Pac-12 Football 2017: 5 teams on upset alert in Week 9

3. Washington State Cougars

The Washington State Cougars are ranked 18th in the S&P+ while the Arizona Wildcats have climbed up to 37th per Bill C. Mike Leach’s Cougars are 7-1 coming off a 28-0 win over Colorado. However, the Cougars dropped a game to Cal only two weeks ago where Luke Falk looked terrible and the past weekend the Cougs offense had to do up downs to keep Coach Leach happy.

If Wazzu comes out how the country knows they can play, at their peak, Falk throws for 5 touchdowns and the 15th ranked defense shuts down Rich Rodriguez‘s option offense. Alex Grinch has to be worried about the rise of quarterback Khalil Tate. Tate has run for 780 yards and seven touchdowns while throwing for 500 yards and four touchdowns. On the flip side, the Arizona offense may be 15th but the defense is 79th.

During Arizona’s mid-season improvement, they’ve defeated Colorado, UCLA, and Cal. Rich Rodriguez seemed finished in Tuscon but he’s had a resurgence with Tate at quarterback. Arizona State was 83rd a year ago and has climbed almost 50 spots now that Rich Rod has his option quarterback he needed. Arizona has 300 yards rushing from three other runners as well and 28 rushing touchdowns so far in 2017 as well.