Lots of things to talk about in this week's action, and I'm sure Herbie is explaining that right now, so let's jump into the action.
North
Stanford 44 at Duke 14 - Duke kept this one close in the first half, and Stanford needs to figure out what they're going to do with their pass defense (beware, this is a theme for the Pac 12 this year) but Luck took charge in the second half and eventually showed what a #6 ranked team and leading Heisman candidate is supposed to do. Fleener and Owusu ended up catching 3 touchdowns and giving Stanford the victory. Luck is showing why NFL teams will be lining up on Sunday to lose in hopes of making him their #1 draft pick. SUCK FOR LUCK!
Oregon 69 vs Nevada 20 - While this game might have been a return of Alonso and Harris to the playing field, it was definitely a return of the Ducks offense to the endzone too. Oregon scored 28 points in the second quarter to make it 41-7 at half and Darron Thomas threw for 5 of his 6 record breaking Tds before the third quarter. De'Anthony Thomas once again showed why he was so highly regarded coming out of Los Angeles as he caught 2 Tds and rushed for a team high 81 yards on 8 carries. LaMichael was bottled up in the rushing game for most the night, but he ended with 1 rushing, 1 receiving and 1 return TD on the night.
Washington State 59 vs UNLV 7 - I know it's Idaho St and UNLV (who put up 17 at Wisconsin last week, ask OSU how easy that is) but Wazzu is 2-0 on the season. Lobbestael was 24/32 for 361 yards and 5 Tds on the day as he led the Cougar offense to its second consecutive blowout. We'll see in the next 3 weeks if WSU is serious about going to a bowl this year as they take on SDSU, Colorado and Ucla on the road. I'm guessing they get at least 2 wins in that stretch. 4-1 looks really good going into week 3 of Pac 12 play.
Washington 40 vs Hawaii 32 - I'm bumping up Uw this week as they beat a Hawaii team that man-handled Colorado (which Cal struggled with and needed overtime to beat). Uw broke out some nice patriotic helmets for their first FBS game of the year, and Chris Polk followed suit with another 100+ yard rushing game. The huskies still struggled to stop the pass, as Moniz threw for 333 yards on 31/45 passing. Keith Price was the player of the game as he racked up 315 yards on only 25 passes and a 12.6 yards/att average. This is the second game though that Uw has needed late game heroics (an extra point returned for 2) to put away what clearly should be an inferior team.
Cal 36 at Colorado 33 - Wait, this isn't a conference game? You guys know you're in the same conference now right? Oh well, Keenan Allen caught a 5 yard pass from Zach Maynard in overtime to lift the Bears over the Buffs. Maynard threw in another "meh" performance overall as he went 18/35 for 243 yards and the rushing game again struggled as Isi Sofele rushed for 84 yards on 20 carries. Colorado obviously got a taste of what it will be like to be a Pac 12 member. Get used to it boys, as your schedule doesn't get much easier with Ohio State, WSU, Stanford, Uw and Oregon coming up.
Southern Utah 35 vs. Sacramento State 14 - Sac St struggled late as Southern Utah scored the final 25 points of the game. Bryan Hilliard had both touchdowns for SSU and ended with 101 yards on 18 carries. Oh, and in other news, Mike Riley hates the name Ryan. So McCants and Katz are mad at their parents for naming them that. McCants who is yet to see the field in 2011 and Katz who started the year #1 on the depth chart was jerked around in the lineup as Oregon State got shut out 35-0 at Wisconsin. I'm under the belief that Mike Riley is deliberately trying to see what he can do to be fired so he doesn't have to live in Corvallis for the next 8 years and can still get paid.
South
Arizona State 37 vs Missouri 30 - ASU solidified their hold on the top spot in the power poll by upsetting #21 Missouri in overtime. Penalties continue to be a problem for ASU as a pass interference penalty gave Mizzou another shot late to tie it up. Osweiler opened OT with an 11 yard TD pass to Jamal Miles, but it was former Duck Aaron Pfulgrad who stole the show on the night. Pflugrad caught 8 passes for 180 yards on his way to a career performance. ASU has to go on the road to Illinois next week before returning for Pac 12 play, in what will obviously be a game for command of the South, against USC.
USC 17 vs Utah 14 - I know we're supposed to be nice to the new kid in class, but Wittingham and Utah have some explaining to Herbie to do for why they decided to rush their kicking team out onto the field (with the clock stopped) to attempt a 41 yard field goal with 11 seconds left. I'm thinking that Wittingham didn't want the heat to fall on Norm Chow for his awful play calling so he decided to screw the game at the end himself. USC's coaching wasn't much better as they went the final 21 minutes without scoring. Rodney Woods is still the best receiver in college football and it was good for USC to have back their starting RB, Mark Tyler, but the Trojans continue to struggle in the redzone.
Utah - I don't know who to put 3rd in the South as Utah, Arizona and Ucla are all 1-1 and none of them have been impressive yet. Since Utah took USC to the wire (even though their coaching was atrocious) I guess they get this spot.
Arizona 14 at Oklahoma St 37 - It's funny when a blow out still looks closer than what the actually game was. Arizona looked weak at best, as they took on the #9 Cowboys in Stillwater. Okie St controlled this from the beginning jumping out to a 21-0 lead at the half. Arizona couldn't run the ball if their life depended on it as they racked up a measly 41 total rushing yards on 21 carries.
Ucla 27 vs San Jose St 17 - Should it really take big plays at the end of games to put away teams like San Jose St? Derrick Coleman busted a 24 yard run with 3:35 to go to finally put the game out of reach. This is the same San Jose team that lost to Stanford 57-3 last week. Don't worry Ucla, I'm sure it will all go well when you travel to the farm in 3 weeks.
Colorado - Welcome to the Pac 12 brothers.