The Pac-12 made its official return to college football over the weekend, with games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. All eight teams were in action; the spectrum of success in their respective games was quite wide. Several teams had incredibly encouraging openers, even in losses. There were also a couple of less-than-encouraging performances by some of the teams in the conference.
Let’s take a look at everything from the Pac-12 in Week 1. We’ll start with a power ranking of the entire conference and then move on to storylines, winners and losers, then a preview of what’s to come in Week 2.
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.
Post-Week 1 Pac-12 Power Ranking
| Rank | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boise State | 0-1 |
| 2 | San Diego State | 1-0 |
| 3 | Colorado State | 1-0 |
| 4 | Oregon State | 0-1 |
| 5 | Washington State | 0-1 |
| T-6 | Fresno State | 0-1 |
| T-6 | Texas State | 0-1 |
| 8 | Utah State | 0-1 |
The top and bottom of the conference were unanimous on the ballots. Even in a losing effort, Boise State proved its mettle, and the Broncos remain a strong favorite to win the first football conference title of the new Pac-12 era. On the other end, Utah State was the universal worst team. Losing to an FCS squad at home will do that, especially where the Aggies were sitting around fifth or sixth by most preseason conference rankings.
Storyline of the Week — Quality losses
Call the Pac-12 the new SEC with all of the “quality losses” the conference had in Week 1. Just about anybody could have seen most of these defeats coming, since the Pac-12 faced five ranked opponents, including a pair of top-five teams, on its opening slate. Each of the five teams facing ranked opponents was a three-touchdown underdog in its game. However, three of the five outperformed expectations, with each having a legitimate chance to win the game during the fourth quarter.
Boise State had the best opportunity in its matchup with Oregon in Eugene. The Broncos led the Ducks 17-14 at halftime (and a better two-minute defense would have meant a 17-7 lead). They were also trading touchdowns and field goals throughout the third and fourth quarters. Oregon ultimately got the upper hand, breaking a 27-all tie on a touchdown with eight minutes to go, and Boise State couldn’t muster a final response.
Despite the loss, the Broncos garnered respect nationally for competing well in a game they were 24-point underdogs in. They went from having 43 points in the AP Poll and being three spots outside the top 25 to getting 86 points. That put Boise State just barely out of the rankings as No. 25 Virginia received only three more points in the voting.
Oregon State and Washington State were the two other road warriors who went toe-to-toe against ranked opponents. Both ended up losing by multiple scores, with the Beavers falling 33-20 to No. 23 Houston and the Cougars losing to rival No. 17 Washington 24-10, but the games were close up until the final stretch.
Neither Oregon State nor Washington State led for any significant portion of their respective games (OSU led for only two minutes in the first quarter). However, the Beavers rallied from being down 26-7 to make their game a one-score contest with nine minutes to play. The Cougars likewise got to within a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. But both would falter and allow late touchdowns from Houston and Washington, which sealed the results for those games.
Biggest Winners from Week 1
Boise State
For now, the Broncos have solidified themselves as the top Group of Six contender for the College Football Playoff. There’s a pretty easy comparison to be made to how Boise State started the 2024 season, losing to seventh-ranked Oregon by three points in their second game of the season. That loss had a positive impact on the Broncos’ perception and helped them reach the top 10 of the CFP ranking. Rising that high still required going on an 11-game win streak, but at least one of the biggest early-season challenges is out of the way for Boise State.
Oregon State / Colorado State
Both the Beavers and Rams were in similar positions in the preseason. They were both coming off 2-10 seasons and brought in new head coaches. And both performed admirably in their Week 1 games. Sure, Oregon State lost, but as detailed above, it was more of a valiant defeat.
Colorado State, though, got the benefit of dominating rival Wyoming 35-13 en route to putting the Pac-12 on notice. Transfer quarterback Hauss Hejny threw five touchdown passes and won Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week. He completed passes to 10 different receivers and had a stretch during the game where he completed 10 consecutive pass attempts. Hejny also ran for 39 yards on seven attempts and caught a 28-yard pass on a trick play, to boot.
Biggest Losers from Week 1
Utah State
Good grief, the Aggies dropped an all-time stinker on Merlin Olsen Field this past Saturday. Losing to Idaho State, even if the Bengals are going to be good in FCS, just isn’t acceptable. Utah State players and coaches were perfectly willing to place Pac-12 contention within their set of goals, but any team that can contend in the Pac-12 wouldn’t let an FCS team within three touchdowns of a victory, much less lose by 12 points to one.
It’s a long season, with a lot of time to improve. But Utah State showed that it has a much longer path to being a competent team than even the most pessimistic preseason projections were predicting.
Fresno State’s Offense
There were already major questions being asked of the Bulldogs’ offense heading into the season. None of those were answered (at least positively) after getting shut out by USC. Jayden Mandel couldn’t even break 80 yards passing and had a QBR of 4.9, which gives him the second-worst QBR out of 136 qualified quarterbacks so far this season. And even in being charitable and removing Mandel’s -19 rushing yards (which came mostly from being sacked five times), you can only credit Fresno State’s offense with 58 yards with an average of 2.7 yards per attempt. Without throwing the Bulldogs that bone, the rushing numbers come to 39 total yards and 1.3 yards per attempt.
Yes, it was a good opponent. But Fresno State didn’t look good even within that context.
Next Week in the Pac-12
There are several highly interesting non-conference matchups for the Pac-12. Boise State is taking on Memphis (4 p.m. on USA Network) in what will be a crucial G6 matchup. The Tigers are already 2-0 with a win over Mountain West favorite UNLV. Whoever wins this game will earn the right to be the early-season frontrunner for the G6 playoff spot.
Texas State has a rivalry game as it hosts UTSA (1:30 p.m. on The CW). The Roadrunners were picked third in the American preseason poll and are a dark horse for the conference title race. Meanwhile, the Bobcats are looking to bounce back from the beating they took at Texas. The highly touted Texas State offense, led by Brad Jackson and a pair of potential all-conference receivers, Chris Dawn Jr. and Beau Sparks, did not look good against the Longhorns’ defense. UTSA might be the unfortunate victim of the Bobcats’ pass attack trying to make a point in Week 2.
Four Pac-12 teams will be in action against Power Four teams. Washington State will be at Kansas State (10 a.m. on TNT). Utah State will travel to Seattle to face the now 19th-ranked Washington Huskies (1:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network). San Diego State will be at UCLA (5:15 p.m. on Big Ten Network). And, in the second-to-last game of the weekend, Oregon State will host No. 13 Texas Tech (5:30 p.m. on CBS).
The remaining games are against FCS, or recently promoted from FCS, opponents. Colorado State will host Southern Utah (5 p.m. on CBS Sports Network) and Fresno State hosts Sacramento State in the nightcap (8:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network).
