By: Pac-12 Conference

Full release here
 

WEEK 6 SCHEDULE (all times PT)

Friday, October 9

Washington State at Utah State                          6pm            The CW

    Chris Fisher, Isaiah Stanback, Brian Walters

 

Saturday, October 10

San Diego State at Oregon State                       3pm            USA Network

    Nate Gatter, Ryan Leaf, Lauren Green    

 

Boise State at Fresno State                               7:30pm        The CW

    Rick Allen, Will Blackmon, Michael Bumpus

 

AROUND THE PAC-12

WEEK 2 STARTS FRIDAY:  In Week 1 of Pac-12 play, the winning team in the 4 matchups averaged 37.5 PPG.  Week 2 brings the bye for Colorado State and Texas State while the other 6 programs all have some familiar matchups.

• Friday night in Logan is a re-match of last year’s Famous Idaho Potato Bowl where Washington State knocked off Utah State in 34-21 in the Aggies final game before joining the Pac-12.  The Cougars put up 628 yards of offense including 334 through the air from QB Zevi Eckhaus to push the series lead to 4-2 in favor of WSU.  This will be the 2nd time these 2 teams will tangle in Logan with the Cougars picking up a 46-6 victory in 1950. 

• The early game on Saturday features all 4 winners from the Pac-12 Players of the Week in Week 5. San Diego State and Oregon State have met 7 times before with the Beavers winning the last 5, including 21-0 victory in Snapdragon Stadium in 2024.   The Aztecs are 0-3 all-time in Corvallis but do have wins in Portland (1975) and San Diego (1972).

• Saturday’s nightcap pits Boise State and Fresno State in a rivalry battle for the Milk Can.  While the Broncos enjoy a 17-10 lead in the series history, the Bulldogs have won the last 3 meetings including a 30-7 victory last season when Matt Entz’s defense held Boise State to 193 total yards.

 

POLL WATCHING:  For the 2nd straight week, Boise State finds themselves ranked in the AP Top 25, sitting at #23 in that poll.  The Broncos also are the highest ranked team outside the 4 autonomous conferences in both The Athletic’s poll (#19) and the CBS 138 (#25).

 

HIGH FIVE:  For the 5th straight week, Oregon State WR Jesse Legree was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week after grabbing 5 catches for 156 yards and 3 touchdowns.  The Baltimore native has 9 receiving touchdowns this season, tied with Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith for most in FBS, and becomes just the 3rd FBS player to have 9+ in their first 5 career games alongside Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree (2007) and Marshall’s Randy Moss (1997).  He’s 2nd in the country in receiving yards (741) and receiving YPG (148.2) and tied the OSU record for consecutive games with 100+ receiving yards held by Biletnikoff Award winners Mike Hass (2005) and Brandin Cooks (2013).

 

2 of Legree’s 3 touchdowns against Colorado State were for 50+ yards and now owns 4 receptions of 50+ yards this season, tied for most in FBS.  Oregon State had just 2 catches of 50+ yards as a team the previous 2 seasons combined.  Legree also matches Arizona QB Noah Fifita (2023) for the most Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors in a season and was also 1 of 14 players added to the Biletnikoff Award Watchlist for the nation’s best receiver (which already includes the Texas State duo of Chris Dawn Jr. & Beau Sparks).

 

AIRING IT OUT:  Plenty of accolades for the Oregon State QB Braden Atkinson as well who not only took home Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for the 2nd time this season but was also honored nationally as part of both the Davey O’Brien Great 8 and the Manning Award Stars of the Week.  Atkinson had more passing touchdowns (5) than incompletions (3) in the Beavers 56-26 win over Colorado State with a season-high 427 passing yards.  He became the first OSU QB with multiple games of 400+ pass yards in a season since Sean Mannion in 2013 and the first to have 5 straight games with 300+ since Mannion did it in the first 7 games of that season.  Atkinson leads the nation with 1,848 pass yards, 369.6 pass YPG and 27.4 compilations per game while sitting 2nd in FBS with 16 passing touchdowns.  He tied his season high with the 5 passing touchdowns, becoming the first Beaver to have multiple games with 5+ passing TD since Jake Luton in 2019.

 

The OSU QB completed his first 16 passes of the game to set a school record for consecutive completions at any point in a game and by going 31-of-34 (91.2%) became the first Beaver in at least the last 30 seasons to complete 90% of his passes with 10+ completions.  In fact, he’s 1 of just 14 QBs in FBS since at least 1995 to complete 90% of their passes with 30+ completions in a game and the 2nd one to do it this season (Arizona’s Noah Fifita 31-34 vs. Northern Illinois)

 

FILLING THE GAP:  Filling in for injured captain Tano Letuli, San Diego State LB Cameron Cooper had a game worthy of both conference and national honors.  Cooper had both a Pick 6 and blocked field goal in the Aztecs 31-29 come-from-behind victory over Texas State.  Cooper became the 1st SDSU player to be named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week and the 1st Aztec to win Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week since Kameron Kelly in Week 3 of 2017.  The Western Colorado (Div. II)  transfer added a career-high 7 tackles as SDSU became just the 6th team in at least the last 30 years to win a game where they were outgained by 300+ yards (565-239).

 

RETURN OF THE KING:  Cooper’s teammate, WR/KR Jaylon Hawkins was named the Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week for the 2nd time this season, becoming the first repeat winner of this award in 2026.  Trailing 17-3 at the half, Hawkins returned the opening kickoff of the 3rd quarter 96 yards for the touchdown to help the Aztecs match their 4th largest 2nd half comeback in the program's D1 history since 1969.  The redshirt freshman is one of 2 players in FBS this season with multiple kick return TD and the 4th SDSU player to ever do it after his 100-yard return in Week 1 which also earned him the conference’s weekly honors.

 

BACK IN FOCUS:  Utah State LB Asher Cunningham was named to the PFF College National Team of the Week after matching his career-high with 11 tackles (6 solo) against Boise State.  Others recognized by PFF outside of their national team include Jesse Legree and Washington State LT Ashton Tripp.

 

PAC PRIMERS

Boise State

• The Bronco defense continues to be a menace on “money downs”, last week holding Utah State to 4-13 on 3rd downs and 1-3 on 4th down.  Boise State ranks 6th in the country on 3rd down defense, allowing just 14 conversions on 56 attempts (25.0%) and 4th in 4th down defense with just 1 conversion on 12 attempts (8.3%).  Spencer Danielson’s defense had 6 sacks against Utah State, their most since the 2024 MWC champ game, and LB Jake Ripp returned an interception 21 yards for a score - the Broncos 6th Pick 6 since Nov. 1, 2024 which is tied for 3rd most in FBS during that span. 

• RB Dylan Riley had 93 yards on the ground and 2 touchdowns against Utah State to snap his streak of 3 straight games with 100+ yards but leads FBS with 685 rush yards this season.  Riley is 2nd in FBS with 137.0 rush yards per game this season which would be the 3rd most in BSU’s FBS history behind Heisman runner-up Ashton Jeanty (185.8 YPG in 2024) and Fiesta Bowl hero Ian Johnson (142.8 in 2006).

• QB Maddux Madsen continued his efficient play on the season with 244 pass yards and 2 pass TD for his 4th straight game with 200+ yards and 3rd straight with multiple pass TD.  On the season, Madsen has thrown 132 passes without an interception, the 4th most in FBS in 2026 and is the only Boise State starting QB in their FBS era to not throw an interception through the first 5 games of the season.

 

Colorado State

• The Rams saw a Canvas Stadium record 41,000 fans for last week’s game with Oregon State and lead the Pac-12 with an average attendance of 39,014 and are at 106.9% of capacity on the season as the stadium seats 36,500.  It’s an increase of over 7,000 fans per game in Jim Mora’s first season after averaging 31,901 for their 7 home games last year.

• Before leaving the Oregon State game in the 1st half, RB Mel Brown had 3 carries for 63 yards with a 17-yard TD and a 46-yard run.  It was the 4th run of 40+ yards for Brown this season, tied for most in FBS this season.  In his place, Durell Robinson picked up 117 yards on 21 carries and a touchdown.  It's the 3rd 100-yard game of Robinson’s career with the other 2 coming in 2024 for UConn.  Robinson also has 4 rushing TD over the last 3 games.

• With starting QB Hauss Hejny out again this past week, K’saan Farrar filled in admirably once again, completing 17-of-27 passes for 178 pass yards with a pass TD and a rush TD.  It was the first time in his 6 career games that he’s had a pass TD and rush TD in the same game.

 

Fresno State

• After 4 straight wins, the Bulldogs are off to a 4-1 start for the 2nd straight season under Matt Entz.  It's the first time Fresno State has started 4-1 or better through 5 games since doing it 3 straight years from 1989-91.  Entz is the 3rd Fresno State head coach to start 4-1 or better in their first 2 seasons, joining James Bradhshaw (1936-37) and Leo Harris (1933-34).  The Bulldogs have outscored their opponents 139-43 in the last 4 games.

• The Fresno State defense was stout against Washington State, allowing just 182 total yards which is their fewest against an FBS opponent since holding New Mexico State to 138 yards in 2024.  The Cougars managed just 30 yards on the ground, the least by a Fresno State FBS opponent since Idaho had 13 yards in 2010.  DL Dylan Hampsten had 1.5 of the team’s 5 sacks while LB Justin Johnson had his first career interception.  The Bulldogs have 7 interceptions on the season, T-6th in FBS, and their +8 turnover margin is tied for 3rd best in the country.

• During the team’s 4-game win streak, QB Jayden Mandal has thrown for 957 yards (239.3 YPG) with 6 TD, 0 INT and completing 68.9% of his passes.  Mandal has now gone 122 straight pass attempts without an interception, the longest streak since Jake Haener in 2022.  Mandal has added 128 yards on the ground and another touchdown during the win streak.

 

Oregon State

• JaMarcus Shephard's Beavers put up 56 points and 650 total yards in their win over Colorado State, the 7th highest single-game yardage in program history.  It’s the first time they’ve reached 650 yards since 2012 (683 vs Nicholls St) and first time against an FBS opponent since 2005 (654 vs Arizona).  The 30-point margin of victory (56-26) was their largest away from home since a 32-point win at Cal (49-17) in 2013.

• While the Atkinson-Legree combo has gotten plenty of attention in the passing game, TE Eric Olsen is quietly putting up big numbers.  Olsen had career-high 9 catches for 65 yards and a pair of touchdowns against Colorado State for his first career multi-TD game.  His 24 receptions this season rank 4th among FBS tight ends and is tied for 4th most receptions at any position in the Pac-12 this season.

• LB Takari Hickle tied a career-high with  2 tackles for loss at Colorado State and dating back to last season now has 9 straight games with at least 1 TFL.  Hickle leads the Pac-12 and T-14th in FBS with 7.5 TFL on the season.  His 3.5 sacks on the year also tops the conference while Oregon State’s 15 sacks are most in the conference and tied for 14th most in FBS.

 

San Diego State

• Sean Lewis’s team joined some unique company in the win over Texas State, becoming just the 6th FBS team in the last 30 seasons to win a game where they were outgained by 300+ total yards (565-239) and the -326 yard margin is 3rd largest in that span behind UNLV at New Mexico in 2003 (-349) and Wisconsin vs Purdue in 1998 (-341).   The 239 total yards is the Aztecs fewest in a victory since 2021 at Hawaii when they had 227 yards in a 17-10 victory.

• Playing without their top running backs Lucky Sutton and Javion Kinnard, true freshman Josiah Lucas had a breakout game with a career-high 111 yards on 21 carries and 2 scores, the first 2 touchdowns of his young career.  Coming into that game, Lucas had just 13 carries for 48 yards in the 2 games he’s been given a carry.  He entered the season 5th on the team’s depth chart at running back.

• The Aztec defense set new season-highs with  9 tackles for loss and 3 sacks in the win over Texas State, a team that had been sacked only 3 times the previous 4 games.  EDGE Djibril Rahman had a season-high 3.5 TFL with a sack while true freshman EDGE Alijah Lash had the first 2 sacks of his career.

 

Texas State

• Despite the loss to San Diego State, the Bobcats offense put up 565 total yards for their 3rd straight game with at least 500.  It's the 4th time in the GJ Kinne era they’ve had 3 consecutive games with 500+ yards and 19th game overall since the start of the 2023 season, 4th most in FBS in that span.  Texas State ranks 5th in the country in total offense (531.6 YPG) and 6th in rushing offense (263.6 YPG).

• QB Brad Jackson threw for a season-high 372 pass yards, his 3rd career game with 300+ pass yards, and 3 pass TD in the loss.  Jackson now has 3 straight games with 3+ pass TD to become just the 2nd Bobcat QB to do that, joining Jordan McCloud who had 4 straight games in 2024 (Sept. 12-Oct. 12).  The 3rd year QB added a season-high 80 yards on the ground on a career-high 22 rushing attempts while also setting a career-high with 43 pass attempts.

• WR Beau Sparks has battled injuries this season but had his first breakout game of 2026 with 10 catches for 153 yards and a touchdown.  It was Spark’s 5th career game with 10+ catches and matched his high in a Bobcats uniform (had 12 in game in 2023 for Utah Tech) and 5th career game with 100+ receiving yards, 4 of them with Texas State.  The 4th year player had just 7 catches for 91 yards and a score this season coming into the game.

 

Utah State

• Bronco Mendenhall’s squad is the only team in the country to have played 3 road games against AP Top 25 teams this season. Ole Miss is the only other FBS team to have faced 3 AP Top 25 teams this season but they had 1 road game, 1 home game and 1 at a neutral field.  The Aggies 4 losses this season have come to teams that are a combined 15-4.

• WR Eli Wood continues to build on what is already a career-year in his first year after transferring from Virginia.  Against Boise State, Wood matched his career-high with 7 receptions, set the week before against Troy, and recorded his first career 100-yard game (102).  Wood has 6+ catches in 4 of his 5 games this season and his career-high 30 receptions lead the conference this season.  In the last 2 games, Wood has caught 14 passes for 198 yards and 2 scores after having 16 catches for 205 yards and 2 touchdowns all of last season.

• RB Javen Jacobs picked up his first career 100-yard rushing game last week with 139 yards on just 10 carries and a touchdown against Boise State.  The 5th-year running back had a career-long 64-yard run, his 3rd run of 30+ yards this season.  Jacobs had 154 all-purpose yards and a TD  in last year’s bowl game against the Cougars.

 

Washington State

• Head coach Kirby Moore announced this week he will be taking over the play-calling duties on offense after the team’s 1-4 start.  Moore was the offensive coordinator at Missouri the previous 3 seasons where the offense averaged 30.6 PPG and rushed for 188.3 yards per game in that span, 2nd best in the SEC  over those 3 seasons behind only Tennessee.  The Cougars have scored 10 points or less 3 times this season, the most in one season since 2012.

• QB Caden Pinnick has 13 runs of 10+ yards this season, most by a Pac-12 QB this season and tied for 8th most among FBS quarterbacks.  Pinnick has been sacked 18 times so far this season though, tied for most in FBS with Auburn’s Byrum Brown, with 11 of them coming in the last 2 games. 

• DT Damarjhe Lewis blocked a 33-yard field goal against Fresno State, his 2nd blocked field goal in as many weeks having blocked a 43-yarder against Arizona.  Lewis is tied for the most blocked kicks this season in FBS with 2 other players and is the first WSU player with 2 blocked kicks in a season since 2021 when WR Joey Hobert blocked 2 punts in the same game, ironically against Arizona.

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	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

(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