Week 4 Will Separate the Pac-12 Contenders from the Pretenders
Big games out West have become a common occurrence during the college football season in the past few years since Larry Scott took over as Pac-12 commissioner in 2009, but few weekends may be as jam-packed as Week 4 this year, in which the nation's eyes will be on the conference.
A pair of Top 20 matchups with league and national title implications is on the Pac-12 docket, as is a between two trendy preseason College Football Playoff picks. That’s not to mention No. 21 Stanford, which will look to maintain momentum in the spotlight Friday night, and potential No. 1 overall draft pick Jared Goff, who will showcase his arm in another tough road test when Cal visits Washington.
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In short, it’s a make-or-break weekend in the conference—one that should go a long way in determining who will contend to be the top dog in the Pac-12 and who will find themselves way behind.
The marquee matchup is in Tucson, where No. 9 UCLA travels to the desert to take on an Arizona team ranked 16th in the AP poll. The Wildcats are is still a squad few know what to make of after a nonconference slate that was lacking in terms of quality opponents.
One wants to believe the Bruins have turned a corner in their quest to be the Pac-12’s playoff representative after last week’s narrow win against a good BYU squad at the Rose Bowl. Head coach Jim Mora saw some encouraging things from his team, noting he wasn’t sure the Bruins would have emerged victorious in previous years.
“We had to overcome a lot to win that game,” said Mora. “There was a lot of adversity.”
And there was even more after the contest. On Wednesday, Mora announced that linebacker/running back Myles Jack is out for the rest of the season with a knee injury he suffered in practice Tuesday. That’s a brutal blow for a team already without its best defensive lineman (Eddie Vanderdoes, knee injury) and most experienced defensive back (Fabian Moreau, foot injury) for the rest of the year.
Now, after all that, UCLA will be facing what is perhaps the most explosive offense in the Pac-12 South. Also, don’t forget that the Bruins will trot out a true freshman quarterback in Josh Rosen, who had his worst game of the year last Saturday with three turnovers.
Gulp. The upset alert in Tucson is indeed very real.
Of course, Arizona is also facing a few obstacles in its quest to be taken seriously. Few folks remember it won the South Division last year, and in the minds of many, that upset of Oregon and Heisman winner Marcus Mariota was forever ago. If you want to call the Wildcats overlooked, that would be fair. It’s also true the team is untested—and injured.
Star linebacker Scooby Wright III, the winner of nearly every major defensive award in 2014, is questionable for Saturday. The team's wide receiving corps is also expected to be without at least two starters.
Consequently, the national game of the week may be accurately described as "survival of the fittest." In a division that is as tough as they come, that’s probably fitting.
Up the road in Tempe, two teams with high preseason expectations, Arizona State and USC, will take the field. But it's tough to get a bead on those schools at the quarter pole of the year. The Sun Devils have failed to get their high-octane offense going with much consistency, and the defense has been suspect at times, from the opener against Texas A&M all the way through their otherwise easy nonconference slate.
The Trojans, meanwhile, face continued questions of their status among the national elite following an are-you-kidding-me home loss to Stanford in which they gave up 41 points to a team that couldn’t score seven on Northwestern. There is talent all over the field for the Cardinal and Gold, from steady quarterback Cody Kessler to all-purpose star Adoree’ Jackson. But USC's ability to put things together in a complete fashion remains to be seen against any team with a pulse.
And, let’s not forget, the past two times these squads faced each other, things did not turn out so well for USC. Last year’s loss came after giving up a game-deciding Hail Mary, and the contest the year before was most notable for Lane Kiffin's getting fired at the airport following a blowout loss.
Steve Sarkisian’s team still has the most talent of anybody in the Pac-12 and can bounce back to win the division despite the conference loss to the Cardinal last week. Whether USC fans' faith in such a scenario is misplaced or accurate will likely be determined late into the night in Week 4.
With so much focus on the state of Arizona, it'd be easy to overlook the other marquee Pac-12 matchup, as the contrasting styles of Utah and Oregon face off in Eugene.
The Utes looked capable of pulling off the upset over the Ducks last year, but then an avalanche of points in the fourth quarter put the game out of reach, 51-27. This season, though, things are a bit more even without Mariota suiting up for the Ducks.
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham had a breakthrough Pac-12 campaign in 2014 and, thanks in part to the Utes' dispatching of Michigan in the opener, has the team looking like a tough out for every opponent on the docket. There are still questions at quarterback (Travis Wilson may or may not start) and, surprisingly, along the offensive line, but it appears the defense is still as salty as ever and poised to give Oregon trouble.
The Ducks are facing a bit of adversity with quarterback Vernon Adams still nursing a broken finger and a defense that has given up points and yards at an alarming rate no matter the opponent. It seems like the team is still the class of the North Division after narrowly losing to Michigan State on the road, but it remains to be seen if it can handle the week-in, week-out grind that league play brings.
The bottom line is we have three weeks of action in the books, and there are still significant questions looming about all of the Pac-12 teams in contention for the conference title. As league action begins in earnest this Saturday, we’ll finally have a chance to start figuring out some real answers and seeing who’s just a pretender and who’s the real deal.
Buckle up, folks. Week 4 could get wild out West.
You can follow Bryan Fischer on Twitter at @BryanDFischer. Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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