An upset by the UCLA Bruins last week left me at 4-2 on the week and 52-19 on the season.
This week, if you care about college football at all, you know is the red-letter game in the 2011 Pac-12 season with Oregon visiting Stanford. The winner of that game will (the world is 99% sure) win the Pac-12 North Division and host the conference championship game where they will be heavily favored to earn the conference's automatic BCS berth and perhaps be in the running for the national title game (if it's Stanford, probably not for Oregon). Whew.
I'm not much for detailed breakdowns, but seeing how the Stanford offensive line handles Oregon's fast defense to protect quarterback Andrew Luck should be entertaining. Plus, watching any team try and handle Oregon's offense is always interesting. If you read on you'll see my pick, but I went back and forth a few times before I made it.
Ted Miller, ESPN Pac-12 expert who I have linked to in this space before, has been adamant all season long Stanford would win this game. However, when it came time for him to make his own weekly picks (note his season record compared to mine) this week, he chose Oregon.
In other news, UCLA's upset win over Arizona State apparently has some thinking the Bruins could win the Pac-12 South. Yes, as of today they are in the driver's seat, but it won't happen. They will lose this week to Utah (while ASU will also win) and they are going to lose their final game at USC. Don't get excited Bruins; the Sun Devils will still play the Oregon-Stanford winner in the league championship game.
Oregon State-Cal is another interesting matchup because each week you never know which version of these teams is going to show up. I have little faith in Cal's offense and a lot in Oregon State's defense, which led to my pick.
And with that, on to this week's picks! Rankings in parentheses (AP, ESPN). All times Pacific.
(Time - Matchup - Network - Pick)
SATURDAY
11:40am - Arizona at Colorado - Fox College Sports Pacific - ARIZONA
12:45pm - Washington (30, 29) at USC (18, NR) - FX - USC
3:30pm - Oregon State at California - ROOT Sports - OREGON STATE
3:30pm - UCLA at Utah - Fox College Sports Central - UTAH
5pm - Oregon (6, 6) at Stanford (3, 2) - ABC - STANFORD
7:30pm - Arizona State (28, 26) at Washington State - Versus - ARIZONA STATE
Stanford, Washington, Arizona State and Oregon are bowl-eligible. USC has enough wins, but is not eligible for the postseason. California, UCLA and Utah each have five wins and at least one of them will become bowl-eligible this week.
Who do you pick?
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