The conference got off to a rather typical start, but there are some questions that will need to be answered quickly if they hope to keep anyone but Washington or Oregon in the top 25.
The Huskies played a tough, SEC power and lost by only five points. This game was not even on the same planet as other Pac-12 games; it would seem that Washington was sitting at the grown-up’s table to start the season, while others were sitting at the kid’s table.
All except Oregon State, who had to go down and get beaten like a red-headed stepchild by Ohio State. The Beavers managed to get on the scoreboard but not before being down 42-14 at halftime (which was what we predicted would be the final score). The final score was 77-31. This was ugly, in every sense of the word.
But let’s break all of this down even further…
The Good
Washington did show the country some good stuff on Saturday. They did, afterall, hold the lead going into the fourth quarter in a very hostile, SEC environment. Everyone knows they won’t face another team like this in the Pac-12; not of this caliber in terms of the defense and physicality.
Utah beat up on Weber State, and it was a good, solid performance as their defense only allowed 10 points and held Weber State scoreless for three entire quarters. The Utes weren’t tasked with playing a great opponent, but they showed good production in both the running and passing game — and could be a real challenge for the Huskies in two weeks.
Arizona State put UTSA away and blew them out, 49-7. The thing that is impressive about ASU is how they held UTSA to just three total yards of rushing — that’s just sad. It was on 33 attempts as well so ASU might have a better thing going under first-year head coach, Herm Edwards.
Stanford put the hurt on San Diego State, but it wasn’t with Bryce Love, it was with the arm of KJ Costello — who threw for 332 yards and four touchdowns. Love, who has been heralded to be the best tailback out of the conference this season, only record 29 yards on 18 carries. But the Cardinal took care of business at the Farm and as such, they put a nice win together against SDSU.
Colorado actually looked very good against rival, Colorado State. Steven Montez threw for 338 touchdowns and tailback, Travon McMillan rushed for over 100. They might not be ready to compete for the South this year, but the Buffs did a fine job on both sides of the ball. Their D only allowed CSU 10 points and 284 yards of total offense.
Washington State came from being down two points at halftime to go on a scoring spree and beat Wyoming on their homefield, 41-19. I might have listed this in the “bad” category simply because they allowed the cowboys to control the first half and couldn’t get their offense truly uncorked until the second half, but this was also a road game and the Cougars were fielding a brand new quarterback, Gardner Minshew. Minshew wound up throwing for over 300 yards.
USC didn’t look super great against UNLV, but good enough to get a nice win to open the season. They didn’t blow them up — but newcomer JT Daniels passed for 282 yards and running back, Aca’Cedric Ware rushed for exactly 100 yards. The Trojans put up 24 points in the fourth quarter to pull away, 43-21.
The Bad
Cal beat visiting North Carolina 24-17, but their offense was very flat and the defense wasn’t much to write home about either. The Bears’ offense only accumulated 279 total yards, and the defense was just…okay. They got the win, but they will have to be more productive than this to be competitive in the North this year against much better opponents.
Oregon beat Bowling Green with their offense, but the defense was not very impressive. Bowling Green actually was in the lead during the first quarter and managed to still put up 25 points, even after the Ducks left their starters in until the fourth quarter. If this had been an even halfway decent opponent, I would cut the Ducks some slack — but Bowling Green only won two games last season — and again, Oregon’s first string was in all the way through. Those 25 points weren’t garbage points. The Ducks can score all day long, but until they show they can play better defense against a terrible opponent — they don’t look that great.
Arizona lost a rather fast-faced, exciting game against BYU. They didn’t look very good, but I do have some faith in Kevin Sumlin. BYU looked fast and physical, but it could have just been a mirage in the desert because Arizona may not be very good on defense. I just don’t know yet. They came from behind and tried to even things up toward the end, but BYU had clearly dominated the entire game.
The Ugly
Can we just talk about UCLA and Cincinatti for a minute? So Chip Kelly did have some of his players under suspension, but the team – as a whole — looked disjointed and confused. Their passing game was awful (newcomer Dorian Thompson-Robinson barely eclipsed 100 yards), while they did see some glimmer of hope with tailback Kazmeir Allen who only carried the ball five times but inked 103 yards rushing. This didn’t look like any Chip Kelly team I’ve ever seen, but the jury is still out until the entire team returns to the field. On this opening weekend, however, they looked ugly.
Last but not least, Oregon State had the misfortune of starting their season on the road against Ohio State. Jonathan Smith will tell his team to take something away from this game that will help them down the road, but allowed a team to put up 77 on you is beyond ugly.
