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Welcome to your weekly 6-Pac for the Pac-12. This week, Ted Miller and Chantel Jennings tackle these toughies. Does UCLA’s season come down to Saturday against Arizona? Miller: Yes, in terms of living up to preseason expectations, though we are not as quick to write off the Bruins as many seem ready to do. UCLA should be 7-1 right now, losing only to Oregon, so they are only an upset home loss to Utah behind schedule. A 10-2 regular-season finish, even if that doesn’t include a South Division title, wouldn’t rate a major disappointment, as it likely would include a top-10 ranking. But a third loss crosses the over-under threshold in a negative way. So, absolutely, the Bruins need to beat Arizona at home and stay alive in the South Division race. Jennings: I don’t know. I agree with Ted that this team should be 7-1 right now, but the difference between a two-loss and a three-loss season isn’t that huge. If they lose to Arizona and then run the table with huge wins over Washington, USC and Stanford (going 3-0 against California teams this season), that could still be considered a small success in a disappointing year. Might Arizona State QB Taylor Kelly have a quick hook if he struggles early against Utah? And is the same true for Utah QB Travis Wilson?  Miller: Maybe to both, because both coaches know their prime directive is to scratch and claw and scheme for every inch in order to win this critical South Division game. Kelly is a highly competitive guy, but he’s also team-first. If he struggled in the first half Saturday and the Sun Devils offense was ineffective, he probably wouldn’t have any problem with coach Todd Graham calling in Mike Bercovici from the bullpen. Same with Wilson and Kendal Thompson, who came in against UCLA and picked up a victory in relief. Bottom line: Whatever is needed to win.
Jennings: Best-case scenario, neither struggles. But if we’re playing the negative-Nancy card here, I would say that if both struggle, I’d have my money on Kyle Whittingham standing by Wilson longer than Graham would stand by Kelly. Graham has stood by the fact that Bercovici is the backup, no matter what. Whittingham, on the other hand, has this open battle in which neither has really taken the reins. Wilson took a step forward last weekend and I think he’s going to try to keep that process moving forward this weekend, even if that means letting him have a bit longer of a leash. Does Marcus Mariota need to beat Stanford to win the Heisman Trophy and establish his longterm Oregon legacy? Miller: Probably, but not necessarily. Probably in that if he goes 0-3 against Stanford in his career, that will diminish his national standing significantly. But what if Oregon loses 42-40 and Mariota throws four TD passes and runs for another? If the Ducks lose this game because their inconsistent defense gets trenched, that shouldn’t be on Mariota. But if Mariota puts up the middling-to-poor numbers he did in the previous two games against Stanford, he will have a lot of ground to make up to get invited to New York. Jennings: I don’t see how Mariota doesn’t make it to New York this year. Statistically, he’s the best quarterback in the nation. He has 24 touchdown passes and one interception. His touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio is twice as good as the No. 2 guy on the list. But there are always going to be reasons why he’s not going to get some people's votes, whether it’s because they didn’t see his late games or the national perception of the Pac-12 vs. SEC. I don’t know if beating or losing to Stanford will change any of that (though the people who wouldn’t vote for him certainly will use that in some of their reasoning). And as far as his career stuff, on Tuesday, Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said Mariota needs to do nothing else to cement his spot in Oregon history. I’d agree with that. He could’ve left after last season and I think he’d still be a player everyone would be talking about for the next decade. Win or lose against Stanford, that doesn’t change. Which struggling team finishes strongest: Cal, Colorado, Oregon State or Washington State? Miller: I think Washington State is the best 2-6 team in the nation, so you get that, Cougs. And if Oregon State were healthy, the Beavers would be a seven-win or eight-win team. Colorado is much better than last year, even if it isn’t translating to wins. But I think Cal’s got a good shot to win two of its final four games and earn bowl eligibility after going 1-11 last year. That is huge. And even of the Bears only go 5-7, that would rate them as one of the nation’s most improved teams in Year 2 under Sonny Dykes. Jennings: Darn it, Ted. We’re too agreeable today. WE NEED SOME DRAMA. But, I’m going with Cal, too. I think the Bears are the most improved team in the league and Jared Goff is the most improved player. The more this team plays together and jells, the more it will win. I see them winning two more games this season and bowling by year’s end. Who is going to be this weekend’s biggest impact player? Miller: Mariota vs. the Stanford defense is the obvious lead item, but I’m going with UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley. Touted as a Heisman candidate in the preseason, the campaign hasn’t gone the way he imagined it. Yet if he produces a tour de force performance in a win over Arizona, Hundley and the Bruins can quickly right their season. And UCLA won't win without him playing well. Jennings: Whatever Utah receiver steps up in Dres Anderson’s absence. The Utah defense and special teams will show up -- that I’m almost sure of -- however, if the Utes want the win, they have to have someone because a deep field threat for Wilson to target. Running back Devontae Booker is going to do his thing, but if the Utes can only rely on a run game, their offense is going to be one-dimensional and Arizona State is going to get them every time. Whether it’s Kenneth Scott, Tim Patrick or Kenric Young, one of those guys needs to be the impact player of the weekend if the Utes want the W. How many Pac-12 teams end up bowl-eligible? Ted Miller: Nine. Eight is pretty much a certainty. The ninth will either be Cal or Oregon State. Jennings: Ditto, Miller. I don’t know if anyone has ever agreed with Ted so much in 1,000 words.
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