Pac-12 Football Power Rankings, Week 10: Washington State controls West
By Dana Becker
A year ago, Khalil Tate set an FBS record for rushing yards against Colorado. This past week, Tate set a new career-high with 350 yards passing and five touchdowns to lead Arizona to a 42-34 victory that included 26 second-quarter points by the Wildcats.
Two weeks ago, Arizona and first-year head coach Kevin Sumlin were sitting at 3-5 after back-to-back losses to Utah and UCLA. Since Tate returned from sitting out a week to get healthy, they have defeated Oregon and Colorado, scoring 44 and 42 points.
The Wildcat now are tied with Utah and USC at 4-3 in the South, though both the Utes and Trojans hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over them. Arizona closes with Washington State in two weeks and Arizona State after that, needing a win to reach bowl status.
Manny Wilkins and N’Keal Harry had another big day, Eno Benjamin went over the 100-yard mark for a sixth time this year, and Arizona State earned its second victory over a Top 25 team with a 38-20 triumph vs. Utah.
The Sun Devils have picked up back-to-back victories to get back into contention in the wild Pac-12 South, along with moving closer to achieving eligibility for a bowl game under first-year head coach Herm Edwards.
Wilkins threw for 285 yards, with Harry catching a season-high 161. Benjamin finished with 175 yards, adding to the 185 he had last week vs. USC. Arizona State meets UCLA at home this week with Oregon and Arizona to finish out the year on the road.
A loss to Arizona State snapped Utah’s four-game win streak, cost them a chance to put some space between themselves and the rest of the division and saw quarterback Tyler Huntley go down for the rest of the season. Huntley, who led the Utes to a 6-3 record, suffered a broken collarbone and is out.
Zack Moss did record his third consecutive 100-yard game on the ground for Utah, rushing for 128 a week removed from a season-high 211 yards in a win over UCLA. Utah had not lost since the last two Saturdays in September when they faced Washington (21-7) and Washington State (28-24).
The team will turn the offense over to freshman Jason Shelley from Texas with homes games vs. Oregon and BYU around a road date at Colorado to close out.
Of the three teams in the Pac-12 South sitting at 4-3, USC might have the best chance to defeat either Washington State or Washington in the title game later this year. The Trojans picked up a 38-21 victory over Oregon State to improve to 5-4 overall.
After missing a loss to Arizona State last week, JT Daniels returned and threw for 177 yards. Aca’Cedric Ware had a career-high 205 yards on 17 carries, scoring three touchdowns and averaging 12 yards per carry. He had been limited to just 19 carries and 87 yards over the past three games.
The division has been difficult to figure out all year, as Utah lost starting quarterback Tyler Huntley to a season-ending injury, Arizona has been hit-and-miss under Kevin Sumlin and Arizona State has just one road victory.
Both the Utes and Sun Devils, though, hold the tiebreaker with USC thanks to wins in October over the Trojans. USC did defeat Arizona and also topped Washington State earlier this year — the only team to do that this year.