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Other than the Big Game, the biggest development Saturday in the Pac-12 this weekend was Arizona's elevating itself into the middle tier of the conference and Washington's dropping into the lower tier. That's the fallout of Arizona's rout of the Huskies.
A glance at Saturday's results in the Pac-12 – amid further appreciation of Oregon's overwhelming first half against Arizona State, on the way to a 43-21 victory Thursday.
Arizona 52, Washington 17
Each team passed for 256 yards, but that's where the similarities ended. Arizona's yardage came in big chunks on only 14 completions, while the Huskies needed 29 completions. The other difference was the Wildcats' rushing for 277 yards (Ka'Deem Carey accounted for 172 himself) to UW's 124. At the risk of overreacting to Arizona's first Pac-12 win, the Wildcats look like a dangerous team in the second half of the season, while Washington is fading.
Stanford 21, Cal 3
An upset in the Big Game became the trendy pick – but not by me. Just the same, the Cardinal's statistical dominance was surprising. Stanford topped the 300-yard mark in total offense by halftime and finished with 475 yards to Cal's 217. The Bears were held to 3 net rushing yards; Cottonwood High product Isi Sofele gained 13 yards on 10 carries. Stanford's Stepfan Taylor ran for 189 yards.
USC 50, Colorado 6
Somehow, you just knew USC quarterback Matt Barkley was ready to rack up some numbers in this game, after attempting only 20 passes the previous week at Washington. Well, he was allowed to throw only 20 passes against Colorado, because the game was out of hand early in the third quarter. By then, he had completed 19 passes for 298 yards and six touchdowns, four to Robert Woods. Two interesting statistics: Even with six turnovers, Colorado held the ball for 37 minutes. And while recording 22 first downs, USC faced only six third-down situations (converting two).
Oregon State 21, Utah 7
The Beavers were not all that impressive, but they did what they needed to do. OSU gained only 226 total yards, but took advantage of two turnovers deep in Utah territory to take a 14-0 lead that proved sufficient. This outcome actually sets up perfectly for the Beavers, because now there's no controversy about reinserting Sean Mannion as the starting quarterback, now that he's healthy. Nobody could say Cody Vaz deserves to keep the job, even after beating BYU and Utah.
– Kurt Kragthorpe
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