How The West Was Won: Stacking Up The Pac-12 Diaspora In Week 2
We’re back from our long summer’s respite from amateur football, with teams from the sandy shores of the Atlantic to the tranquil confines of Honolulu taking part in the nation’s greatest sports league this weekend.
While none of the competitors this weekend will earn an equitable wage for their billion-dollar work day, we do know that certain teams will emerge victorious across America between now and Saturday evening.
With that in mind, I’m going to try something new with this space: Picking weekly winners in the West, including the 12 teams that either are or were members of the greatest collegiate conference in the land — the Pacific-12.
Without further ado, here’s who I see winning this weekend across the Left Coast, whether they still don the Pac-12 crest or the foreign blobs of the “Bigs” (both of the 10-and-12 variety).
My plan is to keep this series going on Fridays all fall long, with the exception of the two-week stretch that I’ll be in Europe later this month.
Enjoy the football, folks!
All odds provided by ESPN BET
No. 11 Utah (1-0) vs. Baylor (1-0) — 12:30 p.m. Pacific time Saturday (FOX)
Spread: Utah -14.5
Our Pick: Utah wins, 45-14
What’s been termed a “do-or-die” campaign for embattled Baylor head coach Dave Aranda got off to a solid start last week, with the Bears beating FCS stalwart Tarleton State, 45-3.
The Utes had an equally empty-caloric start to the year, dispatching Southern Utah at Rice Eccles, 49-0, giving us little in the way of useful data to go off of for this one.
Instead, I’ll go with Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham, who has to be one of the best coaches in CFB history, with the Utes rolling to an easy win in their Big 12 debut on Saturday afternoon in the SLC.
Cal (1-0) at Auburn (1-0) — 12:30 p.m. Pacific time Saturday (ESPN2)
Spread: Auburn -11.5
Our Pick: Auburn wins, 34-27
It’s hard to go against any SEC team at home over a Pac-12 expat, even if Hugh Freeze is the man in charge of that band of Confederate wannabes.
Cal came away from their opener against FCS UC system foe UC-Davis with a 31-13 win, but that by no means is the type of result that inspires confidence in the not-so-Golden Bears in the year of our lord 2024.
While Cal’s leadership (if you can call it that) is too apathetic to pay attention to the mundanity that is football, you have to wonder how much more rope they’ll give seventh year head coach Justin Wilcox, who hasn’t posted a winning season since going 8-5 in 2019.
Washington (1-0) vs. Eastern Michigan (1-0) — 12:30 p.m. Pacific time Saturday (Big Ten Network)
Spread: Washington -25
Our Pick: Washington wins, 38-10
In another head-scratcher of a scheduling matchup, we’re left wondering why in god’s name Jedd Fisch and the Huskies are playing a directional school from Michigan. Eastern Michigan emerged from their decades-long slumber to reach three straight bowl games between 2021 and 2023 in the MAC under longtime head coach Chris Creighton, but this is a whole different ballgame.
Still, based on how poorly UW played at home against FCS foe Weber State last weekend, it’s fair to wonder how up for another matinee against an overmatched foe Fisch’s bunch will be.
I’m expecting this to be an absolute eyesore of a game for about 45 minutes, which is when Fisch will go for the throat and UW will connect on just enough plays offensively to cover the 25-point spread inside the hallowed grounds of Husky Stadium.
Stanford (0-1) vs. Cal Poly (0-1) — 4 p.m. Pacific time Saturday (ESPN+/ACC Network)
Spread: Not Listed
Our Pick: Stanford wins, 54-20
Year Two of the Troy Taylor era in Palo Alto had a start so ugly even a mother couldn’t love it, with the Fighting Trees falling in the forest to TCU, 34-27.
Now, two nerd factories square off inside the empty confines of Stanford Stadium on Saturday afternoon as the jewel of the CSU system heads to Palo Alto to take a licking and keep on ticking, with the Cardinal looking for an easy kill after getting waxed by the Horned Frogs.
We expect Cal Poly to put up a fight for a half before wilting in the El Diablo winds of late summer in the Bay Area, with Stanford finally get that elusive first win of the year against their overmatched foes from San Luis Obispo.
Colorado (1-0) vs. Nebraska (1-0) — 4:30 p.m. Pacific time Saturday (NBC/Peacock)
Spread: Nebraska -6.5
Our Pick: Nebraska wins, 45-38
The Prime Experience was in full effect last week, as millions tuned in to watch Deion Sanders damn near lose at Folsom Field to an FCS team that was paid $750,000 to be a patsy.
Instead, the fighting Bison of North Dakota State put the fear of god into Prime and his cronies, eventually falling short by a 31-26 margin after NDSU QB Cam Miller’s Hail Mary heave came up a few yards short of a happy meal at the buzzer.
This week, two bloated Big Eight rivals meet inside the corn-fed confines of Lincoln’s Memorial Stadium with bragging rights and the right to be Aflac’s next great pitchman on the line.
We expect CU to be up big early before catastrophic penalties and bad alignment defensively wind up biting the Buffs’ in the backside, allowing Nebraska to move to 2-0 for the year and winning the battle of two teams that wish we could move the clock back to 1990 with every ounce of their being.
No. 7 Oregon (1-0) vs. Boise State (1-0) — 7 p.m. Pacific time (Peacock)
Spread: Oregon -19
Our Pick: Oregon wins, 28-17
Two themes emerged from Week 1 of the CFB season for both teams involved in this LaGarrette Blount Bowl — one being that Oregon looked horrid against FCS program Idaho and the other being that Boise State’s defense looks terrible and their running game looks immaculate.
Firstly, the Ducks damn near lost to a middling Big Sky program at home, finding themselves locked in a 17-14 slugfest in the game’s final stanza before burying the Vandals with a 12-yard touchdown pass from QB Dillon Gabriel to Tez Johnson.
On the fringes of society in Statesboro, Georgia, the Broncos engaged in a whirling dervish of a football game against Georgia Southern, needing all 60 minutes of game time to put away the Eagles by a batshit crazy final score of 56-45.
The Broncos did that, thanks to the herculean efforts turned in by running back Ashton Jeanty, who ran for 267 yards with six rushing touchdowns in the victory.
While no one can expect the junior out of Jacksonville to play at that level against a vaunted Ducks defense, it’ll be fun as hell to see if the 5’9 wrecking ball of a back can wreak havoc inside Autzen Stadium this weekend.
Sadly, we don’t see Boise State pulling off another upset over Oregon, with the Broncos running out of steam in what I think will be a lower scoring game than Vegas expects, with both teams coming up well short of over/under of 61.5 on Saturday evening deep in the heart of the Willamette Valley.
Washington State (1-0) vs. Texas Tech (1-0) — 7 p.m. Pacific time on Saturday (FOX)
Spread: Washington State -1.5
Our Pick: Washington State wins, 48-41
One of the two holdouts in America’s greatest collegiate conference has its first shot at revenge on Saturday evening, with the Cougs’ hosting the Rebels in Pullman.
While Washington State and Texas Tech have little in common (besides the whole Mike Leach thing), it’s hard not to long for the Cougars to slay a team from one of the conferences that plundered the remains of the Pac-12 last year.
Luckily for Jake Dickert’s team, that’s exactly what we expect to happen in the Emerald City Saturday night, with the Cougars surviving a wild and high scoring evening to move to 2-0 and set the stage for the first Apple Cup with Wazzu and UW in separate (but not equal) conferences.
Arizona (1-0) vs. NAU (1-0) — 7 p.m. Saturday night (ESPN+)
Spread: Arizona -35.5
Our Pick: Arizona wins, 63-7
Last week reminded us of the holy talents of Polynesian wideout Tetairoa McMillan, who somehow racked up a school record 304 yards on 10 catches against New Mexico, in a wild 61-39 victory to open the year.
This week, McMillan and the ‘Cats host one of the worst teams in the Big Sky Conference, as the NAU Lumberjacks enter on the heels of a 66-0 win over another school I’m not sure exists (Lincoln).
This year, NAU is projected to finish ninth in the 12-team Big Sky, which means that they’ll get smeared against the windshield like a swarm of bees going through a Corvette traveling 110 mph on I-19 come Saturday evening in Tucson.
Arizona State (1-0) vs. Mississippi State (1-0) — 7:30 p.m. Pacific time on Saturday (ESPN)
Spread: ASU -5.5
Our Pick: ASU wins, 38-20
An insane stat I read this week is that the Devils are winless all time against SEC programs, having gone 0-5 against the nation’s preeminent football factories over the years.
This year, Kenny Dillingham’s bunch of overachieving three-stars are primed to do just that, with a woebegone Mississippi State team coming to the Valley to play in a game that’ll feel like a dollar store sauna.
With gametime temps well in excess of 100 degrees and a stadium that’s fully enclosed for some unknown reason, it’s sure to feel like death in Tempe on Saturday evening, which should leave the Bulldogs gasping for air by the time the fourth quarter rolls around.
For now we’ll go with Kenny D. and the sunshine gang, with ASU earning that elusive first win over an SEC team and making their alums put down their beer bongs long enough to revel in the moment in Tempe.
Oregon State (1-0) at San Diego State (1-0) — 7:30 p.m. Pacific time on Saturday (CBS Sports Network)
Spread: Oregon State -6
Our Pick: Oregon State wins, 24-14
Week 1 of the regular season didn’t answer a lot of questions about the Pac-12’s other liferaft occupant, as the Oregon State Beavers squashed lowly Idaho State like a bug, while San Diego State took care of a school that I’ve never heard of (Texas A&M-Commerce) by a 45-14 score.
We will find out a lot more about the Beavers and Aztecs by the time Saturday night comes and goes, with the two teams tangling in Mission Valley in what should have been a Pac-12 conference game.
For now, I’m going to ride the feel-good story of the Beavers being a decent football team until I’m forced to accept reality, because we all need something to believe in in these dark days we’re living through.
USC (1-0) vs. Utah State (1-0) — 8 p.m. Pacific time on Saturday (Big Ten Network)
Spread: USC -28.5
Our Pick: USC wins, 48-10
Hey y’all, remember when the USC Trojans left the Pac-12 in shambles because they were pissed about playing in front of 20 people at 11 p.m. local time?
Well … about that … the Trojans are getting to play a buy game against a team that fired its head coach before the season started on their new conference TV network.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because the Trojans traded the glitz of 8 p.m. Pacific time kickoffs on the Pac-12 Network for … 8 p.m. kickoffs on the Big Ten Network.
Luckily for Lincoln Riley’s bunch, the BTN gets picked up in a lot more households than their former conference’s network ever did.
The downside is that those “Pac-12 After Dark” kicks have been traded for the same tagline, just with a sexier conference named attached to the marquee.
But hey, all’s fair when you can grab between $80 and $100 million a year from that B1G new media rights deal, right?