THIS WEEK IN PAC-12 FOOTBALL – WEEK FOUR

KORE Producer September 20, 2023 News, Pac 12 Football

QUICK HITS

TOP OF THE CHARTS: Pac-12 schools once again occupy 8 spots in this week’s AP Top 25, the most in conference history (previous high was 6, done multiple times).  5 of the 8 schools moved up at least one spot with 4 of them moving up multiple spots.  The Pac-12 has 4 schools ranked in the Top 11 for the first time since 2001.

BIG TIME SATURDAY:  Of the 6 AP Top 25 matchups in football this week, 3 of them are Pac-12 conference games which is the most ever in one week for the Pac-12.  In fact, since 1980 this is only the 10th time that any conference has had 3 Top 25 conference matchups in the same week with the last time coming with the SEC in October 2016.

This will be the first time that Oregon State and Washington State will face off as ranked opponents.

THAT DAWG IN HIM:  Washington QB Michael Penix Jr. earned national recognition this week as the Maxwell Award Player of the Week, the Walter Camp Offensive Player of the Week and the Davey O’Brien QB of the Week after leading the Huskies to a 41-7 win at Michigan State.

Penix threw for 473 yards (the 3rd most in school history) and 4 passing touchdowns with 375 of those yards and all 4 scores coming before halftime.  The Tampa, Florida native now owns the top 3 and 4 of the top 5 passing performances in school history.

With 1,332 pass yards and 12 passing touchdowns so far this season, Penix is just the 6th Power 5 QB since 1996 to reach 1,300 yards and 12 TD through the first 3 games.

MOORE, MOORE, MOORE:  UCLA QB Dante Moore has had an instant impact in Westwood, leading all FBS freshmen in pass TD (7), yards per attempt (12.1), yards per completion (19.2) and QB rating (205.4) while ranking 3rd in pass yards (615).

This week, Moore looks to become the first true freshman to win at Utah since Oregon’s Justin Herbert in 2016 when Herbert threw a game-winning touchdown to Darren Carrington II with 2 seconds left in the game.

CANTON CALLING?: The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced their nominees for 2024 with 21 of the 173 coming players from Pac-12 schools including representatives from 11 of the 12 schools.

  • Arizona:  RB/KR Michael Bates, LB Lance Briggs, LB Tedy Bruschi
  • Arizona State:  CB Eric Allen, S Darren Woodson
  • California:  LB Hardy Nickerson
  • Oregon:  *C Max Unger, *DT Haloti Ngata
  • Oregon State:  RB Steven Jackson, WR Chad Johnson
  • Stanford: RB/WR Glyn Milburn
  • UCLA:  LB Brendon Ayanbadejo, LB Donnie Edwards, LB Ken Norton Jr., DB Carnell Lake
  • USC:  DE/LB Willie McGinest, S Tim McDonald
  • Utah:  WR Steve Smith Sr.
  • Washington:  RB Corey Dillon, C Olin Kreutz
  • Washington State:  K Jason Hanson

                  * 1st year of eligibility

WEEK FIVE:  Game times and TV networks announced this week:

      Friday, September 29th

  • 6:00 p.m. PT/ 7:00 p.m. MT – Utah at Oregon State (FS1) *

                 * previously announced

     Saturday, September 30th

  • 9:00 a.m. PT/ 10:00 a.m. MT – USC at Colorado (FOX)
  • 12:00 p.m. PT – Arizona State at California (Pac-12 Network)
  • 3:30 p.m. PT – Oregon at Stanford (Pac-12 Network)
  • 7:00 p.m. PT – Washington at Arizona (Pac-12 Network)

                  – UCLA and Washington State bye week – Pac-12.com –