Pac-12 power rankings, Week 5: Oregon chokes, Stanford survives

Pac-12 power rankings, Week 5: Stanford surges, Oregon chokes, USC battles back

By Brad Weiss | Sep 25, 2018

EUGENE, OR - SEPTEMBER 22: Stanford University QB K.J. Costello (3) hands off to Stanford University RB Bryce Love (20) during a college football game between the Oregon Ducks and Stanford Cardinal on September 22, 2018, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon.(Photo by Brian Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

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SEATTLE, WA – SEPTEMBER 22: Manny Wilkins #5 of the Arizona State Sun Devils runs with the ball against Ariel Ngata #52 of the Washington Huskies in the second quarter during their game at Husky Stadium on September 22, 2018 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /

Coming off a loss the week before, the Arizona State Sun Devils had a golden opportunity to make some serious noise on the national level. The Sun Devils lost to San Diego State and their backup quarterback in Week 3, falling out of the top-25 but had a chance to beat the No. 10 team in the country on the road this past Saturday.

Unfortunately, the Sun Devils came out on the wrong side of the 27-20 matchup against the Washington Huskies, who just proved to be too much down the stretch. The Huskies were able to hold Sun Devils quarterback Manny Wilkins to a pretty pedestrian day by his standards and escaped with the home victory against Herm Edwards and company.

Arizona State hung in all game long against the Huskies and was only down by the score of 17-13 in the third quarter. After starting the season off at 2-0, the Sun Devils have now lost two straight games but should get healthy this weekend, as they play host to the 1-3 Oregon State Beavers.

The Arizona Wildcats got off to a rough start to the 2018 college football season, losing their first two games, and looking pretty bad on both sides of the ball. However, they have gotten back to .500 over the last two games, and after what we saw from JJ Taylor and the run game this past weekend against Oregon State, they could still be a player in the Pac-12 this season.

Taylor set a Reser Stadium record with 284 yards on the ground, as he led a unit that ended up racking up nearly 600 yards of total offense. The Wildcats got a solid performance out of quarterback Khalil Tate, who has been hampered by injuries this season, as he threw for 152 yards and two touchdowns against the Beavers defense.

While the Wildcats were able to cruise to an easy victory in this one, they did struggle a bit with discipline, as the penalties really kept Oregon State in the game. They have a real statement game coming up this weekend against USC, who is fresh off a home victory against Washington State, but now has to go to Arizona to take a Wildcats team that should be playing with a lot of confidence right now.

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