With Stanford suffering a loss at home to Utah this past week, Washington tightened its grip atop the Pac-12 football power rankings heading into Week 7.
The Cardinal were unable to overcome the loss of Bryce Love, dropping a 40-21 decision to the Utes. The Huskies, meanwhile held off an upset-minded UCLA team led by Chip Kelly, winning 31-24 on the road.
Colorado slipped past Arizona State, Arizona edged California and Washington State hung 56 up on Oregon State in other league action.
This week we get four matchups, all involving Pac-12 teams competing against one another. Arizona and Utah begin things Friday night, with the marquee games being Washington at Oregon and Colorado visiting USC.
Here’s a look at the latest power rankings.
Things looked much-improved for Chip Kelly and the Bruins last week, as they gave conference-leading Washington fits all game long. UCLA was unable to pull out the upset, though, falling by seven.
Dorian Thompson-Robinson completed 27 of 38 for 272 yards with two touchdowns, Joshua Kelley ran 20 times for 125 yards and found the end zone, and Caleb Wilson had eight catches for 102 yards and a score from the freshman quarterback.
Through five games, the Bruins still rank dead-last in the league in total offense, averaging just 334 yards per game. They are also last averaging 18.4 points a contest.
UCLA will hit the road to face California this Saturday evening.
Oregon State fans are just going to have to be patient, because Jonathan Smith has the Beavers on tap for big things in the future. But right now, the youth of the team will be tested against the Pac-12.
Jermar Jefferson, a freshman from California, had his fourth 100-yard game of the season, carrying the ball 25 times for 138 yards with four touchdowns in a 56-37 loss to Washington State. Jefferson has two games with four touchdowns and 12 scores on the season already.
Sophomore quarterback Conor Blount threw for 172 yards and surpassed the 1,000-yard mark on the year. He’ll be pushed by Nebraska transfer Tristan Gebbia next year, but a season under his belt will be good for Blount.
The Beavers are fourth in the conference in total yards per game at just under 454 and are also averaging 31.5 points per contest.
That shine that Herm Edwards had in the early going for Arizona State has been wiped away with tough seven-point losses to Washington and Colorado on the road around a home victory vs. cellar-dweller Oregon State.
It’s difficult to think the Sun Devils are not better than their 3-3 record shows, as they also lost by a single touchdown to San Diego State on the road. Pull those three games out, and we are possible talking about Arizona State contending for a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Instead, we are left with a .500 team as they are set to sit out this week with a bye. Eno Benjamin did have another strong game vs. Colorado, rushing for 120 yards and two touchdowns, with Manny Wilkins completing 12-of-18 for 222 and a score.
The Golden Bears opened the season 3-0 with wins over North Carolina and BYU. However, the conference grind has not been nice to them, as they have fallen to Oregon and Arizona in recent weeks.
Brandon McIlwain, though, did everything he could in his start at quarterback vs. the Wildcats, completing 32-of-43 for 315 yards with 20 carries, 107 yards and two scores. He did throw a pair of interceptions, though, in his first start after coming off the bench last week and recording 128 yards passing and 123 yards rushing.
California will try to snap its losing skid with a home date vs. UCLA this weekend. The Golden Bears are 2-1 on their home field this season.