Pac-12 Predictions Week 9: Battle in the south

Welcome back Pac 12 fans for another great week of football. As always before we move forward though we need to look back at the previous week. First game up made many of us smile. Did anyone really think ASU was going to beat Oregon? I will say I expected the game to be closer than it was in the first half. Oregon just looks that good right now. I really have nothing to say about the Colorado USC game, if we can even call it a game. Stanford beating Cal isn't a surprise, even though I picked Cal for the upset. Cal really is a huge disappointment this year, and it probably will cost Tedford his job. Oregon St. managed to stay unbeaten this year, even though they looked very unimpressive doing so. Finally Arizona got right in a big way. I took a little heat for saying Washington would only score 14 points, but it turns out I was only 3 points off. The part I really missed was how many points Arizona would score. It was a great way for us to get rolling while we head into battle with USC.

Now its time to look towards this weekend, and the games to come.

Saturday

UCLA vs ASU WINNER ASU 31-27

This game should stay fairly close, and to be honest I would pick whoever the home team is to win it. Unfortunately that is ASU this week so I had to pick them to take home the win. The biggest factor in this game could be how healthy ASU's defensive line is after that Oregon game.

Colorado vs Oregon WINNER Oregons second string

I'll be honest I feel kind of bad for Colorado. Not only are they just not good this year, but they probably have one of the worst back to back road games in the conference. To go to USC then the very next week going to Oregon. That was just cruel of the league. That being said the real question is which quarter the Oregon second string comes in.

Washington St. vs Stanford WINNER Stanford 28-21

Stanford should win this game, but I just have a gut feeling Washington St. will find some way to keep this game closer than it should be. Stanford really hasn't been impressive to me this year at all.

California vs Utah WINNER um..... um.... Utah because they are at home?

Honestly has there been any two teams in the conference that have been more disappointing? I don't even want to pick this game. I will go with the home team, but this could be a game where both teams do everything they can to not to win this game.

Oregon St vs Washington WINNER Oregon St 21-17

This game could turn out to be a really good one. Oregon St. gets their QB back, and hopefully that helps with their offense, because if they can't get their offense rolling this could be an upset. Washington is a completely different team at home, and they will make it very difficult on the Beavers.

USC vs Arizona (Game of the week) WINNER Arizona 35-28

Believe it or not, I am not simply making a homer pick right now. USC has won their share of games this year, however they have really not looked as impressive as people would expect. The season has begun to take a grind on them and their lack of depth I believe is starting to hurt them. I am not sure they will be able to consistantly stop Arizona's offense enough to win this game. Home field I also believe will play a big factor in this game.

Now that I made my upset pick there is one thing I want to say. IF Arizona beats USC this weekend, I think Arizona can win the south. Just listen to me about this, we currently have 3 Pac 12 losses. Our remaining games are: UCLA, Colorado, Utah, Arizona St. All those are winnable games. IF we can get past USC we could end the season with only 3 Pac 12 losses. Now where it gets interesting, IF we beat USC then USC has 2 losses and still has to play Oregon. That would leave them with 3 losses (im assuming Oregon wins) which we now would hold the tie breaker. When we beat UCLA they have at least 3 losses and we hold the tie breaker. ASU currently only has 1 loss, but still has to play USC, and Arizona (not to mention Oregon St.) but they would have 3 losses and we would hold the tiebreaker. I know I may just be crazy, but honestly if we can pull this off, I would say we are in great shape.