With the Pac-12 season nearing its end, the races for the North and South divisions still have another week to go before being decided.
Oregon took care of business with a 44-28 victory over Cal while Stanford waxed Colorado, setting up a huge showdown in Palo Alto, California next week. With a win, Stanford will clinch the North but if the Ducks win, they’ll have to win out in their final two conference games and hope the Cardinal stumbles again in its finale against Cal.
The South is a three-team race between Utah, USC and UCLA. The Utes hold the clear advantage, being one game up on both Southern California squads. UCLA and Utah both control their own destinies as they’ll face one another in two weeks, while the Trojans need to win out and hope Utah stumbles along the way.
Here’s how the Pac-12 games finished this week:
No. 11 Stanford 42 — Colorado 10: The Cardinal is now one game away from winning the Pac-12 North division and securing a spot in the Pac-12 championship game after a thrashing of Colorado. Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey kept his name among the top of the Heisman list as he ran for 147 yards on 23 carries, threw a 28-yard touchdown pass and finished with 220 total yards. Colorado showed some fight as the score was tied at seven entering the second quarter, before the Cardinal rattled off 21 straight points in the second quarter for the commanding lead.
No. 12 Utah 34 — Washington 23: Washington had a chance to pull off the shocker at home, but ultimately Utah’s defense helped the Utes prevail in the end as it forced four Husky turnovers in the game. Utah running back Devontae Booker carried the ball 34 times for 150 yards and a touchdown while quarterback Travis Wilson ran for two scores. Washington freshman quarterback Jake Browning ignited a 10-0 Husky run to close the deficit to 24-23 with 13:11 to play in the game, before Utah scored the final 10 points for the win.
No. 23 UCLA 41 — Oregon State 0: With the rain coming down hard in Corvallis, UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen seemed unfazed. He went 22-for-33 for 333 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Bruins to the victory. Soso Jamabo and Paul Perkins each added a rushing touchdown while Thomas Duarte added two receiving scores to help the Bruins total 674 yards of offense. The game was scoreless through the first quarter before UCLA erupted for 24 points in the second and 17 more in the third to complete the scoring. Oregon State sorely missed starting quarterback Seth Collins as the Beavers committed four turnovers in the game.
Washington State 38 — Arizona State 24: The Cougars, behind their air-raid offense, are bowl-elgibile after defeating the Sun Devils at home. Luke Falk continued his stellar season as he threw for 497 yards and five touchdowns while Dom Williams caught two of those touchdown passes and totaled 123 yards receiving. The Sun Devils jumped out to a 14-0 lead after the first quarter and led 21-17 entering the fourth quarter before Washington State’s offense erupted. After taking a 31-21 lead, the Cougars gave up a field goal that made it a one-score game, before Falk connected with Williams on a 75-yard touchdown pass to seal the victory.
USC 38 — Arizona 30: The Trojans got their third straight win when they rallied from a 14-0 deficit to come back and defeat the Wildcats at home. USC rallied in the second quarter when it outscored Arizona 17-3 to tie the game entering the half. The fourth quarter saw the most action as USC held a 24-23 advantage, before two touchdowns runs closed out the victory. Cody Kessler threw for 273 yards and two touchdowns for the Trojans; 138 of those yards and one touchdown went to wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster. Ronald Jones led the ground game for USC, totaling 177 yards on 19 carries and one touchdown. Anu Solomon did all he could to keep Arizona in the game as he finished his night with 352 yards passing and three touchdowns.
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