It was an incredible, captivating weekend of Pac-12 football, and there’s a lot to unpack.
We were treated to an instant classic in Seattle and an historic collapse in Boulder, Colorado.
We watched an upset in Pullman, Washington, and an overrated undefeated team take a beating in South Bend, Indiana.
It was an incredible, captivating weekend of Pac-12 football, and there’s a lot to unpack. So let’s get right to it.
Ordinarily, it would make sense to delve right into coach Deion Sanders’ historic flop against the Stanford Cardinal. When you blow a 29-0 halftime lead, allow the largest comeback in program history and squander a chance to become bowl-eligible, well, there’s a lot to discuss. Especially when it all happened against a one-win wounded duck.
But there’s another kind of wounded duck that takes the spotlight this week.
The Oregon Ducks and Washington Huskies gave us an instant classic Saturday, exchanging body blows and a barrage of highlights from beginning to end — literally — in a highly-anticipated matchup that was decided by a missed field goal at the final horn. The Huskies persevered, edging Oregon 36-33, in the first meeting of the rivalry’s history that featured two top-10 teams.
I predicted that Washington would defeat the Ducks, and I came pretty close to nailing the final score. But as I left Husky Stadium Saturday night, I couldn’t shake an unexpected feeling: Oregon is the better team.
The Ducks outgained Washington on offense by more than 100 yards (541 to 415), they have a superior running game (Bucky Irving rushed for 127 yards and a touchdown), they’re better along both lines of scrimmage and they just have a more balanced all-around team.
But in a matchup of two of the best in the country, the margin for error was razor thin, and the microscopic difference between them proved to be Husky Stadium and Oregon coach Dan Lanning.
Lanning’s aggressive, if not reckless, fourth-down decisions have been dissected and debated ad nauseam at this point. But here are the CliffsNotes: Lanning decided not to kick field goals on 4th and goal from the 3-yard line shortly before halftime and on 4th and 3 from the 8-yard line in the third quarter. Washington stuffed the Ducks both times. And it cost them six valuable points. What’s more, in perhaps his most egregious error, Lanning inexplicably gambled again on 4th and 3 from the Washington 47-yard-line with 2:16 left, when the Ducks were clinging to a four-point lead.
Instead of punting and trying to pin Penix and the Huskies deep, forcing them to go the length of the field in two minutes, Oregon went for the kill shot. But Washington stuffed the Ducks again.
Then Penix wasted little time delivering a signature Heisman moment, using just two plays — a 35-yard strike to Ja’Lynn Polk and a beautiful 18-yard touchdown to Rome Odunze — to give Washington the lead. Fifty-three yards. Thirty-three seconds. Another last-minute Penix dagger driven in the heart of the Ducks.
Bo Nix directed Oregon into field goal range in the waning seconds, seemingly setting up overtime. But Camden Lewis booted a 43-yard game-tying kick wide right, and a swarm of purple stormed the field as Prince’s “Purple Rain” echoed around the stadium.
Penix passed for 302 yards and four touchdowns. Nix passed 337 yards and two touchdowns. Both were exceptional. The game was electric.
But as I left the field, I couldn’t help but think the better team lost. Would things have been different with those valuable six points? Would Penix have been able to march 80 or 90 yards, rather than 53, in two minutes? What if the game was played on a neutral field?
We may very well find out in less than two months at the Pac-12 Championship Game in Las Vegas.
As for the rest of Week 7, well, there’s certainly one team that won’t be visiting Sin City in December: Colorado.
The Buffaloes endured an epic meltdown last week, falling to lowly Stanford 46-43 in double overtime at home, even though they led 29-0 at halftime. The Friday the 13th flop was filled with too much drama to detail here, but it’s safe to say Colorado is glad its move to the Big 12 will likely prevent it from facing Stanford wide receiver Elic Ayomanor again. The sophomore embarrassed the Buffaloes and hyped two-way star Travis Hunter, finishing with 13 catches, a school-record 294 yards and three touchdowns.
It was a thrilling way to start a sensational weekend that featured three high-profile conference matchups with ranked teams.
In addition to the unforgettable game in Seattle, Oregon State showed it’s a legitimate threat with a 36-24 win over UCLA in Corvallis, while USC showed it’s vastly overrated with a 48-20 no-show at Notre Dame. In between, Washington State suffered a 44-6 thrashing at home to Arizona and Utah easily handled Cal 34-14.
As we head into Week 8, only one Pac-12 team remains undefeated — Washington — but six still hold spots in the AP Top 25: No. 5 Washington, No. 9 Oregon, No. 12 Oregon State, No. 14 Utah, No. 18 USC and No. 25 UCLA.
Now, let’s take a spin Around the Pac-12:
• Pat Forde details the path to the College Football Playoff for one-loss teams, including the Ducks and Beavers. “Do the Ducks control their own destiny: quite likely. If Oregon wins what has been the best conference in the country while going 12–1, that should earn a Playoff bid. To get there, Oregon would have defeated Washington State (4–2 with a win over Wisconsin), Utah (5–1 with a win over Florida), USC (6–1), Oregon State (5–1 with wins over Utah and UCLA) and presumably Washington. … Do the Beavers control their own destiny: in all likelihood. As is the case with Oregon, if Oregon State wins out, a 12–1 Pac-12 champ will be difficult to turn down. Of course, it would require the Beavers beating Washington, Oregon and perhaps one of those two a second time in the final three weeks of the schedule, so it wouldn’t come easy. But this is a balanced team that has a week off to prepare for the closing stretch.”
• What’s next for the Huskies and Penix? ESPN takes a look. “This was not the Huskies’ most complete performance of the season. Far from it. They had won comfortably — and mostly in dominant fashion — in their first five games. But it was their toughest opponent, and it does have the widest-reaching ramifications. At the halfway point of the season, Washington has established itself as the clear favorite in arguably the deepest conference in the country. The Pac-12 went into the weekend with seven ranked teams; and while one of them — Washington State — lost on Saturday and fell from the AP Top 25, that doesn’t change the fact that this is the best the conference has been in several years. Given the league’s strength, it’s highly likely even a one-loss Pac-12 champion will be in position to earn a berth to the College Football Playoff. With potentially a slight margin for error, the Huskies are in an enviable position as the only remaining undefeated team among their conference brethren. Then there is the matter of a certain stiff-arm trophy.”
• There are plenty of Pac-12 mentions in David Hale’s Week 7 takeaways, including more on Saturday’s instant classic, USC’s woes and Colorado’s meltdown.
• Bill Connelly updates his Heisman frontrunners (with a pair of Pac-12 contenders), calls the Oregon-Washington masterpiece the best game of the season so far, dubs a pair of Colorado players his favorite transfers and much more in his midseason look at college football.
• The Oregon-Washington rivalry may never be this good again — not with a move to the Big Ten looming — according to Sports Illustrated.
• As we noted in our coverage from Seattle on Saturday, Lanning took the blame for the Ducks’ loss. But ESPN has more details here.
• Lanning’s fourth-down gambles put him at the top of USA Today’s misery index for the week. But his fourth-down call was right, The Athletic writes.
• A few ESPN midseason takeaways include Colorado’s bad omen and USC’s terrible offensive line.
• There were two NFL draft-board risers in Seattle on Saturday, including Oregon wide receiver Troy Franklin. “Franklin is coming off another brilliant performance in a close Oregon loss to Washington. The 6-foot-3, 187-pound burner has awesome vertical ability, and it showed in his 154-yard day (eight catches with one score). In a very deep wide receiver class, Franklin has been a consistent week-to-week riser on my board, and he’s inching toward my top 50. He has a solid Round 2 grade right now.”
• Washington reminded the world there’s big-time college football out west, writes The Seattle Times.
• The Times also says Penix might have just had his Heisman moment against Oregon.
• In fact, according to USA Today’s list of Week 7 overreactions, Penix just won the Heisman.
• The Athletic has ranked all 133 teams at the midway point of the season — and Washington stands alone at the top. The Huskies are the only Pac-12 team in the top 10, by the way, with Oregon (11) and Oregon State (12) just missing the cut.
• A look at how Notre Dame knocked around “King” Caleb Williams, courtesy of USA Today.
• The Trojans don’t have an identity, according to The Athletic.
• After their blowout loss to Arizona, the Cougars’ offense must adapt, writes The Spokesman-Review. Also, as it looks for answers, Washington State might shuffle personnel.
• Dante Moore’s growing pains took center stage in the Bruins’ loss to Oregon State, writes the Los Angeles Times. A look at five takeaways from the defeat.
• Sanders received the full Saturday Night Live treatment. Here are the details, courtesy of Sports Illustrated.
• Sanders looked lost, Hunter looked gassed and it’s time to ask if the clock has struck midnight on Colorado’s Cinderella season, writes The Denver Post.
• The Post also has the details of Colorado’s collapse.
• Williams had his worst performance with USC in the Trojans’ loss to Notre Dame, writes the Los Angeles Times.
• Oh how the tide has turned in Los Angeles, where columnists are now telling fans to brace for a lengthy USC rebuild under coach Lincoln Riley.
• The Trojans’ offensive line was a mess Saturday. That’s one of the five takeaways from the USC loss, according to the Los Angeles Times.
