THIS WEEK IN PAC-12 FOOTBALL – WEEK THREE

KORE Producer September 14, 2023 News, Pac 12 Football
THIS WEEK IN PAC-12 FOOTBALL – WEEK THREE

QUICK HITS

GREAT EIGHT: Pac-12 schools occupy 8 spots in this week’s AP Top 25, the most in conference history (previous high was 6, done multiple times).  The Pac-12 becomes just the 2nd conference in the history of the AP Poll to have at least 8 schools ranked in the same week.

POWER WINS: The Pac-12 is 20-3 in non-conference gams so far this season with by far the highest winning percentage (.870) among all conferences this season.  The only 2 times a conference has finished with an .870 win percentage or better in the last 25 years was the SEC in 2018 (51-7, .879) and the Big 12 in 2011 (27-3, .900). The 20-3 record includes a 6-3 (.667) mark against schools from other Power 5 conferences which is also the most non-conference wins and highest win percentage against Power 5 schools among all conferences this season.  With just one remaining matchup with a Power 5 school this season (Washington at Michigan State), the Pac-12 has a chance to win 70% of its regular season non-conference games against Power 5 schools.  That has happened only 3 times in the previous 10 years (minimum 10 games):  2014 Pac-12 (7-3), 2017 Pac-12 (7-3) and 2018 SEC (10-4). Colorado and Utah are the only 2 schools in the country this season with 2 non-conference wins over Power 5 schools.  Its the first time Colorado has opened with with 2 non-conference wins over current Power 5 schools since 1978 (Oregon, Miami, FL – who was independent at the time). The last time Utah opened with 2 non-conference wins over Power 5 schools was in 2004 when they beat Texas A&M and Arizona on their way to a 12-0 season under Urban Meyer.

PASSING FANCY:  Pac-12 quarterbacks continue to dominate the national leaderboards.  The conference has 5 of the top 8 QBs in passing yards per game including the #1 (Shedeur Sanders, Colorado – 451.5) and #2 (Michael Penix, Jr., Washington – 429.5) overall.  USC’s Caleb Williams leads the country in both passer rating (240.5) and pass TD (12).  4 of the 7 FBS quarterbacks who have thrown 70+ passes without an INT this season are from the Pac-12.

DEEP THREATS:  Receivers across the conference have excelled as well, as Washington WR Rome Odunze is tied for tops in the nation with 6 receptions of 20+ yards with Arizona WR Tetairoa McMillan and Stanford TE Benjamin Yurosek right behind him with 5.  Additionally, 6 of the 18 receivers in the country who average 100+ yards a game this season call the Pac-12 home, with Colorado’s Xavier Weaver 3rd in the country with 144.0 ypg.

BIG PLAY BACKS:  The Pac-12 is home to 3 of the 6 running backs in the country who are averaging at least 10.0 yards per carry (minimum 5 attempts/game).  Stanford’s Casey Filkins is 3rd in the country (11.8), followed closely by Oregon’s Bucky Irving (10.5) and Oregon State’s Damien Martinez (10.0).

WEEK FOUR:  Game times and TV networks for Saturday, September 23 announced this week:

12:30pm PT / 1:30pm MT – Colorado at Oregon (ABC)
12:30pm PT / 1:30pm MT – UCLA at Utah (FOX)
4:00pm PT – Oregon State at Washington State (FOX)
4:00pm PT – Arizona at Stanford (Pac-12 Network)
7:30pm PT – USC at Arizona State (FOX)
7:30pm PT – Cal at Washington (ESPN)