Category: PAC-12

Washington survives Oregon comeback effort to clinch Pac-12 title and an assured CFP appearance

The Huskies got out to a huge lead early but needed to come from behind in the final quarter to win the conference championship.

The Washington Huskies needed to sweat a little more than they wanted, but head coach Kalen DeBoer and his team held off Oregon for a 34-31 victory to claim the 2023 Pac-12 Conference Championship.

Washington controlled the entire first half by keeping the Oregon offense off the field. The Huskies held the ball for more than seven minutes on the opening drive that resulted in a field goal. The defense then forced an immediate three-and-out from the Ducks, and the Huskies ate up another three-and-a-half minutes of clock with a touchdown drive to go up 10-0.

Oregon finally got on the board midway through the second quarter with a field goal, but Washington responded with another touchdown and another field goal to build the lead up to 20-3 in the closing minutes of the first half.

Washington quarterback and Heisman contender Michael Penix Jr. tried to make as much of a statement as he could in the last 60 minutes of his case. He connected on 17 of his 23 passes for 196 yards and a touchdown in the opening half, including a 45-yard bomb to Jalen McMillan under pressure to set up the second touchdown.

Oregon wouldn’t let the game get away easily, however. The Ducks scored a touchdown in the last minute of the first half, a frantic seven-play, 75-yard trip to the end zone to cut the lead to 20-10.

The Ducks found the end zone twice more in the third quarter to take a 24-20 lead, the Washington offense seeming to stall at the worst time. As he has all season, however, Penix came through when the moment demanded it. He led a fourth-quarter touchdown drive to put the Huskies back in front.

Later in the fourth quarter, more infliction points arrived for the Huskies quarterback. With Washington still ahead by three points, he faced a third and goal against an Oregon team desperate to keep it a one-score game. Instead, he scrambled to his right and found tight end Quentin Moore for a touchdown to make it 34-24 in the final two minutes.

The Ducks again threw a desperate punch, this time a 63-yard catch-and-run from wide receiver Traeshon Holden on the second play of the ensuing drive, but Penix linked up with McMillan again for a crucial third-down conversion on the final drive to effectively end the game.

Washington, who came into the game No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings, ends the 2023 season 13-0 with the Pac-12 title on its resume. The Huskies effectively clinched a College Football Playoff appearance and will await its seeding and opponent on Selection Sunday. The performance also vaults Penix further into the forefront of Heisman Trophy conversations, although a second loss for Oregon quarterback Bo Nix likely hands the lead to LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels.

The Mountain West officially announces scheduling alliance with the Pac-12

The scheduling alliance with the remaining Pac-12 teams becomes official.

The Pac-12 will be the Pac-2 when the 2024 season kicks off with Oregon State and Washington State as the remaining members. Both schools were left out of this wild round of conference realignment.

Oregon and Washington will join USC and UCLA as the newest members of the Big Ten, while Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah head to the Big 12. This left both the Beavers and Cougars out in the cold when it comes to scheduling for next season. They now have a solution.

After it was initially reported by Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports, the Mountain West officially announced a ‘7+1’ scheduling alliance for the upcoming 2024 season.

Per the release:

The Mountain West Conference announced today a football scheduling agreement for the 2024 season between the Mountain West, Oregon State University, Washington State University, and the Pac-12 Conference.

Next season, all 12 MW teams will play seven traditional Conference football games in addition to one contest against either Washington State or Oregon State for a total of eight games (four home and four away). The games against OSU and WSU will not count toward the conference standings, and neither Pac-12 school is eligible for the MW championship game. The Mountain West is currently working on the football schedule and will release matchups soon.

“This is a unique and unprecedented opportunity for Oregon State and Washington State to play against highly competitive Mountain West football programs in 2024,” Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said on Friday. “The scheduling agreement will expand the Mountain West footprint and enhance our national brand, while providing our student-athletes with new opportunities, all in line with our strategic priorities. The scheduling agreement strengthens the league’s non-conference schedules, and we look forward to having Oregon State and Washington State be a part of the 2024 slate.”

Oregon State will be heading into the 2024 campaign with a new head coach after Jonathan Smith left for Michigan State. Defensive coordinator Trent Bray was promoted to full-time head coach. Washington State will have to likely find a new quarterback after Cameron Ward announced he would enter the transfer portal.

Washington State quarterback Cameron Ward enters transfer portal with an eye on the NFL Draft

The Washington State quarterback announced Friday he would enter his name into the transfer portal as well as consider the 2024 NFL Draft.

Washington State quarterback Cameron Ward will enter his name into the transfer portal and take a look at his stock for the upcoming NFL Draft, the quarterback announced on social media on Friday. 247Sports reported the news first.

The Cougars are notably one of the last two teams left in the Pac-12 after this season, with them and Oregon State the only two who haven’t taken off for other Power 5 conferences.

“To Coach Dickert, my teammates, and all Coug Nation, thank you for the last two years,” Ward wrote. “Thank you for supporting me day in and day out and for showing me some of the best days of college football; I am forever grateful.”

Ward spent his first two seasons with Incarnate Word, transferring to Washington State ahead of the 2022 season. He’s thrown for 48 touchdowns over the past two seasons with the Cougars, and he averaged 7.7 yards per attempt and a career-high 66.7% completion percentage in 2023. He also set personal bests with 122 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns this season, and ESPN awarded him a QBR of 65.1.

Oregon and Washington rematch scheduled for Pac-12 title game

Oregon and Washington get a rematch with a College Football Playoff appearance on the line in the last Pac-12 title game of the era.

The Pac-12 Championship Game is set for the rematch everyone in college football has anticipated since October 14.

Oregon dominated Oregon State on Friday, a 31-7 victory in the final modern edition of their in-state rivalry, to clinch the second spot in the conference title game. It also gets them a rematch with Washington, who is currently undefeated and the No. 4 team in the College Football Playoff rankings.

The Huskies defeated Oregon at home in mid-October, coming away with a 3-point win after the Ducks failed to covert any of their three fourth-down attempts and missed a potential game-tying field goal on the final play of the game.

Since that game, Oregon has won all six of its games with four 20-point wins. Washington has remained undefeated in the five games since, but all of its wins have come by 10 points or less. Can the Ducks get revenge?

The title game is scheduled for Friday, December 1, at 8:00 p.m. ET.

REPORT: Utah quarterback Nate Johnson no longer with program and intends to transfer

The redshirt freshman has played in 11 games for the Utes and has been one of the more effective dual-threat quarterbacks in the Power 5.

Utah quarterback Nate Johnson is no longer with the Utes program and intends to transfer, according to a Friday night report from KSL Sports.

Johnson, a former four-star recruit, has played in eleven games across his two seasons with Kyle Whittingham’s program. He split time with Bryson Barnes this season with Cam Rising lost to an ACL tear. So far in 2023, he’s completed 39 of 72 passes for 499 yards and three touchdowns.

Even with his small sample size, Johnson is one of the most effective dual-threat quarterbacks in the nation. He added 232 yards and four touchdowns on the ground in his 58 rushing attempts. The redshirt freshman competed in track and field in high school.

Utah is set to play Colorado at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday.

The Apple Cup survives: Washington and Washington State announce future rivalry dates

The rivalry, played every year since 1945 outside of 2020, will extend at least through 2028 with the additional dates announced Sunday.

The Pac-12 might splinter after the 2023 college football season, but the Apple Cup will live on. Washington State and Washington announced on Sunday that the annual rivalry will continue at least through 2028.

The Cougars and Huskies will meet at a neutral site in 2024 before alternating between each team’s home stadium. Washington State will host in 2025 and 2027, and Washington will host in 2026 and 2028.

Outside of the COVID season in 2020, the Apple Cup has been played every year since 1945. Washington announced it would join the Big Ten for the 2024 football season, however, throwing the classic rivalry into question.

The 2023 edition of the rivalry will be played in Seattle on Saturday, November 25, with kickoff scheduled for 4:00 p.m.

Utah’s not just playing spoiler this year, coming for the Pac-12 title again

The Utes weren’t just playing spoiler for USC this weekend. Kyle Whittingham and his team have their eyes on a three-peat.

If I told you a team with two consecutive conference titles was written off early in the season because of an injury to their star quarterback but found a way to reach 6-1 with multiple ranked wins, you’d probably groan about the inevitability of it all. You’d conjure images of Alabama in your head, or maybe Clemson‘s decade of dominance in the ACC, a broken record always destined to end atop the mountain no matter how the season transpires.

If I told you Utah would win the Pac-12 again, would you have the same reaction?

Yes, we’re a long way from the Utes taking the conference crown for a third straight year. They need to get through Oregon this weekend first, and it’s been confirmed that quarterback Cam Rising isn’t playing this season. ESPN FPI still has Utah with just a 7.7% chance to win the conference.

But Kyle Whittingham’s squad has the 10th-best strength of record in the country. The Utes are allowing 15.0 points per game, behind only UCLA in the conference, and that number only increases to 20.0 points per game against ranked opponents. Only 11 teams in the country are allowing 20.0 points per game or fewer to ranked opponents, and Utah is the only one of them that has played more than two ranked teams. The Utes are the nation’s No. 6 rushing defense and have a top-50 aerial defense to boot.

We’ve grown so used to Utah, which plays a physical brand of football mostly unseen among today’s top programs, taking it to playoff teams that it’s become a punchline.

While there are certainly worse reputations to have in football, this is a team with back-to-back Rose Bowl appearances. They ended the USC playoff dream last year with a 47-24 beatdown, their second win of the season over the Trojans. Two years ago, when Oregon beat Ohio State in September, the Ducks were 9-1 and the No. 4 team in the country when they came to Utah. The Utes beat them 38-7, then beat them again 38-10 in the conference title game just for good measure.

The Utes get Oregon at home again this weekend, where they have a 27-game win streak. The Ducks are probably the most complete team in the Pac-12, top 20 in the nation both offensively and defensively. Utah is averaging just 23.4 points per game, probably not enough to do any serious damage or garner any playoff buzz even if they win out. But with Washington the only defeated team left in the conference and looking mighty mortal against Arizona State, why not the Utes?

If that home win streak extends to 28 on Saturday? Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Pac-12 Football: Shedeur Sanders, Bucky Irving headline Week 7 top performers

Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Oregon’s Bucky Irving headline the Pac-12’s top performers in Week 7

Week 7 of the college football season in the Pac-12 was an exciting one. From start to finish, the conference, whose in the midst of its final season as we know it, put together a spectacular weekend of action.

On Friday night, Colorado and Stanford had a game for the ages. After the Buffaloes got out to a 29-0 lead, the Cardinal would storm back in the second half, forcing overtime before knocking off Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes 46-63.

On Saturday, Washington and Oregon picked up right where Stanford and Colorado left off, delivering a classic in Seattle. The two undefeated teams went back and forth before the Huskies ultimately pulled out the win 36-33.

USC traveled to South Bend for a Saturday night showdown and saw their perfect season end with a 48-20 loss to the Fighting Irish. In Corvallis, Oregon State improved to 6-1 with an impressive 36-24 win over UCLA while Utah defeated Cal 34-14 in Salt Lake City.

Finally, the Arizona Wildcats went to Pullman and completely dominated the then top-25 Washington State Cougars 44-6 to improve to 4-3 on the season.

Below, College Sports Wire looks at the top performers from across the Pac-12 that helped decide this week’s games.

Oregon vs Washington headlines big Week 7 for the Pac-12

Oregon vs Washington is the top game of Week 7 in an exciting Week 7 for the Pac-12

There will be few conference schedules this season that can match the Week 7 schedule for the Pac-12.

From top to bottom, the Pac-12 is full of intriguing matchups this weekend. The slate gets underway on Friday night with Stanford and Colorado in Boulder, the most lackluster matchup of the weekend.

On Saturday, however, Pac-12 fans should be ready for non-stop action throughout the day. The day starts off with California taking on Utah in Salt Lake City and ends with UCLA traveling to Corvallis to take on Oregon State in one of the more underrated matchups of the week.

In between those two games is a top-10 matchup between Oregon and Washington, Arizona looks to deliver Washington State their second straight loss, while USC and Notre Dame have their annual rivalry matchup in South Bend.

College Sports Wire looks at the four best games of the Pac-12 schedule in Week 7 below.

Pac-12 Football: D.J. Uiagalelei makes big jump in QBR race

Oregon State’s D.J. Uiagalelei made a big jump in this week’s Pac-12 QBR standings

The Pac-12 QBR race has tightened up after Week 7 and there is a new quarterback at the No. 2 spot.

Oregon State’s D.J. Uiagalelei is now ranked second in the Pac-12 in QBR according to ESPN after a five-touchdown performance against Cal this past Saturday. The former five-star prospect only trails Washington’s Michael Penix Jr, 5.1 points behind the Huskies signal caller.

USC’s Caleb Williams remains in the top three, dropping to the third spot this week. Oregon’s Bo Nix and Washington State’s Cameron Ward round out the top five. Finally, the only other quarterback with a QBR above 70 is Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders who sits at No. 6 in the rankings heading into Week 7.

Week 6 QBR:

Rank Quarterback Team QBR
No. 1 D.J. Uiagalelei Oregon State 97.9
No. 2 Caleb Williams USC 78.3
No. 3 Noah Fifita Arizona 76.9
No. 4 Fernando Mendoza California 73.9
No. 5 Shedeur Sanders Colorado 61.3
No. 6 Trenton Bourguet Arizona State 50.9
No. 7 Cameron Ward Washington State 32.8
No. 8 Dante Moore UCLA 31.4

Full season QBR:

Rank Quarterback Team QBR Last Week’s QBR (Ranking)
No. 1 Michael Penix Jr Washington 91.6 91.6 (No. 1)
No. 2 DJ Uiagalelei Oregon State 86.5 80.1 (No. 5)
No. 3 Caleb Williams USC 86.2 88.5 (No. 2)
No. 4 Bo Nix Oregon 82.7 81.6  (No. 4)
No. 5 Cameron Ward Washington State 77.1 86.4 (No. 3)
No. 6 Shedeur Sanders Colorado 70.1 72.3 (No. 6)
No. 7 Jayden de Laura Arizona 48.1 47.5 (No. 8)
No. 8 Nate Johnson Utah 46.8 45.7 (No. 9)
No. 9 Ashton Daniels Stanford 44.4 43.9 (No. 10)
No. 10 Dante Moore UCLA 42.7 49.5 (No. 7)
No. 11 Sam Jackson V Cal 32.8 32.1 (No. 11)
No. 12 Justin Lamson Stanford 22.3 20.7 (No. 12)

Contact/Follow us at the College Wire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of College Sports news, notes, and opinions.