Ranking the Best Pac-12 Football Matchups of Week 2
The Pac-12 Conference had a rough opening week of the 2016 season, going a collective 6-5 with each loss standing out in a different way.
Oregon State and UCLA lost road games by seven apiece at power-conference opponents, falling to Minnesota and Texas A&M, respectively. Arizona and USC dropped challenging neutral-site games to tough foes, with the Wildcats losing to BYU in Glendale, Arizona, on a last-second field goal and the Trojans getting crushed by defending national champion Alabama in Arlington, Texas. And Washington State stumbled at home to Eastern Washington—its second consecutive season-opening loss to an FCS school.
Week 2 provides an opportunity for the league to improve its overall record as well as start to rehabilitate its reputation, with 10 games that have Pac-12 schools favored in most situations, per Odds Shark. We've ranked these matchups based on how good they should be and how much you're apt to check them out.
10. Idaho State at Colorado
1 of 10
When: Saturday, Sept. 10; 5:30 p.m. ET
Colorado dominated rival Colorado State 44-7 in Denver last Friday and now gets its easiest game on the schedule right before what could be its most difficult. After taking on FCS school Idaho State, the Buffaloes travel east to take on Michigan.
Idaho State is 4-16 all-time against FBS schools, last winning in 2000 against Utah State, and it lost last season by a combined 132-8 at Boise State and UNLV.
Colorado quarterback Sefo Liufau became the school's career passing leader, with his 318 yards moving him ahead of Cody Hawkins with 7,715.
9. Grambling State at Arizona
2 of 10
When: Saturday, Sept. 10; 10:45 p.m. ET
In losing 18-16 to BYU on a last-second field goal, Arizona dropped a regular-season nonconference game for the first time since 2011. Avoiding their first 0-2 start since 1981 shouldn't be too hard, since the Wildcats have never lost to an FCS school and have won the last five such games by an average of 47.2 points.
Grambling State is 3-17 all-time against FBS schools; its last win came in 1985 against Oregon State. The Tigers were 9-3 last season, but that included a 73-14 loss at California.
Arizona hasn't lost a home opener since 2000, falling 27-17 to Ohio State.
8. Idaho at Washington
3 of 10
When: Saturday, Sept. 10; 5 p.m. ET
Washington faces the easiest nonconference schedule of any team in the Pac-12, playing all three games at home and none to an FBS team that had a winning record in 2015. The Huskies made quick work of the first team on that slate, Rutgers, scoring 24 first-quarter points en route to a 48-13 win, and this second matchup figures to be even easier.
Idaho, which won 20-17 at home against Montana State last week, hasn't had a winning record since 2009. The Vandals are set to drop down to the FCS level in 2018 after they get kicked out of the Sun Belt Conference.
Washington began the season 14th in the Associated Press Top 25 poll—its highest preseason ranking since 2002—and has jumped to eighth after one week.
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7. UNLV at UCLA
4 of 10
When: Saturday, Sept. 10; 8 p.m. ET
Of the five Pac-12 teams that lost in Week 1, UCLA looked the most impressive of the group in that it went into a hostile environment (Texas A&M's Kyle Field) and took the home team to overtime. The Bruins needed to score 15 points in the final 4:19 for that to happen, too.
But quarterback Josh Rosen wasn't satisfied with the overall performance—and certainly not his own. After throwing for 343 yards but getting intercepted three times, he told Sports Illustrated's Brian Hamilton: "I didn't play to my standard. Not even damn close to my standard."
UCLA hasn't started 0-2 since 2010 and doesn't figure to this season, unless UNLV has its best performance in nearly a decade. The Runnin' Rebels scored a 63-13 win over FCS Jackson State for their fourth victory in 19 games and haven't defeated a power-conference team since 2008.
6. Utah State at USC
5 of 10
When: Saturday, Sept. 10; 2 p.m. ET
No Pac-12 team had a worse first week of the 2016 season than USC, which didn't just lose to defending national champion Alabama—it got demolished, 52-6, representing the program's worst loss in 50 years and one that came against a staff featuring former Trojans head coach Lane Kiffin.
That setback makes putting on a good performance in the home opener even more critical, though Utah State won't serve as a walkover opponent. The Aggies, who won 45-6 against Weber State in Week 1, are working on a string of five straight seasons with bowl appearances during which they've posted wins over Boise State, BYU and power-conference teams Utah and Wake Forest. They also nearly won at USC in 2013, falling 17-14 in Los Angeles.
USC hasn't lost a nonconference home game since 2012, when Notre Dame beat the Trojans 22-13. Its last loss to a non-power opponent came against Utah (then in the Mountain West) in 2001.
5. Virginia at Oregon
6 of 10
When: Saturday, Sept. 10; 10:30 p.m. ET
The term "body clocks" gets thrown around a lot in sports when dealing with a team that has to play somewhere that's multiple time zones away from home. It's even more an issue when a game's start time is much earlier (or in this case, later) than normal for the visiting team.
So while Oregon will be feeling right at home kicking off at 7:30 p.m. local time, Virginia's players are going to feel like it's 10:30 p.m. with bedtime quickly approaching.
The one person who probably won't feel that way is Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who spent the previous 11 seasons coaching BYU in Utah. Hopefully he'll have some tricks for helping his team deal with the time difference in addition to Oregon's potent offense, which gained 522 yards in its opening 53-28 win over UC Davis.
4. California at San Diego State
7 of 10
When: Saturday, Sept. 10; 10:30 p.m. ET
California got an early bye after starting the 2016 season a week early in Australia, beating Hawaii 51-31. That time off helped the Golden Bears recover from jet lag and figure out how to slow down a team with the second-longest active win streak in FBS.
San Diego State has won 11 in a row, including Saturday's 31-0 home victory against New Hampshire, winning by an average of 24.4 points. The Aztecs allowed more than 17 points once in that span thanks to a defense that is strong against both the run and pass.
Cal quarterback Davis Webb threw for 441 yards and four touchdowns in his debut on Aug. 26, but SDSU has held eight of its last 11 foes to under 200 passing yards.
The Aztecs also feature the active FBS rushing leader in senior Donnel Pumphrey, who has 4,376 yards and 46 TDs.
3. Washington State at Boise State
8 of 10
When: Saturday, Sept. 10; 10:15 p.m. ET
One of the Pac-12's biggest surprises from last year visits arguably the top mid-major program in the country, at least west of Texas. It's a matchup that lost some sizzle with Washington State losing to Eastern Washington in Week 1, but not enough to eliminate the potential of a shootout on the famed blue turf.
Washington State quarterback Luke Falk led the nation in passing in 2015 at 380.1 yards per game, and in the Cougars' season-opening loss, he threw for 418 yards and four touchdowns on 41-of-51 passing. Boise State's best safety, Dylan Sumner-Gardner, is serving a four-game suspension, leaving the Broncos secondary vulnerable to WSU's pass-heavy attack.
Boise's offense is no slouch, though, having won 45-10 at Louisiana-Lafayette last week and having scored 140 points in its last three games. The Broncos are celebrating the 30th anniversary of their blue playing surface, on which they've gone 165-36 and won 30 consecutive regular-season nonconference games.
"I think animal-rights groups should keep an eye on it so ducks don't break their necks trying to dive in," WSU coach Mike Leach said of the turf, per Stefanie Loh of the Seattle Times.
2. Texas Tech at Arizona State
9 of 10
When: Saturday, Sept. 10; 10 p.m. ET
If you're looking for high-scoring games that could go on forever, Texas Tech-Arizona State is for you.
Texas Tech just scored 69 points against FCS Stephen F. Austin—the third time it's topped 60 points and seventh time with at least 50 since the start of 2015. ASU had only 44 against Northern Arizona in its opener, but in the second half of last season, it was involved in games with scores of 61-55, 52-37, 48-46 and 43-42.
The Sun Devils lost three of those, mostly because their defense has allowed 31 plays of 40-plus yards in their last 14 contests. Texas Tech has had 34 of those on offense in the same span, including three in its opener, and Red Raiders quarterback Patrick Mahomes II led FBS in total offense (393 yards per game) in 2015 and had 540 total yards on Saturday.
One of five games involving Pac-12 schools that kick off at 10 p.m. ET or later, this one has the most #Pac12AfterDark potential of the lot.
1. BYU at Utah
10 of 10
When: Saturday, Sept. 10; 7:30 p.m. ET
They call it the Holy War, a battle waged on the football field between a religion-based school (BYU) and one funded by the state (Utah). It's also a rivalry that completely divides Utah and brings out the passion in the fans and players—no matter when or where the game is held.
The 96th meeting was played in December in Las Vegas, as the Cougars and Utes matched up in the Las Vegas Bowl. The pairing was officially announced on Dec. 6 and had sold out a 38,500-seat stadium in only 22 hours.
Utah's Rice-Eccles Stadium holds 45,807 seats, all of which will be filled for the teams' first regular-season meeting since 2013 and the first in Salt Lake City since 2012.
Both teams are 1-0, with BYU knocking off Arizona and Utah beating Southern Utah. Utah has won the last five overall—including a 35-28 victory in the Las Vegas Bowl—and BYU hasn't won in Salt Lake City since 2006.
All recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports unless otherwise noted. All statistics provided by CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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