Unpack the Pac: Oregon, UCLA and USC remain side by side in their respective quests for a Pac-12 title

Final week I acknowledged that offense was the story of the week, and that was the case once more in Week 10. In Week 9, 313 complete factors have been scored in 5 convention video games; this week, 397 factors have been scored in six video games. To place this exceptional weekend into perspective, the SEC scored 362 complete factors in seven video games.

It may very well be that the Pac-12 is simply filled with weak defenses. Regardless, it was extremely entertaining to maintain up with these dynamic contests throughout the Pac-12.

Don’t stress should you didn’t get an opportunity to look at each sport as a result of I’ve you coated in my Week 10 version of “Unpack The Pac.”

Washington 24, Oregon State 21

This extremely exhilarating sport ended with Washington senior kicker Peyton Henry delivering the game-winning subject purpose with eight seconds left. The sector purpose was arrange by junior quarterback Michael Penix Jr. who led the Huskies’ offense 92 yards down the sphere on that closing drive. Penix delivered a stable efficiency, primarily on account of his offensive line which was excellent in the course of the sport and has been your entire season. Penix was not sacked or hurried as soon as all through the sport.

On the opposite aspect of the ball, the Huskies’ cross protection, which has struggled this season, lastly produced because it held Oregon State to 87 passing yards. This was a shock contemplating redshirt freshman quarterback Ben Gulbranson has had lots of success in the course of the previous month filling in for injured junior quarterback Probability Nolan.

Gulbranson was not capable of transfer the ball down the sphere, and the one cause the Beavers performed the Huskies all the way down to the wire was their elite dashing assault, which put up 175 dashing yards and two touchdowns. This was a heartbreaking loss for the Beavers, who’ve now fallen out of the School Soccer Playoff rankings after getting into the sport at No. 23.

USC 41, Cal 35

It’s one other week, however it’s the identical storyline for USC: Sophomore quarterback Caleb Williams delivered a Superman-esque efficiency to make up for the Trojans’ lackluster defensive outing. USC’s offense appears pretty much as good as any in school soccer, and Williams has been essentially the most proficient participant in school soccer over the previous few weeks. The fact is he has needed to put the staff on his again these previous two weeks with out his finest two large receivers and with a poorly performing protection on the opposite aspect of the ball.

In its final three video games, USC has allowed 38.3 factors per sport after permitting 18.7 factors per sport within the staff’s first six contests. Let’s give credit score to Cal, although, for the reason that Golden Bears clearly watched the USC protection’s tape this week. Redshirt senior quarterback Jack Plummer attacked a weak USC secondary your entire sport and threw for 406 yards and three touchdowns. Plummer’s profession sport helped Cal battle till the ultimate whistle, however the Trojans’ offense was an excessive amount of for Cal to deal with as USC squeaked out a slender 41-35 win. USC’s protection might want to drastically enhance for the staff to choose up key wins because the schedule involves an in depth.

Oregon 49, Colorado 10

Oregon acquired off to a red-hot begin and didn’t take their foot off the pedal because the Geese rolled previous Colorado. Oregon’s offense is firing on all cylinders because it has an elite combination of an excellent passing assault, dashing sport and an abundance of big-time playmakers.

Senior quarterback Bo Nix is main the flock of Geese as he has added 5 extra touchdowns to his season complete of 36. Nix did his finest impression of Tremendous Bowl LII MVP Nick Foles and caught a landing cross. Colorado by no means actually stood an opportunity on this contest and had too many errors on offense to stay round with Oregon. Oregon now extends its successful streak to eight video games, and Colorado now drops to 1-8.

Utah 45, Arizona 20

Utah gained this sport within the trenches because the Utes rushed for 306 yards and 5 touchdowns. Arizona has one of many worst dashing defenses in all of FBS, and Utah undoubtedly took benefit of that. Utah junior quarterback Cameron Rising, who returned to the beginning position after lacking one sport with a knee harm, wasn’t requested to do a lot on this sport however did a terrific job managing the sport. It’s additionally noteworthy that he was solely sacked as soon as, a big enchancment since Utah’s offensive line hasn’t held up too effectively this season. Arizona had too many errors on this sport, because the Wildcats turned the ball over 4 instances and had three extra penalties than Utah. This was an all-around dominant efficiency by Utah.

UCLA 50, Arizona State 36

UCLA ran throughout Arizona State on this sport. The Bruins rushed for a season-high 402 dashing yards. The Bruins did this with out celebrity senior operating again Zach Charbonnet, who missed the sport on account of an harm.

Whereas the Bruins’ offense dominated the field rating, the UCLA protection, which has been insufficient for a lot of the season, allowed ASU to remain within the sport. ASU redshirt junior quarterback Trenton Bourguet threw for 349 yards and two touchdowns. The largest query for the Bruins this season has been whether or not the protection can sustain its finish of the ball, and that reply continues to be unclear after one other subpar outing.

Washington State 52, Stanford 14

Nicely, I don’t assume many anticipated Washington State to be the highest-scoring staff within the Pac-12 this weekend. The Cougars, like UCLA and Utah, confronted one of many worst run defenses in all of school soccer. Because of this, WSU rushed for 306 yards and averaged 8.1 yards per rush. The Cougars’ protection additionally utterly embarrassed Stanford’s offense, forcing 4 turnovers and returning a fumble for a landing. This win ends WSU’s three-game dropping streak and brings the Cougars inside one sport of being bowl-eligible.

“Unpack the Pac” runs each Wednesday.