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SALT LAKE CITY — From Pullman to Palo Alto, Seattle to Salt Lake, the Pac-12 was a beehive of activity on Saturday, with several developments of key interest to the University of Utah as it begins its inaugural season in the Pac-12.
It would have been easy to reduce Utah's odds of winning at USC after a lackluster effort against Montana State. Leave it to the inconsistent Trojans to continue their uneven play against an inferior foe to raise hopes again.
Although the combination of Matt Barkley to Robert Woods proved lethal, Troy sideline boss Lane Kiffin was clearly outcoached and took Minnesota for granted, a claim that cannot be countered in light of Kiffin's odd decision to go for two points after each of USC's first touchdowns.
Even better for Utah fans, it appears that USC's players have taken on the personality of their coach — reckless and thoughtless. USC was penalized eight times for 75 yards, never ran the ball with any authority or consistency and couldn't use Woods' explosiveness to open up more opportunities in the passing game. This simply isn't the USC that terrorized the land under Pete Carroll.
USC outlook: Utah has a chance to win, and Kiffin isn't going to change his stripes in a week. The Utes easily win the battle of sideline wits and, even with just an average performance from Jordan Wynn, have enough in the interior lines to be in this game in the fourth quarter, if not win outright.
Going up I-5 to Oregon State, which is in a world of hurt after a 29-28 overtime loss to Sacramento State. OSU's problems are almost too numerous to mention, but let's start with the benching of quarterback Ryan Katz, who was coming off a solid 2010 season, in favor of redshirt freshman Sean Mannion. Mannion played well, but OSU's comeback was fueled largely by the running game.
OSU does have a bye week in two weeks to begin healing from a myriad of injuries, but a Saturday date at Wisconsin will not provide any kind of healing. After the bye comes a date with UCLA, which looked better than expected in a 38-34 loss to Houston.
OSU outlook: A lot can change by the time the Beavers come to Salt Lake on Oct. 29. They should be healthier, but if the secondary remains an issue (296 yards, 8.6 yards per play against Sacramento State), it will be tough sledding all season long for OSU.
UW outlook: What's up with Washington? The Huskies' pass defense was shredded by FCS Eastern Washington to the tune of 473 yards in a 30-27 victory that, to be fair, was sealed by the secondary with an interception as EWU was in field goal range, where it could have sent the game into overtime.
The offense was a mixed bag, with a pair of 75-yard touchdown drives and four scoring drives that started on the UW side of the field. Given great position, however, UW managed just a pair of field goals on the two drives that started in EWU territory. But statistically, EWU dominated virtually every facet of this game.
Washington comes to Salt Lake in three weeks, with Utah coming off its bye week. The Huskies' secondary gets another test this week when it hosts Hawaii, before traveling to Nebraska and hosting Cal. Like OSU, if the secondary remains problematic, Washington could easily come to town at 1-3. It could also be 3-1, as Hawaii is a different team on the mainland than it is on the islands; it beat Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl last year and Cal needs to string together a couple of solid offensive games before it can be considered a true threat to win in Seattle
Other items of note involving Utah's Pac-12 opponents:
Arizona, with quarterback Nick Foles and Juron Criner, will be the toughest QB-WR duo Utah faces this year. How Utah fares against Barkley-Woods will say a lot about the secondary's prospects against elite skill players.
Washington State should have had plenty to smile about in a 64-21 pasting of FCS Idaho State, but quarterback Jeff Tuel — who didn't even start due to a stomach virus — ended up breaking his collarbone when came into the game on WSU's third series. He's scheduled to miss at least a month, which means he should be 100 percent when WSU hosts Utah on Nov. 19.
Arizona State looked the part in pasting UC-Davis, but Missouri coming to town Friday for an ESPN broadcast will tell us what we really need to know about the Sun Devils. ASU comes to Salt Lake on Oct. 8.
Although both UCLA and Colorado made second-half runs that had them in position to win against Houston and Hawaii, respectively, the Bruins had an edge statistically against the Cougars, while the Buffs have many more glaring holes, such as its inability to convert on third down (2 of 12) and run the football (17 yards on 28 carries). It's a safe bet to say Colorado is the weakest team offensively in the Pac-12.
As for Cal, your opening game is a smashing success when the opposition's fans boo their own coach.
Patrick Sheltra is sports editor of the Twin Falls (Idaho) Times-News and the author of "100 Things Utes Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die" (Sept. 2011 release)Read more of his thoughts on University of Utah sports at scriptutah.blogspot.com.
