We’re a bit late for the Week 3 edition of Unpacking the Pac-12, but there’s still a little bit of time left for one last look back at the previous Saturday before we head into this weekend.
As always, we’ll start with the latest power rankings from Cache Valley Daily staff, followed by the newest storylines from the league and the winners and losers from this past weekend. Then we’ll preview the much-closer Week 4 for the conference.
Pac-12 Power Rankings
This ranking comes from the combination of ballots from Cache Valley Media Group staff, including Jason Walker, Eric Frandsen, Stockton Jewkes and JD Walker.
Cache Valley Media Group’s Pac-12 Power Rankings graphic. In order of ranking, first is Boise State. Oregon State is second with Colorado State in third. Washington is in fourth and Texas State is fifth. Fresno State is sixth with San Diego State seventh and Utah State eighth.
There is some notable movement in the power rankings for this week after they were relatively static the first couple of weekends. San Diego State plummeted from being tied for second all the way to seventh (more on that later). Texas State, Washington State and Oregon State each moved up two spots. The middle of the conference was also muddy, with little consensus on where teams in the 4-6 range should be. The middle teams are pretty clear, as Washington State, Texas State, and Fresno State were all nearly unanimous in being picked somewhere between fourth and sixth. It’s just not clear where in that mix each team should be. The most agreement is in the teams ranked first (Boise State), second (Oregon State) and last (Utah State), as each of those teams was unanimously selected to those spots.
Storyline of the Week — No signature wins for the Pac-12
The Pac-12 has done decently well to establish itself as the top conference in the Group of Six. Its teams have a collective 5-2 record against fellow G6 teams, with winning records against the American (2-1), Mountain West (2-0) and MAC (1-0). The only G6 league with a winning record against the Pac-12 is the Sun Belt, which gets that distinction after just one game played between the conferences (James Madison defeated San Diego State).
Within those G6 wins are victories over Memphis and North Texas, teams that began the year as hopefuls for the College Football Playoff. And that is helping the Pac-12 put its best foot forward in terms of having its champion be the G6 representative for the playoffs.
The snag so far is that no one in the Pac-12 has pulled off a win that would really put a team on the map. And it’s not for a lack of opportunities. In three weeks, Pac-12 teams have played a collective 11 games against Power 4 teams and nine games against ranked opponents. The Pac-12 is winless in those contests.
Unfortunately, the opportunity to change that is now over. All Pac-12 games against ranked non-conference opponents have already taken place, and there is only one P4 opponent left for any team’s non-conference schedule (Washington vs Arizona).
Biggest Winners from Week 3
Oregon State believers
Oregon State entered the season with few believers. Many preseason rankings placed the Beavers as one of the two worst teams in the conference, often as the worst in the Pac-12. Three weeks into the actual season, opinions have shifted mightily.
The team itself will not likely be happy or satisfied with its 1-2 record, but from an outsider’s perspective, you can see the difference between last year’s 2-10 team and the product being put out on the field right now. The Beavers were competitive against two AP Top 25 opponents, and they put an absolute beat-down on the No. 2 team in the FCS.
Pac-12 running backs
Although Oregon State quarterback Braden Atkinson was ultimately named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week, this past Saturday ought to be remembered as the Pac-12 “Week of the Running Back.” Six different Pac-12 running backs crossed the century mark in rushing yards, with three accumulating north of 200 scrimmage yards.
The top of this already distinguished group was Javion Kinnard, who led the way with 251 scrimmage yards (181 rushing, 70 receiving) for the Aztecs. Then Torrance Burgess, who had the most rushing yards with 214 (plus six receiving yards). And finally, Dylan Riley came just shy of the 200 landmark on the ground (198) but had 216 total scrimmage yards. The others who crossed the century mark in rushing were Maxwell Woods (116), Sire Gaines (102) and Kirby Vorhees (109).
Not a bad week at all for Pac-12 in the ground game.
Biggest Losers from Week 3
Colorado State’s offense
Colorado State quarterback Hauss Hejny left last Saturday’s game against BYU with a hamstring injury. Losing Hejny for any length of time could be massive, as he threw for 539 yards and nine touchdowns in the first two games of the season and was a decent 6-for-10 with 80 yards and had his 10th passing TD of the season against BYU. The Rams will very much want Hejny’s arm for the rapidly approaching Pac-12 games.
Colorado State head coach Jim Mora described Hejny’s availability as being “touch and go.”
We probably shouldn’t judge the Rams too much for how their offense performed without Hejny, as he did most of his damage against Wyoming and an FCS team, and his backups were up against BYU. But it’s still never a great thing to be making an emergency quarterback change early in the season.
San Diego State
Once considered a top-tier team in the Pac-12, there are now serious questions being asked of San Diego State. In two straight losses, we’ve seen an adequate defense and a practically impotent offense. Quarterback Jayden Denegal
Next Week in the Pac-12
There are a lot of key matchups against other Group of Six squads this week that could help set the Pac-12 up in a slightly better position for the race to the CFP. Most important among those will be Boise State at Western Michigan, or the Broncos vs the Broncos. Western Michigan has logged two wins, 49-14 vs Monmouth and 28-21 over Rice, since their controversial loss to Michigan in the opening week of the season. This game will become their new best hope at establishing credibility in the playoff race. For Boise State, a road win against a solid MAC team would go a long way toward making people forget how much they struggled against South Dakota.
San Diego State is also taking on a decent MAC team in Toledo and will also be on the road. The Rockets have an explosive offense, which will test SDSU’s defense, but one way or another the Aztecs need to end their two-game losing streak if they want to salvage any postseason hopes. Colorado State also has a key G6 game against UTSA. The Rams failed to fully prove their 2-0 start was real in the loss to BYU, but getting a win at UTSA would also do the trick in making teams take them seriously. But Hejny’s potential absence may make getting that win all the more difficult.
Utah State is a third team seeking a bounce-back and will get that opportunity in hosting Troy, a solid Sun Belt team. If the Aggies have any hope of turning their 0-3 season around, it’ll have to start this weekend.
Washington State has the lone game against a P4 opponent, as noted earlier. The Cougars are hosting Arizona, giving them something of an advantage, though they are still double-digit underdogs to the visiting Wildcats.
Rounding out the weekend are a couple of games where the Pac-12 side is heavily favored. Oregon State just finished beating up on Montana and should be able to do something similar against UTEP. And Fresno State is a two-touchdown favorite at home against Rice.
