Washington State at Utah State
After the Cougars held Utah State scoreless in the first quarter and leading 16-to-3 at the half, the Aggies completely shut Washington State down in the final two quarters while putting 14 points up on the board to win this one 17-16. Cougar nation is really suffering this year with the team sitting 1-5 overall and 0-2 in conference—the PAC-12 conference that they, along with Oregon State, saved and reconstructed. For Washington State, Sophomore QB Caden Pinnick connected on 63% of his throws for 156 yards, 0 TD’s and no picks while also rushing 11 times for 16 yards. On the ground, Junior RB Leo Pulalasi led the way with 60 of the team’s 101 yards and their only TD. For Utah State, Senior QB Grady Brosterhous was 11-of-26 for 150 yards, 1 TD to Senior WR Eli Wood, and no interceptions while also rushing 12 times for just 11 yards. On the ground, Senior RB Javon Jacobs led the way with 62 of the team’s 86 yards as well as their only rushing TD. The Cougars led in first downs and total yards of offense, in addition to having the ball for 11 more minutes than the Aggies. But they shot themselves in the foot with two fumbles both of which led to Utah State TD’s as well as 113 yards in penalties. This coming Saturday the two teams that kept the conference from falling apart will meet in Corvallis at 3:00pm on the USAN.
San Diego State at Oregon State
After failing to score in both the first and fourth quarters the Aztecs finally managed to get seven points up on the board in both the second and third quarters. The first on an 11 yard TD pass from Senior QB Jayden Denegal to Senior WR Jacob Bostick, and the second from Special Teams on a 97 yard kick-off return for TD by their Freshman WR Jaylon Hawkins. But in those two quarters they were outscored by the Beavers 45-14 and when you add the Oregon State first and last quarter’s points onto that, this was a 66-14 blowout at Reser Stadium in Corvallis.
Only in for three of the four quarters, Oregon State starting Sophomore QB Braden Atkinson repeated his performance from last week and Week-2 with another 5 TD day while completing 76% of his passes for over 400 yards. His backup, Senior QB Maalik Murphy, didn’t do so badly himself while completing all of his eight passes for 53 yards and a touchdown as well. Atkinson’s favorite target, Freshman WR Jessie Legree, had 10 receptions for 191 yards and 3 TD’s with Senior Tight End Decorion Temple collecting his 4th and his backup QB his 5th, while Sophomore WR Eddie Freauff was the recipient of Murphy’s. On the ground, the Beavers collectively rushed 45 times for 189 yards and 3 TD’s.
Oregon State is just cooking with gas right now. In this one they led in first downs, 35-6; total yards of offense, 651-147; converted their third downs at a 71% clip and 4th downs at 66%; had the ball 24 minutes longer; had no turnovers and only 3 penalties for 25 yards. I realize this was apparently not the San Diego State Aztecs that has been very formidable in past years. But in spite of that, the only two teams the Beavers lost to at the very beginning of the year were ranked, including Texas Tech who is currently No. 10. They have a chance to win the PAC-12 this year if they win out including Week-10 over the current leader, No. 23 Boise State. And even though the newly constructed PAC-12 is no longer considered a power conference Oregon State still has a chance to make it into the college football playoff as there are guaranteed spots but no automatic bids for any conference. The playoff reserves bids for the five highest-ranked conference champions from the ten conferences and seven at-large spots determined by rank which is decided by the selection committee. Last year Duke won the ACC conference championship game which is a power conference. But with five regular season losses they were ranked lower than two non-power conference champions and didn’t make it in. Oregon State could be the James Madison of 2026.