Washington Huskies

Here's a quick look at Week 9 in the conference. All times are ET. All games are Saturday.

Colorado (1-5, 1-3) at No. 4 Oregon (7-0, 4-0) 3 p.m. Pac-12 Network: The series is tied at 8-8, but the Ducks have won two in a row, including a 45-2 win in Boulder last year. Oregon is No. 1 in the conference in scoring offense and No. 2 in total offense. Colorado is last in scoring defense and total defense. Oregon is No. 1 in the Pac-12 in red zone offense and red zone defense. Ducks opponents have converted just nine of 28 red zone visits into TDs.

UCLA (5-2, 2-2) at Arizona State (5-2, 3-1) 3 p.m. FX: UCLA leads the series 17-10-1, but the Sun Devils have won three of the last five. The Bruins, however, won memorably 29-28 in 2011. The Sun Devils missed a 46-yard field goal for the win as time expired. The Bruins' go-ahead drive featured a conversion on a third and 29 yards play. That was the first of five consecutive defeats for the Sun Devils, and coach Dennis Erickson was fired. Arizona State QB Taylor Kelly leads the Pac-12 in passing efficiency, while UCLA RB Johnathan Franklin leads the conference in rushing.

No. 9 USC (6-1, 4-1) at Arizona (4-3, 1-3) 3:30 p.m. ABC/ESPN2: USC leads the series 28-7 and has won the last two and nine of 10. The Trojans won a barnburner 48-41 last year. The last five games have been tight, even though the Wildcats only came out on top in 2009. The average margin of victory was 5.6 points per game with no game decided by more than seven points. USC QB Matt Barkley leads the Pac-12 with 22 TD passes. Arizona QB Matt Scott is second with 17.

Washington State (2-5, 0-4) at No. 17 Stanford (5-2, 3-1) 6:15 p.m. Pac-12 Network: Stanford leads the series 36-25-1 and has won four in a row by an average margin of 31 points. The Cardinal rolled in Pullman 44-14 last year. The Cougars rank 119th in the nation -- second to last -- in rushing with 40.6 yards per game. Stanford is No. 1 in the Pac-12 and fourth in the nation in run defense.

California (3-5, 2-3) at Utah (2-5, 0-4) 9:45 p.m. Pac-12 Network: California leads the series 5-3, including a 34-10 win in Berkeley last year. The Utes, however, have won three of the last five meetings, all of which happened before they joined the Pac-12. Utah is last in the conference and 112th in the nation in third-down conversion percentage on offense (30.1 percent). But Cal is 10th in the conference in third-down conversion percentage defense (42.9 percent).

No. 7 Oregon State (6-0, 4-0) at Washington (3-4, 1-3) 10:15 p.m. Pac-12 Network: Washington leads the series 58-34-4 but the Beavers have won seven of eight, including a 38-21 win last year in Corvallis. Washington's defense has struggled to pressure opposing QBs. It has just nine sacks this year, fewest in the conference. The Beavers have yielded just 11 sacks, the fourth-fewest in the conference. As good as the Beavers have been, they rank 119th in the nation in penalty yards per game (82.17). On the other hand, Oregon State is No. 1 in the Pac-12 in turnover margin (plus-10). The Beavers have turned the ball over just six times. The next fewest is Stanford, with 10. Washington has 16 turnovers.

Taking stock of the eighth week of games in the Pac-12.

Team of the week: Oregon fumbled on its first possession at Arizona State and immediately yielded a touchdown. Ah, here's that road test we were talking about! Then the Ducks opened up a can of whup-butt and throttled the Sun Devils in one of the most dominating halves of football this season. Sure, the final was only 43-21. But it was 43-7 at the break, which allowed the Ducks to rest many of their starters much of the second half. Some test.

Best game: There were no close games this week, but Oregon State's 21-7 win over Utah certainly provided some tension for Beavers fans. With the Oregon State offense muted in Week 2 with backup QB Cody Vaz, the defense won the day, forcing four turnovers. Yes, it was a two-touchdown win, but things were in doubt well into the fourth quarter.

Biggest play: On Utah's first possession of the second half, with Oregon State up 14-7, it drove to the Beavers' 3-yard line. On third-and-goal, the Utes tried an inside reverse to DeVonte Christopher, but the ball got loose on the exchange and DE Scott Crichton recovered. The Utes had several blown opportunities, but this was the most glaring.

Offensive standout: Matt Barkley threw six touchdown passes against Colorado, and he now has 102 for his career, best in Pac-12 history. You know, there have been some really good QBs to come through this conference. And by the way, Barkley was nearly perfect against the woeful Buffaloes, completing 19 of 20 passes -- the only incompletion was a drop -- for 298 yards with no interceptions. Barkley has some tough games ahead in which a similar performance could re-establish his Heisman Trophy candidacy.

Defensive standout: Stanford outside linebacker Chase Thomas brutalized California with a team-high seven tackles, with four coming for a loss in a 21-3 Cardinal Big Game victory. He has a sack, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup.

Special teams standout: Oregon State punter Keith Kostol made sure the Beavers dominated field position against Utah. He punted eight times and averaged only 38.1 yards per boot, but five of his punts were downed inside the Utes' 20-yard line -- four inside the 15.

Smiley face: Arizona opted not to go quietly into the night by whipping Washington 52-17. The Wildcats rolled up 533 total yards but the best news was a second-half shutout. While the team upstate received a lot of attention for its fast start, the Wildcats also look like a crew that could make some noise in the Pac-12 South. QB Matt Scott continues his strong play, but the running game was king against the Huskies. USC comes to town on Saturday. Could be interesting.

Frowny face: As American poet and philosopher Ric Flair often noted, "To be the man, you've got to beat the man." California and Arizona State had shots at ranked foes that could have transformed their seasons, but both were overmatched. For the Sun Devils, no worries -- theirs was a long-shot bid for a special season in Year 1 under coach Todd Graham. For the Bears, things are more serious for coach Jeff Tedford, who could have cooled his seat substantially with a Big Game victory.

Thought of the week: We now know Oregon State is for real. You can't fake 6-0. But the schedule starts to ramp up considerably for the Beavers over the next month: at Washington on Saturday, Arizona State, at Stanford, California and Oregon. So can they maintain a high level of play and keep winning? Is it realistic to speculate about a Civil War game between unbeaten teams on Nov. 24? Not yet, probably, but it's like someone saying, "Don't think about a purple elephant." You, of course, immediately do.

Questions for the week: Where and when will we get a big upset? The schedule lays out several potential red-letter games among its highest-ranked teams: Oregon at USC, Oregon State at Stanford, Stanford at Oregon, Oregon at Oregon State and Notre Dame at USC. But where might be the pratfalls? You know: The games we don't see coming that inevitably come every year -- like Stanford over USC and Washington over Stanford. Is it USC at Arizona on Saturday? Is Oregon State at risk at Washington this weekend? Arizona State and UCLA continue to be teams that could give some of the front-runners some trouble. You can count on at least one major stumble. The question is where?