Running with the Pac: Week 6

These are rankings of who had the best week last week.  They are not overall power rankings.  Teams who didn’t play are generally left out.

1. Stanford Cardinal beat UW 31-28

Stanford didn’t always look like the best team on the field, but they never trailed against a ranked opponent.  Stanford looked like they will be the physically dominant team on the field all year, but their offense again looked questionable.  It could be Washington’s defense is just that good, though.

2. Oregon Ducks beat Colorado 57-16

These rankings are hard this week.  Oregon again beat an outmanned opponent, but I’m going to give them credit, because every opponent they play is outmanned.  It will be fun to see them against a quality team this week.  I’m just hoping it’s not too fun for Duck fans.

3. WSU Cougars beat Cal 44-22

Cal is really bad right now, but WSU dominated them on the road and threw for over 500 yards.  This win might not say a lot, but it does say that the Cougars have gone from the team everyone beats easily to the team that can beat the team everyone beats easily. Progress!

4. UW Huskies lost to Stanford 31-28

I might be a bit biased on this, but UW showed they belong. They hung with, and largely outplayed, a top five team on the road, despitely completing failing in one whole area of the game.  The Huskies have areas to work on, but they are at the point where they have excellent talent consistently playing at a high level.  That’s more than most teams can say.

5. UCLA Bruins beat Utah 34-27

UCLA got the road win over a solid Utah squad, but they didn’t look great doing it.  A road win’s always tough to get, so we’ll give them a break, but I’m less scared of UCLA now than I was before this game.

6. Utah Utes lost to UCLA 34-27

Utah is much improved this season thanks to their offense, but they’re still not better than middle of the Pac.  They need to start winning some of these close conference games before I can take them too seriously.

7. Colorado Buffaloes lost to Oregon 57-16

This is about what everyone expected.  Colorado is still bad.  At least they managed a few points early.

8. ASU Sun Devils lost to Notre Dame 37-34

ASU let a chance at a big win slip through their fingers, just like they almost did against Wisconsin.  ASU has a lot of talent, but consistency and spotty defense are holding them back.

9. California Golden Bears lost to WSU 44-22

Cal’s season is spiraling swiftly downward.  Their defense is terrible, they’re swamped in injuries and there’s no running game.  No matter how bad you are, you don’t want WSU to blow you out at home.  Cal isn’t going to win many (any?) more games this season, but they need to at least show a few signs of life to give them something to build on.

-Matthew