Weekend recap: Week 7 in the Pac-12

We are seven weeks through the college football season and UCLA, Arizona, Stanford and Oregon are a combined 3-12 in conference play while Washington and Washington State remain the only undefeated teams in conference play. Washington got the week off after putting up 70 on Oregon, the Cougars had another tough matchup after defeating 15th ranked Stanford, and then-ranked #21 Colorado looks to come back after a loss to USC.

With the season at the half-way mark, we take a look at the standings followed by a breakdown of the games.

#21 Utah @ Oregon State  -  19-14

On a rainy day in Corvallis, Utah held a 12-0 lead at halftime with the help of a safety that came from a high snap on a punt to end the first quarter for Oregon State. The Beavers tried to come back and make it a game but turned the ball over on downs on the final drive to end the game. Quarterbacks Darell Garretson (4-20 for 24 yards) and Conor Blount were both injured in the game for the Beavers. Marcus McMaryion had to come in and finished the game with going 4 for 20 for 76 yards and a touchdown. Team rushing leader Ryan Nall was also injured and the ground game duties were spread out among 9 different players. Utah quarterback Troy Williams did not have to do much as he completed 4 of 13 passes for 42 yards. Joe Williams lead the team on offense with 179 yards on 34 carries and found the endzone once.

USC @ Arizona  -  48-14

It took the Trojans a while to get started in this game as it was tied at 7 until the end of the first quarter. With :04 remaining in the first quarter Trojans quarterback Sam Darnold completed his first of five touchdown passes and the Trojans went on to score 34 points before Arizona found the endzone again in the final quarter. Darnold finished the game completing 20 of 32 passes for 235 yards to go with his 5 touchdowns. The passing game was not the only thing working for them as they rushed for 320 yards on 43 carries and found the endzone two more times. Juju Smith-Schuster continues to torch defenders as he tallied 132 yards on 9 receptions and had 3 touchdowns. The Wildcats are struggling at quarterback as Khalil Tate went 7 of 18 for 58 yards and an interception while Matt Morin went 4 of 8 for 84 yards and threw an interception and a touchdown. Tate also led the Arizona ground game with 72 yards on 14 carries and finished with their only rushing touchdown.

Stanford @ Notre Dame  -  17-10

After being outscored by Washington and Washington State 86-22 the Stanford Cardinal were looking to get back on the right track with a win over Notre Dame. The Cardinal scored 17 unanswered points to finish the game after falling behind in the first half. Quenton Meeks had a 50 yard interception return to start the second half and finished the third quarter with a safety to bring the deficit to 1-point. JJ Arcega-Whiteside recovered running back Bryce Love's fumble in the endzone with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game and that was all the Cardinal needed as their defense held the Irish out of the endzone. Stanford workhorse Cristian McCaffrey sat out on Saturday dealing with an injury and his backup did just fine in replacement finishing with 129 yards on 23 carries. Burns had 120 yards and went 10 of 19 and threw an interception.

Arizona State @ Colorado  -  16-40

After losing to USC last week, Colorado came back and proved they were still a top team in the conference. The Buffaloes used a 16-point second quarter and a 10-point third quarter to put the Sun Devils away. Everything seemed to be working well for Colorado as quarterback Sefo Liufau went 23 of 31 for 265 yards while Philip Lindsay added 219 yards on 26 carries and found the endzone 3 times. While everything was working for the Buffaloes, nothing was working for the Sun Devils as quarterback Manny Wilkins completed just 13 of his 35 attempts for 149 yards. The ground game was not much different for them as they had 149 yards on 13 carries by the group.

UCLA @ Washington State  -  21-27

Washington State hosted a UCLA team without starting quarterback Josh Rosen after shutting down the offenses of Oregon and Stanford. The Cougars were tough for most of the game as they held a 24-7 lead heading into the final quarter. The Bruins tried to come back and make it a game scoring twice in the fourth quarter to cut the Cougars lead to 6. In a very wet day on the Palouse neither quarterback could get much going. Luke Falk finished with 261 yards on 28 of 48 passing and failed to throw a touchdown for the first time in his career. Senior quarterback Mike Fafaul went 24 of 40 for 258 yards and threw 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions in his first game as a starter. The Cougar ground game, which has emerged as a three-headed monster between Jamaal Morrow, James Williams, and Gerard Wicks tallied 104 yards on 26 carries.