Tag: Pac-12 Conference

The 10 most important games for Oregon fans to watch in Week 4

This is going to be an incredible weekend of college football. Here are the most important games for Oregon fans to pay attention to.

If we were to view the first three weeks of the college football season as an appetizer, then Saturday is the beginning of the main course. While non-conference play is behind us in more of the nation, we get a total of six matchups between ranked teams on Saturday afternoon and night, with some major inter-league battles that could have major ramifications when it comes to conference championships down the road.

In the Pac-12, there are a ton of games that Duck fans need to tune into outside of Oregon’s top-20 battle against the Colorado Buffaloes, and there are some matchups nationwide that Duck fans should tune into as well.

Here’s a quick viewing guide on everything you should be paying attention to this weekend:

One important point to remember about Caleb Williams when Heisman voting begins

Staff writer @matt_wadleigh brings up an excellent point to save for the Heisman vote a few months from now.

The Heisman Trophy race will take shape over the next few months, and to be sure, candidates other than Caleb Williams will emerge.

We have already seen Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter of Colorado gain real Heisman attention. Their candidacies will be reshaped, for better or worse, by the upcoming centerpiece games against Oregon (and Bo Nix) and USC (and Caleb Williams).

If, for the sake of argument, we live in a world where the Heisman race is very close in late November, there is something we need to keep in mind. If Caleb Williams has a chance to become just the second two-time Heisman winner in the award’s 88-year history, let’s remember this point:

The USC Trojans have gone nuclear in every game against subpar teams, but the offense is really, really good. Caleb Williams has feasted and has barely played the third or fourth quarters.

When we consider comparisons of statistics among Heisman candidates, Caleb’s numbers are smaller because he has been pulled from multiple games early in the second half. Caleb could have produced double the numbers he has already posted, but USC is focused on giving backups playing time.

If you compare numbers, be sure to account for Caleb accumulating them in roughly half the time spent on the field.

Check out our Pac-12 football predictions roundtable for the 2023 season.

Just how much are views of Colorado changing?

Are #Pac12 experts significantly rethinking their views of Colorado, or are they in ‘wait-and-see’ mode?

Few teams in the nation are being discussed more than Colorado. Deion Sanders has the Buffs at 2-0. How much are people rethinking their outlook for this team? We asked our Pac-12 panel, “Did your view of Colorado change this week?”

Don Smalley, Ducks Wire: Not really. Nebraska is a complete dumpster fire. Colorado should have won that game by even more.

Matt Zemek, Trojans Wire: Nebraska has a truly terrible offense. It’s hard to say too much about Colorado until it faces an elite quarterback. Bo Nix and Caleb Williams are coming, so we’ll get more information on this team before September ends.

Zachary Neel, Ducks Wire: I wouldn’t say that I was blown away by Colorado this week, but I was impressed by how they could win in a different way vs. Nebraska. I still need to see the Buffs against a good team before I make any bold proclamations, though.

Matt Wadleigh, Trojans and Buffaloes Wire: Colorado did what it was supposed to do, although it took a little longer than it did in Week 1. The real tests are coming against Oregon and USC, but the Buffs are a terrific team.

Check out our Pac-12 football predictions roundtable for the 2023 season.

How big was Washington State’s win over Wisconsin for the Pac-12?

Colorado is grabbing #Pac12 headlines, but Washington State over Wisconsin was an eye-grabbing story. Let’s explore it.

In terms of major national headlines, Deion Sanders and Colorado have become the big story in the Pac-12 through the first two weeks of the season. The Buffaloes have been on Fox Big Noon Saturday twice this season. They won both times. That dramatically increased their national profile. Now they’re going to be on ESPN College GameDay for Week 3 and their game against Colorado State.

If you’re not reading Buffaloes Wire, you’re missing out on a lot of timely and interesting Colorado coverage. Get on over there and find out what Coach Prime is doing.

The fact that Colorado has become a major national story should not obscure what is happening in Pullman. Washington State came up huge with an impressive win over Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin Badgers this past weekend.

The Pac-12 has several top-tier contenders for the conference championship, but Washington State — regarded by many as the seventh-best team in the conference heading into the season, just pulled off a big nonconference win. That speaks to the league’s depth.

How big is Washington State’s win over Wisconsin for the Cougars and the Pac-12? We asked our panel of Pac-12 experts for their insights:

Pac-12 football game predictions: Week 3

The two most interesting games on the #Pac12 slate this week: Washington at @TheSpartansWire and Fresno State at ASU.

The first two weeks of the college football season have gone well for the Pac-12 Conference, and more than half the teams in the league have earned spots in the latest top 25 rankings.

The panelists are back for another week of picks: Matt Zemek, Matt Wadleigh and Donovan James of Trojans Wire, Jack Carlough and Tony Cosolo of Buffaloes Wire, and Don Smalley, Myles Dwyer and Zachary Neel of Ducks Wire.

With everybody looking forward to Week 4 and Week 5, this week should be pretty chalk with not very many exciting games on the schedule. Follow Spartans Wire for coverage of its game against Washington, one of the few high-profile Pac-12 games this week.

Here are the picks from the panelists, and the USC Trojans have the week off.

Anyone who thinks Colorado can beat Oregon needs to answer one question

Do you really think Deion can win in Autzen? Fine. Answer the question we put to @BuffaloesWire and @Ducks_Wire.

The Colorado Buffaloes have been one of the biggest stories of the young college football season, and rightly so. The Buffs have overachieved in a big way. Deion Sanders deserves all the credit for talking a big game and backing it up. No one can deny that his first few weeks of work have been extremely impressive. No one can take that away from him.

We can, however, point out that Colorado hasn’t yet faced a good team. Let’s be clear: Most people expected Colorado to be 0-2 through these first two games, and the Buffs are 2-0 instead. Colorado has been a lot better than expected. It takes nothing away from CU’s achievement to note that TCU and Nebraska look noticeably worse than expected.

TCU’s secondary was not supposed to be this bad. Nebraska’s offense could not have been worse than it was in Boulder this past weekend. No one was thinking Nebraska was going to have a great offense in 2023, but that cringe-worthy display in Folsom Field was spectacularly awful. Not just moderately bad, but a “worst of the worst” trainwreck.

This leads us to the first true test of Colorado in 2023. It won’t be against Colorado State this week, but one week later against Oregon on September 23. Buffaloes Wire and Ducks Wire will give you full coverage of that game. We want to give you insights from writers at those two sites, plus our own views of Colorado-Oregon.

For anyone who thinks Colorado has a great chance of beating Oregon (and we’re not dismissing that possibility), there is a brass-tacks question one must answer: If you were to set the point spread for Oregon-Colorado, what would it be?

Cards on the table, folks. No backing away from this one.

Let’s see what our panel said:

The best road win for any Pac-12 football team this season

#Pac12 teams defeated #Big12 teams in Texas, but only after enduring very bumpy rides. Which road win was the best?

There are three obvious choices for the best road win by any Pac-12 football team in this young season. All three choices involve Big 12 schools located in Texas. One is in Waco, one in Fort Worth, and one in Lubbock. All the games were close. None were games the winning Pac-12 team controlled all the way. All three Pac-12 teams trailed at one point in the game before rallying to win. These were precarious, bumpy rides which eventually had a happy ending but did not feel inevitable or certain until the final few minutes.

We asked our panel of Pac-12 experts, which was the better road win for the Pac-12 in September of 2023: Utah at Baylor this past Saturday, Colorado at TCU in Week 1, or Oregon at Texas Tech this past weekend?

Here are the answers:

Oregon State and Washington State win legal motion against Pac-12 with fans cheering

As the judge ruled in favor of Wazzu and Oregon State, ‘Go Beavs!’ and ‘Go Cougs!’ rang out on the Zoom call. #YouCantMakeThisUp

You simply can’t make any of this stuff up. The legal proceeding on Monday involving the Pac-12 Conference and the “Pac-2” of Washington State and Oregon State was too wild to easily sum up in a single sentence.

Yes, the presiding judge ruled in favor of Washington State and Oregon State. The judge ruled that the Pac-12 and commissioner George Kliavkoff could not convene a board meeting later this week, at least not until other hurdles are cleared and dealt with. The Pac-12 had wanted to convene a board meeting with some of the schools which have intended to leave the conference. Washington State and Oregon State think those schools should have zero say in what the conference does and how it manages its assets. WSU and OSU want control of those assets and the decision-making processes which govern them. That’s the main news story from this hearing. However, the details of this hearing are wild, and they create an irresistibly colorful story which begins with WSU and OSU fans cheering as the legal proceeding — done via Zoom — concluded on Monday afternoon.

Here are just some of the many wacky details from a vintage Pac-12 moment:

Washington State and Oregon State take the Pac-12 to court with clear goal in mind

We can all see what Wazzu and Oregon State want: Get #Pac12 assets for themselves and shut out the schools which left.

Washington State University and Oregon State University are taking the Pac-12 Conference to court.

You can get fuller details from Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News and the Wilner Hotline, in a story which is behind a paywall. A subscription is required to view the link.

We will share details from the article and explain why this is happening, but it’s the latest drama for a Pac-12 conference which never should have been in this position. Had the conference stayed together and taken last year’s ESPN deal (for $30 million per school, easily enough to keep members satisfied), we would not be having this conversation. More urgently, WSU and OSU would not have taken the Pac-12 to court.

Here’s what you need to know about this situation:

How many Pac-12 Heisman Trophy finalists will there be in 2023?

We asked our #Pac12 experts how many Heisman finalists the conference is likely to produce. It will probably be more than one.

It’s a simple question, but an irresistible and compelling one: How many Heisman Trophy finalists will the Pac-12 have in the 2023 college football season?

Here’s what our Pac-12 panel had to say:

Matt Wadleigh, Trojans and Buffaloes Wire: There’s a scenario where the Pac-12 has five Heisman finalists: Shedeur, Travis Hunter, Michael Penix Jr., Bo Nix, and Caleb Williams. Right now, it’s Caleb’s award for the taking.

Zachary Neel, Ducks Wire: How many finalists are there in any given year, four? I’d give two to the Pac-12. We have to remember that this conference is going to cannibalize itself throughout the season, so some of these QBs are going to lose a bit of luster.

Matt Zemek, Trojans Wire: At least two. Caleb Williams is lock city USA. Chances are that Michael Penix or Bo Nix, one of the two, will join him. Getting three Pac-12 Heisman candidates will depend on Shedeur Sanders or Travis Hunter being able to sustain an elite level of performance through a full season. Will they hit a wall?

Catch all of Ducks Wire’s Pac-12 team overviews for the 2023 season:

Arizona — Arizona State — California — Colorado — Oregon State  — Stanford — UCLA — USC — Utah — Washington — Washington State