Devils in Detail
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ASU Football: 2017 Pac-12 Week Eight Power Rankings

BySam Ficarro|
TEMPE, AZ - OCTOBER 14: Wide receiver Frank Darby
TEMPE, AZ - OCTOBER 14: Wide receiver Frank Darby

It was an upset-filled Week Seven in college football with Washington and Washington State both losing on the road versus ASU football and Cal.

What a week in college football.

On paper heading into Week Seven, we were wondering what games will be good and if we would have any upsets.

Friday night began the upset-frenzy with No. 2 Clemson and No. 8 Washington State losing and continued Saturday with No. 10 Auburn and No. 5 Washington going down.

Arizona State’s field-storming capped off a wild week and shook up the now-muddled College Football Playoff race.

In this week’s Power Rankings, we had our biggest shakeup yet with teams moving all over the poll. With our football coverage team of Alec Henden, Ethan Schmidt, Hunter Robinson, Jordan Kaye, Killian McClatchey, Sam Ficarro and Zach Pekale here are our Week Eight Power Rankings.

Power Rankings: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7

1. USC Trojans (LW: 3)

For the first time since Week Five, the Trojans sit atop of our Power Rankings after holding on for a 28-27 win over Utah.

USC had to come back from a 21-7 deficit versus Utah and did just that thanks to quarterback Sam Darnold who threw two touchdowns in the second half to tie the game with running back Ronald Jones scoring the game-winning touchdown with 4:54 remaining.

Utah scored a touchdown on a 1-yard run from quarterback Troy Williams and head coach Kyle Whittingham opted to go for the win attempting a two-point conversion with 42 seconds remaining.

The Trojans tackled Williams well short of the goal line and USC held on for another tight, home win.

USC’s tough schedule continues next week with a trip to South Bend to face No. 13 Notre Dame at 4:30 p.m. PST on NBC.

2. Stanford Cardinal (LW: 4)

Stanford reaches its highest point on our Power Rankings this season after a 49-7 thrashing of Oregon in The Farm.

Running back Bryce Love had another ho-hum 147-yard, two-touchdown performance against the Ducks.

The biggest development for Stanford was the passing game as quarterback Keller Chryst took over under center throwing for 181 yards and three touchdowns with wide receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside finishing with six catches, season-high 121 yards and two touchdowns.

Stanford’s defense shutdown Oregon’s injury-riddled offense holding the Ducks attack to 309 total yards and 33 passing yards.

The Cardinal are on a bye this week before traveling to Corvallis to face Oregon State next Thursday night.

3. Washington Huskies (LW: 1)

Sun Devil Stadium continued to be a house of horrors for Washington as the Huskies’ losing streak in Tempe extended to seven games with Arizona State’s stunning 13-7 upset win.

Washington’s offense was out-of-sorts all night with Arizona State bringing a lot of different looks to quarterback Jake Browning and company.

The Huskies entered the game Saturday tied for the highest scoring offense in the Pac-12 and were limited to just seven points and 230 yards of total offense.

Browning threw for 130 yards, but was under pressure all night getting sacked five times by the Sun Devils and Washington was 3-for-14 on third down.

Running back Myles Gaskin was a non-factor as well finishing with 14 carries and 68 yards.

Washington will regroup on their bye week this week before hosting UCLA next Saturday.

4. Washington State Cougars (LW: 2)

It was an equally rough night for Washington State as it was for their in-state rival as the Cougars’ undefeated season ended with a 37-3 loss at Cal.

Quarterback Luke Falk had one of his worst games of his career throwing five interceptions and zero touchdowns as the Cougs were left out of the end zone all night.

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In total, Washington State finished with finished with seven turnovers resulting in 16 points for the Golden Bears.

Wazzou’s defense didn’t play that poorly as they were put in bad positions all night because of the turnovers as Cal finished with just 28 more yards of offense than Washington State.

This could be a real dagger for Washington State in their Playoff hopes as they got to be perfect down the stretch to have a chance at making it.

Washington State finally returns home this week as they host Colorado Saturday at 7:45 p.m. PST on ESPN.

5. Utah Utes (LW: 5)

Utah is coming off a heartbreaking one-point loss at USC after the Utes’ two-point conversion failed in the final minute of regulation.

The Utes got out to a 21-7 lead at the Coliseum behind a scoop-and-score and a passing and receiving touchdown by quarterback Troy Williams.

As the Trojans have shown all year, they make halftime adjustments and can turn a game around in the second half and did just that scoring three unanswered touchdowns to grab the lead in the fourth quarter.

The two-point conversion with a gutsy call from head coach Kyle Whittingham, and after seeing Texas lose in double overtime at USC, you can’t blame him for going for the win.

The execution just wasn’t there as the two-pointer was well-defended by the Trojans.

Utah now falls a game back of USC in the Pac-12 South as they’ll have to hope they slip up again in conference play.

The Utes face a virtual must-win versus Arizona State Saturday (12:30 p.m. PST on FS1) to keep their Pac-12 South hopes alive.

6. Arizona State Sun Devils (LW: 9)

After the starting the season No. 10 and being as low as No. 11, Arizona State has skyrocketed to No. 6 in our Power Rankings after their 13-7 win over then-No. 5 Washington.

It was an impressive performance from the defense forcing five sacks and holding Washington to just 139 passing yards and 91 rushing yards.

Head coach Todd Graham and his coaching staff put together a great game-plan using multiple looks defensively and picking the right spots to go for it on fourth-down.

Arizona State went for it on fourth-down on their opening drive inside the red zone and converted leading to a touchdown, the only one of the game.

The Sun Devils finished 3-for-3 on fourth down, with Wilkins’ miracle completion to tight end Ceejhay French-Love sealing the upset win.


While the offense struggled at times, they did just enough to get placekicker Brandon Ruiz into field goal range three times with Ruiz converting two of the them.

Arizona State is now 2-1 in the Pac-12 South and have Utah this week and USC next week with both of those games determining their faith in the division.

7. Arizona Wildcats (LW: 10)

Another week, another win and another Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week award for quarterback Khalil Tate.

Tate finished with 378 total yards and three total touchdowns as the Wildcats defeated UCLA 47-30.

Through two weeks, Tate is 21-for-26 passing, 302 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs while rushing for 557 yards and six touchdowns on only 29 carries.

Arizona’s defense also deserves some love after Bruins quarterback Josh Rosen finished with 219 yards, zero touchdowns and three interceptions as UCLA turned the ball over four times.

Arizona is quietly 4-2 and 2-1 in Pac-12 play and will travel to Berkeley next Saturday to face Cal at 5 p.m. PST on Pac-12 Network.

8. California Golden Bears (LW: 8)

What a performance from the Golden Bears defense in their 37-3 rout of then-No. 8 Washington State.

California forced seven turnovers, including five interceptions of quarterback Luke Falk, frustrating Washington State all night.

The Cougars had five turnovers in their first nine possessions, which is pretty remarkable considering how good Wazzou’s offense has been this year.

Linebacker Jordan Kunaszyk was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week after finishing the game with 11 tackles, 2.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one interception.

It was the first Pac-12 win for first-year head coach Justin Wilcox after a brutal start to Pac-12 play.

Cal will host Arizona Saturday at 5 p.m. PST on Pac-12 Network.

9. Oregon Ducks (LW: 6)

Oregon had a night to forget in Palo Alto losing 49-7 at Stanford.

The Ducks are badly missing quarterback Justin Herbert as Oregon threw for only 33 yards with two quarterbacks with the running game carrying the unit.

Running back Royce Freeman had a good game for Oregon rushing for 143 yards on 18 carries, but Oregon’s offense has become one-dimensional with Herbert sidelined.

The defense was gashed by Stanford for 504 yards with the Cardinal finishing with 13 more first downs than Oregon and having the possession for about 15 minutes longer.

It’s back to the drawing board for Oregon as they travel to the Rose Bowl to face a struggling UCLA team Saturday at 1 p.m. PST on Pac-12 Network.

10. UCLA Bruins (LW: 7)

UCLA had the same problems as Colorado experienced in stopping Khalil Tate as he had another strong game for the Wildcats.

The defense has struggled all season for UCLA, but the Bruins’ 47-30 loss in Tucson had a lot to do with poor play of quarterback Josh Rosen as threw for three interceptions and no touchdowns in the defeat.

Rosen has had to do the heavy lifting all season for UCLA, but has done a pretty good job holding onto the football. That was not the case Saturday night.

A positive for UCLA was the running game, however, as running back Bolu Olorunfunmi rushed for 102 yards and two touchdowns with the team finishing with 190 rushing yards.

UCLA will host Oregon Saturday as both teams look stop their downward spiral in the Pac-12.

11. Colorado Buffaloes (LW: 11)

Colorado doesn’t move in our Power Rankings despite winning a tight game in Corvallis 36-33 over Oregon State.

The Buffaloes offense had a breakout game with quarterback Steven Montez throwing for 168 yards and two touchdowns and running back Phillip Lindsay rushing for 185 yards and two touchdowns.

Wide receiver Bryce Bobo also had a solid game finishing with nine receptions, 126 yards and two touchdowns.

The Buffaloes defense was a bit shaky versus Oregon State allowing 569 yards to the Beavers, including 172 yards and three touchdowns from Beavers running back Ryan Nall.

Colorado got into the win column for the first time this conference season and will look to add another one Saturday night in Pullman at Washington State (7:45 p.m. PST on ESPN).

12. Oregon State Beavers (LW: 12)

The Cory Hall-era began in Corvallis Saturday after Gary Anderson mutually agreed to part ways with the school last week.

As a team tends to do in the first game after the head coach leaves midseason, Oregon State played well and inspired matching Colorado punch-for-punch.

Oregon State led for the majority of this game, including leading 33-29 with 4:22 remaining in regulation, but Colorado scored on a Bobo touchdown catch with 1:34 remaining.

The Beavers got the ball back with a chance to tie with a field goal or win with a touchdown, but kicker Jordan Choukair missed a 52-yard field goal with 10 seconds left and the Buffs held on for the win.

Next: By the numbers: Sun Devils take down No. 5 Washington in wild 13-7 victory

It was a great performance from Oregon State and will look to pick up their first Pac-12 win in two weeks when they host Stanford next Thursday.

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