Pac-12 Week 3 Power Rankings: Colorado Rises, UCLA Falls

Pac-12 Roundup: Week 3

Week three of the 2018 college football season is in the books. USC played their trilogy against Texas, Washington and Utah played their Pac-12 opener and UCLA and Arizona are looking for their first win.

The two divisions were completely different. Five of the six teams in the North won their game, while one of the six teams in the south won their game. Here’s how the Pac-12 schools did in the third week of play. Teams are listed by division, in order of their KSL Sports Power Ranking.

NORTH:

1. Stanford (3-0, 1-0 Pac-12)

Result: Beat UC Davis 30-10 at home

Recap: Star running back Bryce Love sat out of the game with an undisclosed injury. That wasn’t a problem for the Cardinal as junior running back Trevor Speights filled the void for Love with 87 yards on 11 carries. Wide receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside added another two touchdown catches to his season tally of five. Quarterback KJ Costello threw two touchdowns and two interceptions to go with his 214 yards through the air. Stanford’s defensive front held the aggies to 50 yards on the ground.

Previous Ranking: 1

Next up: at No. 20 Oregon, Saturday at 6 p.m. on ABC

2. Washington (2-1, 1-0 Pac-12)

Result: Beat Utah 21-7 on the road

Recap: Washington running back Myles Gaskin rushed for 143 yards on 30 carries to go with his touchdown in the Huskies win over Utah. Jake Browning threw for only 155 yards and one touchdown and interception in the win. He found Aaron Fuller six times for 108 yards. The physical Huskies defense forced three Utah turnovers and held quarterback Tyler Huntley to 138 yards passing.

Previous Ranking: 2

Next up: vs. Arizona State, Saturday at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN

3. Oregon (3-0)

Result: Beat San Jose State 35-22 at home

Recap: Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert shined in the Ducks win. Herbert had three touchdowns and two interceptions. He completed 16 of his 34 passes for 309 yards. Wide receiver Jacob Breeland had three catches for 92 yards and one touchdown to lead the Ducks receiving core. Oregon remains No. 20 in the AP poll.

Previous Ranking: 3

Next up: vs. No. 7 Stanford, Saturday at 6 p.m. on ABC

4. Washington State (3-0)

Result: Beat Eastern Washington 59-24 at home

Recap: The last time that these two teams met was in 2016. Eastern Washington won the game, 45-42 in Pullman, Washington. Quarterback Gardner Minshew would make sure that didn’t happen again as he threw for an impressive 470 yards and two touchdowns. Cougars Head Coach Mike Leach’s air raid offense saw Minshew complete 45 of his 57 passes. Wide receiver Davontavean Martin had 13 catches for 149 yards and one touchdown. The Cougars defense forced 4 turnovers to help finish their non-conference schedule without a loss.

Previous Ranking: 4

Next up: at USC, Friday at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN

5. California (3-0)

Result: Beat Idaho State 45-23 at home

Recap: The Golden Bears continue to run a two quarterback system as Chase Garbers stood out above the rest with 224 yards through the air 42 on the ground with three touchdowns.  Wide receiver Jordan Duncan had two of the three touchdowns on four catches to go with 63 yards. Cal shut down the Bengals air attack except for one player, wide receiver Mitch Gueller had 156 of the Idaho State’s 179 yards that were thrown to receivers.

Previous Ranking: 5

Next up: Bye week

6. Oregon State (1-2)

Result: Lost at Nevada, 37-35

Recap: Senior quarterback Jake Luton had 284 yards passing to go with one touchdown and one interception. Freshman running back Jemar Jefferson continues to impress with 106 yards rushing and found the end zone two times. The Beavers had two receivers over 100 yards. Isaiah Hodgins caught 14 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns. Timmy Hernandez added 116 yards on 11 receptions. The Beavers turned the ball over three times which made it difficult to pull out the win in Reno.

Previous Ranking: 6

Next up: vs. Arizona, Saturday at 2 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network

SOUTH:

1. Colorado (3-0)

Result: Beat New Hamsphire 45-14 at home

Recap: The running game carried most of the load for the Buffs offense as Travon McMillian had 162 yards rushing on 15 carries and found the end zone twice. Beau Bisharat added 92 yards on the ground on 13 carries. The Buffs combined for 311 yards running the football. Colorado’s defense held New Hampshire’s offense to 270 total yards including 42 rushing yards.

Previous Ranking: 4

Next up: Bye week

2. Arizona State (2-1)

Result: Lost at San Diego State 28-21

Recap: The Sun Devils jumped out to a 14-7 lead in the second quarter before the Aztecs scored 21 unanswered points. By the time the Devils scored in the fourth quarter and stopped the Aztecs scoring run, it was too late. Arizona State’s offense was productive through the air as quarterback Manny Wilkins threw for 341 yards and two touchdowns. ASU was shut down in the run game with only 36 yards on the ground. The defense couldn’t shut down the Aztecs running attack as they tallied 311 yards on the ground.

Previous Ranking: 2

Next up: at No. 10 Washington, Saturday at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN

3. Utah (2-1, 0-1 Pac-12)

Result: Lost to Washington 21-7 at home

Recap: Three turnovers and five dropped passes were the problem for the Utes on Offense. Losing safety Marquise Blair and defensive tackle Leki Fotu to ejections for targeting didn’t help either. Utah couldn’t get anything going on the ground with 124 rushing yards between four players. They managed to pick up 261 yards of total offense. Washington running back Myles Gaskin had 143 yards and one touchdown to lead the way for the Huskies.

Previous Ranking: 3

Next up: Bye week

4. USC (1-2, 0-1 Pac-12)

Result: Lost at Texas 37-14

Recap: USC got off to a great start with a 14-3 lead in the first quarter, but they would not score again the rest of the game. Freshman quarterback JT Daniels had 322 yards passing but didn’t get the ball in the end zone and threw an interception. The Trojans running backs were completely shut down as they had 24 yards on the ground but they scored the two touchdowns. Wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown had nine catches for 167 yards to lead the USC receivers. The Trojans defense allowed 394 yards of total offense from Texas.

Previous Ranking: 1

Next up: vs. Washington State, Friday at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN

5. Arizona (1-2)

Result: Beat Southern Utah 62-31 at home

Recap: A sluggish start for Arizona defensively in the first half saw them leading by one touchdown, 24-17 at the break. The Wildcats scored 24 points in the 3^rd quarter alone and that was the difference in the game as Arizona picked up their first win of the season. Khalil Tate threw five touchdown passes for 349 yards. The Wildcats continue to use him as a passing quarterback as he had only four carries. Arizona had 626 total yards of offense but Southern Utah racked up 463 yards.

Previous Ranking: 6

Next up: at Oregon State, Saturday at 2 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks

6. UCLA (0-3)

Result:  Lost to Fresno State 38-14 at home

Recap: Not a great start to the 2018 season for Chip Kelly and the Bruins. They couldn’t get anything going on offense as quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson had 151 yards through the air and two interceptions but only completed 10 of his 24 pass attempts. He was also the leading rusher with 38 yards. UCLA had four turnovers and gave up 420 yards of total offense to Fresno State in the loss.

Previous Ranking: 5

Next up: Bye week