Author: Ralph Amsden

Oregon State losing to Washington State means the Pac-12 has already, halfway through the seasons, whittled themselves down to only one possible path to the College Football Playoff. Oregon and Arizona State need to win out, meet in the Pac-12 Championship, and hope for a lot of chaos in front of them in the rankings.

While some teams are left only playing for pride, two of the conference’s teams are just hoping to avoid shame. Best of luck to both Colorado and Arizona. Someone has to win, right?

Make sure to check out this week’s Pac-12 Apostles Podcast, or just click play on the Spotify link below while you read the article below.

Cal at #9 Oregon (Friday Night)

Kickoff: 7:30PM Pacific

Broadcast: ESPN

Opening Odds: Oregon -13.5

What’s at stake: Oregon has no room for error, and at the mid-point of the season, has yet to establish an offensive identity. With Offensive Coordinator Joe Moorhead battling medical issues, and feature back C.J. Verdell out for the season, someone needs to step up and become the dominant force on this offense to keep the Ducks from another disastrous result like they had against Stanford. Will it be Anthony Brown start finding a receivers downfield (No Ducks WR has more than 11 catches), or Travis Dye finding a way to be an every-down player instead of a change-of-pace guy? Without figuring out who they are offensively, you can probably forget a shot at the College Football Playoff.

For Cal, they’re getting dangerously close to a lost season without a bowl appearance, and a waste of Chase Garbers’ talent as an upperclassman. One thing you know that Justin Wilcox wouldn’t mind is following up a 6-point performance against Washington State by having an offensive explosion against his old Defensive Coordinator Tim DeRuyter, who is now the DC at Oregon.

Our Picks: Ralph likes Cal to Cover +13.5, George Wrighster is going with his Ducks and the spread.

Arizona at Colorado

Kickoff: 12:30PM Pacific

Broadcast: Pac-12 Network

Opening Odds: Colorado -6.5

What’s at stake: Seriously? A win. A single win.

Colorado nearly beating Texas A&M, who just beat #1 Alabama, the Buffaloes offense is so putrid that they’re favored by less than a TD against a team that hasn’t won in over two years. Arizona will go back to Gunner Cruz after Jordan McCloud suffered a season-ending injury against UCLA. First team to 20 wins? Or maybe even 10?

Our Picks: Ralph and George both have Colorado covering the -6.5.

Stanford at Washington State

Kickoff: 4:30PM Pacific

Broadcast: ESPNU

Opening Odds: Stanford -1.5

When Jayden de Laura is at QB for Washington State, they can compete with anyone in the conference. Many people were surprised by the Cougars win over Oregon State last week, but de Laura’s 400 yards passing are a big reason why it happened. Stanford showed they can drive the ball against Arizona State last week, but they had no ability to finish.

Stanford’s inconsistency and yo-yoing as a team is discouraging to Cardinal fans, but if the pattern continues, this will be the week that they bounce back and show their resilience.

Our Picks: Ralph talked George into joining him by taking Stanford -1.5.

UCLA at Washington

Kickoff: 5:30PM Pacific

Broadcast: FOX

Opening Odds: Washington -1.5

What’s at stake: UCLA can run, but last week against Arizona they failed to both pass, and stop the pass. They might have won the game, but there are legitimate concerns that the Bruins have started to fall apart after experiencing early success. The idea that Washington will have to depend on the arm of Dylan Morris in order to defend homefield on Saturday makes picking this game extremely tricky. Dylan Morris rarely completes over 60% of his passes and plays turnover-free football. Unless he does so against one of college football’s worst secondaries on Saturday, you’re going to start to see even more heat on Huskies Head Coach Jimmy Lake than there already is.

For Chip Kelly, the mission is simple- test Washington’s run defense to see if it’s got soft spots, and if it does, exploit it until the final whistle. The less your defense is on the field, the better.

Our Picks: George went with UCLA +1.5, Ralph took the home favorite, Washington -1.5.

#18 Arizona State at Utah

Kickoff: 7:00PM Pacific

Broadcast: ESPN

Opening Odds: Arizona State -1

What’s at stake: Arizona State and Utah are 3-3 in their last 6 games. The fans, or at least the vocal online community of fans, are on each other’s nerves year-round. Utah just ended a 100-year drought by getting a win in the Coliseum, and spent the week grieving the loss of DB Aaron Lowe. They’re either going to be emotionally spent, or raring to get a piece of the ranked Sun Devils on Saturday night. The bottom line here is that if Utah can’t win this game, the Pac-12 South is basically wrapped up by ASU, who is on a quest to become the Pac-12’s first-ever undefeated team in conference play.

Arizona State is the better team at almost every position, but if the offense can’t handle the crowd noise in Provo without getting 19 flags thrown, how are they going to handle the rowdy crowd in Salt Lake?

Our Picks: George and Ralph both have the Sun Devils -1 on the road.

Who are the Pac-12 Apostles?

The Pac-12 Apostles is a podcast for fans who love the Pac-12 conference. George Wrighster and Ralph Amsden are committed to the honest and fair conversation about the conference. Join us by becoming a Pac-12 Apostle. Subscribe and share the podcast.

Please leave a rating and review of our podcast on iTunes! We record a podcast once a week with emergency episodes when necessary. Our podcasts are always heavy on Pac-12 football. But we make it a point to also try and cover the other notable Men’s and Women’s Pac-12 sports. We cover recruiting and any other major storyline in the Pac-12 universe.

George Wrighster is a former Pac-12 and long-time NFL tight end. As a television/radio host, opinionist, and analyst, who is UNAFRAID to speak the truth. Contrary to industry norms he uses, facts, stats, and common sense to win an argument. He has covered college football, basketball, NFL, NBA, MLB since 2014. Through years of playing college football, covering bowl games, coaching changes, and scandals, he has a great pulse for the conference and national perspective.

Ralph Amsden is a sportswriter and podcaster. He is the publisher of Rivals’ ArizonaVarsity.com, and was previously the managing editor of the Arizona State University Rivals affiliate, DevilsDigest.com. Wyoming born, Arizona raised, and now based in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife and four kids, Amsden made his mark in Arizona sports media through investigative reporting, and being one of the first people to leverage social media and the podcast medium to grow his platform. In addition to his podcasts, he is the Content Director for UnafraidShow.com. Ralph might be sub-.500 in spousal disputes and schoolyard fights, but whether the topic is food, movies, music, parenting, politics, sports, television, religion, or zoological factoids, he’s always UNAFRAID to square up.

The Pac-12 is reeling from losing its easiest path to the College Football Playoff last week, with Oregon falling to Stanford in overtime. Worse than that, Pac-12 officiating has again become a talking point. The more things change, the more they stay the same…

This week, one third of the conference has a bye, and only three games are going to be played on Saturday. Oregon State has wins over Washington and USC under its belt, and all of the sudden we’re going to get to see how the Beavers play as favorites for most of the rest of the season, instead of the plucky underdogs they’ve been for Jonathan Smith’s entire tenure.

While I’m not sure we’ll have any world-shattering events take place in week 6 of Pac-12 play, let’s still take a look at the matchups and give you an outline of what to expect…

Make sure to check out this week’s Pac-12 Apostles Podcast, or just click play on the Spotify link below while you read the article below.

Stanford at #22 Arizona State (Friday Night)

Kickoff: 7:30PM Pacific

Broadcast: ESPN

Opening Odds: ASU -11.5

What’s at stake: David Shaw said a lot of things before this season started. Many of them were about his team being better than the national media expected (and they have been), but some of them were about the Arizona State Sun Devils violating the dead period during the Covid-19 pandemic. When ASU’s Herm Edwards was asked to respond to David Shaw’s comments, he pointed out that Shaw didn’t have anything to say when the two were together before Pac-12 Media Day. While there’s plenty at stake on the field for both teams in this game, the budding off-the-field feud between Shaw and the ASU program adds an interesting element.

Some might find the fact that Stanford is a heavy underdog coming off an upset of the #3 team in the country to be a surprise, but the Cardinal are giving up over 5 yards a carry in the run game, and offensively, they’ve lost Brycen Tremayne for the season, which accounts for 21% of their receiving yards and 45% of their receiving TDs this year. Considering the strengths of Arizona State are their run game and the secondary, this is a recipe for a blowout Sun Devils win. Historically, however, David Shaw is 4-1 against ASU, and with this being a Friday night game, you can never be too sure of the outcome.

Our Picks: Ralph likes Arizona State to Cover, George is rolling with Stanford.

Oregon State at Washington State

Kickoff: 1:00PM Pacific

Broadcast: Pac-12 Network

Opening Odds: Oregon State -3.5

What’s at stake: Oregon State is 4-1 with seven games left, and considering they haven’t won more than five games in the last seven seasons, it’s staring to feel like this could be an extremely special season. Nine different Beavers have an interception on defense, and B.J. Baylor is running like he’s this year’s Jarek Broussard. So why are they only a 3.5 point favorite in Pullman? Well, Wazzu seems to be a completely different team when Jayden de Laura is at quarterback. The Cougars have had a lead in the second half of all three of their losses, and maybe last week’s 21-6 win over Cal showed this team that they have the ability to close an opponent out. If Max Borghi and Deon McIntosh can combine to give Washington State equal or greater offense than Baylor gives the Beavers, the Cougars have a legitimate shot to defend homefield and get the upset.

Our Picks: Ralph and George both have the Beavers covering the -3.5.

Utah at USC

Kickoff: 5:00PM Pacific

Broadcast: FOX

Opening Odds: USC -3

What’s at stake: Utah hears every single year that they can’t win at Southern California, and Utes fans are absolutely sick of it. Under Kyle Wittingham, Utah is 0-5 on the road against USC, and there’s no reason to believe that it’s any kind of regional curse, as the Utes usually smash UCLA at the Rose Bowl when they play. The Trojans are barely favored, and last time they were at home, they were dominated by an Oregon State team that hadn’t won at USC in 60+ years. Perhaps this is the year Utah joins the club?

In order to win, and not fall behind in the race for the Pac-12 south, the Utes are going to need to practice ball security (they had four turnovers in last year’s loss), and keep the time of possession lopsided. USC has the ability to move the ball down the field to Drake London in a hurry, and while you’re not going to shut London down completely, you can keep Slovis uncomfortable enough to not have the time to get the ball out of his hands.

Our Picks: Ralph and George both think USC continues to keep Kyle Wittingham winless at the Coliseum. Trojans -3.

UCLA at Arizona

Kickoff: 7:30PM Pacific

Broadcast: ESPN

Opening Odds: UCLA -16

What’s at stake: Two weeks of preparation for Jedd Fisch after keeping things close against Oregon has many people that cover the Pac-12, and people in the national media, convinced that this game could be an enormous trap for the Bruins. Jordan McCloud’s mobility is a big key to keeping drives alive for Arizona, but if they want to compete against UCLA, they’re going to need to greatly exceed the 3.3 yards per carry they’re averaging as a team on the season. Defensively, the Wildcats are going to need to force some turnovers- something Dorian Thompson Robinson has drastically cut back on in 2021. For UCLA, the narrative went from “could they go undefeated” to “who will the next coach be” in a matter of three weeks. The defensive backfield is struggling mightily, and it would be an enormous embarrassment for the program if they continue to fall apart against an Arizona team that currently is averaging 1.5 less yards per pass attempt than UCLA’s defense has allowed on the season.

Our Picks: Ralph and George both picked the Bruins in a blowout.

Who are the Pac-12 Apostles?

The Pac-12 Apostles is a podcast for fans who love the Pac-12 conference. George Wrighster and Ralph Amsden are committed to the honest and fair conversation about the conference. Join us by becoming a Pac-12 Apostle. Subscribe and share the podcast.

Please leave a rating and review of our podcast on iTunes! We record a podcast once a week with emergency episodes when necessary. Our podcasts are always heavy on Pac-12 football. But we make it a point to also try and cover the other notable Men’s and Women’s Pac-12 sports. We cover recruiting and any other major storyline in the Pac-12 universe.

George Wrighster is a former Pac-12 and long-time NFL tight end. As a television/radio host, opinionist, and analyst, who is UNAFRAID to speak the truth. Contrary to industry norms he uses, facts, stats, and common sense to win an argument. He has covered college football, basketball, NFL, NBA, MLB since 2014. Through years of playing college football, covering bowl games, coaching changes, and scandals, he has a great pulse for the conference and national perspective.

Ralph Amsden is a sportswriter and podcaster. He is the publisher of Rivals’ ArizonaVarsity.com, and was previously the managing editor of the Arizona State University Rivals affiliate, DevilsDigest.com. Wyoming born, Arizona raised, and now based in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife and four kids, Amsden made his mark in Arizona sports media through investigative reporting, and being one of the first people to leverage social media and the podcast medium to grow his platform. In addition to his podcasts, he is the Content Director for UnafraidShow.com. Ralph might be sub-.500 in spousal disputes and schoolyard fights, but whether the topic is food, movies, music, parenting, politics, sports, television, religion, or zoological factoids, he’s always UNAFRAID to square up.