Stanford and California may be on different paths in the ACC, but a win would make a huge difference for either program.
Washington State bounced back with a victory over Louisiana Tech last week, and can make a statement this week with a strong performance at James Madison.
Oregon State has a bye to learn from its two straight losses and prepare for the season finale against the Cougars.
Here’s my take on all four teams heading into Week 12.
During the bye week, the Golden Bears hopefully implemented a plan to get Kendrick Raphael involved. If California struggles to run the ball, it could prove problematic in this contest.
The Bears are good at throwing the ball and defending the pass, but it feels spotty. They rank 44th in passing yards allowed per game and 32nd in passing yards per contest.
They’ll also need Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele to continue to protect the ball. After the three-interception game at Duke, he’s only thrown two in the last four outings. As long as he avoids mistakes, Cal feels like a better overall team than Stanford.
The Tree struggles mightily on offense; they’re 129th nationally in points scored per game.
The Golden Bears’ biggest concern should be covering CJ Williams. Williams is the one guy who can really hurt them.
No one still knows what to think of Cal, but a win here and things feel alright. California will host SMU in the final regular-season game.
Fun Facts
- Alex Morgan is a Cal alumna.
- The Golden Bears have the third-tallest clock tower in the world on campus, Sather Tower.
- Students roll down “4.0 Hill” at the beginning of the semester in hopes of achieving a 4.0 GPA.
Regardless of who gets the dub, the key for the Tree in their final two games is the development of Elijah Brown.
In Brown’s last outing against North Carolina, he played well, but took a lot of sacks. He threw for 284 yards, one touchdown, and one interception against a Bill Belichick-led defense.
If the Cardinal are going to beat Cal, they’ll need their offensive line to protect Brown better.
Stanford ranks 131st nationally in sacks allowed, with 38. The Cardinal will also look to make the Golden Bears one-dimensional. California is last in the nation in rushing yards per game.
This could help keep the game close because the Tree ranks 23rd in red zone defense. It’ll be tricky to score seven with a limited rushing attack.
The Bears are only favored by 1.5 points so the gates are open on the Farm. Stanford’s had a tough year, but a win here alleviates a lot of the hurt.
The Cardinal have one final game against Notre Dame the following week.
Fun Facts
- Christian McCaffrey is an alumnus of Stanford.
- Stanford is nicknamed the Farm because it was founded by Leland and Jane Stanford on their stock farm.
- There is a tradition on campus called fountain hopping, where students splash about in campus fountains.
The WSU faithful would obviously like a victory against James Madison
But a six- or even seven-win campaign would prove a remarkable accomplishment considering the roster turnover, with a large portion of the new additions coming from FCS South Dakota State.
If the Cougs are going to pull an upset in Harrisonburg, they’ll need their offense to score. The Dukes rank 14th nationally in points per contest and seventh in the nation in rushing yards per game.
Washington State has one of the better defenses at the mid-major level, so if they’re offense scores a couple of touchdowns, they might be able to steal a victory.
Zevi Eckhaus will also need to play well, he’s proven a bit of everything this season.
WSU’s defense has only allowed 20 combined points in their last three outings, they should be able to hold their own against JMU.
A final note: Washington State is looking for a new Athletic Director.
Fun Facts
- John Olerud is an alumnus of Washington State.
- WSU is a land-grant institution, founded to serve the public through education and research.
- Washington State has a Bear Center that has about a dozen grizzly bears at a given time, and the public can view them from behind a safe barricaded fence.
Robb Akey will not be the head coach of the Beavers next year. Back-to-back losses against Sam Houston State and Tulsa aren’t doing it, even if OSU is 2-9 instead of winless.
This is the moment where OSU needs to kick its coaching search into high gear. According to OregonLive, there are nine likely candidates for the job, most notably Ed Orgeron, Jason Eck, and Bronco Mendenhall.
The next tier is debatable: Nick Rolovich and Brennan Marion are also on their list.
There’s nothing to take away from the Tulsa game before the Washington State matchup, other than that wasn’t good enough. The Beavers beat the Cougars in their first contest, which means they’re going to get a pissed off WSU team on the Palouse.
The final notable is Tristan Ti’a threw two touchdowns last week in his first extended action of the year. The Beavs have two weeks to prepare for a team they’ve already beaten, maybe the dam can strike twice.
Fun Facts
- Gary Payton is an alumnus of Oregon State.
- OSU is a land, sea, space, and sun grant institution. They are the only public university in Oregon to hold this designation.
- The campus houses an Electron Microscopy Facility within its College of Science.
