With Week 12 of the Pac-12 slate in the books, the North is still undecided and will come down to the final weekend of the season.
Week 12 of the Pac-12 schedule is in the books, and for two teams, their quest for the conference title game is still within reach. It will be either Washington State or Stanford that take on the USC Trojans in the Pac-12 Championship Game, and that will be decided in Week 13. The Trojans are playing good football as of late, and have the week off before taking on either the Cougars or the Cardinal in the title game.
Washington State had the weekend off this past week and will take on Washington in the Apple Cup this weekend. If they win, they are in, but the Huskies will be no easy task to take on. Stanford will play host to Notre Dame, and if they can beat the Irish, and Washington State takes the loss, they will take on USC. The Cougars beat the Cardinal back in November, but that won’t matter if Washington State cannot get it done against Washington this weekend.
Here is a look at our latest Pac-12 power rankings.
It was another awful showing by the Oregon State Beavers, who were blown out by the Arizona State Sun Devils in front of their home crowd on Saturday. For the Beavers, it has been a mostly forgettable year, as they currently have only one win on the season, and that came against an FCS school. On Saturday, their defense had no answer for the rushing attack of Arizona State, as Demario Richard and Kalen Ballage ran all over them.
Quarterback Darell Garretson threw for 269 yards in the loss and failed to find the end zone through the air. Garretson did score on the ground, as did standout running back Ryan Nall, who finished with only 42 yards on 12 carries in the loss. Oregon State allowed over 450 yards of total offense to the Sun Devils, who looked like a juggernaut playing against the hapless Beavers.
There is only one game left on the slate for Oregon State, and it is a big one, as they take on the Oregon Ducks in the Civil War Rivalry Game. The Beavers actually pulled off a stunning upset against the Ducks last season, and are hoping to do the same in 2017. They have yet to win a game in the conference, and for a team with some promise heading into the season, it has been all downhill.
The Colorado Buffaloes had the week off in Week 12, and head into their final game of the season looking to put one in the win column. With a win, the Buffaloes will be bowl eligible for the second year in a row, though last season was much more of a success. Colorado actually won the Pac-12 South Division in 2016 but has looked nothing like that team this season.
Colorado has lost three of their last four games and will have to hit the road to take on Utah this weekend. The team actually started the year out with a 3-0 record, and some actually believed they may make noise in the South Division for the second straight season. They were inconsistent, and should be much better than their 5-6 record would indicate.
Steven Montez has had an up and down season at quarterback for Colorado, but when he is on, he has the talent to be one of the better signal-callers in the conference. Phillip Lindsay has been a beast at running back all season long, rushing for over 1,400 yards and 13 touchdowns on the year. This team has enough weapons to play with anybody, but for some reason, they just have not been able to put it all together enough weeks in a row to be a contender in the conference in 2017.