PAC – 12 Preview Week 4 | NFL and College Football | NFL and College Football Previews, Predictions, and Recaps

Sep 22, 2011

Week 4 begins with the revelation that the PAC – 12 will not be expanding. Commissioner Larry Scott returned some sanity to College Football when he declared it was in the best interest of all parties involved for the PAC – 12 stay in its current format. Although this does not preclude future expansion, it at least restores some stability to what should be an exciting and wide-open season of conference play.

UCLA (1-2, 0-0) v. Oregon St. (0-2, 0-0)

This is a must win for both teams. Oregon St. may have had one of the worst openings in FBS, falling to Sacramento State in overtime and barely showing up to play against Wisconsin. UCLA similarly struggled, only managing to get past WAC bottom dweller San Jose State 27-17. QB play is a major concern for both teams. Whichever team can limit the turnovers and establish a ground game will take this one. Give the edge to Jonathan Franklin and UCLA.

UCLA 23 Oregon State 14

#10 Oregon (2-1, 0-0) v. Arizona (1-2, 0-1)

No rest for Arizona who hosts Oregon after tough match ups against Oklahoma State and Stanford. Oregon’s offense looked in top form against inferior opponents, but Arizona has also show little to warrant any confidence against a strong Oregon offense. Foles will have Juron Criner back for a second week, but Arizona still has no answers on the ground. Expect this one to get out of hand.

Oregon 45 Arizona 21

California (3-0, 0-0) v. Washington (2-1, 0-0)

California comes in off a fast start while Washington looks to bounce back from a high scoring affair with Nebraska. QBs Zack Maynard and Kevin Price have respectively guided Cal and Washington to a big offense starts. Washington has the edge in the ground game with the experience of Chris Polk. The Cal defense has looked porous but managed to hold strong to fight off Colorado in overtime Week 2. Washington needs to limit the turnovers that gave Nebraska the edge last week. Expect a thriller

Cal 31 Washington 28

Washington State (2-1, 0-0) v. Colorado (1-2, 0-0)

After a fast start, Washington State’s nation leading offense was stalled against the San Diego State defense. After two tough losses, Colorado rebounded in a rivalry game against Colorado State. Expect Colorado to continue its offense success with Tyler Hansen finally giving the Buffs some stability at QB. Ronnie Hillman carved up the Washington State defense last week and expect Rodney Stewart to do the same. The Cougars are much improved but still don’t have the players to compete in the PAC – 12

Colorado 35 Washington State 21

#23 USC (3-0, 0-0) v. Arizona State (2-1, 0-0)

USC has looked strong early, racking up victories against three quality non-conference opponents. Arizona State faltered against a tough Illinois defense. Arizona State must limit costly turnovers that stalled their offense against Illinois. Arizona State has also not faced an offense nearly as powerful as USC. Expect Barkley and Woods to be too much.

USC 28 Arizona State 7

#5 Stanford has the week off giving them much needed time to heal some of their offensive starters. Utah returns October 1st against Washington.