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By Ted Miller
Here's a quick look at Week 8 in the Pac-12.
Arizona State is off. All times are ET.
Thursday
UCLA (3-3, 2-1) at Arizona (1-5, 0-4) 9 p.m. ESPN: An absolute, 100 percent must-win for Bruins coach Rick Neuheisel. Arizona already dispatched its coach, Mike Stoops, and his seat at the start of the season was considerably cooler. On the plus side, with a win the Bruins would put themselves squarely in the South Division race as the only team with a real shot at Arizona State.
Saturday
No. 10 Oregon (5-1, 3-0) at Colorado (1-6, 0-3) 3:30 p.m. FSN: Colorado is wracked by injuries, so it won't have much sympathy for the Ducks if they don't have running back LaMichael James and quarterback Darron Thomas. But that will be the big question this week: Will those two play? Colorado leads the all-time series 8-7, but Oregon won the last meeting 38-16 in the Fiesta Bowl after the 2001 season.
Utah (3-3, 0-3) at California (3-3, 0-3) 7 p.m. CSNBA: Both teams have the same record -- overall and conference play. Both teams really want to get back to a winning record and notch a first conference victory -- in the Utes' case, first-ever. Utah has been good against the run this year, which means Cal quarteback Zach Maynard may need to pass to win. He's been off-target of late. Cal leads the all-time series 4-3, but the Utes won the last one, a 37-27 win in the 2009 Poinsettia Bowl.
USC (5-1) at Notre Dame (4-2) 7:30 p.m. NBC: Notre Dame's 20-16 victory last season at the Coliseum ended USC's eight-game winning streak in the series, though it's notable that quarterback Matt Barkley didn't play. USC has won 13 consecutive nonconference road games. This is only the 10th time neither team has been ranked going into the game. Notre Dame leads the series 43-34-5.
No. 25 Washington (5-1, 3-0) at No. 8 Stanford (6-0, 4-0) 8 p.m. ABC: Stanford pounded the Huskies 41-0 last year, but Washington leads the series 40-37-4. The Cardinal is riding a 14-game winning streak, longest in FBS football. Washington is 3-0 in the conference for the first time since 1997. The Huskies have scored 30 or more points in every game this year; the Cardinal defense ranks 11th in the nation in scoring defense (11.7 points per game). It's held its last 12 opponents to under 25 points, the longest streak for the program since 1939-41.
Oregon State (1-5, 1-2)*vs. Washington State (3-3, 1-2) 10:30 p.m. FSN: Game*will be played at*CenturyLink Field in Seattle. Washington State's only conference win last year came at Oregon State, 31-14, which ended a 16-game conference losing streak. Cougars quarterback Jeff Tuel made his first start of the season at Stanford last week after fracturing his clavicle in the opener. The Beavers are off to their worst start since 1996, when they finished 2-9.
Originally posted by ESPN.com - Pac-10 Blog
Click here to view the article.
Here's a quick look at Week 8 in the Pac-12. Arizona State is off. All times are ET.
Thursday
UCLA (3-3, 2-1) at Arizona (1-5, 0-4) 9 p.m. ESPN: An absolute, 100 percent must-win for Bruins coach Rick Neuheisel. Arizona already dispatched its coach, Mike Stoops, and his seat at the start of the season was considerably cooler. On the plus side, with a win the Bruins would put themselves squarely in the South Division race as the only team with a real shot at Arizona State.
Saturday
No. 10 Oregon (5-1, 3-0) at Colorado (1-6, 0-3) 3:30 p.m. FSN: Colorado is wracked by injuries, so it won't have much sympathy for the Ducks if they don't have running back LaMichael James and quarterback Darron Thomas. But that will be the big question this week: Will those two play? Colorado leads the all-time series 8-7, but Oregon won the last meeting 38-16 in the Fiesta Bowl after the 2001 season.
Utah (3-3, 0-3) at California (3-3, 0-3) 7 p.m. CSNBA: Both teams have the same record -- overall and conference play. Both teams really want to get back to a winning record and notch a first conference victory -- in the Utes' case, first-ever. Utah has been good against the run this year, which means Cal quarteback Zach Maynard may need to pass to win. He's been off-target of late. Cal leads the all-time series 4-3, but the Utes won the last one, a 37-27 win in the 2009 Poinsettia Bowl.
USC (5-1) at Notre Dame (4-2) 7:30 p.m. NBC: Notre Dame's 20-16 victory last season at the Coliseum ended USC's eight-game winning streak in the series, though it's notable that quarterback Matt Barkley didn't play. USC has won 13 consecutive nonconference road games. This is only the 10th time neither team has been ranked going into the game. Notre Dame leads the series 43-34-5.
No. 25 Washington (5-1, 3-0) at No. 8 Stanford (6-0, 4-0) 8 p.m. ABC: Stanford pounded the Huskies 41-0 last year, but Washington leads the series 40-37-4. The Cardinal is riding a 14-game winning streak, longest in FBS football. Washington is 3-0 in the conference for the first time since 1997. The Huskies have scored 30 or more points in every game this year; the Cardinal defense ranks 11th in the nation in scoring defense (11.7 points per game). It's held its last 12 opponents to under 25 points, the longest streak for the program since 1939-41.
Oregon State (1-5, 1-2)*vs. Washington State (3-3, 1-2) 10:30 p.m. FSN: Game*will be played at*CenturyLink Field in Seattle. Washington State's only conference win last year came at Oregon State, 31-14, which ended a 16-game conference losing streak. Cougars quarterback Jeff Tuel made his first start of the season at Stanford last week after fracturing his clavicle in the opener. The Beavers are off to their worst start since 1996, when they finished 2-9.
Originally posted by ESPN.com - Pac-10 Blog
Click here to view the article.