Jacob Thorpe’s Week 2 Pac-12 picks
Last year the Pac-12 was the best conference in the land, dominating the bowl season, putting a member school in the championship game and going 13-4 against other Power 5 conferences in the regular season.
If Week 1 was any indication, this year’s edition is a much kinder, more timid Pac-12. The conference went just 7-5 during the opening weekend, including a measly 4-4 record against FBS opponents. Utah’s win against Michigan was enough to put the Utes in the Top 25, barely, but Texas A&M’s drubbing of Arizona State in Houston was a weak moment for the conference and Arizona’s struggle to put away Texas-San Antonio was another one.
The conference’s image can recover a little this week. If No. 7 Oregon can win at No. 5 Michigan State, the conference will once again have a proven standard-bearer in the Ducks and a Washington State win at Rutgers would make the bottom of the conference look a little better.
Utah State at No. 24 Utah, Utah by 13: The Utes don’t play BYU this year, so this will have to count as the rivalry game. But it’s a bigger game to USU. QB Chuckie Keaton and LB Kyler Fackrell will have the Utes sweating until the final minutes. Utah 27-24
Oregon State at Michigan, UM by 16 1/2: Gary Andersen’s Wisconsin teams never played Michigan. Guess he missed his chance to beat the Wolverines. UM 38-13
Sacramento State at Washington, no line: Washington’s offense will still sputter, but at least QB Jake Browning gets to lead a touchdown drive or two. UW 24-7
Washington State at Rutgers, RU by 2 1/2: Pass-heavy offense against a team that just kicked all its defensive backs off the team? Paul James returns to haunt the WSU defense? Should be fun. RU 45-42.
San Diego State at California, Cal by 14: California isn’t quite as good as it looked against Grambling and the Aztecs have some players. Cal 34-24
No. 22 Arizona at Nevada, UA by 11 1/2: Last week’s wakeup call and the loss of LB Scooby Wright (for a few weeks) will keep the Wildcats on their toes. UA 45-24
No. 7 Oregon at No. 5 Michigan State, MSU by 3 1/2: There is no way Oregon loses to two Big Ten teams in three games, right? UO 38-28
UCF at Stanford, Stan by 19: I have no idea how good UCF is, but Stanford didn’t look good enough to beat anybody by 19. Stan 28-17
Cal Poly at Arizona State, no line: Can you say, blowout? All together now. ASU 56-7
Massachusetts at Colorado, CU by 13: Is UMass even an FBS team? (Searches online) I guess it became one in 2012. Neat. CU 31-24
Idaho at No. 8 USC, USC by 43: The Pac-12 Networks may not be able to fit every USC touchdown in the 60-minute condensed replay of this one. USC 70-0
No. 13 UCLA at UNLV, UCLA by 29 1/2: Now we get to see what Bruins QB Josh Rosen can do on the road? Remember all the freshman’s “firsts” when he’s a first-round pick someday. UCLA 38-21
• Overall record: 7-5 Against the spread: 5-3