Pac-12 power rankings: USC can crush Washington’s playoff hopes
By Brad Weiss
This past week, the UCLA Bruins got some terrible news, as they will have to go the rest of the way without their star quarterback. Josh Rosen will miss the rest of the season for the Bruins with an injury, and the team will now have to turn to senior Mike Fafaul. UCLA is only 1-5 in conference play this season, which is not where they expected to be during the preseason, when people were talking about them challenging for the Pac-12 championship.
The issue this season has been the play of the running backs, who have done nothing to take the pressure off of Rosen and Fafaul. During the team’s loss to No. 15 Colorado this past week, the Bruins rushed for only 25 yards in the entire game, leading to their first loss against the Buffaloes in Pac-12 play. UCLA will have to win out if they hope to remain bowl eligible this season.
The bright spot for the Bruins on Saturday was the play of wide receiver Darren Andrews, who caught six balls for 88 yards and a touchdown. It has been a rough month or so for the Bruins as a unit, as they have not won a game since beating Arizona in the beginning of October. They will host Oregon State this week, whom they destroyed 41-0 on the road last season.
It has been a tale of two seasons for the Sun Devils, who raced out to a 5-1 record to start the season. Since then, Arizona State has dropped three straight games, and were blown out their last time out against the hapless Oregon Ducks. The bye could not have come any sooner, as they are poised to get their quarterback back this week.
Manny Wilkins has practiced this week, and is cleared to play against Utah this weekend. Utah boasts one of the better defenses in the Pac-12, so getting Wilkins back will be key for the Sun Devils. Arizona State is also expected to get back their star running back, as Demario Richard appears ready to come off of the shelf. Against Oregon, the Sun Devils were down 10 starters, so expect a better effort against Utah.
It will be a tough two-week stretch for the Sun Devils, who will play ranked teams in consecutive weeks. After playing against No. 13 Utah this week, they will take on No. 4 Washington next week, in what should be big tests for them this late in the season. After starting the season off so strong, it could be a terrible finish for Arizona State.
Cal had a tall order this past weekend, and they really did not put up much of a point. Playing against one of the best teams in the entire country, the Golden Bears were able to hang in early against the Washington Huskies, but did not have enough firepower to compete for 60 minutes. With the loss, they fell to 2-4 in the Pac-12 this season, and have now lost two straight conference games.
It was Cal’s first loss at home in their last six games, and it must have been a very frustrating loss for the Golden Bears. The score was 21-20 at one point, before the Huskies ran off 38 straight points. Washington got six touchdown passes from Jake Browning, who absolutely picked apart the Cal secondary all game long.
The defense for the Golden Bears has been terrible all season long, and came into the Washington game giving up over 41 points per game. With the 66 points allowed against Washington this past weekend, they tied a modern record for most points allowed in a game by any team in school history. It does not get any easier this week, as they travel to play No. 23 Washington State.