Arizona (1-8, 1-5) ended the longest losing streak in the country when it upset Cal (3-6, 2-4) for its homecoming game on Saturday. The victory was Jedd Fisch’s first as Zona’s head coach and it was a huge weight off of the players’ shoulders.
“I remember that we were happy and we wanted to keep it going,” said defensive end Jalen Harris, who had three tackles in that game. “That’s what we plan on doing now.”
Brian J. Pedersen, Arizona Desert Swarm
The win came as the result of an eight play, 55-yard drive that saw the Michael Wiley punch it in on a 10-yard touchdown run with about 2:17 left on the clock. It was a grind of a drive that saw Arizona heavily rely on the run to eat-up clock while it moved the ball down field. Quarterback Will Plummer only had one pass attempt on the drive, but it was a doozy as it was for 19-yards to take the Wildcats to the Cal 25-yard line.
Plummer had previously injured his hand to the point where it was bleeding, but the third string quarterback toughed it out and finished the game by completing 57.1% of his passes for 129 yards with two interceptions. The freshmen was also Arizona’s leading rusher as he had 68 yards on 11 carries.
With the win, Arizona assured us that (for at least another season) the 2008 Washington Huskies are still the only 0-12 program in conference history.
1) Oregon Ducks
While Anthony Brown continued to struggle with decision making in the passing game, it ended up not mattering as the rain poured down at Husky Stadium on Saturday. No. 4 Oregon also didn’t need the passing game as it outscored Washington 23-7 in the final three quarters while the Ducks rolled up over 320-yards on the ground. It was pure domination that gave head coach Mario Cristobal a chance to talk some smack of his own in the post game presser.
2) Utah Utes
At 5-1 in conference play, Utah just need to win two of its final three games to win the Pac-12 South. The Utes absolutely demolished Stanford at home on Friday night in a fashion that showed how much the program had grown since it’s early season losses to BYU and San Diego State.
3) Washington State Cougars
The Cougs had a bye week after they demolished ASU in week eight. Next-up is a road trip to Eugene, Ore. to take on the No. 4 Ducks with both program’s hopes of a division title on the line.
4) Arizona State Sun Devils
ASU put the Trojans away with 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter in-route to a 31-16 home win to keep its slim hopes for a division title alive. Jayden Daniels had another rough game through the air as he threw two interceptions with completion percentage of 55% for 145 yards. At least Herm Edwards squad is guaranteed a bowl game now…right?
5) Oregon State Beavers
A season that had such promise four weeks ago has seen OSU’s dreams go up in smoke as they’ve gone 1-3 in its last four games. The overtime loss to Colorado was the second straight upset loss for the Beavers and they need one more win to reach their first bowl game since 2013. Fortunatley for Jonathan Smith’s program, Stanford is up next.
6) UCLA Bruins
A bye week came at the best time for UCLA as the Bruins have lost their last two games. Up next is a home game against Colorado, a win clinches bowl eligibility.
7) Washington Huskies
Jimmy Lake fired his offensive coordinator after the Huskies rolled up 166 yards of offense in the 26-16 loss to No. 4 Oregon. On top of that, the University has launched an investigation into the video of him hitting one of his players after shoving a coach and official (which went unflagged).
8) Colorado Buffaloes
A three-point win over a Oregon State squad that has struggled over the last couple of weeks had to feel good for a Colorado program that had looked almost as helpless as Arizona had throughout the majority of the season. Even though the Buffs gave up a 60-yard field goal to tie the game and send it to overtime, they managed to shut down the Beavers when they needed to for their second conference win.
9) Stanford Cardinal
Stanford got its ass absolutely handed to it on Friday night in Salt Lake City, Utah. The 52-7 score was closer than it actually should have been, thanks to a scoreless third quarter for the Utes, and the Cardinal had absolutely no answer for anything Utah did on either side of the ball. At this point, it would be irresponsible for Stanford to not apply a bit of heat to David Shaw’s seat — the only reason the Cardinal didn’t drop more is the upheaval below it.
10) California Golden Bears
California had 24 players isolated on COVID protocol that only Berkley, Calif. has required; this included quarterback Chase Garbers and six other starters. The back-ups were clearly not ready for the game, and the coaching staff was clearly short staffed as it was also missing five coaches for the same asinine reason. With three games left, Cal needs to win out to get back to a bowl game.
11) Arizona Wildcats
12) USC Trojans
For the first time in the history of our rankings, if you want to double check this feel free, USC is at the bottom of the conference following its 15-point loss at the hands of Arizona State. The once vaunted program is clearly in need of a rebuild despite the talent advantage it has over the majority of the conference.
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Photo Credit: Arizona Football
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Categories: NCAA, NCAA Football, Pac-12 Power Rankings
