indeed moved on to the next slide and are not, in fact, re-reading the Cal vs. Washington State synopsis. The first indicator of that should have been seeing Colorado in the headline, but aside from that, the two contests were remarkably similar.
Cal came out on top in this one as well by a score of 59-56, although it took two overtimes and a pair of phenomenal quarterback performances. Sefo Liufau and Jared Goff combined to throw for 913 yards and 14 touchdowns. Remarkably, Liufau had 455 yards and seven touchdowns while Goff threw for 458 and the other seven.
The Buffaloes looked like the team to beat after 30 minutes with a 28-14 lead, but the margin wouldn't be more than seven at any point following the break. Cal scored three touchdowns to grab the lead, Colorado scored two more to get it back and Cal followed that up with two more. Liufau then hit wide receiver Bryce Bobo with 21 seconds left to tie the score and send this thing to overtime.
A 34-yard James Langford field goal proved to be the difference in the second overtime, and Cal emerged with its biggest win in some time. That it came against the woeful Buffaloes mattered not. It was a conference victory and one the Bears had to grind all afternoon for. This would be near the top of the list of most exciting games of the season, and even still, it ranks among the very best.
4) Utah vs. USC
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Utah fans knew what they had in 2014 after the Utes started 6-1, the lone blemish coming from an ugly loss to Washington State. The team had beaten UCLA on the road, and under the lights with the nation watching, a home contest vs. USC would be its hello to the country.
The game was hotly contested through the first three quarters, with defenses dominating much of the action. An Adoree' Jackson kick return for a touchdown gave the Trojans a 14-10 advantage at halftime, but hard running from Devontae Booker resulted in a Utes' score that gave the home team a 17-14 lead after three.
The USC offense started to click in the fourth quarter and, after taking a 21-17 lead, it had the ball in Utes territory with time running out. A first down would seal the victory, and on 4th-and-2, wide receiver Nelson Agholor caught the ball but stepped out of bounds short of the line to convert.
Utah marched down the field in the final minute and a Travis Wilson-to-Kaelin Clay pass reached the end zone with less than 10 seconds remaining, giving the Utes the 24-21 win. Kyle Whittingham's team wasn't able to capitalize and win the division, but it proved to everyone that Utah is indeed capable of competing—and beating—some of the best teams in the Pac-12.
3) Arizona State vs. Utah
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Nearly every Pac-12 South game in the month of November had both conference and national playoff implications, and Arizona State vs. Utah was no different. After beating the Trojans, Utah had sold most folks on its legitimacy, but a trip to Tempe would be yet another chance to prove itself.
Unlike some of the games Cal, Colorado and Washington State were involved in, this matchup again featured strong defensive performances from both sides. The Utes held the explosive Arizona State attack to just 16 points in regulation.
Unfortunately, running back Devontae Booker was unable to do more than that himself, rushing for 146 yards on 37 carries, leading to 16 points.
Neither team could move the ball much in the extra period, but surprisingly it was an Andy Phillips missed field goal that made the difference and gave the Sun Devils a 19-16 win. Credit the Utes for once again proving themselves to be as tough as nails, even in a loss. On this day, however, the home team was just a little bit better. While folks scoff at a low-scoring Pac-12 game, it was no different than a gritty, hard-nosed defensive battle in SEC country. The only revelation was that the teams out west can play a little defense as well.
2) USC vs. Arizona State
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Playing with backup quarterback Mike Bercovici a week after getting blown out at home by UCLA, the odds were stacked against Arizona State for its trip to USC.
And through 59 minutes and 55 seconds, the Trojans did just enough to earn the victory. The Sun Devils were stuck with the ball at midfield, well out of field-goal range, leaving a Hail Mary as the only option. Three minutes earlier, after Javorius Allen ran it in from 53 yards to give the home team a nine-point lead, the game appeared over.
Now, having already scored once to get within two points, Arizona State needed a miracle. What it got was terrible pass defense on the Trojans' behalf. Bercovici heaved the ball toward the end zone where multiple USC defenders stood waiting. But instead of making a play, they continued to stand and wait.
Superstar wideout Jaelen Strong timed his jump perfectly and caught the ball just before it came down into the arms of several USC players and then stepped into the end zone from two yards out. The win obviously stunned the home crowd, but it wasn't until much later that the play took on an even greater significance: had someone simply stepped up and made a play, USC would have won the South Division.
1) Arizona vs. Cal
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As the best Pac-12 game of 2014, Arizona vs. Cal truly had it all, from a team looking to win its first conference game in nearly two years to an 18-point fourth-quarter comeback and, yes, a Hail Mary.
All you need to know from the first three quarters of this one is that Cal came to play while Arizona did not. And when the Wildcats managed to put points on the board in the form of several Casey Skowron field goals, the Bears answered with touchdowns. With a 31-13 lead heading into the fourth quarter, it would take a miraculous comeback for Arizona to even have a shot at winning.
The craziest aspect of the final period was that Cal entered with an 18-point lead, scored two more touchdowns and still found a way to lose. The Wildcats scored 10 quick points to get within eight, but the Bears answered. The two teams then traded scores and with just over five minutes to go, Cal held a 45-30 lead.
Arizona scored twice, but a failed two-point conversion kept the deficit at two. The real hero in this game was the arm of Anu Solomon, which didn't tire despite 73 pass attempts resulting in 520 yards through the air. It was given one last chance in the final seconds to make a play, and when a Hail Mary pass came flying down in the back of the end zone, wide receiver Austin Hill was there to snare it and give his team the 49-45 win. It was one of the most memorable contests in league history.
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