This season, we’re rounding up our writers for their views on other conference games that took place during gameweek.
Avi Kunnath: Arizona State: Still no worse than Arizona, so good for them. The blows could happen.
Piotr T Le: ASU was surprisingly meh. I expected the Sun Devils to fall apart, but they looked like a team, not a group of uniformed players.
Christopher_h: Like Cal, they started off slow but ended up being way too much for NAU’s talent. ASU looked better than I thought, and RB X Valladay looked like a particularly bright spot.
TD_24: Emory Jones is a great athlete. Let’s see if he can elevate ASU a bit in the league.
Avinash – Karl Dorrell owes the Buffs $5 million if fired this year, $4 million in 2022 and $3 million in 2023.
Piotr T Le – YIKES. When a Sonny Dykes defense can hold you at 13, you don’t go through, get $200 back, straight to coaching jail.
Christopher_h – It was the ugliest game I saw all weekend. The Sonny Dykes-led TCU couldn’t move the ball at all until starting QB Chandler Morris was injured and Max Duggan came and threw the ball down Colorado’s throat. Colorado is looking even worse than last year and looks set for the Pac-12 cellar.
SG Bear – It could be a long season for the Buffs. JT Shrout didn’t miraculously stop playing like JT Shrout, so the Buffs will probably have to stick with Brendon Lewis. They may struggle to win two games this season.
TD_24 – Max Duggan goes fast. Colorado will certainly be the last.
TD_24 – The Bruins will be good but DTR running 10 yards back on a sack will never cease to amaze.
Christopher_h – I haven’t watched this one yet, but that’s okay, neither are UCLA fans.
Avinash – UCLA doesn’t play a real football team for a month. It’s a bit of a waste of an off-conference schedule.
TD_24 – Starting Bo Nix was Dan Lanning’s first mistake. Planning the game as a whole ended up being a mistake.
SG Bear – At the risk of being painfully obvious, the difference between good and great is huge. 12 Team CFP is going to have some blowouts.
Christopher_h – Georgia made Oregon look like an FCS school that didn’t belong on the field with them. Not a good start for the Dan Lanning era. I’m sure Georgia will be in the national title talks, but their murder made them feel like they were down. For the love of the Pac-12, I hope Oregon does poorly this year.
Piotr T Le – Stewed duck is apparently a well-served dish in Georgia. When will Chick-Fil-A start selling it on its menus?
Avinash – Georgia are probably the best team in football and they know Bo Nix pretty well, so this result isn’t a huge surprise. The BYU game in two weeks should be more indicative of where Dan Lanning can get them this year.
TD_24 – Jayden De Laura is very good and will lift Arizona a lot in league play. He and Tetairoa Mcmillan will be a pair to watch for years to come.
SG Bear – They said Arizona was going to surprise people how good they were. Count me as one of them. They are legit.
Christopher_h – Arizona basically dumped their team and started over, and they look a lot better than last year. Not just former Wazzu QB Jayden from Laura, but transfer UTEP WR Jacob Cowing and rookie WR Tetairoa McMillan looked very good. Conversely, SDSU didn’t play like a team that went 12-1 last year. Cowing beat the same defensive back multiple times on the exact same play, and SDSU never adjusted. Arizona up, SDSU down.
Avinash – Arizona went full gate to rebuild and it paid dividends. It’s a critical place for Cal to continue to rebuild, especially with recruiting becoming more shaky with each passing year.
TD_24 – This offense is scary. Caleb Williams will look like MJ in this league.
SG Bear – Sure, playing second string QB on a bad team doesn’t mean much, but it does.
Christopher_h – If you’re old enough to remember how bad USC fans were in the days of Pete Carroll, then you probably know what’s coming. USC is very good, and Lincoln Riley has no problem increasing the score with his insufferably arrogant (to put it mildly) USC players.
Avinash – I’m not ready for USC flags to come out everywhere. You are not ready. It’s gonna get really, really boring in here.
TD_24 – Man, I’m heartbroken for the Utes that I wanted to win so badly and probably should have won. They will probably figure it all out and still be a representative of the Pac 12 Championship.
Christopher_h – What’s up with ESPN and their insistence on showing players throwing up? Shit. While I think Oregon might be overrated, I think Utah is probably still in contention for the Pac-12 title, so this tough OOC game doesn’t look good for the conference.
Avinash – It’s a really tough loss for the Utes, who basically have to win to qualify for the Playoffs, and nobody’s ever been undefeated in Pac-12 play. Pencil at USC-Utah early in the season.
TD_24 – Even toothpaste can’t clean some special furd teams.
SG Bear – Who programs Colgate, honestly?
Christopher_h – No kidding, I literally fell asleep during this game.
Piotr T Le – Stanford is a university that produces only one contrarian dentist in the panel of 10 for Colage toothpastes.
Avinash – Successful condition sheet for acquiring the toothpaste brand, maybe Stanford will drop it in the metaverse where you can buy it in tagged NFTs.
TD_24 – It was my biggest surprise of the evening. Defense was amazing for Wazzu but special teams and offense nearly caused them to unleash a new version of Coug’in it. They better realize that as they head into one of Wisconsin’s toughest atmospheres next week.
Christopher_h – I haven’t watched this one yet at the time of writing, but Idaho isn’t a top team in FCS, so Wazzu’s struggles aren’t good here. Cal will play in Idaho next year.
Piotr T Le – My old friend Wazzu. The Cougs’ former case nearly Coug-ing early in the season to lull the Pac-12 into complacency only to bite someone’s throat… Cal for example.
Avinash – Washington State is definitely going to be a mystery all season. Wisconsin might be rough but at least the beer will be great.
TD_24 – Playing in Reser is always a nightmare, ask Hank Bachmeier.
Christopher_h – Oregon State is now a solidly bowl-bound caliber team, and if they play like they did in the first half, they’re a tough game for most teams in the conference. However, they were a mess in the second half and were lucky Boise State was playing particularly terrible (5 turnovers, benched their longtime starting QB, and their RBs had 25 total yards on 17 carries). Boise St, SDSU, Hawaii, etc… not looking like a great start for MWC.
Avinash – Oregon State looks fun. Which I think is not very fun for us.
TD_24 – This team’s cap depends on how many saves the defense can get this year. A change from previous years, but the UW offense is expected to be the top half/top quarter in the conference this year.
Christopher_h – I haven’t seen this yet, but UW has taken care of business. Better than they did last year, when they dropped one against FCS Montana.
Avinash – Washington looks fun. Which I think is not very fun for us…
TD_24 – All things considered, Cal got away with it unscathed. I’ll take it.
Christopher_h – Cal did as well as expected if you ignore 1st quarter. I think Jack Plummer and his accuracy will improve after shaking off that rust.
Avinash – USC-Stanford will be one of those savages. Get ready to hate USC again in all the ways you haven’t missed or get ready to start projecting how Shaw-ball and midfield punts are key to surviving the nuclear winter and climate collapse.
