Around The Conference Table: Week 5

2 games in.

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

10 Utah @ 19 Oregon State (Oregon state wins 21-7)

TD_24 - Utah needs Cam Rising back or they are not going to reach their ceiling this season. So naturally he will probably be back for the Cal game.

Nick Kranz - A bye week means two weeks for Utah to get healthy enough to fix their dysfunctional offense ahead of Cal.

Bk97 - Oregon State out-Utahed Utah with their dominant lines and suffocating defense. The passing game was nonexistent initially as both teams completed a combined 7 passes in the first 25-ish minutes, but then Uigaleilei broke through and turned in an impressive performance. Utah has a few weeks to get healthy in a hurry before a grueling stretch @USC, vs. Oregon, and @UW over the span of four week.

Christopher_h - This was a breakout game for OSU receiver Silas Bolden, who used to his athleticism and single-handedly created plays for 2 TDs. Utah's atrocious offense finally caught up to them; QB Nate Johnson struggle to complete even the short 5 yard passes, and missed on easy throws in a variety of ways. Without Cam Rising to get the pass game going, Utah's suffocating defense couldn't hold up forever.

7 Washington @ Arizona (Washington wins 31-24)

TD_24 - Washington escapes their hell in the desert. Top 10 showdown vs Oregon will have me at the edge of my seat.

Nick Kranz - I watched portions of this game, and the overriding feeling was that while Washington didn't dominate, I never felt like they were at any real risk of losing. Perhaps that's a demerit when UW has sky high expectations, but I have watched similarly talented teams blow it in the desert before, so no qualms from me.

Bk97 - Arizona never really threatened to win this one, but it's odd to see such a close final score after four consecutive weeks of blowout wins.

Christopher_h - I would say "standard desert voodoo game," but I don't think it was. Arizona had a very smart defensive game plan, playing with 2-high safeties and soft cover-4 all game, essentially letting UW have whatever they wanted on short to intermediate routes, and solely focusing on taking away the deep ball from UW (I believe UW only had one pass play > 20 yards, and it was one of those shortly before half type of plays). They knew they couldn't hold UW forever, so they did their best to slow UW down and it worked; UW was averaging 50 points/game coming into this one, so 31 points absolutely is a defensive victory. On the offensive side of the ball, Arizona just couldn't get it done with freshman backup QB Noah Fifita. To be clear, Fifita played fantastic in his first college start, but just a few costly mistakes were the difference in this game (an INT on an ill-advised shovel pass instead of taking a sack, failure to convert on 4th down in the redzone, etc).

8 USC @ Colorado (USC wins 48-41)

TD_24 - Caleb Williams continues to be ridiculous. 6 TD's in 3 quarters is just insane stuff but that defense is still a stinky pile of trash.

Nick Kranz - This season feels absolutely like deja vu from 2022 - waiting on baited breath for USC's defense to cost them a playoff spot and/or a Pac-12 title, and getting increasingly frustrated as it doesn't happen.

Bk97 - Another game in which a blowout turned into a one-score game, although Colorado didn't really threaten to win. This defense is going to cost USC a game or two.

Christopher_h - I couldn't decide between rooting for USC to kill the Deion hype train or for Colorado to ruin USC's season. Most of the media probably took from this game that "Colorado is almost as good as USC (who we think is a playoff contender)", but I took away from it that "USC is almost as bad as Colorado (a team that struggled to beat a mediocre MWC team at home)." USC can have a Heisman-winning QB and NFL-caliber receivers, but offense is only half the game. Further, both coaches made terrible coaching decisions, the most egregious being that Colorado--down 2 TDs--spent 4:15 of the remaining 5:58 of the game on a touchdown drive, playing with absolutely no urgency and forced themselves into needing an onside kick to get that potential 2nd TD (they did not recover the onside kick). USC's secondary couldn't stop anything anyway, but Colorado used the middle of the field and took their sweet time snapping the ball at the most critical part of the game. Hey, but TV ratings are all that matter, right?

9 Oregon @ Stanford (Oregon wins 42-6)

TD_24 - Oregon realized there was a game to be played after the first quarter

Nick Kranz - This week's road game at Colorado is Stanford's best shot at a win until Big Game, which is hilarious, but I'm also worried that Troy Taylor will spend the next two months focusing solely on winning the Axe.

Christopher_h - Stanford played great for all of about a quarter, essentially playing ball-control keep-away football and not letting Bo Nix and the Oregon offense have the ball (2 redzone drives turned into 2 FGs for a 6-0 lead by the start of the second quarter). Of course, once Oregon did get their rhythm on offense, they were unstoppable. I have to think that QB Ashton Daniels getting injured messed up their offensive gameplan, as they were left with a run-heavy QB who wasn't much of a threat to pass (the complement of Daniels). Oregon loaded up against the run and Stanford receivers couldn't get any separation. Meanwhile, the Oregon offensive line dominated, letting Oregon run the ball at will. Oregon is a complete team, and I would not be surprised to see them in the Pac-12 Championship game (perhaps in a rematch with UW?).

Any other thoughts?

Christopher_h - Okay, I need to go on a bit of a rant here. Say what you want about the Pac-12 Network, but at least the announcers there are more than vaguely aware of the teams they're commentating on. At some point in the Utah-OSU game when Utah had the ball, one announcer commented on the blitz performed by [Utah WR], while the other announcer at least credited an Oregon State defender (who was not involved in the play but was indeed on the defense, so a bit closer). These guys have gigantic cheat sheets in front of them, with the player names/numbers by position, as well as the rosters organized by numbers (hence why they sometimes struggle to identify players on special teams when both offensive and defensive players are out there -- such as the USC/Colorado game, when the announcer couldn't figure out who USC #18 was, despite a cursory knowledge of the roster would tell you that one #18 is a gigantic tight end and the other is the tallest and lankiest linebacker ever to exist, and it should have been pretty obvious at glance who it was even without the number), and yet they still spend zero time familiarizing themselves with any of the materials before the game is live. Not to mention, the P12 Network also has the best TV personalities. I'm going be sad when it's gone.