Conference roundup - Week 3 in the Pac-12

After two weeks of college football, the Pac-12 saw their first conference action as Stanford and USC faced each other in what is always an interesting game. We saw only one loss in the conference this week outside of that game when Colorado fell to Michigan. With Washington State's win there is no longer a team in the conference without a win. There were plenty of good games last weekend, let's take a look at how they turned out.

Arizona State @ UTSA  -  35-28

Arizona State running back Kalen Ballage couldn't get much going early in the game but found the endzone when it mattered. The Sun Devils were down 16 until 5 minutes remained in the third quarter when they flipped a switch and scored 20 unanswered points including Ballage's 2-yard run with 3:15 remaining in the game. Ballage finished the game with 62 yards on 14 carries as he was just behind Demario Richard who had 22 carries for 95 yards. Manny Wilkins finished with 264 yards and 2 touchdowns while completing 15 of his 31 passes for the Sun Devils. Roadrunners quarterback Dalton Sturm did everything on offense as he had 3 touchdowns through the air and threw for 229 yards to go along with another 82 yards on the ground and a touchdown.

#8 Washington vs Portland State  -  41-3

Washington already had a 28 point lead before Portland State put points on the scoreboard. The Huskies added 13 more in the 4th quarter for insurance.  Jake Browning threw for 4 touchdowns and 163 yards completing 12 of 19 attempts. Myles Gaskin added a touchdown and 93 yards on the ground as well. Portland State could not the the ground game going as they averaged less than 1-yard per carry with 34 combined yards on 42 rushes.

#4 Michigan vs Colorado  -  45-28

Colorado came out strong as they had a 21-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. That didn't last long as Michigan came back with 17 points and held a 24-21 lead at halftime. Buffaloes quarterback Sefo Liufau was hit on a go ahead 70-yard touchdown pass to start the second half and came up holding his ankle. Freshman quarterback Steven Montez came in for Liufau and attempted 7 passes but couldn't complete one. Although Michigan started slow their numbers don't seem to match up as their quarterback threw for 229 yards and a touchdown while their running game finished with 168 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Nebraska vs #22 Oregon  -  35-32

Oregon has a "never kick a PAT" mentality this year and that strategy failed them against Nebraska as they failed 4 two-point conversions and lost by 3... Nebraska scored the go-ahead touchdown with 2:29 remaining in the game and the Ducks were unable to take advantage of the time left on the clock. Dakota Prukop finished his night with 146 yards through the air and another 97 on the ground for the Ducks. Kani Benoit led the team for rushing yards with 100 on 6 carries after Royce Freeman went down with an injury early in the game. Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong finished with 200 yards through the air and 3 touchdowns and added another 95 on the ground with another touchdown.

Oregon State vs Idaho State  -  37-7

Oregon State ended a 10-game losing streak with the help of running back Victor Bolden who had 111 yards on 3 carries and scored a touchdown. Quarterback Darell Garretson finished his night with 172 yards on 15/30 passing including throwing an interception. He also was second on the team in rushing when he finished with 46 yards on 8 carries, Idaho State couldn't keep the ball to themselves as they finished the night throwing 4 interceptions and losing a fumble.

#7 Stanford vs USC  -  27-10

Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey continues to be a force on offense as he rushed for 165 yards on 30 carries ams had another 73 yards receiving including a 56 yard touchdown in the first quarter. Stanford held a 17-3 lead at halftime but let USC back into the game at the start of the second half as their lead was cut to 7. Stanford capped off the scoring with another touchdown and field goal to finish the third quarter.  Ryan Burns finished with 109 yards on 9/15 passing and threw a touchdown and an interception. USC quarterback Max Browne had 191 yards and completed 18 of his 28 attempts. Ronald Jones II and Justin Davis finished with 63 yards on the ground each.

UCLA @ BYU  -  17-14

To start this game out it seemed like neither team wanted to score as it took the Bruins into the second quarter to find the endzone. Once they did finally score, the Bruins scored 17 straight points before BYU out up their 14. The Cougars of BYU scored their second touchdown of the night with :37 seconds remaining in the game. Bruin quarterback Josh Rosen had 307 passing yards and 2 touchdowns while throwing an interception on 26 of 40 attempts. Taysom Hill had a similar line as he threw for 250 yards on 26 of 48 attempts. Both teams had a combined rushing total of 73 yards on 59 attempts.

Utah @ San Jose State  -  34-17

San Jose State scored first and even held a lead in the beginning of the second quarter. Utah came back strong as they scored 28 unanswered points behind the legs of their running game that had 229 yards on 34 carries including 3 touchdowns. Quarterback Troy Williams had 257 passing yards completing 20 of his 28 attempts. The Ute defense stood strong as they allowed just 56 rushing yards on 32 carries from San Jose. The Spartans scored their final touchdown with just under 4 minutes remaining.

California vs #11 Texas  -  50-43

It didn't take long for the scoring to start in this game as California quarterback Davis Webb scored just over 2 minutes in. Texas came back with 17 unanswered points and the rest of the game was a shootout trading scores until the Golden Bears took the lead with just under 4 minutes remaining and their defense held tough to secure the victory.  Just before halftime and following a bllocked California punt that resulted in a safety for Texas, the Golden Bears scored 40 seconds later to retake the lead 35-33.

Arizona vs Hawaii  -  47-28

Arizona started out strong scoring 20 unanswered points in the first quarter and didn't look back after Hawaii finally found the endzone. The Wildcats held a 30 point lead before the Warriors scored their two final touchdowns in the last quarter. With Anu Solomon out, Brandon Dawkins tore up the stage as he found the endzone three times on the ground rushing for 118 yards and had another 235 yards through the air completing 16 of his 21 attempts and throwing for a touchdown. Running back J.J. Taylor had 168 yards on his 18 touches and found the endzone on a 61 yard run in the third quarter.