Around The Conference Table: Week 11

Last few weeks

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

18 Utah @ 5 Washington (Washington wins 35-28)

Mpete91 - Washington passing another test by the skin of their teeth.

Bk97 - After several weeks of sleepwalking against inferior opponents, UW looked like they might let Utah notch the upset. Instead, they surprisingly shut out the Utes in the second half and made another step towards a rematch with Oregon for the Pac-12 title and a playoff berth.

Christopher_h - Washington again plays just well enough to win, and I am starting to doubt whether it's intentional or not. UW always finds a way to score when they need to, but they've let bad teams (Stanford, ASU) hang around for far too long as well. Ultimately, UW edged Utah, but not convincingly enough for me to believe that they can take Oregon on a neutral Las Vegas field.

USC @ 6 Oregon (Oregon wins 36-27)

Mpete91 - I actually watched this and 36-27 feels a lot closer than the game actually looked.

Bk97 - Other than giving up 224 yards on three passing plays, the USC defense really wasn't that bad on Saturday. USC somehow forced Oregon to engineer long, sustained scoring drives, although the USC offense was surprisingly unable to keep up. With a likely 8-4 finish looming for the Trojans, has the luster faded from the Lincoln Riley era?

Christopher_h - The score was far closer than the game appeared, but to be fair, I am shocked that USC managed to avoid losing by 4 touchdowns. Some favorable ref calls helped keep USC in the game, but what else is new. Do these refs realize that USC is the reason they'll be out of a job next year? Still, Oregon is going to need to clean up the penalties and self-inflicted wounds if they want to make an impact in the postseason.

Stanford @ 12 Oregon State (Oregon State wins 62-17)

Mpete91 - Oregon St with their highest points total since oh no oh god.

Bk97 - I don't understand this LSJU team. Last week they held Wazzu to 7 points in Pullman and this week they gave up 62 in Corvallis.

Christopher_h - You never know what you're going to get with Stanford. They've been a thorn in the side of Oregon (not this year, though), they played it close with Washington, they had an historic 2nd half comeback victory over Colorado, but they've also lost to an FCS team, and have been blown out by USC, Oregon, UCLA, and now Oregon State. Worse yet for Stanford, there are two more blowout losses to come.

21 Arizona @ Colorado (Arizona wins 34-31)

Mpete91 - and thus a Big12 rivalry is born.

Bk97 - A month ago an Arizona win over Utah looked nigh impossible. Now it's quite conceivable. That would be a huge step forward and set the Wildcats up for a likely 9-win season.

Christopher_h - I think this game just showed that Arizona will find a way to win close games. This one was Colorado's game to lose, and that's exactly what happened on the final field goal of the game (despite leading the whole way through). Colorado has the same limitations they always do (the lines, allowing too much pressure, defensive confusion, etc) and I thought Arizona would win this one comfortably, but ultimately wins are wins.

Arizona State @ UCLA (Arizona State wins 17-7)

Mpete91 - LMAO

Bk97 - UCLA has scored 17 points in the last two weeks, and not even a matchup against the conference's worst defense will save them this weekend. This team is fundamentally broken and may give up on the season (if they haven't already) if they lose badly this weekend. So clearly I'm pulling for a blowout USC victory.

Christopher_h - Collin Schlee did great in a gadget role for UCLA, but he was not ready to take the reigns of the offense. UCLA may have one of the best defensive lines in college football, but it doesn't mean all that much if your offense struggles to move the ball ten yards.

Any other thoughts?

Christopher_h - If UCLA were a person, it would be angrily quote-tweeting on "X" and lashing out at fans of superior schools, despite looking like some sort Pillsbury Doughboy that giggles when you poke him.