The first full day of Pac-12 college football action happened Saturday, and it was a tough day for the conference. Outside of Andrew Luck opening his Heisman campaign with a blowout win for No. 7 Stanford, the conference was filled with unimpressive wins and some disappointing losses. Here's a recap of the Week 1 events:
No. 4 LSU 40, No. 3 Oregon 27: The Ducks led 13-9 with 5:21 remaining in the second quarter, but that's where the good news ended for Oregon. The Ducks gave up a touchdown at the end of the first half, then gained all of four yards while getting outscored 14-0 in the third quarter.
Sacramento State 29, Oregon St. 28: The Beavers were down at home 21-6 in the fourth quarter to the Hornets, from the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). Oregon St. rallied to tie, then went up seven in overtime. However, Jeff Fleming connected with Brandyn Reed for both a touchdown and a two-point conversion, for the shocking upset. Oregon St. was ranked 23rd in the preseason Sagarin ratings, compared to 134th for Sacramento St.
No. 7 Stanford 57, San Jose St. 3: Luck didn't get much of a test in the opening game of his senior season, but The Cardinal did what good teams do: beat the living daylights out of inferior competition. Luck threw for 171 yards and two touchdowns, and didn't play the fourth quarter.
No. 25 USC 19, Minnesota 17: This wasn't as much a win for the Trojans as it was an escape. The Trojans led 19-3 at halftime, and it barely held up. Matt Barkley and Robert Woods hooked up for three scores, while Woods had a school-record 17 catches for 177 yards.
Houston 38, UCLA 34: The Bruins were down 31-14 at halftime, and lost pseudo starting quarterback Kevin Prince with a concussion early in the game, but stormed back to within four points, but could not recover the onside kick with 1:19 remaining. The good news: UCLA rushed for 232 yards, averaging 5.5 yards per carry on the ground.
Earlier this week: Utah 27, Monatana St. 10 (Thursday), Arizona St. 48, UC Davis 14 (Thursday)