Pac-12 Football Predictions: Week 7

The Pac-12 South hangs in the balance this weekend, and the Bruins will be crossing their fingers after their own game ends.

UCLA football (4-2, 2-1 Pac-12) was never going to control its own destiny in the division once it lost to Arizona State a few weeks back. Even beating Arizona didn't do much considering the Sun Devils won their game, but now the last two undefeated teams in Pac-12 play – Arizona State and Utah – are set to face off in Salt Lake City late Saturday night.

The Bruins will be going up to play Washington just before that, and both of those games project to be as tight as humanly possible. The battle of the .500 teams, Stanford-Washington State, is also on the slate for Saturday. Friday night will give Cal a shot to knock off Oregon, while Saturday will open up with a masochist's dream matchup between winless Arizona and stumbling Colorado.

The conference is as wide open as it's ever been, and there are any number of teams who could find themselves in the championship game come year's end.

Here are All Bruins' picks for each of the contests including a Pac-12 team in Week 7:

No. 9 Oregon (4-1, 1-1) vs. Cal (1-4, 0-2)

Friday, 7:30 p.m. PT
Eugene, Oregon
Line: Oregon, -13.5*

The Golden Bears' only win so far this year came against an FCS team. While they kept things close in their first three losses of the year to Nevada, TCU and Washington, the bottom seemingly fell out when they could only muster up six points against Washington State. Oregon had a bye to recover from its upset loss to Stanford, and now they're back at home as well. The Ducks' injuries are piling up, but even without running back CJ Verdell and other starters who could be out for a while, they'll still take this one pretty easily.

Straight Up: Oregon
Against the Spread: Oregon

Colorado (1-4, 0-2) vs. Arizona (0-2, 0-5)

Saturday, 12:30 p.m. PT
Boulder, Colorado
Line: Colorado, -5.5*

This is it. This is the week Arizona gets its first win. Don't let the Buffaloes' lone win fool you – they are probably playing even worse than the Wildcats at the moment. Losing quarterback Jordan McCloud for the season will probably stem Arizona's momentum a bit, but replacement Gunner Cruz is still better than Colorado's Brendon Lewis. Taking out the Buffaloes' win over in-state FCS foe Northern Colorado, their offense is averaging a grand total of 8.5 points per game. And after allowing just 8.5 points per game across their first two contests, Colorado is allowing 34 points per game over its last three. Arizona competed for three solid quarters against both UCLA and Oregon, trailing by just one score at the start of the fourth, and even gave BYU a scare earlier in the year. The Buffs are going to be the new bottom-feeder in the Pac-12 come Saturday afternoon.

Straight Up: Arizona
Against the Spread: Arizona

Washington State (3-3, 2-2) vs. Stanford (3-3, 2-2)

Saturday, 4:30 p.m. PT
Pullman, Washington
Line: Stanford, -1.5*

Stanford isn't as hit-or-miss as USC, but the Cardinal have certainly had their fair share of ups and downs this year. Beating the Trojans obviously didn't mean as much as people thought it did at the time, since they came right back and lost by double digits to UCLA two weeks later. Beating then-undefeated Oregon helped Stanford recover, only to lose to Arizona State by 18 right after. Washington State also got blown out by USC while Stanford blew out USC, so while it's not always smart to use the transitive property when picking games, the Cardinal have simply showed a much higher ceiling than the Cougars this year.

Straight Up: Stanford
Against the Spread: Stanford

Washington (2-3, 1-1) vs. UCLA (4-2, 2-1)

Saturday, 5:30 p.m. PT
Seattle, Washington
Line: Pick 'Em

On paper, the Bruins seem like the easy pick here. As crushing as the losses to Fresno State and Arizona State were to the UCLA fanbase, both teams were at least – at the time – pretty good. The Bruins have proven capable of beating up on less-talented opponents like Hawaii, Stanford and Arizona. The same cannot be said for the Huskies, who lost to Montana to start the year and then needed overtime to squeeze out a victory over Cal. It isn't as if they play up to their competition either, losing to both Michigan and Oregon State as well. Jimmy Lake, even with the FCS loss, seems like a good coach, but Chip Kelly probably has the advantage at the moment. And it says a lot about Dylan Morris when Dorian Thompson-Robinson can go 1-for-8 with an interception in the first half against Arizona and he still looks like the better passer entering Saturday. It won't be a blowout, but the line should really start moving in UCLA's favor.

Straight Up: UCLA
Against the Spread: N/A

Utah (3-2, 2-0) vs. No. 18 Arizona State (5-1, 3-0)

Saturday, 7 p.m. PT
Salt Lake City, Utah
Line: Pick 'Em

The Utes' back-to-back losses and ensuing quarterback drama were only blips on the radar, it seems, since they now have a chance to take the lead in the Pac-12 South. Utah and Arizona State are the only undefeated teams left in the conference, let alone in the division. Cam Rising is playing great, as is Jayden Daniels. All in all, it's going to be a very entertaining game, that much is for certain. All five of Arizona State's wins have come by at least 18 points, so if the Sun Devils get out to an early lead or build up some momentum in the third quarter, the Utes might not be able to stage a comeback. Utah's only chance to take this game down to the wire and let Rising rise to the occasion – pun genuinely unintended.

Straight Up: Arizona State
Against the Spread: N/A

*Odds via BetOnline

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