North:
1. Stanford 56 at USC 48 – I'm moving the Tree back up to the top of the power poll cause they showed themselves to be a resilient team against a fired up USC. This game looked over when Luck threw a pick 6 with less than 4 minutes to go to put the Trojans up 7. Luck then drove them down the field and tied the game to send it into overtime. In the third overtime after Stanford had already scored, Curtis McNeal for USC fumbled into the endzone where Stanford recovered to end the game. This was a real test for Luck and Stanford, who to this point hadn't faced a real defense and no adversity. Luck handled being down late by going 4/6 for 32 yards and rushing for another 16 to tie the game up. Stanford's defense looked vulnerable again, but if you're going to beat Stanford you need to put them away and not let up.
2. Oregon 43 vs WSU 28 – It wasn't pretty, and Oregon needed 2 second half TDs from De'Anthony Thomas to put the Cougars away. One of which included some of the sickest moves in the open field ever. The biggest storyline from the game however was the replacement of Darron Thomas with Bryan Bennett to start the second half. Obviously, Chip Kelly is mum on the situation, but it will be interesting to see the fan reaction over the next couple of weeks especially as Oregon takes on its biggest test of the conference.
3. washington 42 vs Arizona 31 – The rejuvenated Wildcats never went away in this game, but the huskies rode on the back of Chris Polk and his 5 touchdowns to the victory. Fans also got the pleasure of enjoying the completely inept broadcast crew from Root call Polk the best running back in the conference and that the huskies are on their way to the Rose Bowl. Well, if either of those things are true, they're going to have to prove it next week against, the ACTUAL best running back in the conference and the team REALLY on its way to the Rose Bowl. See you in Seattle huskies.
4. Cal 14 at Ucla 31 – I guess Cal is forth in the North, although if they have any hope of staying there they're going to have to prove it the next 2 weeks. Cal really hurt their bowl chances by dropping an important game to the Bruins. Zach Maynard showed once again why it's difficult to predict anything with Cal as he threw 4 INTs and had a completion percentage under 50% once again. Looks like Tedford is finally going to try and determine if Maynard is the best option, but is there really any other choice?
5. Oregon State 8 at Utah 27 – How do you follow up a huge conference win on the road to WSU? By going to Utah and laying an egg, that's how. OSU gave up 205 rushing yards to John White, turned the ball over 4 times and took all the way until the 4th quarter to gets its first points on the board. OSU once again turned the game over to Sean Mannion by letting him throw 49 times for 231 yards (that's a 4.7 yard average). He was also sacked 6 times as Utah pretty much gave up on the run game.
6. Washington State – I'm pretty sure he won't be coaching next year, but there is one thing I respect about Wulff; his teams never quit. He might not have the most talent, or the best game plans, but his players always play hard. I can't say that about every coach in the Pac (Nueheisel, Stoops).
South:
1. Arizona State 48 vs Colorado 14 – It got ugly quick for Colorado once again. ASU jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and then never looked back. Not a lot of tests left on ASU's schedule with Ucla, WSU, Arizona and Cal, so they should be able get healthy and get ready for their up coming conference championship game.
2. USC – What a terrible play call by Kiffin to end regulation. Even if Woods was able to get down in time to try a FG, what is the point of running a screen with 9 seconds left? Aren't screen plays supposed to catch a blitzing team off guard? Did he really think Stanford was dumb enough to blitz USC with 9 seconds left at the 40 yard line? Oh, and the best part about all this was it was after a timeout. You took extra time to come up with that play? Let's just say that as a Duck fan, I will always feel good about our chances against USC as long as the Kiffins are on the other sideline.
3. Ucla – It is amazing that next week's game against ASU will determine if Ucla wins the South. Then again, with Ucla's alternating Win-Loss record, let's just go ahead and assume that Ucla loses that game. Is there really any way that Nueheisel stays at Ucla for another year? If the fans have any say, that's not likely.
4. Utah – Congrats Utes on being the first invitee to the Pac 12 to get the first win. It only took 10 games, but I'm sure you and Colorado expected that.
5. Arizona – What a different team Arizona has become now that they no longer have to deal with Mike Stoops. They actually hit a 47 yard field goal against the huskies. This is the same team that missed multiple PATs. It was a bold move to let Stoops go mid-season, but at this point it definitely looks like the right one.
6. Colorado – Yeah, not much to say. It's not going to get any better for the Buffs any time soon. Sorry guys.