Pac-12 picks for week three

At least USC and Oregon did what they were supposed to, beating Stanford and blowing out Michigan State as we predicted. But what to make of a conference in which UCLA and Washington have to squeak by Memphis and Eastern Washington at home, while Utah and Colorado are blowing teams out of the water?

At least there’s one thing by which to set your timepiece: Colorado making pessimistic gamblers smart gamblers.

Not that anybody’s using these entertainment-only picks for gambling, of course.

All games are on Saturday, picks are after the jump.

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Wyoming at Oregon, Oregon by 43: What happens when a cowboy tries to corral a Duck? The Duck flies right past him, of course. Oregon 66-17

Illinois at Washington, Washington by 14: At some point the Huskies are going to gel under the new coaching staff and play up to their potential. Maybe next week. Washington 31-24

Army at Stanford, Stanford by 28 1/2: Stanford coach David Shaw will show everyone how classy he is by not running up the score against a school with cadets who starch their collars as stiffly as he does. Stanford 41-24

Portland State at Washington State, no line: Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on Cougs. Fool me three times and I’m not picking WSU again. WSU 48-24

USC at Boston College, USC by 18: Call it a classic trap game. Riding high after a road win over Stanford, the Trojans return to earth just in time to avoid an upset 3,000 miles from home. USC 28-24

UCLA at Texas, UCLA by 8: Texas struggles with mobile quarterbacks and, hey, UCLA has one of those. Everything’s bigger in Texas and that includes the Bruins’ outsized margin of victory in this one. UCLA 38-21

Arizona State at Colorado, ASU by 15 1/2: Colorado’s battered psyche takes another bruising from an ASU team that doesn’t play nice. ASU 54-24

Nevada at Arizona, Arizona by 15 1/2: Avert your eyes, WSU fans. Nevada’s only getting one Pac-12 win this year. Arizona 31-17

Last week: 10-1 straight up, 6-3 against the spread

Overall: 19-4 straight up, 7-10 against the spread