Pac-12 Preview: Week 2
Kevin Hogan and Stanford host Southern Cal in this week’s featured Pac-12 game.
The 2014 campaign began with few hiccups for the Pac-12 last weekend, with only Washington State and Colorado coming up on the wrong end of the final score.
The Cougars lost a close game in Seattle to Big Ten newcomers Rutgers, while the Buffalos lost the latest installment of the Rocky Mountain Showdown to Colorado State.
Meanwhile, the rest of the conference picked up opening weekend victories.
Arizona began Week 2 in the Pac-12 with a narrow victory over UT-San Antonio, while Washington State added a second loss of the season on Friday night, finding itself outplayed by Nevada in Reno.
The remaining schedule this week sees a variety of intriguing games (listed below), including No. 3 Oregon hosting No. 7 Michigan State in a high stakes early season matchup.
The matchup in Eugene, Ore., might prove to be the game of the week as far as college football goes, but there’s a clash brewing in Northern California that could also take that tag.
Featured Matchup
No. 14 Southern California at No. 13 Stanford
In recent years, the rivalry between the Trojans and Cardinal has developed into one of the best head-to-head encounters in the Pac-12, if not college football as a whole.
After four years of woe, No. 14 Southern California (1-0, 0-0 Pac-12) finally got the better of the Cardinal last year, winning a close encounter 20-17 in Los Angeles. That would prove to be just one of two regular season losses David Shaw’s side would suffer. The Trojans will now look to make it two wins in a row, and climb the AP rankings in the process.
Certainly a College Football Playoff prospect, No. 13 Stanford (1-0, 0-0 Pac-12) knows that a solitary loss could be the difference between being selected for the ‘final four’ and playing in a less-appealing bowl game. In reality, it’s hard to believe four teams will go unbeaten this year, so one loss isn’t debilitating, although it could be this early in the season.
Looking for a sixth win in eight head-to-head matchups, the Cardinal is listed as the favorite heading into this one, but the spread sits at just 3. That’s how close this one’s expected to be.
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Pac-12 Schedule
Week 2
Thursday
Arizona 26, UT-San Antonio 23 (report)
Friday
Washington State 13, Nevada 24 (report)
Saturday
3:00 Fresno State at Utah (matchup)
3:00 Colorado at Massachusetts (matchup)
3:00 Sacramento State at California (matchup)
3:05 Eastern Washington at Washington (matchup)
3:30 No. 14 Southern California at No.13 Stanford (matchup)
6:30 No. 7 Michigan State at No. 3 Oregon (matchup)
7:00 No. 17 Arizona State at New Mexico (matchup)
10:00 Memphis at No. 11 UCLA (matchup)
10:30 Oregon State at Hawaii (matchup)
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