August 29, 2013
Here is your last road trip for the 2013 season. You will be seeing a game at every stadium in the Pac 12. Enjoy.
8/31 - Boise State @ Washington - Two streaks continued for Boise State last year. They made it seven straight years with at least 11 wins, and they went to their third straight Las Vegas Bowl. Their opponent in that last Las Vegas Bowl? Washington. The Huskies bring back 18 starters for Steve Sarkisian including QB Keith Price. Settle in and enjoy one of the best views in college football.
9/7 - Bonus Week - This is one of two off weeks, unless you want to check out one of the following... San Jose St @ Stanford, Hawaii @ Oregon State, Portland St @ Cal, Washington St @ USC, Sacramento St @ Arizona State, Weber St @ Utah or Central Arkansas @ Colorado
9/14 - Ohio State @ California - The Bears only have 11 starters back from a 3-9 team, but Sonny Dykes takes over this year in Berkeley. Last year, the Bears took Ohio State to the final minutes before falling 35-28.
9/21 - Bonus Week - You can enjoy one more off week or you can go to one of these games... Arizona State @ Stanford, Idaho State @ Washington, Idaho @ Washington State, Utah State @ USC or New Mexico State @ UCLA.
9/28 - USC @ Arizona State - Pressure is building on Lane Kiffin. The Trojans should start 4-0 but will the heat get turned up on Kiffin after this one? USC has won 12 of 13 against ASU, but they lost the last time here 43-22 in 2011. The Sun Devils have talent, but they will be in the midst of a brutal stretch against Wisconsin, Stanford, USC and Notre Dame.
10/3 (Thr) - UCLA @ Utah - In the last meeting in Salt Lake City, the Utes steamrolled the Bruins 31-6. A year ago in LA, UCLA held on for a tough 21-14 victory. With a national TV audience (kinda) on Fox Sports 1 and a primetime (local time) kickoff, the crowd should be rocking.
10/12 - Oregon State @ Washington State - It is year two under Mike Leach at WSU. He will have 16 returning starters to work with but that will not include his most productive QB, RB or WR. Over the first five games, WSU will have already played at Auburn, at USC and hosted Stanford. Could be another long year in Pullman.
10/19 - Utah @ Arizona - Year one in Tuscon under Rich Rodriguez went a heck of a lot better than it did in Ann Arbor. The Wildcats went 8-5 and won just their 7th bowl game ever. The entire starting defense is back, but they will have to improve on their 35.3 points per game allowed from 2012.
10/26 - Arizona @ Colorado - The Buffs haven’t had a winning season since 2005 and bottomed out last year at 1-11. At least their fans hope they bottomed out. It is hard to imagine things getting any worse. They only averaged 17.8 points per game last season. They did score 31 points against Arizona a year ago. The problem is they allowed 56.
10/31 (Thr) - USC @ Oregon State - Corvallis has not been kind to USC. The Beavers upset USC in 2006 and knocked them out of the national championship game in 2008. Oregon State is looking for back-to-back wins over USC for the first time since the start of the series in 1914 and 1916. A Halloween night game on ESPN2 with the Trojans in town? Bring ear plugs.
11/7 (Thr) - Oregon at Stanford - This is hands down the game of the year in the Pac 12. It was the OT loss to Stanford last season that kept Oregon out of the national championship game. The Cardinal only return six starters on offense, but those 6 include QB Kevin Hogan and four starters on the offensive line.
11/16 - Stanford @ USC - This will be a tough follow-up game for Stanford after their showdown with the Ducks. The head coaches seem to get along better than Harbaugh and Carroll did but the talent on the field and the magnitude of the match-up remain as big as ever.
11/23 - Arizona State @ UCLA - These two have played action packed, high drama games the last two years with UCLA winning both by three total points. Most experts believe the southern division will be a three team race between these two squads and USC. It ain’t New Year’s Day, but a game in Pasadena is still special.
11/29 (Fri) - Oregon State @ Oregon - We close the road trip with the 117th meeting of the annual Civil War game. The Beavers have lost five straight to the Ducks. This is one of the great in-state rivalries in college football, and its significance in the Pac 12 has really grown in the last five years.
The Oregon Ducks are still loaded with talent and came up three points shy of playing for the national championship a year ago. I think they win on the Farm on November 7, and they follow that up by beating USC in the Pac 12 Championship Game.
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