Friday, March 29, 2024
Jackery Solar Battery Portable Generator

CFB: Week 3 Conference Previews: PAC-12 Conference

AROUND THE PAC-12

SOUTH ALABAMA (2-0) at UCLA (2-0)
Sat., Sept. 17 • 11:00 am PT • PAC-12 NETWORK
UCLA: Looking to start 3-0 for the first time since winning their first 4 games in 2015. 5-game win streak back to last season, scoring 42+ points in each game. Only other time with 5 straight games with 40+ points was in 1998. Bruins ran for 220 yards last week despite 0 attempts combined from Dorian ThompsonRobinson and Zach Charbonnet. 1-0 vs. Sun Belt Conference all-time. Lead Pac-12 in both rushing offense (244.5) and rushing defense (62.0 ypg)

SOUTH ALABAMA: First ever game against Pac-12 school. Have 19 players that are transfers from Power 5 schools. Head coach Kane Wommack worked with Washington Head Coach Kalen DeBoer at Indiana in 2019.

CALIFORNIA (2-0) at NOTRE DAME (0-2)
Sat., Sept. 17 • 2:30 pm ET • NBC
CALIFORNIA: Have won 5 of their last 7 non-conference road games with wins at Northwestern, Texas, North Carolina, BYU and Ole Miss. Last 8 non-conference road games all decided by 8 points or less. Looking to start 3-0 for first time since 2019. RB Jaydn Ott won back-to-back Pac-12 Freshman of the Week awards and his 156 rush yards are 5th most among FBS true freshmen this season. QB Jack Plummer 187 pass yds, pass TD last year at Notre Dame with Purdue.

NOTRE DAME: Fifth meeting with Cal, having won the previous four with the last coming in 1967. QB Drew Pyne will make first career start with Tyler Buchner injured. Not including traditional rivals USC and Stanford, Notre Dame is 14-1 at home against Pac-12 schools with Arizona winning in 1982

12 BYU (2-0) at #25 OREGON (1-1)

Sat., Sept. 17 • 12:30 pm PT • FOX
OREGON: School-record 40 first downs last week in 70-14 win over Eastern Washington for Dan Lanning’s first win. Bo Nix 5 pass TD last week, first Oregon QB to do it since Justin Herbert in 2019. Defense held EWU to 87 pass yards, first time allowing less than 100 since 2017 at Wyoming with current Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen. Won 29 straight non-conference home games, the second longest active streak in FBS. First non-conference home game against ranked team since 2014 when the Ducks beat #7 Michigan State 46-27.

BYU: First meeting with Oregon since 2006 Las Vegas Bowl and first game at Autzen since 1990 when Ducks upset #4 BYU 32-16 as Bill Musgrave threw 3 TD and ran for another while the defense sacked Ty Detmer 5 times. Have won 5 straight against Pac-12 schools, all last season. Won last 3 against ranked teams. Former Cal RB Christopher Brooks leads team with 166 rush yds, former UW WR Puka Nacua leads team with 2 rush TD.

COLORADO (0-2) at MINNESOTA (2-0)
Sat., Sept. 17 • 2:30 pm CT • ESPN2
COLORADO: Have won 2 of last 3 against Big Ten teams since 2018 with both wins over Nebraska. Won last road game at Minnesota, 21-20 in 1992 in the Metrodome. Held Air Force to 1-5 passing for 8 yards, the fewest they’ve allowed since 1987 when Nebraska had 3 yards.

MINNESOTA: Leads FBS in both total offense (582.0 ypg) and total defense (142.5 ypg) with Georgia the only other school in Top 10 in both. Looking to start 3-0 for 4th time in last 6 years. 16-1 in non-conference games (including bowls) since P.J. Fleck arrived in 2017. 4 straight wins against Pac-12 schools.

COLORADO STATE (0-2) at WASHINGTON STATE (2-0)
Sat., Sept. 17 • 2:00 pm PT • PAC-12 NETWORK
WASHINGTON STATE: Coming off first road win ever against a ranked Big Ten team. 253 total yards vs. Wisconsin, first win with less than 300 yards since 2013 at USC. RB Nakia Watson had 2 TD (1 rush, 1 rec) against Wisconsin who he played for in 2019-20. Since start of 2020 season, have forced multiple turnovers in 14 of 19 games. Jake Dickert looking to become first WSU head coach to start 3-0 in first full season since Mike Price in 1989.

COLORADO STATE: Won only previous meeting in 2013 New Mexico Bowl. Former ASU/UCLA assistant Jay Norvell in his first season as head coach. Norvell was HC at Nevada last 2 seasons with WSU DC Brian Ward, WSU LB Daiyan Henley and DB Jordan Lee. Have lost 6 of last 7 against Pac-12 schools.

11 MICHIGAN STATE (2-0) at WASHINGTON (2-0)

Sat., Sept. 17 • 4:30 pm PT • ABC
WASHINGTON: Won their last 2 home games against Top 25 non-conference opponents, with last loss coming in 2010 to #8 Nebraska. 12-1 at home vs. Big Ten opponents since 1980 with only loss to #10 Ohio State in 2007. QB Michael Penix Jr. leads Pac-12 and 8th in FBS with 341.0 pass YPG. Kalen DeBoer looking to be 3rd straight UW head coach to start their Husky career 3-0 (Petersen, Lake).

MICHIGAN STATE: First game in Seattle since 1970. 3rd season at MSU for Mel Tucker after leaving Colorado. Colorado transfer RB Jarek Broussard 135 rush yds, 2 rush TD this season. Have not won a road game at a Pac-12 school since 1957 at Cal.

MONTANA STATE (2-0) vs. OREGON STATE (2-0)
at Providence Park in Portland, Ore
Sat., Sept. 17 • 5:00 pm PT • PAC-12 NETWORK
OREGON STATE: 2-0 start for the first time since winning their first 3 games in 2014. 35-32 win at Fresno State was their first non-conference road win since 2014 at Hawai’i. RB Deshaun Fenwick 102 rush yds at Fresno State, 4th career game with 100+ yards and 2nd in an OSU uniform. LB Jack Colletto has 3 rush TD on just 6 carries this season. First game in Portland since 1986 vs. UCLA.

MONTANA STATE: First meeting with Oregon State. First game against a Pac-12 school since 2017 at Washington State. Won 12 games in 2021 before losing in FCS title game. 12 straight losses vs. FBS schools since winning at Colorado in 2006.

SAN DIEGO STATE (1-1) at #14 UTAH (1-1)
Sat., Sept. 17 • 8:00 pm MT • ESPN2
UTAH: 27 straight home wins against non-conference opponents. 73 points last week vs. Southern Utah, most since 1973 (82 vs. UTEP) and first game with 70+ points since 2013. 599 total yards last week, most since 2013. QB Cameron Rising 10-4 as a starter since coming off the bench in last year’s SDSU game. Dalton Kincaid (107 vs. Southern Utah) and Brant Kuithe (105 at Florida) have top 2 most receiving yards in a game by an FBS tight end this season.

SAN DIEGO STATE: Beat Utah 33-31 in 3 OT last season to snap a 5-game losing streak to the Utes. Lost season opener 38-20 vs. Arizona, held to just 232 total yards with 62 in the air. Have won 3 of their last 5 road games against Pac-12 schools.

FRESNO STATE (1-1) at #7 USC (2-0)
Sat., Sept. 17 • 7:30 pm PT • FOX
USC: Defeated Stanford 41-28 last week for Lincoln Riley’s first Pac-12 victory. 40+ points and 500+ yards of offense in both games this season. 4th in FBS this season with 8 forced turnovers while not committing a turnover on offense. QB Caleb Williams is 3rd in FBS with 12.0 yards per attempt. WR Jordan Addison has back-to-back games with 2 rec TD. 35-1-1 all-time against Mountain West schools with Fresno State getting only win in 1992 Freedom Bowl.

FRESNO STATE: First game against a Top 10 team since 2017 when the lost to both #1 Alabama and #6 Washington in back-to-back weeks. Last beat a Top 10 team in 2001 when they knocked off #10 Oregon State in Fresno. Washington transfer QB Jake Haener has 300+ pass yards in 10 of 15 games since start of 2021 season.

EASTERN MICHIGAN (1-1) at ARIZONA STATE (1-1)
Sat., Sept. 17 • 8:00 pm PT • PAC-12 NETWORK
ARIZONA STATE: Have won 24 of their last 25 home games against nonconference opponents. 1-1 all-time against MAC schools. RB X Valladay leads Pac-12 with 234 rush yards and tied for lead with 3 rush TD. LB Kyle Soelle had career-high 16 tackles and an INT last week. Only FBS school last season to not allow a scrimmage play of 50+ yards and have gone 17-straight games without allowing one.

EASTERN MICHIGAN: First game against a Pac-12 school since losing 55-0 at Arizona in 1988. Last win over a Power 5 school was in 2019 at Illinois. Last week against Louisiana, allowed 0 points in first half and 49 in the second to lose 49-21.

NORTH DAKOTA STATE (2-0) at ARIZONA (1-1)
Sat., Sept. 17 • 8:00 pm PT • FS1
ARIZONA: Defense has forced 5 turnovers this season, forced 6 all of last season. Held to 40 rushing yards last week vs. Mississippi State, their fewest since 2011 at Washington (36 yards). WR Jacob Cowing leads the Pac-12 with 15 receptions and his 4 rec TD matches the most by an Arizona player last season. LB Matthew Weerts will be playing against his older brother, NDSU LB Luke Weerts. 15-1 alltime against FCS opponents.

NORTH DAKOTA STATE: Have won 9 of the last 11 FCS championships. First game against FBS school since 2016 when they won at #13 Iowa 23-21. Have won 6 straight against FBS schools and are 9-3 against them since 1980. First ever meeting with a Pac-12 school.

ScoreBig - Get Tickets for Less

Related Articles

Cellucor C4

Latest Articles

Wager-Tracker: All Sports Betting Log