A lot of wacky stuff took place in the Pac-12 conference on Saturday.
For starters, an unproven and unbeaten UCLA Bruins team hosted the class-of-the-conference Utah Utes in Los Angeles and shook up the power balance with a convincing 42-32 win. Over in Tempe, a somewhat feisty Arizona State team proved that you don’t need a head coach to be successful, further exposing an apparently fledgling Washington Huskies team, 45-38. Down in Los Angeles, the USC Trojans briefly engaged in a dogfight with the Washington State Cougars before eventually pulling away.
Across the conference, it was clear that there were some weird vibes out and about as spooky season is upon us. That’s the last thing that Oregon Duck fans wanted to hear as their team got set to kick off in the desert against the Arizona Wildcats, a team that has had their goat in the past.
Fortunately, it seems that Dan Lanning doesn’t believe in ghosts, and the tough losses of the past seemed to bare no weight on Saturday’s matchup.
The Ducks took care of business and made it clear early on that this would not be a game that came down to the wire. With a final score of 49-22, we got another chance to see the depth on the roster get a good run while the proven starters sat back and relaxed for the final quarter.
On a day when some of the top teams in the conference faltered, Oregon stayed afloat and proved that they belong near the top of everyone’s power rankings. Here are some of our biggest takeaways from the performance: