Around The Conference Table: Week 7

Home Stretch.

This season we go around our writers for their takes on the other conference games that went on in prior gameweek.

Stanford @ Colorado (Stanford wins 46-43 2OT)

TD_24 - Elic Ayomanor take an absolute bow kid. That was an otherwordly performance regardless of how bad the Colorado defense is.

Bk97 - Colorado may have the worst defense in the conference. They can't tackle, they're constantly out of position, and they seem to revel in unnecessary and idiotic penalties (can their DC count to 12?). This is a very poorly coached team led by an egomaniac; the locker room is primed to implode and they are going to flail their way to a 5-7 finish.

Christopher_h - An absolutely epic collapse from Colorado, and they beat themselves more than anything. Colorado's defense couldn't defend a simple slant, and Stanford just spammed that same play to the same receiver over and over and over again, because why not?

Nick Kranz - I'm trying to decide if this result makes me afraid of Stanford. Objectively, any team that can put up 30+ points in a half should scare us the way Cal is playing defense, but I also suspect that even Cal can stop one previously meh wide receiver if Stanford's plan is to just throw him the ball on every play.

Rob Hwang - There’s always one Pac-12 team that comes out of ever week looking like a joke…

8 Oregon @ 7 Washington (Washington wins 36-33)

TD_24 - This was my game of the week heading into the game slate and boy did it deliver. If Washington can pass the two tests of at Oregon State and at USC they may very well be in the CFP regardless of what happens in the P12 title game.

Bk97 - Oregon had a 4-point lead with 2:11 remaining when they failed to convert 4th and 2 at the UW 47; Washington took the lead two plays later. In their previous loss they had a 3-point lead with 9:39 remaining and failed to convert 4th and 1 on their own 29; OSU took the lead 4 plays later. In the loss before that the score was tied with 1:26 remaining and Oregon failed to convert 4th and 1 on their own 34; UW took the lead four plays later. Recognize a pattern? Dan Lanning certainly doesn't...

Christopher_h - This game between the two best teams in the conference went about as well as expected, and I wouldn't be surprised to see these two teams in a rematch for the conference championship. They're the only two complete teams in the conference, with Utah missing an offense and USC missing a defense.

Nick Kranz - At one point during the W4C watch party, I turned to somebody and remarked about how the entire college football universe was going nuts over how great a game UW/Oregon was, while we all watched a previous broken Utah offense run over Cal, and I got really sad.

Rob Hwang - The somebody in Nick’s comment was me.

10 SC @ Notre Dame (Notredame wins 48-20)

TD_24 - Caleb Williams is human?

Bk97 - USC has taken remarkably good care of the ball under Lincoln Riley. They had 11 turnovers over 20 games, which is part of the reason they kept winning despite their tire fire of a defense. This is what happens when they turn the ball over five times in a single game.

Christopher_h - It was only a matter of time before USC got stomped by a decent team. The biggest surprise here was how well the ND defense did against Caleb Williams's heroball. Caleb Williams can scramble around in the pocket for as long as he wants, but he also needs his wide receivers to get open and make catches when he tries to force the ball into tight spots, and the USC WRs struggled to do so against the ND secondary.

Nick Kranz - So is there any way that WE get to face the Caleb Williams who over throws a random ball, then tries to force a throw into triple coverage, then tries to force a pressured fall away throw into double coverage? What's that, you said that Cal isn't allowed to get pressure? Well, carry on then.

18 UCLA @ 15 Oregon State (Oregon State wins 36-24)

TD_24 - Jonathan Smith's kids just keep coming at you. Oregon State has reached the point where we don't even talk about bowl eligibility being a thing anymore, it's more than the standard.

Christopher_h - Even after spending all that NIL cash for Dante Moore, he just isn't there yet. Even the best prospects need time to develop.

Nick Kranz - Every single game just leaves me more and more impressed with the offense that Oregon State has built. I doubt they have the sheer talent to keep up with Oregon or Washington, but I'm damned intrigued to watch them try.

Rob Hwang - Beavs might have the most complete team in the conference in ever facet of the game.

Arizona @ 19 Washington State (Arizona wins 44-6)

TD_24 - I see the Arizona voodoo has reached the Palouse. Noah Fifita seems like he's him.

Bk97 - The Wazzu offense is on life support. They were averaging 406 passing yards and 126 rushing yards per game until two weeks ago. Over those last two weeks they have a TOTAL of 403 passing yards and 114 rushing yards (along with 7 turnovers). Things don't look like they'll improve this week in Autzen.

Christopher_h - Definitely did not expect this performance out of the Arizona defense, but I am hoping Cal can replicate that same success in the running game against Wazzu in a couple weeks.

Nick Kranz - The most shocking result in the Pac-12 season so far, even before you consider the magnitude of the rout. What HAPPENED to the Wazzu offense after they threw the ball all over OSU?

Any other thoughts?

TD_24 - I'm slowly veering towards the infamous Nam Le line of "It's over Justin" as opposed to my general disappointment I already feel.

Bk97 - Every single Pac-12 game is nationally televised this week, for once.

Christopher_h - I wonder if USC will even be ranked by the time they play Cal.