Ranking the Best Pac-12 Football Matchups of Week 12
It's the penultimate weekend of the 2016 college football season, which in the Pac-12 Conference means two things: division title races are coming down to the wire and rivalry games are beginning to make their appearances.
Of the six games on the schedule for Saturday, four will have an impact on who wins the North and South divisions. That includes one of the two games pitting California foes as those schools renew their annual grudge match.
We've ranked the slate in order of the importance of the game, the quality of the matchup and how likely those from outside the teams' fanbases would be apt to watch.
6. Arizona (2-8, 0-7) at Oregon State (2-8, 1-6)
1 of 6
When: Saturday, Nov. 19; 10:30 p.m. ET
They can't all be winners. That describes the Arizona-Oregon State matchup as a whole and the individual teams, who are both at the bottom of their respective divisions and are playing out the string of a disappointing season.
Arizona's seven-game losing streak is its longest in 12 years and comes less than two full seasons from when the Wildcats played in the Pac-12 championship game and then the Fiesta Bowl. Despite the second-best rushing offense in the league, Arizona's injuries have kept it from producing on the scoreboard—its 22.4 points per game average is 15 points below 2015—and the defense has allowed 45.2 points per game during the skid.
Oregon State has made slight improvements from last season, when it was 2-10 overall and winless in the Pac-12, but the Beavers still struggle to move the ball.
5. Oregon (3-7, 1-6) at No. 12 Utah (8-2, 5-2)
2 of 6
When: Saturday, Nov. 19; 2 p.m. ET
It's been a dramatic fall for Oregon over the past two years, from having a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback (Marcus Mariota) and playing in the national championship game after the 2014 season to missing out on a bowl bid for the first time since 2004.
There are many places to point to for when and where it all went wrong for the Ducks, and a good one to key in on is the last time they faced Utah. That would be last year's Pac-12 opener in Eugene against the Utes, a 62-20 win for the visiting team, and since then Oregon has gone 10-9.
Utah has won 14 of 19 since then and is in the thick of the South Division race. The Utes must win out to claim the division and earn their first spot in the Pac-12 title game.
4. Arizona State (5-5, 2-5) at No. 6 Washington (9-1, 6-1)
3 of 6
When: Saturday, Nov. 19; 7:30 p.m. ET
Is Arizona State coach Todd Graham's job in jeopardy? The Sun Devils went 6-7 last season and have lost five in a row this year, causing many to wonder if a change might be in store, but ASU athletic director Ray Anderson told Craig Morgan of ArizonaSports.com on Tuesday that Graham would be back for 2017.
Might that vote of confidence still apply after this weekend, as ASU heads to Seattle and could be running into a buzz saw in the form of a just-beaten Washington squad looking to get back on track.
The Huskies have fallen out of the top four in the College Football Playoff rankings after losing at home to USC and now must work their way back up in the next few weeks. A way to do that is to win in dominant fashion, as schools like Louisville and Ohio State have done since losing for the first time. That could mean Washington will look to pour it on against an ASU squad that features the nation's worst pass defense.
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3. No. 24 Stanford (7-3, 5-3) at California (4-6, 2-5)
4 of 6
When: Saturday, Nov. 19; 5:30 p.m. ET
It's time for the "Big Game," a rather innocuous-sounding rivalry but one that features arguably the craziest play in college football history. Known as "The Play," it involved California returning a kickoff for a game-winning touchdown as time expired but needing to not just navigate Stanford's defenders but also a marching band that streamed onto the field before the play was over.
That singular highlight will no doubt get shown dozens of times during the telecast in hopes something just as crazy will happen this time. If it does, it will probably involve Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey's running ability or Cal quarterback Davis Webb's arm.
Stanford is out of the North Division race but has won three straight, averaging 37.3 points per game after scoring only 44 total points during a 1-3 stretch prior to that. Cal has dropped three in a row as its defense continues to be porous, allowing at least 43 points eight times in 2016.
2. No. 13 USC (7-3, 6-2) at UCLA (4-6, 2-5)
5 of 6
When: Saturday, Nov. 19; 10:30 p.m. ET
For more than 20 years Los Angeles was the biggest college football town in America, thanks to the absence of any NFL franchise. This allowed the already strong UCLA-USC rivalry to flourish, thanks to USC's national championships and UCLA's fruitless effort to keep pace.
Just because the Rams have returned to L.A. doesn't mean this game is any less important, though the 2016 matchup has lost its luster a bit with UCLA's struggles. The Bruins must win out to ensure a sixth consecutive bowl bid, and to make that happen it means having to knock off a USC team that's playing as well as any team in the country.
The Trojans have won six straight, most recently against previously unbeaten Washington, and are a completely different squad than the one that started 1-3 and was blown out 52-6 by Alabama in Week 1. Quarterback Sam Darnold has keyed the turnaround, with 20 touchdown passes in his seven starts, giving USC a chance to win a second straight South Division title.
UCLA's QB issues are among the reasons for its slide. Josh Rosen is done for the year after needing shoulder surgery, and Mike Fafaul hasn't been able to replicate Rosen's success.
1. No. 22 Washington State (8-2, 7-0) at No. 10 Colorado (8-2, 6-1)
6 of 6
When: Saturday, Nov. 19; 3:30 p.m. ET
When Washington State and Colorado meet in Boulder on Saturday it could be a preview of next month's Pac-12 championship game. Just like we all predicted back in the summer.
Not really. In July the league's media tabbed WSU as the fourth-best team in the North Division and expected Colorado to finish dead last in the South, as it had every year since joining the Pac-12. Instead, the Cougars and Buffaloes have been the biggest surprises of the conference.
WSU has won eight straight after losing its first two, including at home to FCS school Eastern Washington. Coach Mike Leach is still throwing it a ton but he's also started to embrace the value of a run game, the Cougars' 132 rushing yards per game is a 64 percent increase from 2015.
Colorado, which had never won more than two Pac-12 games in a season before this fall, has the league's No. 1 defense and has amazingly climbed into the playoff hunt. The Buffaloes were 4-9 a year ago and now are playing their best ball since 2001 when they made the Fiesta Bowl and finished in the top 10 in the polls.
All recruiting information courtesy of Scout.com, unless otherwise noted. All statistics provided by CFBStats, unless otherwise noted.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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