Week 1 didn’t exactly greet the reborn Pac-12 with a clean slate.
The league’s first football weekend in its new eight-team form ended 2-6, and that record looks harsher than it might at first glance. Five of those losses came on the road against ranked opponents, which helps explain why the opening stretch felt more bruising than bleak.
Boise State provided the strongest showing among the conference’s losers, even in a 34-27 defeat at No. 2 Oregon on Saturday. The Broncos grabbed a 10-point lead in the first half and were still hanging around late, with multiple chances in the fourth quarter to find the tying touchdown.
Ducks coach Dan Lanning came away impressed with Boise State and quarterback Maddux Madsen. “They had some good scheme and some good elements that they executed well,” Lanning said of Boise State.
“I think playing that quarterback (Maddux Madsen) tonight, that guy’s going to win a lot of games for their team this year. That team’s going to win a lot of games this year.
He played really, really well, in my opinion, for them.”
Madsen finished 15 of 29 for 181 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Oregon’s Dante Moore, a Heisman Trophy candidate, answered with 378 passing yards and three touchdowns.
Oregon State also made noise away from home in JaMarcus Shephard’s debut as head coach. The Beavers cut No. 23 Houston’s lead to six in the fourth quarter before the Cougars finished off a 33-20 win.
Braden Atkinson, a sophomore transfer from Mercer, gave Oregon State plenty to build on. In his first game with the Beavers, he went 29 of 48 for 376 yards with two total touchdowns and no interceptions.
“We grew today as a football team,” Shephard said after the game. “I thought throughout the game we got a lot of information about our football team and how they will perform throughout the season.”
The Apple Cup also swung in the favor of a ranked Pac-12 team, as No. 17 Washington rolled past Washington State 24-10 on Sunday. The Cougars had a rough outing from highly touted transfer quarterback Caden Pinnick, who passed for 142 yards with no touchdowns, two interceptions and a rushing score.
Other Pac-12 teams never really got in the fight on the road. No.
14 USC blanked Fresno State 39-0 on Friday night, holding the Bulldogs to just 116 total yards. Afterward, Fresno State coach Matt Entz stood by starting quarterback Jayden Mandal despite the tough day.
The conference did have a few bright spots. San Diego State knocked off Portland State 53-20 behind three touchdown runs from Lucky Sutton. Colorado State used a strong second half to beat Border War rival Wyoming 35-13, with Oklahoma State transfer Hauss Hejny throwing five touchdown passes for the Rams.
Utah State, though, looked like the early concern in the league’s new setup. McCae Hillstead, a transfer from BYU, threw three interceptions in a 29-17 home loss to FCS Idaho State, leaving the Aggies looking like the weak link in Year 1 of the new Pac-12.
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Oregon State Showed Real Fight But One Problem Still Looms
JaMarcus Shephards first game at Oregon State had enough punch to suggest the Beavers wont be easy to push around, even if the result was a 33-20 loss to Houston. Oregon State fell behind and spent much of the night chasing, but the offense kept finding ways to answer and made the game feel alive deep into the fourth quarter. Braden Atkinson helped fuel that effort with a productive passing night, giving the Beavers a passing presence they can build around as the new era gets rolling.
Still, the same old issue is hard to ignore: when the game tightened, Houston made the winning plays and Oregon State did not. The Cougars leaned on key moments from Conner Weigman and Amare Thomas to close it out, while the Beavers were left with a competitive showing and a long look at what has to improve before September gets much older. The fight was real, but so was the gap in the biggest moments. [Read more 🡒]
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The SEC has already said it will appeal the injunction, and it has also filed a federal lawsuit against LSU over recruiting practices, so the legal fight is far from settled. For now, though, Hankerson sits in a gray area with a chance to keep playing at the college level, and the Pac-12 is one of the conferences that could emerge as a landing spot if that path stays open. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Looked Like A Top 10 Team From The Start
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Indianas own 52-16 win over North Texas fit right into that early-season top-tier conversation, with Josh Hoover throwing multiple touchdown passes in his debut and the Hoosiers looking far sharper than a team still finding its footing. For Oregon State, which fell 33-20 to Houston, those results only add another layer to a weekend that already showed how quickly some programs are pushing toward the national spotlight. [Read more 🡒]