Tempe, AZ – Week 12 Results in the Sun Devils’ Road to the Rose Bowl

For Sun Devil fans, it was a fantastic weekend in the Pac-12. The Sun Devils won, the Wildcats lost, and the races in both the North and South divisions are becoming more clear. This time in November signals the final push for bowl position and hope is eternal for the ASU faithful. 

Following the results from this weekend, the ASU/UCLA match-up will be the big game everyone expected it to be, and USC has worked their way back into the south division equation. In the north, Stanford took a step back allowing Oregon to reclaim pole position.

With only a few games left in the 2013 season, let’s recap the results from week 12 throughout the conference.

#13 UCLA 41 – Washington 31

Well, the Huskies did ASU no favors here. The Bruins won to keep pace with the Sun Devils, and the Huskies proved that they have a very suspect defense and were overrated for much of the season. Washington had every opportunity to win this game but refused to take advantage of UCLA’s missteps. 

First, there was a costly holding penalty that negated a Husky touchdown, a missed field goal, failure to recover UCLA fumbles, and finally losing their quarterback Keith Price to injury. Without these critical details, this could have been a Husky victory. The Bruins held strong and came out with a Win to keep stride with ASU heading into this weekend.

#19 Arizona State 30 – Oregon State 17

Similar to a few other games this season, this potential “trap” game was another big win for the Devils heading into their showdown with UCLA.  As mentioned all season, Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion continues to put up huge numbers against inferior opponents, but gets shut down by big time teams. True to his form, he threw 4 interceptions against the Devils.

This game was actually closer than the final score indicated with the Beavers cutting the ASU lead to 10 late in the game. However, a blocked field goal and an interception returned for a touchdown by Robert Nelson Jr. sealed the deal for the Sun Devils who look to clinch the Pac-12 South this coming weekend.

Washington State 24 – Arizona 17

Outside of the ASU game, this one was my favorite of the weekend. The overconfident Wildcats came up short to the Washington State Cougars in Tucson and fell to (6-4) on the year heading into a showdown with the Oregon Ducks this weekend. With a loss likely against the Ducks and ASU on the horizon, there is a good chance for the Cats to finish the season with six wins.

Wazzu quarterback Connor Halliday won the Pac-12 offensive player of the week honors by throwing for 319 yards and 2 touchdowns in Tucson. This victory for the Cougars was even sweeter after a newspaper in Tucson ran a story about how Wazzu stood no chance against the Cats. It suggested that before the game, Cougar fans should look for a bar where they could go to drown their sorrows after the defeat.

Nice win for Mike Leach and the Cougars.

USC 20 – #4 Stanford 17

This was a huge curve ball for the BCS standings and the Stanford Cardinal. USC, who has been playing with a renewed spark under interm coach Ed Orgeron, clinched the victory over the fourth ranked Cardinal with a 47 yard field goal in the final seconds of the contest. The happiest fans here are the Oregon Duck faithful who now have a shot at the Rose Bowl again. 

The way it stands now, if ASU wins the South they would have a matchup with the Ducks in Eugene. Of course, rivalry games are around the corner which usually bring some surprises.

On a side note, the Stanford Cardinal now have two losses to teams that ASU has defeated– Utah and USC.

#6 Oregon 44 – Utah 21

As we have seen all year, the Utes are not a good team on the road and this game did nothing to make us think otherwise. 

Oregon won this one running away before Stanford even took the field against USC. Then they got to watch as the Cardinal lost their short-lived spot at the top of the Pac-12 North. This coming weekend, the Ducks should make short work of the Wildcats in Tucson.

Colorado 41 – CAL 24

This game had no bearing on the Sun Devils, the national rankings, or anyone outside of the two universities. That being said, this was a nice win for Colorado representing the Pac-12 South.

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Here are the remaining scenarios that could determine the winner of the Pac-12 South.

The Sun Devils load their line against Oregon St. in a 30-17 Victory. Photo- Matt Martin, DieHardDevil.com

Strap in for a huge match-up four days from now in Pasadena. If the Devils win, it’s “game over” in the South. ASU will have won it’s first Pac-12 Division Championship with nothing to lose going into their rivalry game vs UA. Then the following week, ASU would play in the Conference Championship with it’s third Rose Bowl bid on the line.

If however, ASU loses to UCLA, the situation gets interesting:

1) The Division championship would then be UCLA’s to lose going into their final game with SC. Beating the Trojans will win them the South for the third straight year.

2) Let’s safely assume that SC beats Colorado this weekend. If USC beats UCLA, then the Devils will go into the Territorial Cup with everything on the line. Should ASU lose, SC will have come back to win the division in shocking fashion. In other words for SC to win the South, they need to win their last two and hope ASU lose their last two.

Today the Sun Devils are in the ideal position to accomplish the first of two steps in their goal of playing for the Roses. They are 60 minutes of football away from something great.