Friday, November 25, 2011
Pac-12: Did you know?
By Ted Miller
ESPN.com
Some notes to get you thinking about this weekend's games. Many thanks to ESPN Stats & Information.
- “The Civil War” between Oregon and Oregon State dates back to 1894 and will mark the 115th all-time meeting between the teams. That will make it tied for the seventh-most games played between two teams in FBS history.
- For the fourth straight season this game has more than just school pride at stake. With a win Oregon will lock up the Pac-12 North title and host the inaugural Pac-12 championship game. If Oregon State wins then Stanford would be the Pac-12 North Champion. The Ducks have won each of the past three meetings between these teams with a lot riding on the game.
- Oregon is looking to win its fourth straight against Oregon State. The Ducks haven’t done so since winning four straight from 1994-97.
- If Oregon State loses to Oregon, this would mark its first season with three wins or fewer since 1997 when the Beavers went 3-8. That was Mike Riley’s first season as head coach of Oregon State.
- Oregon will have to regroup after last week’s tough loss against USC. The loss snapped Oregon’s 21-game home win streak as well as its school-record 19-game conference win streak. Oregon has not lost two straight home games since 2002, when it lost to Arizona State and USC in consecutive games.
- Oregon running back LaMichael James struggled to get going in the loss against USC, rushing 20 times for just 78 yards and a touchdown. His 3.9 yards per rush attempt were his fewest since Oregon’s season-opening loss against LSU (3.0). In fact James’ longest rush of the game was 9 yards. It marked the first time in his career that he did not have a single rush of at least 10 yards in a game.
- This is the 15th straight year that Stanford and Notre Dame have met. Stanford has won the past two meetings, which is the Cardinal’s longest streak in the series. Last year’s 37-14 win was also Stanford’s largest ever victory margin in the series.
- Stanford is looking for its second straight season of at least 11 wins (won 12 last year). Prior to 2010, Stanford had never won 11 games in a season.
- Cardinal quarterback Andrew Luck has thrown at least two touchdown passes in 14 straight games dating back to last season.
- Luck has 76 career touchdown passes and continues to move up the school charts. He’s currently one behind John Elway’s record. Luck also needs one touchdown passes to tie the single-season pass TD record he set last season.
- Over the past two seasons Stanford is 0-2 against Oregon, while going 22-0 against all other opponents, winning in dominating fashion. Stanford has lost to the Ducks by an average of 22 points, while it's beaten the other 22 foes by an average of 27.6.
- USC leads the series with UCLA 45-28-7. The Trojans won 28-14 last year.
- UCLA is 4-0 in Pac-12 home games this year, but the Bruins' only road conference win came at Oregon State.
- UCLA is 14-0 under coach Rick Neuheisel when holding an opponent under 20 points.
- USC is looking to post a 10-win season for the eighth time in 10 years and for the 25th time in school history.
- Trojans wideout Robert Woods needs four catches to break Keyshawn Johnson's Pac-12 single-season receptions record (102). Trojans running back Curtis McNeal need 119 yards to hit the 1,000-yard mark.
- Trojans quarterback Matt Barkley has 33 touchdown passes, fourth most in the nation.
- Cal leads its series with Arizona State 16-14. The Bears won 50-17 last year.
- Cal has won three straight and seven of the last eight meetings against Arizona State, including three of the last four in Tempe.
- Arizona State must win to keep its South Division title hopes alive. It has lost three straight and four of its last five games. The Sun Devils were 5-1 prior to that.
- Cal has lost four straight road games.
- Colorado leads the series with Utah 30-24-3, though the last meeting was in 1962, a 37-21 Utes win [Note: This was incorrect in the first version, as it was incorrect in the official Pac-12 release].
- Buffs running back Rodney Stewart needs 41 receiving yards to become the 27th player in FBS history to have 3,000 rushing and 1,000 receiving yards in his career.
- Utah running back John White has rushed for 1,377 yards and needs 131 yards to set the single-season school rushing mark, breaking Carl Monroe's record of 1,507 set in 1982. His 14 rushing touchdowns is tied for a school record. The Utes are 7-0 when he rushes for 100 yards or more.
- Washington leads the series with Washington State 66-31-6. The Huskies won 35-28 in Pullman last year.
- This year's game will be played in CenturyLink Field, the Seattle Seahawks' home stadium because Husky Stadium is undergoing renovations. This is the first time since 1980 the Apple Cup has not been played on either campus.
- Senior Marshall Lobbestael will start at quarterback for the Cougars after freshman Connor Halliday was hospitalized after the Utah game with a lacerated liver.
- Keith Price will start for the Huskies at quarterback. He needs two touchdown passes to tie Cody Pickett's season record of 28 set in 2001.
- This is the first meeting between the Arizona and Louisiana-Lafayette.
- Wildcats quarterback Nick Foles set a school record with 3,982 passing yards, which ranks third all-time in the Pac-12. He needs 77 passing yards to move passed Oregon State's Derek Anderson (4,058) to move into second place. But Foles is questionable for the game with a back injury.
