Jacob Thorpe’s Pac-12 picks

While the Pac-12 South’s representative in the conference’s championship game will not be known until next weekend’s games have been played, Stanford can sew up its spot with a win in the finally-aptly-named Big Game.

But really, what game isn’t big this weekend? Arizona State, Colorado and Washington need to win to keep their bowl hopes alive, although the Huskies might still have a shot as a five-win team.

UCLA, USCU and Utah are in the thick of a contest to lead the Pac-12 South and though the Utes currently lead the race, the Los Angeles schools are right on their heels.

Oregon can still win the north if the Cardinal loses to California and Arizona will doubtlessly be motivated to end its rival’s season. Really, the only team without something tangible to play for is Oregon State, and nobody wants to go winless in their own conference.

All games are Saturday, all predictions are probably wrong.

Arizona at Arizona State, no line: The quickest shooter in the Duel in the Desert will be the team that needs the win to go bowling. ASU 38-28

USC (22) at Oregon (23), UO by 4: The Ducks are soaring back into the national perspective, while the USC surge has turned into a slog. UO 42-28

Washington at Oregon State, UW by 15: Washington vents its frustrations from last week while setting up the most meaningful Apple Cup since before most apple trees were planted. UW 45-24

California at Stanford (15), Stanford by 11: All this talk of tiebreaker scenarios, only to have Stanford win the Pac-12 North outright. Stanford 35-28

Colorado at Washington State (24), WSU by 15: A late, cold game that isn’t especially well attended ends up being more of a fight than expected, but the Cougars win another close one. WSU 34-27

UCLA at Utah (18), Utah by 2: The Bruins run to a Pac-12 South championship starts on Saturday in Salt Lake City. UCLA 28-24

Last week: 4-2, 3-3 against the spread

Overall: 61-18, 40-28-1 against the spread