What a week for the Pac-12.
Stanford shocked then no. 6 USC in the Coliseum. Arizona ran for 499 yards and seven touchdowns. Cal and UCLA won by a single point in the final moments of their games.
Here’s a recap of each Pac-12 game from week three (Pac-12 team in CAPS.)
Friday
New Mexico 10 — ARIZONA STATE 34: Senior quarterback Mike Bercovici tossed three touchdowns  and ran for a score against the Lobos. His leading receiver of the night, running back Demario Richard, tallied 2 touchdowns and 151 yards, while also rushing for 104 more yards. ASU accumulated 449 yards of offense compared to UNM’s 295-yard performance. The Sun Devils defense also improved, keeping UNM out of the end zone the entire first half.
Saturday
Utah State 17 — WASHINGTON 31: Washington relied on true freshman quarterback Jake Browning, who threw for 368 yards and a touchdown in the win. UW’s leading rusher, Myles Gaskin, ran for just 42 yards. Additionally UW struggled to protect the ball, turning it over three times. Defensive backs Kevin King and Brandon Beaver led the defense, each making an interception, while Utah State was kept to 254 yards of offense.
COLORADO 27 — Colorado State 24: Colorado State jumped out to a 14-0 lead after the first quarter. But, Colorado quarterback Sefo Liufau led a comeback. Liufau threw two touchdowns without an interception, a key factor in this game. The Rams beat up on the Buffaloes defense, running for 218 total yards in a game where CSU’s offense totaled 500 yard — 155 more than CU. However, an overtime field goal by Diego Gonzalez foiled any upset to be.
CALIFORNIA 45 — Texas 44: Both teams entered halftime with 24 points, and the high-scoring theme didn’t change in the second half. Yet, the third quarter was dominated by Cal, and seemingly ending the game in blowout fashion. But as the fourth quarter began 45-24 with the Bears leading, Texas got rolling with freshman quarterback Jerrod Heard. Heard’s 527-total-yard effort deserved to force Cal into overtime, as the Bears defense was gasping for air with time dwindling. All the Longhorns needed to do was convert an extra point to tie the game, but Cal’s Darius White rushed the kick form the outside and, according to White, got a piece of the ball (the box score didn’t credit him with a block).
STANFORD 41 — No. 6 USC 31: Stanford played its first two games of the season looking like a much weaker Cardinal team than expected, failing to depend on the touted, heavy running game. In the same time span, USC seemed unbeatable. Week three didn’t abide to the same tone. In the final 3:53 of the first half, Stanford scored twice to take a 24-21 halftime lead. Then with 2:27 left, Stanford’s Conrad Ukropina hit a 46-yard field goal to make it a 41-28, and essentially seal the game. Cardinal quarterback Kevin Hogan beat USC for the first time in his career after a solid performance — 18/23, 276 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT. Senior running back Remound Wright added three more touchdowns, and feature-back Christian McCaffrey ran for 115 yards on 26 carries. Neither team turned the ball over.
San Jose State 21 — OREGON STATE 35: Oregon State freshman quarterback Seth Collins had himself a decent passing game, but excelled when he ran with the ball, picking up 114 yards and two touchdowns. The Beavers’ Storm Woods led the team with 151 yards rushing and a touchdown on 17 carries. OSU ran for over 300 yards in the game — a heavy punch SJSU couldn’t take. SJSU used three different quarterbacks, none of who threw for more than 75 yards, and its running game wasn’t much better. Two punt returns kept SJSU in the game.
Wyoming 14 — WASHINGTON STATE 31: Something not heard often: WSU’s defense stepped up. But they did just that against Wyoming, forcing two turnovers and keeping the Cowboys off the scoreboard in the final three quarters. Quarterback Luke Falk led the Cougars, tossing two touchdowns in a 303-yard performance. Both touchdown passes were thrown to Dom Williams.
No. 19 BYU 23 – No. 10 UCLA 24: Where BYU entered the final quarter with 7-point lead, and able to add 6 more in the fourth, UCLA’s running game stunned the Cougars in the final minutes. The Bruins feature back Paul Perkins made up for freshman quarterback Josh Rosen’s three interceptions, running for 219 yards and a touchdown. When Perkins tired, Nate Starks picked up right were Perkins left off. Stark ran for 81 yards on seven carries and the game-winning, 3-yard touchdown run.
No. 21 UTAH 45 — Fresno State 24: Utah’s pass defense was outmatched by Fresno State quarterback Zack Greenlee, who tossed for three touchdowns. But Utes running back Devontae Booker was ever-more influential in the game, running for 156 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries. Cory Butler-Byrd and Britain Covey helped Utah further, both scoring on special teams with a kick return and punt return, respectively.
Northern Arizona 13 — No. 20 ARIZONA 77: It’s hard to ignore the one-sided score, but to make it more impressive from a Wildcat perspective, at halftime it was 42-13. Meaning, in the second half, Arizona scored 35 unanswered points. Arizona’s rushing attack, itself, ran for 499 yards and seven touchdowns. Yes that really happened. Backup quarterback Jerrard Randall ran for a team-leading 149 yards on three carries, and two touchdowns. Running back Nick Wilson added another 143 yards on the game, also with two touchdowns. Quarterback Anu Solmon threw four Arizona touchdown passes, collected 285 yards from the air. The Wildcats also picked off three passes in the game never in question.
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