QUICK HITS
SEVEN UP: The Pac-12 has 7 teams in this week’s AP Top 25, the third time this season they have placed at least 7 teams in the poll. Prior to this season, the conference had never had more than 6 teams ranked in the same week.
This is also the 4th straight week the Pac-12 has had at least 3 teams ranked in the Top 10. That’s the longest streak for the conference since the final 4 polls of the 2011 season.
CRAZY EIGHTS: This week also boasts a match-up of 2 of the top 8 teams in the country with #8 Oregon at #7 Washington. It’s the 8th time since 2000 that a pair of Pac-12 schools ranked in the Top 8 have faced off with last coming in the 2014 Pac-12 Championship Game when #3 Oregon defeated #8 Arizona.
This will be the 115th all-time match-up between the Ducks and Huskies and the first ever with both teams in the Top 10.
HIGH FIVES: 2 Pac-12 quarterbacks threw 5 touchdowns last week, becoming the 3rd and 4th QB’s from the conference to throw for 5 or more scores in a game this season.
Oregon State’s DJ Uiagalelei was 19-25 for 275 yards at California and matched his career-high after throwing 5 touchdowns at Wake Forest last season. In fact, all 5 of Uiagalelei’s career games with 3+ passing TD have all come on the road. The 5 touchdowns are also the most by a Beavers QB since Jake Luton did it twice in 2019.
Arizona’s Noah Fifita became the first Power 5 freshman to throw 5 touchdowns in a game this season. Filling in for the injured Jayden de Laura (who had 6 TD against Colorado last year), Fifita also threw for 303 yards in the overtime thriller at then #9 USC making Arizona 1 of 2 schools (along with Utah State) to have multiple quarterbacks with a 300-yard game this season.
TOP OF THE CHARTS: Pac-12 quarterbacks continue to dominate the national rankings with different signal-callers sitting atop national leaderboards in various statistics:
THE GREAT WIDE OPEN: Last week saw a pair of great performances from a WR from the Arizona schools.
Arizona’s Jacob Cowing set a school record with 4 receiving touchdowns against USC, becoming the first Pac-12 player with 4 receiving scores since USC’s Amon-Ra St. Brown had 4 against Washington State in 2020.
Arizona State’s Elijhah Badger had 12 receptions against Colorado, the most by any Pac-12 player this year and tops among Sun Devils since 2017 when N’Keal Harry had 13 against Texas Tech.
WEEK EIGHT: Game times and TV networks announced this week:
Saturday, October 21, 2023
Bye week: Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon State – Pac-12.com –
