So-so showing for Pac-12
COUGARS
FROM PULLMAN -- The Pac-12 teams with earlier games did not fare very well, with the exception of USC. Neither did the teams that played later on -- for the most part -- but at least they managed to win. Read on for reading material to get you through a Sunday morning, lazy or otherwise.
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With Washington State taking the day off from practice, we don't have much to report from Pullman. But we did post on the blog yesterday with some historical perspective on Mike Leach teams that don't score touchdowns (there haven't been many). That's about it on the WSU front.
There were six Pac-12 teams in action yesterday ...
Nevada 31, California 24: It was a rather disappointing re-opening of Memorial Stadium for California.
Colorado State 22, Colorado 17: This was a loss that reminded Colorado too much of last season.
USC 49, Hawaii 10: You know, if you're going to go for two point-conversions so often and throw the ball late in a blowout, you better at least cover the darn spread. That's about the only thing the Trojans didn't do right in this laugher, though they're not satisfied. And news of some potential NCAA violations dampened the day a bit.
Washington 21, San Diego State 12: It wasn't pretty, or exciting, or entertaining, but UW overcame a lackluster offensive performance by winning with defense. No, really. Also, there were some absolutely baffling decisions made in this game by SDSU coach Rocky Long, who chose to go for two on both of his team's touchdowns and opted not to kick a field goal with his team trailing by nine points facing a fourth down late in the game.
Oregon 57, Arkansas State 34: A sterling debut for quarterback Marcus Mariota highlighted another Ducks blowout. Their uniforms highlighted themselves.
Arizona 24, Toledo 17: Probably not the start Rich Rodriguez had in mind, but the Wildcats were at least able to hold off the Rockets in overtime.
Elsewhere ... Arizona State has a bit tougher task against Illinois this week. ... Stanford's first game without Andrew Luck felt a lot like the many it played before him. ... Oregon State didn't have a game to play yesterday, but that didn't stop the Beavers from practicing. ... UCLA needs its offensive line to continue playing in a "cohesive" fashion. ... Utah still needs to improve its kicking game.
We'll be back later from practice.
Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple