This Week in Pac-12 Football - Week 7

10/14/2026 3:00:00 PM

By: Pac-12 Conference

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WEEK 7 SCHEDULE (all times PT)

Thursday, October 15
Colorado State at Texas State 5pm CBS Sports Net
John Sadak, Randy Cross

Saturday, October 17
Washington State at Oregon State 3pm USA Network
Nate Gatter, Ryan Leaf, Lauren Green

Fresno State at San Diego State 7:30pm CBS Sports Net
Rich Waltz, Adam Breneman, Jordan Giorgio

AROUND THE PAC-12
WEEK 3: Through 2 weeks in conference play, the home teams are just 4-3 with the winning team averaging 38.7 PPG. Boise State and Utah State are on their bye but Week 3 consists of 2 rivalry games and 1 first-time matchup.

Thursday night gives us the first-ever meeting between Colorado State and Texas State with both teams coming off their bye week. This will be the Bobcats first conference home game as a member of the Pac-12.
Conference rivals since 1917 and a series that began in 1903, Washington State holds a 58-50-3 advantage in their historic rivalry with Oregon State. These 2 have faced off 3 times in the last 2 seasons with the Beavers winning both meetings in Corvallis by 3 points each.
The night cap on Saturday night is the Battle for the Old Oil Can with Fresno State and San Diego State, a series that began in 1923 (although the trophy was introduced in 2011). The Aztecs have won the last 2 meetings including a 23-0 victory in Fresno last season, the first shutout in the rivalry by either team since 1998. The teams have split the last 6 meetings in San Diego with a winning margin of at least 10 points in each of the last 5.

POLL WATCHING: Boise State once again checks in at #23 in AP Top 25, their 3rd straight week ranked in that poll while also entering the AFCA Coaches Poll for the first time this season at #24. Oregon State received votes in both polls for the first time this season while both schools were ranked in the Top 30 of The Athletic’s ranking of all 138 FBS teams with the Broncos at #18 and Beavers at #30, the only schools from a non-autonomous conference in their Top 30.

HIGH FIVE: Through 6 weeks of the regular season, the Pac-12 continues to prove it being one of the Top 5 conferences in college football. Taking a look inside the analytics….

Average SP+ of 81.1 - 5th best among FBS leagues
- only non-autonomous conference with 3 schools in Top 58
Average FPI of 79.1 - 5th best among FBS leagues
- only non-autonomous conference with 3 schools in Top 64
Average Strength of Record (ESPN) of 84.3 - 5th best among FBS leagues
- 2 schools in Top 46 and 3 in Top 64
Average Strength of Schedule (ESPN) of 64.5 - 5th best among FBS leagues
- 3 schools in Top 51 and all 8 schools in Top 85
According to SportSource Analytics, have 3rd best SOS among conferences (60.5)
- 3 schools in Top 50 and 7 schools in Top 80
According to SportSource Analytics, have 5th best average Team Strength Ranking (73.4)
- Only non-autonomous conference with 2 teams in Top 30
9-4 against FBS teams from outside the autonomous conferences, the highest win% (.692) by a non-autonomous conference against other non-autonomous conferences
- The Pac-12 went 3-0 against the Mountain West, 3-2 against the American, 2-1 against the MAC and 1-1 against the Sun Belt during non-conference play

THE A TRAIN: For the 2nd straight week and 3rd time this season, Oregon State QB Braden Atkinson took home Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors after completing 29-of-38 passes (76.3%) for 409 yards with 5 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in the 66-14 win over San Diego State. Atkinson became just the 4th FBS QB this century to have 400+ pass yards with 5+ pass TD and 0 INT in back-to-back games to join Dillon Gabriel (2020 UCF), Joe Burrow (2019 LSU) and Jared Goff (2015 Cal). The 2025 Jerry Rice Award winner has 3 games this season with 5+ pass TD, 1 of just 2 FBS QB with multiple games with 5+ pass TD this season (Pitt’s Mason Heintschel, 2). In fact, the only FBS QB to have 3 games with 5+ pass TD last season was Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza who did it in 16 games with Indiana. Also for the 2nd straight week, Atkinson was named a Manning Award Star of the Week and to the Davey O’Brien Great 8 list - both as one of the nation’s top QB’s in Week 6.

Atkinson now leads the country in passing yards (2,257), pass YPG (376.2), pass TD (21), total offense (373.7 YPG) and points responsible for (146). He’s thrown for 300+ yards in all 6 games, one short of Sean Mannion’s school record of 7 straight in 2013 and is the only FBS QB this season with back-to-back games with 400+ pass yards.

SIXTH SENSE: Make it a half dozen for #12 as Oregon State WR Jesse Legree took home Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for the 6th straight time. It's not only the most times a player has won the league’s freshman award but it's the most any player has won any Pac-12 weekly award in one season. In fact, Legree is just one shy of tying the most Pac-12 weekly awards in a career with 7, held by Oregon QB Bo Nix, Stanford kicker Joshua Karty and Arizona State kicker Zane Gonzalez.

Legree had 10 catches for 191 yards and 3 touchdowns in the win over SDSU, making him 1 of 3 FBS players this season to reach all numbers in one game this season (Miami’s Malachi Toney vs Stanford & Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith vs Illinois) and just 1st Beaver to do it since Mike Haas has 12 catches for a school-record 293 yards and 3 scores against Boise State in 2004. The true freshman set the school record with 6 straight games with 100+ receiving yards and is the only OSU player in at least 30 seasons to have multiple games with 3+ receiving TD in one season.

Legree leads FBS in receiving yards (932), receiving yards per game (155.3) and receiving TD (12) while ranking 2nd in the country in yards per reception (24.53). He was also named On3 Freshman of the Week for the 2nd time this season.

LIFE OF RILEY: Along with the nation’s leading passer and receiver, the Pac-12 is home to the nation’s leading rusher in Boise State RB Dylan Riley. Riley had 150 rush yards on just 19 carries plus 64 yards on 4 receptions with a pair of touchdowns (1 rush, 1 rec) to be a part of the Paul Hornung Award Honor Roll for Week 6 as one of the nation’s most versatile players. Riley is the only player in FBS this season with 3 games of 150+ rush yards and his 72-yard touchdown run against Fresno State made him the only player in FBS this season with 3 runs of 70+ yards. His 44-yard reception was his first TD catch of the season and 2nd longest of his career. This was the 2nd time in his career that Riley has had both a rushing TD and receiving TD in the same game (2025 at Air Force).

LINE IT UP: Those blocking for Riley and company also were recognized this week as Boise State was named PFF College’s Offensive Line of the Week. The OL allowed just 2 pressures on 36 pass-blocking snaps and RG Roger Carreon was named to PFF’s National Team of the Week as the highest rated at his position nationally. The Broncos did it without starting LG Carson Rasmussen as Jason Steele and Zander Esty filled in. Carreon was joined by Oregon State WR Jesse Legree on PFF’s national team of the week with his QB Braden Atkinson also gaining recognition.

FLY WITH HAWK: For the 2nd straight week and 3rd time this season, San Diego State’s Jaylon Hawkins sped away with the Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week. Hawkins returned a kick for a 97-yard touchdown for his 3rd kick return TD of the season. He’s the first FBS player to return a kickoff for a touchdown in back-to-back games since Kentucky’s Barion Brown in November 2023 and ties the school record for kick return touchdowns in a season with Rashaad Penny in 2015. Hawkins added a 43-yard reception, the Aztecs lone explosive play on offense, which set up SDSU’s other touchdown against Oregon State.

STATE-MENT GAME: A career-game by LB Asher Cunningham led to a stunning comeback for Utah State for their first Pac-12 win and earned Cunningham both the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week and Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week. Trailing 16-3 at halftime, Cunningham had 2 forced fumbles, one he recovered himself, which both led to touchdowns in a 17-16 victory. The Elon transfer added a career-high 17 tackles and half a sack to become 1 of just 15 FBS players since at least 2005 to have 17+ tackles and 2 forced fumbles in a game - the last coming in 2020 (Arizona State’s Evan Fields at USC). Utah State’s David Woodward had 24 tackles and 2 forced fumbles in 2019 for a road game at Wake Forest. It’s the 2nd time in the last 3 weeks an Aggie has won the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week after Brevin Hamblin was honored following Week 4.

PAC PRIMERS
Boise State

Spencer Danielson, who was named to the Dodd Trophy Midseason Watch List for National Coach of the Year, and the Broncos head to their bye week on a 5-game win streak, having outscored their opponents 183-100 in that span (+16.6 AVG). Those wins include 3 victories over FPI Top 80 teams with the highest rated team in the American Conference (Memphis, #54) and the MAC (Western Michigan, #76) plus the 3rd highest in the Pac-12 (Fresno St, #64). South Dakota meanwhile is the #9 team in the latest FCS rankings.
QB Maddux Madsen had another solid performance against Fresno State, completing 23-of-34 for 238 yards and 2 touchdowns without an interception. Madsen has 166 pass attempts this season without an interception, the most in FBS this season, and the only QB in Boise State history to start 6 straight games in the same season without an INT. The 5th year quarterback has 4 straight games with multiple pass TD and is 16-1 in conference games as a starting QB.
RB Sire Gaines made his return after missing the previous 2 games due to injury. Gaines put up season highs with 20 carries and 120 yards while adding his 3rd rushing TD on the season. It’s the 4th time in his career that the 3rd year running back has topped 100 yards on the ground and the 2nd consecutive game in which he’s played after grinding out 102 against South Dakota. This was the 2nd game this season Boise State has had 2 players rush for 100+ yards in the same game, the first time since 2022 they’ve done that in multiple games in one season.

Colorado State

Jim Mora’s squad looks to get back to their winning ways coming off the bye week, having lost 3 straight since starting 2-0. Their 3 losses came to teams that are a combined 14-3 with all 3 opponents sitting in the Top 75 of FPI: BYU (14th), UTSA (74th) and Oregon State (49th). Colorado State started the season 2-0 for the first time since 2011.
Even with starting QB Hauss Hejny out for most of the last 3 games, Colorado State has one of the most explosive offenses in the country. The Rams are 26th in passing offense at 273.2 YPG and 27th in scoring offense (37.4 PPG). CSU already has 14 pass TD after having just 15 all of last season and 3 games with 35+ points after doing it 4 times the previous 2 seasons combined. Their 6.67 yards per play rank 25th in the country with 19 scrimmage plays of 30+ yards (T-5th in FBS), after having 18 all of last season. The Rams also have 2 games with 500+ yards, including 678 against Southern Utah, after reaching 500 yards only once the previous 3 seasons combined.
This will be the first full game with Defensive Coordinator Kenny McClendon calling plays. McClendon was with Mora at Connecticut the last 4 seasons as the Huskie’s Defensive Line Coach and played DL at Central Michigan from 2009-13. The Rams have forced 11 turnovers so far this season, tied for 10th most in the country including 7 interceptions. CB CJ Blocker became the first CSU player with an INT in 3 straight games since Jack Howell in 2022.

Fresno State

The Bulldogs set a new school record with 43,086 fans at Valley Children’s Stadium for last week’s Boise State game. Fresno State is averaging 40,762 fans per game, 100.09% of capacity, the highest of any school from a non-autonomous league and ahead of 14 schools from the 4 autonomous conferences.
Playing without leading rusher Rayshon Luke, QB Jayden Mandal went 19-of-33 for 218 yards with 2 pass TD, a rush TD and 0 interceptions. Since throwing a pick in the 1st quarter of the season opener, Mandal has gone 155 attempts without an INT to tie the 8th longest streak in program history. This was also the 3rd time in the last 5 games that the 3rd year QB has thrown multiple TD passes.
Matt Entz’s squad has stood out this season with 2 statistics in the “don’t beat yourself” category, penalties and turnovers. The Bulldogs have committed just 27 penalties in 6 games, tied for 18th fewest in FBS this season. Meanwhile their 3 turnovers are tied for 12th lowest in FBS and their +8 turnover margin is tied for 5th in the country.

Oregon State

JaMarcus Shephard’s team has won 4 straight games, outscoring their opponents 207-64 (+35.8 PPG). The Beavers have scored 52+ points in 3 of the last 4 games and scored 50+ points in consecutive games for the first time since the opening 2 contests of the 1921 season. OSU also is coming off back-to-back games with 600+ total yards for the first time in program history and just the 2nd time they’ve had 2 games with 600+ yards in the same season (2012).
Oregon State has 34 passing plays of 20+ yards this season, tied with USC for most in FBS this season. While Jesse Legree is tied for the FBS lead with 16 of them, he’s not alone. WR Aaron Butler and TE Eric Olsen have 4 each while WR Bubba Hampton has 3. Separately, RB AJ Newberry has 5 runs of 20+ yards, tied for 2nd most in the Pac-12 this season.
QB Maalik Murphy hauled in his first career reception last week for a 2-yard touchdown, joining starting QB Braden Atkinson who had a 4-yard TD on his first career reception in Week 2 against Texas Tech. They are the first Pac-12 team in at least the last 30 seasons to have multiple QB catch a touchdown pass in a season and now the 3rd time an OSU quarterback has had a receiving touchdown in that span, joining Tristan Gebbia (2020).

San Diego State

The Aztecs return home this week where they are 8-1 in the Sean Lewis era with 7 of the wins by 10+ points. SDSU has held 5 of those opponents to 7 or less points with a pair of shutouts. The defense has forced 15 turnovers in those 9 games including 6 in their 3 home games this season.
LB Sione Hala continues to rack up tackles in his 1st season with the Aztecs. The Weber State transfer had 10 tackles (5 solo) with 1.5 TFL and a sack last week against Oregon State, the 4th time in 6 games he’s had 10+ tackles. Hala leads the Pac-12 and is 6th in FBS with 10.2 tackles per game.
Kicker Cooper DiLeva has been perfect on the season so far, making all 4 of his field goal attempts and all 15 of his extra point attempts. DiLeva is 1 of 11 FBS QB this season to be 100% in both categories this season while attempting at least 4 field goals and at least 15 extra points.

Texas State

The Bobcat offense has been prolific this season, ranking 3rd in total offense (531.6 YPG) and 5th in rushing offense (263.6). GJ Kinne’s team enters Thursday’s game with 3 straight games of 500+ yards total offense, 1 of 4 FBS teams to do that this season. Texas State also topped 300 yards rushing against North Texas and Incarnate Word, joining Boise State as the only FBS teams to have back-to-back games with 300+ rush yards this season.
Texas State is 15-7 at home in the 3+ seasons under Kinne and averaging 40 PPG in those 22 games while topping 500 total yards 10 times. In the 10 home games that QB Brad Jackson has played, he’s thrown for 20 touchdowns with 11 more on the ground while completing 70.8% of his passes. 9 of those 20 passing touchdowns have come in the last 2 home games.
RB Torrance Burgess Jr. enters the week ranked 5th in the country with 122.8 rush yards per game and looking to become just the 2nd Bobcat to top 100 yards a game since their move to FBS in 2012 (Ismail Mahdi 102.4 in 2023). Burgess is 9th in the country with 7.31 yards per carry and is 1 of 4 players in FBS with 3 runs of 60+ yards.

Utah State

The Aggies pulled out a 17-16 come-from-behind victory over Washington State last Friday despite putting up 236 total yards on offense. It’s their 3rd lowest total in a victory over the last 30 seasons and lowest since they won at Wyoming 24-16 in 2018 with just 194 yards of offense. It's 1 of 11 times this season an FBS team has won a game with less than 250 yards of total offense. The Aggie defense allowed just 257 total yards, the 2nd time this season they’ve held their opponent under 300 yards. Bronco Mendenhall’s squad allowed 0 points and just 64 total yards in the 2nd half against Washington State.
WR Eli Wood caught 6 passes for 84 yards and a touchdown against Washington State and this week was added to the Biletnikoff Award Watch List for the nation’s top receiver. Wood is 2nd in the Pac-12 with 36 catches and is 1 of 10 players in FBS this season with 5 games with 6+ catches. The Virginia transfer has 5 of Utah State’s 7 TD receptions this season and has a TD catch in 3 straight games.
Punter Landon Rehkow had 2 punts downed inside the 20-yard line against Washington State, his 5th straight game with 2+ punts downed inside the 20. According to PFF College, Rehkow ranks tied for 3rd in FBS with 15 punts downed inside the 20 while his 4.32 second hang time is 4th best.

Washington State

Owen Eshelman has been named starting QB ahead of this week’s game at Oregon State, taking over for Caden Pinnick. After sitting out last season, Eshelman has seen action in only 1 game this season (2 snaps vs Duquesne) but has yet to attempt a pass. The 3-star recruit was the #59 QB in the 247 Composite for the Class of 2025.
Kirby Moore’s squad is 1 of just 2 FBS schools, along with Notre Dame, to have faced 3 teams from autonomous conferences (Washington, Kansas State, Arizona) and the only FBS team to open the season with 2 road games against teams from autonomous leagues.
Kicker Jack Stevens went 3-for-3 on field goals against Utah State and has now made 6 straight attempts since starting the season 1-for-6. All 3 of his kicks against the Aggies were from 40+ yards, becoming the first Cougar since College Football Hall of Famer Jason Hanson in 1991. Stevens is 1 of 11 FBS kickers this season who has made multiple field goals of 50+ yards.

PAC-12 IN THE WEEKLY NATIONAL RANKINGS

(AP, Coaches, CFP- starting Nov. 3)

	Boise St	Colorado St	Fresno St	Oregon St	San Diego St	Texas St	Utah St	Wash St
Pre	RV/RV	-	-	-	- /RV	-	-	-
Sept. 8	RV/RV	-	-	-	- /RV	-	-	-
Sept. 13	RV/RV	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sept. 20	RV/RV	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sept. 27	22/RV	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Oct. 5	23/RV	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Oct. 12	23/24	-	-	RV/RV	-	-	-	-

(S&P+, The Athletic, CBS Sports 138)

	Boise St	Colorado St	Fresno St	Oregon St	San Diego St	Texas St	Utah St	Wash St
Pre	49/21/43	107/115/101	73/57/75	89/116/94	65/43/71	77/82/85	96/104/97	86/83/88
Sept. 8	51/21/31	98/101/79	100/81/95	90/111/94	58/44/65	101/83/96	108/137/102	79/77/82
Sept. 13	48/23/27	95/101/77	75/82/76	84/85/71	72/47/54	90/87/88	99/133/96	97/83/99
Sept. 20	47/22/26	96/102/76	71/77/95	79/66/59	78/78/56	91/69/79	106/133/94	89/83/98
Sept. 27	47/17/28	87/103/77	70/74/95	65/62/59	100/99/69	76/69/79	105/118/94	106/83/98
Oct. 5	40/19/25	103/106/76	60/66/95	58/55/50	100/84/65	73/85/78	107/119/94	108/98/98
Oct. 12	42/18/31	103/107/115	58/69/50	51/30/37	109/102/109	70/84/91	105/117/119	111/120/123