Below is the Week 5 Bruin Rooting Guide. We will rank the games in order of importance to Bruin fans – from least important to most important to game of the week. We’re back and we’re relevant! The Bruins are in the better half of the Pac-12 as one of the five undefeated teams after a thriller in Pullman. Let’s hope they take that magic to Tuscon this Saturday.
Byes: San Diego State, Colorado, Oregon
Cincinnati @ Marshall
Cincinnati’s SOS took a huge hit after UCF’s upset against Pittsburgh. UCF remains ranked and are coming to Nippert Stadium in Week 6. Fickell needs to make sure that his team isn’t overlooking a sneaky Marshall team that only lost to a #24 Boise State by one score. Let’s root for Cincy to win by more than 14 on the road.
#6 Oklahoma vs Texas Tech
The Sooners essentially had two weeks off, that included a small scrimmage in Pasadena. They begin their conference play against a team that I believe will end up worse than us. OU is favored by more than they were in the Rose Bowl, mostly because they’re at home, but I expect Hurts and company to cover pretty easily and we hope so. The Red Raiders losing to Arizona was good for us. On the flip side, if Texas Tech miraculously upsets OU and we beat Arizona, does that mean we get revenge on Oklahoma? One can dream.
#19 Utah vs Washington State
BBGOTW. Bounce Back Game Of The Week. Utah was beat by a talented, poorly-coached USC. Wazzu was stunned by our Mighty Bruins last Saturday and naturally, we want them to bounce back, but not this week against a ranked Pac-12 South opponent. We need Utah to show that the USC loss was a fluke rather than a sign of things to come. Whittingham – please play zone against the Leach’s receivers, or else you may end up with the same result as last Friday.
#15 Cal vs Arizona State
Cal is very much on line with the BruinSource preseason rooting interest, as they remain the lone undefeated Pac-12 team. Arizona State showed that they still have ways to go as their defense surprisingly struggled against Colorado’s offense. Cal doesn’t have the offensive weapons that Colorado has, but if they continue the O from Oxford, they will pull it out at home tomorrow. This is the one rival we are rooting for this week.
Oregon State vs Stanford (scouting game)
Oregon State had the week off, which will be needed against a hungry Cardinal team that is looking to get back on track after an ugly start to the season. We originally didn’t want Stanford to win this game, but we also expected them to be, at the very least, a .500 team by this point. If Oregon State wins, they will still be a sub .500 team next week for our matchup, so it doesn’t help our SoS much. If Stanford were to beat the Beavers and the Huskies, they would be 3-3 playing us. With the chance to play one .500 team rather than none, we are making a change – we want Stanford to win this one. Although, I’m not as confident as I was two weeks ago that will.
Game Of The Week: #17 Washington vs #21 USC
Once again, USC has jumped back in the national rankings. Once again, USC faces another tough opponent. This time, they face the opponent that just crushed the opponent they lost to in Week 3. Two of the most talented teams in the conference are going head- to-head in Seattle for the only ranked conference matchup of the week. Before the season, this was one of the few games that we wanted SC to win, but given they are an unexpected 3-1 and we want the Helton rollercoaster to continue, we are going for the Huskies in this one.
Order of the games (PST) | Rooting Interest
Our game: UCLA @ Arizona – ESPN at 7:30 PM
- #17 Washington vs #21 USC – Fox at 12:30 PM | UW W
- Oregon State vs Stanford – P12 at 4 PM | Stanford W
- #15 Cal vs Arizona State – 7:30 PM on ESPN (Friday) | Cal W
- #19 Utah vs Washington St – 7 PM on FS1 | Utah W
- #6 Oklahoma vs Texas Tech – 9 AM on Fox
- Cincinnati @ Marshall – 2 PM
Byes: San Diego State, Colorado, Oregon
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