NASPAQ – Pac-12 Stock Report : Week 4

Someone once said "To be the best you need to beat the best" and that's precisely what the Pac-12 did with the non-conference schedule. If anybody saw the BigTen last week you would notice that they didn't play a single compelling game. There were no ranked teams, and zero BCS opponent on the BigTen schedule. Meanwhile, the Pac-12 has beaten top ten teams in back-to-back weeks.

On to the action!

 Defensive Players Market

Starting with the defense this week, if you purchased stock in Akeem Ayers (AYER) like theWeek 1 NASPAQ suggested then you should feel pretty good about yourself. He sacked Garrett Gilbert so hard that it looked like a level 5 tornado hit him which forced a fumble. Ayers later had an interceptionto help the Bruins upset then #7 Texas. Another Bruin that contributed the biggest momentum shift in the game was Sean Westgate (WEST). His forced fumble on special teams gave UCLA the ball at the three yard line and they were much more confident after getting on the scoreboard. Stanford's Owen Marecic (OWEN) had a moment during the Notre Dame battle that was reminiscent of Reggie Miller scoring 6 points in 4 seconds against the Knicks. Marecic scored on a one yard dive play, but since he starts at both linebacker and fullback he was right back on the field intercepting Dayne Crist and returning it 20 yards for a defensive touchdown.

	Team	Symbol	Δ	Δ%	Total
Akeem Ayers	UCLA	AYER	↑ 20	21%	$115
Rahim Moore	UCLA	MOOR	↑ 10	11%	$100
Vontaze Burfict	ASU	BURF	↑ 10	11%	$95
Jurrell Casey	USC	CASE	↑ 5	5%	$90
Mason Foster	UW	FOST	-	-	$85
Omar Bolden	ASU	BOLD	↑ 10	13%	$85
Mike Mohamed	Cal	MIKE	-	-	$80
Trevin Wade	Arizona	WADE	↑ 5	6%	$80
Brooks Reed	Arizona	REED	↓ 5	6%	$80
Casey Matthews	Oregon	MATT	↑ 10	14%	$80
Tony Dye	UCLA	DYE	↑ 10	18%	$65
Richard Sherman	Stanford	SHER	↑ 5	10%	$55
Malcolm Smith	USC	SMIT	-	-	$50
TJ McDonald	USC	TJMC	↑ 15	50%	$45
Cliff Harris	Oregon	CLIF	↑ 10	33%	$40
Owen Maracic	Stanford	OWEN	↑ 15	75%	$35
Shane Skov	Stanford	SKOV	↑ 10	40%	$35
Michael Thomas	Stanford	THOM	↑ 5	25%	$25
Patrick Larimore	UCLA	LARI	↑ 5	25%	$25
DJ Holt	Cal	HOLT	↑ 5	25%	$25

Defensive Units

A week after Cal was lit up for 500 yards and 52 points against Nevada, they look like the best defensive team in the conference by holding Arizona to ten points. The Bears were dominant for the first 57 minutes of the game before giving up a 51 yard pass to Juron Criner that set up the game winning score. If their offense and defense ever click during the same game they could be a great team. We'll find out more about Oregon's defense this week, but they looked porous against Arizona State as they gave up 600 yards of offense. The seven turnovers are an indicator that this an aggressive unit, but they may be prone to giving up big plays.

	Symbol	Δ	Δ%	Total
Oregon Defense	ORED	↓ 5	3%	$130
Arizona Defense	ARID	↑ 10	13%	$85
Utah Defense	UTAD	↑ 10	14%	$80
ASU Defense	ASUD	↑ 15	23%	$80
USC Defense	USCD	↑ 10	16%	$70
Stanford Defense	STAD	↑ 10	16%	$70
Cal Defense	CALD	↑ 15	30%	$65
UCLA Defense	UCLD	↑ 15	30%	$65
Colorado Defense	COLD	↓ 10	-	$35
OSU Defense	OSUD	↓ 5	12%	$35
UW Defense	UWD	-	-	$35

Quarterbacks

This was an off week for our quarterbacks based on the numbers, but that could have been a result of the competition this week. Matt Barkley (BARK) has looked great in the box scores, but he could easily have thrown 10 interceptions this season. His style reminds our analysts of the Chicago Bears Jay Cutler in that he has too much confidence in his arm strength and tries to squeeze the ball in tight spots. His stock continues to rise, but we see this as a bear market after the game against Washington. Down in the desert Steven Threet (THRE) had better numbers than Nick Foles (FOLE), but their teams are headed in opposite direction. The Sun Devils have played top ten opponents each of the past two weeks and can't seem to pull it out at the end, while Arizona has been clutch with game winning drives in their last two.Jordan Wynn (WYNN)  is back from injury and looks like he'll be competing for top quarterback in the conference next year. The coaches across the conference should fire their recruiting coordinator's who were in charge of his area.

	Team	Symbol	Δ	Δ%	Total
Andrew Luck	Stanford	LUCK	↑ 5	3%	$145
Nick Foles	Arizona	FOLE	↑ 5	8%	$140
Matt Barkley	USC	BARK	↑ 5	4%	$125
Jake Locker	UW	LOCK	-	20%	$80
Kevin Riley	Cal	RILE	↓ 5	6%	$70
Jordan Wynn	Utah	WYNN	↑ 10	18%	$65
Tyler Hansen	Col	HANS	-	-	$40
Darron Thomas	Oregon	DARR	↑ 5	16%	$35
Kevin Prince	UCLA	PRNC	↑ 5	25%	$25
Ryan Katz	OSU	KATZ	↓ 5	33%	$20
Steven Threet	ASU	THRE	↓ 5	33%	$10

Wide Receivers

There weren't too many big performances this week, but Jared Karstetter of Washington State might be showing up on the IPO's next week after his 8 receptions for 87 yards and two touchdowns.  Mike Williams of Arizona State had a big game against the Oregon Ducks secondary hauling in 5 receptions for 74 yards and two touchdowns, but his teammate Kerry Taylor had the best catch of the weekend. James Rodgers (JROD) didn't have much success catching the ball, but his punt return for a touchdown boosted his stock by 22% after a couple off weeks.

	Team	Symbol	Δ	Δ%	Total
Juron Criner	Arizona	CRIN	↑ 5	7%	$75
Jermaine Kearse	UW	JERM	-	-	$65
Ronald Johnson	USC	ROJO	↑ 5	9%	$60
James Rodgers	OSU	JROD	↑ 10	22%	$55
Marvin Jones	Cal	MARV	-	-	$50
Jeff Maehl	Oregon	JEFF	↑ 5	12%	$45
Robert Woods	USC	WOOD	↑ 5	20%	$30
Doug Baldwin	Stanford	BALD	-	-	$25
Keenan Allen	Cal	KEEN	↓ 5	25%	$15
DeVonte Christopher	Utah	DEVO	↓ 5	25%	$15
Devin Aguilar	UW	AGUI	-	-	$15

Running Backs

LaMichael James (LMJ) continues to rip off highlight reel runs to separate himself from the rest of the running backs in the conference while JacQuizz Rodgers (QUIZ) is struggling to gain yardage. The Oregon State offense needs an accurate quarterback for their pro-style offense to be effective, but Ryan Katz (KATZ)has struggled with his consistency. The Arizona State offense has impressed me with their running back by committee. It seems like every week a new player emerges with a hundred yards on the ground and this week it happened to be Deantre Lewis with 11 carries for 127 yards and a touchdown. Stanford continues to be impressive in the red zone and Stepfan Taylor (STEP) looks like he's going to be the one to carry the load for the Cardinal. We'll see how they do this week against the Oregon defense. This matchup last year was a coming out party for Andrew Luck as the Ducks were stacking the box to stop Toby  Gerhart.

	Team	Symbol	Δ	Δ %	Total
LaMichael James	Oregon	LMJ	↑ 10	19%	$140.00
JacQuizz Rodgers	OSU	QUIZ	↑ 5	4%	$115.00
Shane Vereen	Cal	VERE	↑ 5	5%	$100.00
Chris Polk	UW	POLK	-	-	$75.00
Kenjon Barner	Oregon	BARN	↓10	18%	$35
John Franklin	UCLA	FRNK	↑ 10	50%	$30
Nic Grigsby	Arizona	GRIG	↓10	28%	$25.00
Allen Bradford	USC	BRAD	↑ 5	33%	$25.00
Cam Marshall	ASU	MRSH	↑ 5	33%	$20.00
Marc Tyler	USC	MARC	↑ 5	33%	$20.00
Stepfan Taylor	Stanford	STEP	↑ 5	50%	$15.00

If you would like to read more of our stuff you can find us at Leader of the Pac.

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