The Pac-12 had on real non-conference game in week four, and that was the Utah Ute’s trip to Michigan to play the Wolverines in the “Big House”. Utah concluded its non-conference schedule undefeated, after cruising to a 16 point victory over Michigan.
Early on in the game, Utah looked like it was in trouble when starting quarterback Travis Wilson went down with another injury. Utah struggled without Wilson however, and had a 13-10 lead at the half.
Wilson returned at the start of the second half and immediately led the Utes down the field for a touchdown to give Utah a 20-10 lead. Utah hit a pair of field goals to get the final margin, 26-10, in the fourth quarter. Then mother nature intervened;
Michigan Stadium is flooding due to heavy rains, which has postponed their game vs Utah http://t.co/0P2GXluKPW pic.twitter.com/l7lyvL82Yz
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 20, 2014
Tthe game was delayed for two hours by the lightning storm/monsoon because everyone waited for the field to drain. Once play resumed, there were hardly any Michigan fans left in their own stadium, as the Utah fans who traveled to the Big House got to cheer on their team for its biggest win since joining the Pac-12.
1) Oregon Ducks: Oregon rediscovered why it hates to play in Martin Stadium. The crowd was fired up, and so was the Cougar football team. WSU outplayed Oregon, but the Ducks used their superior talent level to make enough big plays and escape Pullman with a 38-31 win.
2) Stanford Cardinal: Bye week
3) UCLA Bruins: Bye week
4) Arizona State Sun Devils: Bye week.
5) USC Trojans: The Trojans had a bye week, but Washington played like crap against a terrible FCS foe. USC gets to jump a spot as a result.
6) Washington Huskies: The Huskies were trailing 14-0 to Georgia State at the half, that’s unforgivable. Yes Washington scored 45 points in the second half, but the Huskies had to keep their starters in late into the third quarter. That shouldn’t happen against a terrible FCS foe.
7) Utah Utes: The Utes dominated Michigan, even though mother nature helped slow down Utah’s offensive attack. It was a great win for the program, and an even bigger win for the Pac-12.
8) Oregon State Beavers: The Beavers finished the non-conference schedule undefeated, but for the third straight game the offense was unable to put the game away until late. Senior quarterback Sean Mannion broke the OSU career passing yardage record in the Beavers 28-7 victory over San Diego State.
9) Arizona Wildcats: The Wildcats needed a miracle to come back against the California Golden Bears, and that’s exactly what they got. Trailing by 26 points heading into the fourth quarter, Arizona outscored Cal 36-14 in the last 15 minutes of the game; with the game winning touchdown coming on this play.
10) California Golden Bears: Cal built a 22 point half time lead thanks to the play of sophomore quarter back Jared Goff. But it was all for not as Arizona scored 36 points in the fourth quarter to come back and win the ball game.
11) Washington State Cougars: The Cougars showed off their brand new white helmets, by wearing all white against No. 2 Oregon. WSU responded by dominating the Ducks, but lost anyway.
12) Colorado Buffaloes: Colorado beat Hawaii 21-12, and is now 2-2 (0-1) on the season.
Hey coach, did Oregon play well during its game against WSU?
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Categories: NCAA Football, Pac-12 Power Rankings
I’m good with the list except maybe the Huskies and Utah. Michigan is down but that’s a pretty good win in the big house. U Dub had trouble with Hawaii, and Eastern Washington scored 52 points on them. Throw in the horrendous 1st half against Georgia State and I think this team is going to have troubles now that the rest of their games are Conference ones. We’ll see.
Washington is still working out the kinks with a new staff, to get through the non-conference schedule undefeated is a good start with Peterson — I honestly expected them to lose to Easter, the Eagles are a good football team.
Utah is slowly turning me into a believer, hopefully the Utes can stay healthy and pick up some wins in conference play (except against the Cougs, of course).