Cal Sports Report

Pac-12 Football Notes: Washington vs. Oregon, Penix vs. Nix

Things get serious next Saturday with Huskies-Ducks, USC-Notre Dame, UCLA-Oregon State
Jake Curtis|
Pac-12 Football Notes: Washington vs. Oregon, Penix vs. Nix
Pac-12 Football Notes: Washington vs. Oregon, Penix vs. Nix

This week’s Pac-12 games were filled with drama and pushed seven Pac-12 teams into this week’s AP top 20, but next week’s games are filled with national championship significance.

No. 7 Washington vs. No. 8 Oregon

Let us count the ways next Saturday afternoon’s game in Seattle is must-see TV:

--Both are unbeaten national-title contenders ranked in the top 10 – Washington  is No. 7 and Oregon is No. 8.

--The Huskies and Ducks rank first and second in the nation in total offense.

--The Ducks (51.6 points per game) and the Huskies (46.0) rank second and third in the nation in scoring offense.

--Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and Oregon quarterback Bo Nix are among the top three Heisman Trophy favorites. On Sunday, Penix replaced USC’s Caleb Williams as the Heisman favorite on most betting sites, and Nix is third.

--Penix ranks first in the nation in passing yards per game – more than 60 yards per game better than anyone else.

--Nix ranks first in the nation in completion percentage – 80.4%

--Penix and Nix have combined for 31 touchdown passes and three interceptions while being sacked a combined six times. (Only one school, Toledo, has allowed fewer sacks than either Washington or Oregon.)

--Washington is 10-0 at home under second-year head coach Kalen DeBoer.

--Oregon is 6-1 on the road under second-year coach Dan Lanning, the only defeat being a four-point loss to Oregon State when the Ducks blew a 31-10 lead late in the third quarter when Nix was limited due to injury.

--Washington beat Oregon 37-34 last year when the Huskies rallied from a seven-point deficit in the final four minutes after Nix got injured.

--The winner of Saturday's game is likely to be projected as a College Football Playoff participant by at least some experts. (The first CFP rankings come out Oct. 31.)

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What do we make of USC?

Pro: The Trojans are 6-0.

Con: They had to scramble to win games the past two weeks against teams that were three-touchdown underdogs.

Pro: The Trojans showed resilience by overcoming a 17-0 deficit to beat Arizona in the three overtimes 43-41.

Con: They showed vulnerability by getting behind by 17 points at home against a heavy underdog playing without its regular starting quarterback?

Pro: The Trojans lead the nation in scoring (51.8 points per game).

Con: Their defense is lousy, ranking 109th of 130 FBS schools in total defense.

Pro: USC quarterback Caleb Williams is the Heisman Trophy favorite.

Con: He had just two completions with 1:10 left in the first half when Arizona held a 17-point lead.

Pro: USC is ranked No. 10 and has never been out of the top 10 this year.

Con: The Trojans dropped in the rankings for the third straight week and have yet to face a team that was ranked when they faced them.

Pro: USC came up with a creative alignment that took courage to call in a critical moment to produce the game-winning two-point conversion in a 43-41 victory.

Con: USC benefited from Arizona's ridiculous play call that took no imagination and was poorly executed to produce the game-losing two-point conversion attempt in the third overtime of a 43-41 defeat.

Pro: We will start to learn more about USC next week when the Trojans play a road game against 21st-ranked Notre Dame, one of five ranked opponents USC will face in its final six games. The game at Notre Dame may indicate whether the Trojans are serious national-championship material.

Con: The Irish and quarterback Sam Hartman did not look like a serious threat to USC based on their 33-20 loss to Louisville on Saturday when Notre Dame turned the ball over five times and Hartman threw three interceptions.

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The schedule rears its ugly head

UCLA’s victory over Washington State was impressive, but that outcome brought to light the inequality of the Pac-12 schedule.

The 18th-ranked Bruins don’t play either Washington or Oregon in the regular season. If UCLA upsets No. 15 Oregon State in Corvallis this week, that will become a major point of discussion. 

The Beavers don't face USC this year, so their game against UCLA will be pivotal for them too.

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The quarterback shuffle

The season is only half over, and half the teams in the conference have not started the same quarterback in every game. It’s not a coincidence that that six of the Pac-12 teams ranked among the top 20 in this week’s AP poll have had the same starter in every game.

Two teams – Cal and Arizona State – have started three different quarterbacks this season, and Cal may have found its quarterback in its 52-40 loss to Oregon State. The Golden Bears brought in two transfers – Sam Jackson V and Ben Finley – hoping one would be an effective Pac-12 quarterback. They had been alternating starts until Saturday’s game when redshirt freshman Fernando Mendoza, a Florida  resident whose only FBS scholarship offer was from Cal, got his first collegiate start and had by far the best game by a Cal quarterback this season.

Kudos go to Jackson. He had played the entire game in last week’s win over Arizona State, but after learning midweek he was being demoted and replaced by a player who had thrown one collegiate pass (an incompletion), Jackson helped Mendoza prepare. Jackson, Mendoza’s hotel mate, quizzed Mendoza about situations the night before the game and left a note on Mendoza’s bed Saturday morning that read, “Fernando, you're going to have a tremendous game. Love you, brother.”

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Utah Idle, but not idle

Utah made news despite having a bye this week.

First there was the report by Forbes that 85 Utah players on scholarship received leases and insurance for Dodge Ram pickup trucks in an NIL deal organized by the Utah Crimson Collective.

Then quarterback Cameron Rising provided information about his knee injury, saying that besides suffering a torn ACL, he also had a torn meniscus, a torn MPFL (medial patellofemoral ligament) and a torn MCL (medial collateral ligament).

It’s unclear whether Rising will make his season debut on Saturday at home against Cal. If he plays sometime soon, Utah still has a chance to win the Pac-12 title for the third year in row. If he is sidelined for another two or three weeks – or even the rest of the season – the Utes have no chance. Their offense has scored just one touchdown in each of the past two games.

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Pac-12 Player of the Year Standings

--1. Quarterback Michael Penix Jr., Washington – He leads the nation in passing yards per game in the high-powered offense.

--2. Quarterback Bo Nix, Oregon – He’s completing better than 80% of his passes, and he led that comeback win over Texas Tech.

--3. Quarterback Caleb Williams, USC – Plaudits for leading the comeback win over Arizona, but he still has not faced a strong defense. Notre Dame will provide a barometer.

--4. Wide receiver Rome Odunze, Washington – His 121.6 receiving yards per game rank third in the country, and he is a dangerous punt returner.

--5. Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, Oregon State – His five TD passes with no picks against Cal were impressive.

(Obviously this can change in a hurry. Cameron Ward was No. 1 last week, but fell out of the top five after a poor showing against UCLA. Oregon State's Silas Bolden nearly made our top five because of his amazing big-play capabilities as a runner, receiver and returner.)

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Top Five Pac-12 Teams

(We rank based on which teams have had the best results, not which teams we believe are the best teams)

--1. Washington (5-0) – The Huskies’ wins over Boise State and Michigan State (on the road) put them on top.

--2. Oregon (5-0) – The Ducks are on cruise control.

--3. USC (6-0) – Trojans keep winning, but keep falling in the rankings. Still waiting for USC to face a decent opponent to pass judgment.

--4. Oregon State (5-1) – The Beavers’ offense looked awfully good Saturday, albeit against Cal.

--5. UCLA (5-1) – The Bruins’ win over Washington State was more decisive than the score. UCLA outgained the Cougars 470-216 and had 24 first downs compared to WSU’s 11.

(Washington State’s showing against the Bruins demoted the Cougars from No. 1 to out of the top five.)

Cover photo of Oregon's Bo Nix and Washington's Michael Penix Jr. by Troy Wayrynen, USA TODAY Sports

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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