Pac-12 Round-Up: First full week of conference play gives a couple surprises

Utah, Washington, Stanford, and Arizona State remain undefeated while Colorado finally breaks through.

The Arizona Wildcats lost in an overtime thriller to the Washington Huskies 35-28 Saturday night. In a game where the Wildcats fared better than a lot thought they would, they came up just short against the ninth-ranked Huskies.

In a Saturday which marked the first conference game for most teams, the favorites mostly prevailed in week four. The first week in conference play led to some really close games, but first let's start with the only non-conference game the Pac -12 had this week.

Boise State def. Oregon State, 38-24

Oregon State looked to be making strides under Gary Andersen with the competitive loss against Minnesota in week one, but the Beavers took a step back this week against Boise State.

Bryan Harsin and the Broncos took a commanding lead in the first half and went into halftime with a 31-7 lead against the Beavers. After a tremendous half on both offense and defense, Boise State struggled in the second half. Oregon State's special teams was spectacular to give themselves a chance. They had a kickoff return touchdown, another long kickoff return to set up a touchdown, and an onside kick. While they did win the second half 21-7, that wasn't enough to win the game as Boise State came out of Corvallis with a win and a 3-0 record.

Jeremy McNichols carried the load for the Broncos with 208 yards and four scores.

(24) Utah def. USC 31-27

USC looked to make a splash in week four after a bad 1-2 start in Clay Helton's first full year as head coach. Helton benched Max Browne for Sam Darnold on the road against the Utes.

USC held strong for most of the game and even had a 27-17 fourth quarter lead against Utah. But the Utes scored 14 unanswered points with the game-winning touchdown coming with 17 seconds on the clock. USC's season keeps getting worse, but at least the play of Darnold has to give them some hope for the future.

He finished with 253 yards passing and a touchdown on the ground in his first career start. Troy Williams threw for 270 yards and two touchdowns and tacked on a rushing touchdown in the win for the Utes.

Colorado def. Oregon 41-38

Colorado has been so close to closing the deal the last few seasons, but this time the Buffs finally broke through and got a huge win on the road against Oregon. After a 9-3 season last year under Mark Helfrich, Oregon seems to be headed for a down year.

Colorado had Steven Montez step in to the starting QB role as Sefo Liufau was injured. The Buffs led from the start, and went up 33-17 at one point after a 48-yard bomb by Montez to start the second half.

Oregon rallied, scoring 21 points in the third quarter to go up 38-33. It seemed like the all-to-familiar Colorado moral victory was coming, but the Buffs held off the Oregon offense in the fourth quarter and sealed the game on a late interception by Dakota Prukop in the endzone.

Montez threw for 333 yards with three touchdowns and two INTs while also rushing for 135 and another score on the ground. Prukop threw for 293 with two TD's and an INT.

(7) Stanford def. UCLA 22-13

Stanford had its first big test this week on the road against the Bruins Saturday night in the Rose Bowl. UCLA looked to show it belongs after a week one loss to Texas A&M on the road, but came up just short against the Trees.

UCLA played Stanford great for three and a half quarters, but fell off a bit in the end. Stanford showed its resiliency on the final drive, going 70 yards and scoring with 24 seconds left in the game on a Ryan Burns pass to JJ Arcega-Whiteside. That was the first time Stanford led since going up 3-0 in the first quarter and kept its Pac-12 title hopes in line.

Christian McCaffrey had 138 yards in the win, but was held in check by normal McCaffrey standards. Josh Rosen threw for 248 yards in the loss.

Arizona State def. California 51-41

The Bears looked to capitalize on their big win against Texas last week by following it up with a win on the road in Tempe. Arizona State struggled in a win against UTSA in San Antonio the week prior, but showed that its offense is for real against Cal.

Manny Wilkins threw for 270 yards and a touchdown. He also ran the ball for 72 yards and three scores, but it was a big fourth quarter which put the Sun Devils on top of Cal.

The Bears were up 27-20 going into the fourth quarter, but the Sun Devils put up a 31-point fourth quarter thanks to two turnovers in the final three minutes and an onside kick touchdown. The Devils now move to 4-0 on the year.

Davis Webb threw for 478 yards 5 scores and two INTs in the loss.

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