Pac-12 Has Busy Week of Conference Games: Arizona vs Washington, Cal vs. Oregon
After a quiet week for the Pac-12, Week 5 will offer some interesting matchups for the conference. From this week’s AP poll, the conference has #2 Oregon, #5 Stanford, #13 UCLA and #16 Washington. Arizona State and Arizona also received votes.
Here’s a look at some key games.
Arizona (3-0) vs. No. 16 Washington (3-0)
Bishop Sankey
Arizona will kick off its conference play against Washington and it could be a big rushing battle between the two as the Wildcats sit at No. 5 in the nation with its 322.3 yards rushing per game, while Washington comes in behind at No. 9 with 303.7 yards rushing per game. The Wildcats have running back Ka’Deem Carey to thank for this number as he leads the team with 149.5 yards rushing per game.
With hard shoes to fill after Matt Scott, Arizona quarterback B.J. Denker is finding his groove and has passed 326 yards and two touchdowns over the first three games but he also likes to run. In the 38-13 win over UTSA, Denker was the team’s second-leading rusher with his 90 yards and two touchdowns.
Arizona’s defense isn’t too shabby either as they lead the conference in scoring defense (8.7 points per game) and have allowed only 26 points in their first three games–something that hasn’t been accomplished during this time span since 1996. The Wildcats, facing a loud Husky stadium, will bring a 2-9 record over 11 road conference games–five of these nine losses came against ranked opponents.
The Huskies will showcase running back Bishop Sankey, who averages 148.7 yards per game and leads the nation in rushing yards per game. They also have a talented quarterback, senior Keith Price. To-date, he has a 77 percent pass completion with seven touchdowns and one pick. For Week 3, Price had received votes for the Pac-12 Player of the Week; this came from his 213 passing yards (10.1 yard average) and three touchdowns.
Similar to Arizona, Washington is No. 3  in the Pac-12 for scoring defense (10.0 ppg).  At 3-0, this is a first since 2001 and with their 34-plus points to-date, this hasn’t been done since 2002.
In 2012, Arizona defeated Washington 52-17 on their home field but this year the Huskies get the win (-8, 63.5 o/u).
California (1-2) vs No. 2 Oregon (3-0)
Last year these two teams met and Oregon walked away with a 59-17 win. Quarterback Marcus Mariota went 27 of 34 (a 230.79 passing efficiency), 377 yards, six touchdowns and zero interceptions. He is off to another good season and to date, has 889 yards passing with seven touchdowns.
Marcus Mariota
In the Ducks most recent game against Tennessee, Mariota threw for 456 yards (a 225.8 rating) and four touchdowns. He sits at 3/1 to win the Heisman this year.
He leads a productive offense as it sits atop the Pac-12 and No. 2 in the FBS  for scoring with its 61.3 point average per game. It’s somewhat par for this team to have high-scoring games as three consecutive times, it has 50 points plus scoring for a game (10 of its last 16 games). They have a lot of depth to get this done as 12 players have scored for Oregon.
Then there’s Cal, who’s already faced its share of top opponents in this short season. Two weeks ago, they played No. 4 Ohio State (52-32 loss) and kicked off their season against No. 17 Northwestern (44-30 loss).
They will bring a talented freshman quarterback Jared Goff, who sits at the of the FBS with his 435.3 yards passing per game. To-date, he has 1,306 passing yards, seven touchdowns and four picks. Against Portland State in Week 2, he threw for 485 yards and two touchdowns.
Good luck going up against the Ducks, who are No. 13 in the FBS for pass efficiency defense. It should be an interesting day for Oregon’s secondary.
Things happen in threes and Oregon gets a big win (-36.5, 84.5 o/u).
Other games include (2-0) Colorado at (3-1) Oregon State (-10.5, 60.5), No. 5 Stanford (-10, 48 o/u) vs. (3-1) Washington State  and USC (3-1, 0-1) vs. Arizona State (2-1, 0-1).
