12 Pac Review: Mike Riley's White Flag

North:

1. Oregon 42 vs Ucla 14 - The Ducks shook off a sloppy first half to dominate in the second.  The Duck starting defense shut down Ucla's offense and only gave up 64 passing yards for the game.  They also pitched a second half shut out and have now only allowed 24 total points in second halves this year.  Mariota was his usual efficient self going 21/28 for 230 yards, and Byron Marshall and Thomas Tyner did most of the damage on the ground.

2. Stanford 20 at OSU 12 - Watching Stanford do anything is like watching paint dry while someone picks out your arm hairs one by one.  It's boring and painful, and that includes how they close out games.  After watching Mike Riley punt the white flag with 4:00 to go, Furd promptly turns it over deep in their territory.  OSU turns that gift into the 3 points they decided not to take 2 times earlier in the game, then kicks it back to them.  Furd then painfully goes 3 and out refusing to go for it on 4th and inches to seal the game.  I know this about Furd, they may have the defense to keep the game close (which I doubt) but I also know they have the offense and the coaching to do the same.  Oregon either blows Stanford out (most likely) or wins a close one.

3. Washingten 38 vs Cal 10 - Keith "Darron Thomas 2.0" Price returned to his usual form going 20/32 for 376 yards and Bishop Shankey shook off his one game hiccup to go 27 carries for 241 yards. Nothing like playing an anemic Cal defense the week after having your lunch handed to you 3 weeks in a row, huh huskies?

4. Oregon State - 6 wins = bowl eligible and an extension for Mike Riley's contract.  Congrats bavers, you're stuck with him for an extra year now.

5. Washington State - Probably spent the bye week coming up with plays to run for their first team offense when they're down 35 in the 4th quarter.  What, too soon?

6. Cal - I really don't think many fans expected Sonny Dykes to quickly turn around the Bears, but I'm pretty sure even less expected the team to go 1-11 and look totally noncompetitive this late in the season.

South:

1. Ucla - Another team tries to prove their more physical than Oregon only to walk away with 3+ score loss.  Tell you what, next time (read; Pac 12 Championship Game) try and prove you can score more than Oregon.

2. Arizona State - It's a 2 team race in the South division and will come down to the ASU versus Ucla game on Nov 23rd.

3. USC 19 vs Utah 3 - I don't think a lot of people realize how quickly the Trojans could turn around next year.  Max Browne waiting in the wings to play QB.  Because of creative recruiting they can almost sign a full class next year, and right now they are playing with literally half a team of healthy scholarship athletes and no coach.  Scariest thought: USC signs Chris Peterson, keeps a number of the staff and recruiters in place and loads up.  2 years now that is the best team in the country again. [shudders]

4. Utah - When Travis Wilson and Connor Halliday play are they just going to stand at the 50 yard line and hand each other the ball for 2 hours?

5. Arizona 44 at Colorado 20 - Speaking of quick turn arounds, just imagine if Brett Hundley was playing for Rich Rod right now.  He's going to get a QB soon and damnit, the Pac 12 is just going to have too many good teams.

6. Colorado - Oh, sorry Colorado, I didn't see you standing there.  No offense.

Next Week's Games:
ASU at WSU (Thursday Night)
USC at OSU (Friday Night)
Arizona at Cal
Colorado at Ucla