12 Pac Review: The Pac 12 Game of the Century

Well, it's here and it's what everyone wanted.  An undefeated Oregon against an undefeated Stanford.  It will feature College Game Day on prime time TV with Heisman finalist Andrew Luck against Heisman finalist LaMicahel James.  I can guarantee it will be nothing like that other game of the century, and by the way ESPN, nobody wants to see a rematch of that.  Even a guy like me that loves defense.  That game was so slow, with the longest timeouts followed by the longest developing plays, ending in long drives and long missed field goals.

Oregon vs Stanford is the real game of the century.  

I think Oregon has the upper hand in this game for a couple of reasons.  I've been saying for weeks that Oregon's depth is better than anyone in the conference.  Stanford is just now realizing that.  3 out of their top 5 receivers are now on the injured list (if Owusu plays this week, I'll be very disappointed in David Shaw.  Do what's right coach).  Oregon's depth is a step ahead of what Stanford is putting out there.  With the WRs Stanford has now, Oregon has the luxury of stacking the box on defense and forcing Luck to throw against tight coverage with blitzers bearing down him.

Speaking of the defense, how about that Oregon D?  The defensive line has continued to get better every week and Turner, Heimuli, Keliikipi, and Jordan are now causing the havoc we all thought they would.  It will be imperative that they do it again next week as they take on one of the better O-lines in the country.  

Lastly, Oregon's offense will be the best offense Stanford has seen all season.  USC and Uw both proved that you can run the ball on Stanford, and run it well.  Oregon will move the ball with its playmakers against a beat up Stanford defense.  Darron Thomas is going to have to be on his game, and in the biggest games, he usually is.  LaMichael's speed will be something that Stanford hasn't seen in a year and De'Anthony Thomas is going to play catch me if you can with that secondary.  

Oregon proved they can walk into a hostile environment (and way more hostile than anything the Farm will produce) and shut down a good offense, move the ball and overall beat a good team on the road.  Stanford has done the same too, but Oregon's depth, speed and defense are better than anything that Stanford has seen and it will show again on Saturday. 

Are you ready for the GAME OF THE CENTURY?  On to the Pac 12 review.

North:

1. Oregon 34 at washington 17 - Can we just stop with who the best RB in the conference is already?  It's LaMichael James and it's not even close.  LMJ had 1 more carry and 76 more yards than Polk.  Or is husky fan turned their excuse machine off from Locker and onto Polk.  "He would be better if the line was better."  "He's had to face better defenses."  LaMichael carried Oregon's offense in the second half getting over 100 yards and marching the offense down the field for 2 consecutive TDs and stretching the halftime lead to 17.  The Oregon defense did the rest as they forced 3 turnovers and only allowed 2.3 yds per carry, forcing Uw to pass more where the front seven created 6 sacks.  Oh well huskies, there's always next year (you've been hearing that for a while now haven't you?)

2. Stanford 38 at OSU 13 - Amazingly this game was closer than the score showed.  With a little over two minutes to go in the 3rd quarter OSU was within 4.  Stanford though, continued their balanced approach and scored the final 21 points of the game.  The Tree finished with 300 yards rushing and 200 passing.  If they have any shot of beating Oregon they are going to have to the same thing against a much better defense than OSU.  OSU on the other hand is out of a bowl game for the second year in a row and the earliest in the season since 1998.  

3. Uw

4. Cal 30 vs WSU 7 - That might be the performance that gets Paul Wulff fired.  Losing to OSU in Seattle was one thing, but at least they tried.  This game was just a lackluster performance by a team that knows they have no shot at a bowl game once again.  Cal on the other hand played like they cared and had something to play for.  Maynard took the vote of confidence from Tedford and went a respectable 10/17 for 118 yards and 1 TD.  Cal is going to need to do the same thing again next week and crush OSU's spirit early in that game if they have any hope of becoming bowl eligible.  Should be interesting to see if a Riley team that is already out of the bowl race can be the spoiler on the Cal season.  Not that those two teams don't like each other much now.

5. OSU

6. WSU

South:

1. Ucla 29 vs Arizona St 28 - It's Erickson versus the Weasel, nobody wins.  Wait, why is Ucla at the top of the South?  Oh, Herbie must be explaining that now.  You see they are the only team in the South that controls their own destiny.  My goodness the South is terrible.  Plus just look at the coaches at the top of those standings, Weasel, Erickson and Kiffin.  That's menage a trois of asshats right there.  

2. USC 42 at Colorado 17 - USC continued to do what it does best, throw the ball to Robert Woods and Marqise Lee.  The 2 combined for 18 catches, 254 yards and 4 touchdowns.  I know Stanford is this week's game and there is no looking past them, but that receiver duo for USC has me crapping my pants.  Our secondary is going to get a workout in 1:1 coverage this week, and that's a good thing cause they need all the practice they can get before going up against USC. 

3. Arizona St - You should be ashamed of yourselves.  Not only did you lose to the Weasel, but you also gave up the top spot in the Pac 12 South and now you need help to make it to the Championship Game.  Really you don't deserve it and I hope Ucla goes just so you can all think about what should have been.

4. Utah 34 at Arizona 21 - The air seems to be going out of the Stoopsless Cats as they drop their second straight and put themselves officially out of bowl contention.  You kind of have to feel bad for Foles.  He's one of the better QBs in the conference but he's been held down by terrible coaching, bad line play, inept running game and receivers with grease on their hands.  I'm sure he'll be a high draft pick and make millions and everyone will wonder why wasn't he better in college (I'm calling him Phillip Rivers 2.0).  But this game was about Utah.  The Utes have found a nice groove behind Jr QB Jon Hays and have won their last 2 and 3 out of 4.  They are 1 win away from locking up a bowl game in their first season as a Pac 12 representative.  With Ucla, @WSU and CU left, they'll most likely make it. 

5. Arizona

6. Colorado

Next Week's Games:
Arizona at Colorado
Uw at USC
OSU at Cal
Ucla at Utah
Oregon at Stanford
ASU at WSU