Pac-12 Basketball Preview

After yet another down year for the Pac-12, things are looking up for the conference. Despite preforming well on the gridiron, the Pac-12 has faltered when it comes to basketball. Last season, two teams finished with just six wins and every team had double-digit losses. Only one at large team made the NCAA Tournament; that was Cal, who lost in the First Four. Colorado won the Pac-12 Tournament, earning themselves an automatic bid into March Madness, where they won their first round game before getting bounced by Baylor.

It looks like a rebuilding year for Washington, who enters the 2012-2013 season after losing two first round picks in Terrence Ross and Tony Wroten, but Arizona and UCLA look much improved after both hauled in consensus top five recruiting classes. Colorado’s star forward, Andre Roberson, returns for his junior season and All-Pac-12 guard Alan Crabbe decided to return to Cal while the rival Stanford Cardinal see three of five starters return.

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Pac-12 Week 9 Preview

The Trojans have rattled off four straight double-digit victories since their week three loss against Stanford. Matt Barkley has thrown 10 touchdown passes in his last three games, including six last week against Colorado. The biggest question for USC is where are their heads going to be? With a showdown with Oregon looming next week, how much merit is USC going to put into this game? 

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Pac-12 Week 8 Round-up

 Week 8 Results

• No. 3 Oregon 43, Arizona State 21
• No. 20 Stanford 21, California 3
• Arizona 52, Washington 17
• No. 10 USC 50, Colorado 6
• No. 8 Oregon State 21, Utah 7

Team of the Week: Oregon Ducks

Many thought the Arizona State Sun Devils would give Oregon its first real test of the season; those people were wrong. After falling behind 7-0 early, the Ducks reeled off 43 consecutive points and throttled the Sun Devils 43-21. Oregon finished with 406 rushing yards and redshirt freshman Marcus Mariota was 9/12 in the air with 46 yards and a touchdown, while also running for 135 yards on 10 carries and one touchdown.

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Pac-12 Week 4 Preview

Game of the Week: No. 22 Arizona @ No. 3 Oregon

Rich Rodriguez leads his unbeaten Wildcats on the road for the first time this season, and what a road test it is against No. 3 Oregon. Arizona surprised everyone with their 59-38 victory over Oklahoma State in week two, and the Wildcats average 46.3 points per game. Rich Rod’s passing offense ranks 7th in the nation and his rushing offense ranks 18th. Matt Scott has a QB rating of 156.6 this season, as the senior has 995 passing yards, seven touchdowns, and a completion percentage of 71.5%. 

Oregon really hasn’t been tested all season. The Ducks have played: Arkansas State, Fresno State and Tennessee Tech, all at home. Oregon ranks 4th in the country with 329 rushing yards a game in 2012 and they are 5th in points per game (54.0). However, the Oregon defense did give up 34 points to Arkansas State at 25 points to Fresno. Expect a shootout under the lights in Eugene as the team with the ball last may come out on top. 

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Pac-12: Week 3 Recap

Team of the Week: No. 21 Stanford

The Cardinal proved they are still prominent in the post-Andrew Luck era, as Stanford pulled off perhaps the upset of the week with their 21-14 victory over No. 2 USC. Stanford finally got its ground game going as Stepfan Taylor broke out for 153 yards on 27 carries, including a 59-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. The Cardinal defense forced three turnovers, including two Matt Barkley interceptions. Stanford held USC to just 26 rushing yards and USC was just 1 of 13 on third down. Stanford proved that they are still a contender in the Pac-12 North and that the Cardinal will be a team to be reckoned with the rest of the year. 

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