PAC-12 RECAP — Week 12 – The Walk-On Redshirts

PAC-12 RECAP — Week 12

Another thrilling week of PAC-12 football was delivered during week 12 and while it was highly entertaining and enjoyable to watch, you can’t help but be a little upset that the 2022 season is quickly coming to an end.

Washington State — 31 Arizona — 20

Fresh off an impressive road upset against UCLA last weekend, Arizona came home to Tucson and struggled against Washington State. While the Cougars, who accumulated 354 total yards, had a fairly even offensive output passing for 193 yards and 161 rushing yards, it was their defense who came up big when they needed it. Arizona’s explosive passing attack was somewhat effective once against after quarterback Jayden de Laura went 28/46 for 357 yards and a touchdown, however he ended up throwing four interceptions. The fact that the Wildcats were down 14-0 early in the second quarter completely limited their running game which played in Washington State’s hands.

#23 Oregon State — 31 Arizona State — 7

A game that never really felt close from the opening kickoff was played in Tempe as the Beavers came in and were able to dominate the Sun Devils on offense and defense. Oregon State had 28 first downs and their offense totaled 443 yards with an almost perfectly balanced attack going for 221 passing yards and 222 rushing yards. Meanwhile, Arizona State’s struggles continued to be on full display for everyone to witness as their offense accumulated 276 total yards and went 5 for 14 on third downs. The Sun Devils are still working behind the scenes to narrow down who their future head coach will be. On the other side Oregon State is having one of their best seasons in the past decade as their defense has given up more than 10 points only once in the past five games.

Cal — 27 Stanford — 20

Two teams that have been at the bottom of the PAC-12 for most of the season faced off in the Bay Area for their yearly rivalry game. When you look up and down the box score and compare both team’s stats they are almost identical in almost every category. Stanford had a 17-6 lead entering the fourth quarter and seemed to have control of this game. However, three fourth quarter touchdowns by Cal completely swung the momentum back in the Golden Bears favor sparked by a 37 yard fumble return by their defense. Both teams have certainly been underwhelming throughout the season and we might see some changes during the offseason of players or personnel.

#7 USC — 48 #16 UCLA — 45

The game of the weekend that did not disappoint whatsoever and delivered everything we thought it would was the battle for Los Angeles. Both teams combined to put up over 1,100 total yards of offense and each team held a double digit lead at different points during the game. Compared to the past few years for each program this was the best we have seen USC and UCLA look in quite some time. The X factor in this game was the fact that UCLA had four turnovers during this game, but that didn’t stop them from keeping it close until the very end. It’s unfortunate that both are electing to move to the Big Ten in the future because they have certainly helped the PAC-12 regain some respect nationally. Caleb Williams should absolutely be in the discussion to be a heisman finalist at this point.

#17 Washington — 54 Colorado — 7

An absolute thrashing took place in Seattle as Washington dismantled Colorado for their final home game in head coach Kalen DeBoer’s first season with the Huskies. This was almost like a tune-up game for Washington before their big road showdown next week with Washington State as they were able to work on different things on both sides of the ball during this game. The Huskies were up 47-0 late in the third quarter before Colorado got their first score of the game. Washington put up 575 yards of offense as quarterback Michael Penix continues to look like one of the better quarterbacks in the country that not a lot of people are talking about.

#12 Oregon — 20 #10 Utah — 17

A night game in late November, on the West Coast, in one of the best game environments in the country was a close game filled with drama from start to finish. Coming into this game, we weren’t 100% sure if we were going to see quarterback Bo Nix or not, but even hobbling around and not being able to take off and run with the ball, still led his team to a win. Nix went 25/37 for 287 yards and one touchdown on the night while Utah quarterback Cam Rising had one of his more disappointing games in his career going 21/38 for 170 yards, no touchdowns, and three interceptions. On a night where the Utes’ defense showed up in prime time and limited this elite Ducks’ rushing attack to only 59 yards, they came up just short in the end.

After 12 weeks of predictions, my own personal record sits at a total of 66-19 for 77.6% after going 4-2 this past weekend.