Saturday Blitz
Fansided

Pac-12 Football Power Rankings, Week 3: USC makes case for No. 1

By Kyle Grondin

LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 07: Running back Vavae Malepeai #29 of the USC Trojans points to the sky after scoring a touch down in the fourth quarter of the game against the Stanford Cardinal at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on September 7, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 07: Running back Vavae Malepeai #29 of the USC Trojans points to the sky after scoring a touch down in the fourth quarter of the game against the Stanford Cardinal at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on September 7, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 4
Next
LOS ANGELES, CA – SEPTEMBER 07: Quarterback Davis Mills #15 of the Stanford Cardinal sets to pass in the fourth quarter of the game against the USC Trojans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on September 7, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – SEPTEMBER 07: Quarterback Davis Mills #15 of the Stanford Cardinal sets to pass in the fourth quarter of the game against the USC Trojans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on September 7, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

Arizona stands pat after Week 2, where the offense exploded for 61 points against lowly Northern Arizona. They showed great balance, throwing for 289 yards and rushing for 431. A solid game for the offense overall.

But, they gave up 373 passing yards and 41 points to a FCS school, that can’t happen.

Stanford had a good excuse to losing to USC, losing star quarterback KJ Costello. It would’ve been, if USC didn’t lose their starter last week as well. Stanford was overwhelmed in that game, and the defense was gutted from the start.

I felt Stanford was overrated coming into the season, as they struggled last year in a lot of key aspects to the game. The conventional wisdom is the Cardinal are a big, strong team that wins in the trenches, but they just gave up 115 yards rushing to USC, and it won’t get easier on the road at UCF, a team that has four quality running backs. Another crazy stat, Stanford, even with Bryce Love last season, hasn’t had a 100 yard rusher since Sept. 8 of last year. How’s that for winning in the trenches? This feels like a 6-6 season.

What a weird game for the Huskies, with the delay derailing the entire game and their home field advantage. That delay catered to Cal, who’s aggressive defense was able to take advantage of a flat, tired Washington offense. I don’t think Washington stays this low long, but a loss is a loss nonetheless. They’ll rebound next week against Hawaii with some Pac-12 pride at stake.

Home/Pac-12