Around The Conference Table: Week 8
Sharing Screen.
This season we go around our writers for their takes on the other conference games that went on in gameweek.
UCLA @ Oregon (Oregon wins 45-30)
TD_24 - Man this is what Mario Cristobal wanted at Oregon and Dan Lanning is the one harnessing it. If we get an Oregon USC Pac 12 championship game I'm going to be glued to my seat.
Bk97 - Oregon looked absolutely terrible. On offense, defense, and special teams they looked unimaginably bad. Don't get me wrong, they were playing some great football, but my eyes still haven't recovered from those awful, unforgivable jerseys.
Christopher_h - The final score is usually not indicative of the way Oregon has been dominating opponents since Georgia. Oregon's offensive line is just too good, and Oregon slowed the UCLA run game just enough to cause the UCLA offense to sputter and stall. It's the first time UCLA has lost when Zach Charbonnet has run for 100 yards.
Rob Hwang - Thank the lord UCLA and USC have both lost and please football gods make sure they do not make it to the title game or the playoffs.
ASU @ Stanford (Stanford wins 15-14)
TD_24 - ASU had all the chances in the world but couldn't beat the lobsterbacks. Nice. Especially on the last drive where Emory Jones had Elijhah Badger running down the sideline, you have to hit him.
Bk97 - These teams combined for over 750 yards, 47 first downs, and...2 TDs? How?
Christopher_h - I love that Yogi Roth calls every game like a battle between two Pac-12 heavyweights.
Rob Hwang - So hell might be freezing over… Frosty Sun Devils?
Colorado @ Oregon State (Oregon State wins 42-9)
TD_24 - Well this loss to Colorado looks more depressing by the second.
Bk97 - Well, our loss to Colorado looks much, much worse now. As do our chances of a win in Corvallis.
Christopher_h - OSU ran for 270 yards against Colorado, with RB Damien Martinez running for a career-high 178 yards. Who could have possibly guessed that it would be a good idea to run the ball against Colorado?
Rob Hwang - OSU has a good offense and a HC who is essentially their OC. Just says a lot about our offensive playcalling, scheme and execution every week Colorado gets blown out by other teams in the conference.
Any other thoughts?
TD_24 - At least the Pac 12 is relevant and has 5 legitimately great teams.
Bk97 - There's a growing gulf between the top and bottom half of the conference. Half the Pac-12 has only 1 win in conference play. And 5 of those wins were over fellow 1-win bottom dwellers (the lone exception was ASU's win over UW).
Christopher_h - It's getting crowded at the top of the conference. Oregon is the only one still undefeated in conference play, with a matchup against Utah on the horizon. Oregon beat UCLA and USC beat Utah. The Oregon-Utah and UCLA-USC matchup could result in a scenario where each team holds a transitive win over itself, and the conference is going to just pick the top two of a 3- or 4-way tie to rematch for the conference title? Hmm.
Rob Hwang - Just make sure if a Pac-12 team makes the playoffs its Oregon and not USC and UCLA. Just a better narrative if the teams moving to the Big10 still can’t win here.
"Just make sure if a Pac-12 team makes the playoffs its Oregon and not USC and UCLA. Just a better narrative if the teams moving to the Big10 still can’t win here."
Well said.