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AROUND THE PAC-12
GAME THEMES: UTAH travels to WASHINGTON STATE where both teams still have postseason aspirations with the Utes needing two more wins and the Cougars just one more win to become bowl eligible... OREGON heads to Tucson where the Ducks and Wildcats have had a couple of shootouts in recent years. Oregon has won two of the last three in Tucson, averaging 41.3 points per game, while Arizona has averaged 35.3 points over that span... The 116th Big Game takes place on The Farm this year. The series has certainly had its ebbs and flows. STANFORD is riding a modest 3-game winning streak in the series. However, prior to that, CALIFORNIA had won seven of eight... South Division crown is on the line in Pasadena as ARIZONA STATE visits UCLA. A win by the Sun Devils and they’ll represent the South in the Pac-12 FCG. A win by the Bruins will put them firmly in the driver seat to control their own destiny... WASHINGTON at OREGON STATE pits the league’s top pass defense against the league’s top pass offense. The Huskies allow just 207.1 passing yards per game and have given up just 11 TDs through the air. The Beavers average 396.3 passing yards per game with 33 scoring strikes... COLORADO, coming off its first league victory of the season, looks to take advantage of the Boulder weather when USC visits Saturday. Game time temperatures are expected to be in the low 30s. The Trojans are holding on to a possibility of a South Division crown, while the Buffs need two wins to become bowl eligible.
PAC-12 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME SCENARIO:
North Division, OREGON controls its own destiny. Should Oregon win its final two conference games, it would be the North Division representative and host the Pac-12 Football Championship Game.
South Division, ARIZONA STATE and UCLA each control their own destiny. Should Arizona State defeat UCLA Saturday, it would represent the South in the Pac-12 Championship Game. UCLA would need to win its final two games to represent the South in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
STANFORD has a chance to represent the North, while USC also has hopes of a South Division title, but those two teams need help from others for that to happen.
Who can host? Each of the five teams mentioned above (Oregon, Stanford, Arizona State, UCLA and USC) have a chance to host. Oregon can host if it wins out. Arizona State can host if it wins out and Oregon loses one of its two remaining games. After that, too many “ifs” are needed for Stanford, UCLA and USC to host.
UTAH (4-6, 1-6) at WASHINGTON STATE (3-4, 5-5)
UTAH: The Utes held Oregon to 145 rushing yards for the game, which included just 10 first-half rushing yards. The Ducks entered the game averaging 301.6 yards rushing per game... Sophomore P Tom Hackett leads the Pac-12 with a 43.7 yard average. He’s placed 23 of his 63 punts inside the 20, including eight in side the 10-yard line... Junior WR Dres Anderson had four receptions for 37 yards, giving him 100 career receptions for 1,499 career yards.
WASHINGTON STATE: The Cougars had 10 or more receivers record a catch for the eighth straight game, and have had 10 or more receivers catch a pass in nine games this season... WSU recorded three conference road wins for the first time since 2006, five wins for the first time since 2007, and three conference wins for the first time since 2007... Junior QB Connor Halliday passed for 319 yards, giving him 3,417 for the season, third-most in WSU history. Halliday recorded his 12th career 300-yard game, seventh this season. Has completed 341 passes this season, most in WSU single-season history. His 435 pass attempts are second-most in WSU single-season history... Senior S Deone Bucannon made 11 tackles to up his career total to 366, fourth-most in WSU history. Bucannon tallied his 16th career double-digit tackle performance.
LAST MEETING (11/3/12): Reggie Dunn returned a kickoff 100 yards for the third time in two weeks and John White rushed for 101 yards and two touchdowns as Utah defeated Washington State, 49-6. Travis Wilson completed 17 of 21 passes for 171 yards, with two touchdowns.
No. 5 OREGON (9-1, 6-1) at ARIZONA (6-4, 3-4)
OREGON: Sophomore RB Byron Marshall needs nine yards to reach 1,000 rushing yards for the season. Should he reach that mark, he’d give the Ducks a 1,000-yard rusher in each of the last seven seasons... Sophomore QB Marcus Mariota has extended his Pac-12 record streak of pass attempts without an interception to 353 (old mark was 216 by USC’s Brad Otton from 1994-95). With 2,819 passing yards, Mariota is looking to be the fourth Oregon QB to pass for 3,000 yards in a season (Akili Smith, 1998 - 3,763 yds; Danny O’Neil, 1993 - 3,224 yds; Bill Musgrave, 1989 - 3,081 yds).
ARIZONA: Junior RB Ka’Deem Carey continues to carry the rushing load for the Wildcats as he posted 132 yards on 26 carries. Carey is second in the FBS, averaging 150.3 ypg. His career total of 3,707 yards is 117 yards shy of matching the school mark of 3,824 yards held by Trung Canidate... Freshman WR Trey Griffey, son of MLB’s Ken Griffey Jr., made his first career start and responded with four receptions for 45 yards.
LAST MEETING (9/22/12): Marcus Mariota threw for 260 yards and two touchdowns, including a 55-yard scoring pass to freshman Bralon Addison late in the third quarter, as No. 3 Oregon posted its first shutout of a conference opponent in nine years. The Ducks came up with four interceptions, including two by Ifo Ekpre-Olumu, with one returned 54 yards for a score.
CALIFORNIA (1-10, 0-8) at No. 10 STANFORD (8-2, 6-2)
CALIFORNIA: With one conference game remaining, the Bears look to avoid a winless league record for the first time since 2001, and just the second time since 1964... Freshman WR Kenny Lawler had a career-high 81 receiving yards on a career-high-tying six receptions... Sophomore WR Bryce Treggs caught an additional seven passes and now ranks fourth on Cal’s single-season list for receptions with 76, while sophomore WR Chris Harper ranks seventh on that list with 70 catches... Freshman QB Jared Goff was 23-for-45 for 173 yards at Colorado. Now with 3,324 yards through the air, Goff ranks second on Cal’s season passing yardage list. Pat Barnes is first with 3,499 yards in 1996.
STANFORD: Stanford extended its streak of forcing at least one turnover to 35-consecutive games. That ranks second nationally behind Missouri (39)... Stanford held USC to 23 rushing yards on 27 carries for a 0.9 average per carry. The Cardinal lead the league, and are third in the FBS in rushing defense (91.1 ypg)... The Cardinal are tied for fourth in the FBS with 32 sacks (3.20 per game). Senior LB Trent Murphy leads the FBS with 1.2 per game... Senior RB Tyler Gaffney rushed for 158 yards and two touchdowns. It was his fifth straight, and seventh career 100-yard rushing output. That’s tied for second-best in program history: Toby Gerhart - 7 (2009); Stepfan Taylor - 5 (2010).
LAST MEETING (10/20/12): Stepfan Taylor ran for a career-high 189 yards and a touchdown, and Stanford overwhelmed California 21-3. The Cardinal outgained the Bears 475-217 yards, outrushed them 252-3 yards to retain the coveted Axe. Stanford’s Zach Ertz had 6 receptions for 134 yards.
No. 19 ARIZONA STATE (8-2, 6-1) at No. 14 UCLA (8-2, 5-2)
ARIZONA STATE: Senior RB Marion Grice has 20 touchdowns on the season, and became the third Sun Devil in school history and just the 15th Pac-10/12 player in the past 36 seasons (1978-present) to do so. Grice has 901 rushing yards this season, just 99 yards shy of 1,000. The last Sun Devil back to hit the 1,000-yard mark was Cameron Marshall with 1,050 yards in 2011, and Grice would be only the third ASU back to hit the 1,000-yard mark since 2001 as Ryan Torain had 1,229 yards in 2006... The Sun Devils own the league’s best red zone offense (91.4%), having scored in 53 of 58 trips (37 TDs/16 FGs).
UCLA: The Bruins have won eight of the last 12 games in the series with Arizona State, including five of the last six games played in Pasadena... UCLA looks to go 6-0 at home for the first time since 2005... The Bruins picked up five touchdowns from defensive players in their win over Washington. Freshman LB-turned-RB Myles Jack rushed for four TDs, while DE Cassius Marsh saw action at TE and had his first career reception for an additional score.
LAST MEETING (10/27/12): Ka’imi Fairbairn kicked a 33-yard field goal as the game ended and UCLA escaped with a 45-43 victory in Tempe. There was more than 1,000 yards of offense in the contest - 535 for Arizona State, 486 for UCLA. UCLA’s Brett Hundley was 19-fo-29 for 274 yards and 4 TDs, while ASU’s Taylor Kelly was 25-of-35 for 315 yards and 4 TDs. The Bruins’ Johnathan Franklin added 164 yards on 26 carries.
WASHINGTON (6-4, 3-4) at OREGON STATE (6-4, 4-3)
WASHINGTON: Senior QB Keith Price tossed his 73rd career TD pass in the loss at UCLA, ninth most in Pac-12 history... Freshman QB Cyler Miles replaced an injured Price and responded by connecting on 15 of 22 attempts for 149 yards and a pair of TDs... Freshman WR Damore’ea Stringfellow posted eight catches for 147 yards and a score against the Bruins... With 1,396 rushing yards this season, senior RB Bishop Sankey could challenge the school single season mark (Corey Dillon, 1996 - 1,695 yards) if he meets his season average of 139.6 ypg through the rest of the year... Junior TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins is one of eight semifinalists for the John Mackey Award.
OREGON STATE: Junior QB Sean Mannion has thrown for 3,860 yards this season and needs 199 yards to set an OSU single-season mark... With 100 receptions this season, junior WR Brandin Cooks is now the Beavers’ single-season record holder and one of five Pac-12 players all-time to post 100 or more receptions in a season. His 1,443 receiving yards are eighth most on the Pac-12 single-season list. Cooks needs 90 yards to set the OSU single-season mark.
LAST MEETING (10/27/12): Travis Coons connected on a 30-yard field goal with 1:30 remaining to give the Huskies a 20-17 win in Seattle over the seventh-ranked Beavers. The Huskies picked off four passes by OSU’s Sean Mannion, who was returning from a two-game absence following knee surgery. Bishop Sankey rushed for 92 yards on 25 carries and picked up two TDs.
No. 23 USC (8-3, 5-2) at COLORADO (4-6, 1-6)
USC: The Trojans have won four in a row, five of their last six, including five straight Pac-12 wins... Sophomore QB Cody Kessler was 25-of-37 for 288 yards and 1 TD in the win over Stanford. Kessler is 56-of-78 (74.7%) over the last three games... USC used just two defensive substitutions vs. Stanford... Sophomore RB Javorius Allen has 450 all-purpose yards (298 rush/152 rec) over the last three games (150 per game) and 7 TDs.
COLORADO: Junior WR Paul Richardson now has 71 catches for 1,201 yards, 16.9 per, with nine TDs. He now holds CU’s mark for single-season receiving yards (old mark of 1,149 was set by Charles E. Johnson in 1992). He’s inching closer to the season reception mark of 78 (D.J. Hackett, 2003)... He pulled in 11 catches for 140 yards vs. Cal for his sixth 100-yard game of the season, tying the school record, and now has nine for his career... QB Sefo Liufau (36-23-1, 364, 3 TD; 143.3 rating) had his first multi-TD game; the 364 yards tied for the 16th most in a game in CU history, the second-most by a freshman: Koy Detmer had 418 against Oklahoma (Oct. 17, 1992).
LAST MEETING (10/20/12): Matt Barkley and Robert Woods had record-setting performances as No. 11 USC defeated Colorado, 50-6. Barkley threw a USC single game record-tying 6 TD passes, to become the Pac-12’s career TD pass recordholder (102). He completed 95.0% of his passes (19-of-20) to set the Pac-12 game mark for highest completion percentage (minimum 20 attempts). Woods had 8 recpetions for 132 yards to set the USC career receptions record (220) and the school single-game TD catch record (4, tying the Pac-12 record).