Stanford QB Kevin Hogan’s status in doubt due to ‘significant’ ankle sprain

Ohio State is No. 1 and Michigan State is No. 2, giving the Big Ten the top two teams in the AP rankings for the first time since 2006.

One of the teams, however, was able to flip the trend.

The same offense that failed to score a touchdown in Week 1 churned for 475 yards against the sixth-ranked Trojans. Priority No. 1 for Saban and coordinator Lane Kiffin is to settle on a quarterback – Jake Coker or Cooper Bateman. The Sun Devils defense also improved, keeping UNM out of the end zone the entire first half. That 6-5 lead would hold for halftime, and USC would continue to rally in the second half. Texas came roaring back, scoring and pulling within one with 1:11 remaining. A win against Cal next week would certainty boost the Cougar’s position in the conference.

The Yellow Jackets hit their first speed bump of the 2015 season in Week 3. Believe in Notre Dame – that was the right defense to deal with the Tech attack.

The Buckeyes received 40 first-place votes after a lackluster victory against Northern Illinois on Saturday. The game opened with both teams on the offensive.

While no team wants to consider any loss “good”, the Ducks have one of the best defeats of any program so far this year. But, the Cardinals were slightly better throughout all phases of the game and eeked-out the big win over the Trojans. The offense remains dynamic (6.9 ypp) under quarterbacks Vernon Adams and Jeff Lockie, and running back Royce Freeman ranks third in the Pac-12 in rushing. A far cry from the six points they mustered against Northwestern.

We grade each Pac-12 team based on both how they played against their opponents and their quality of competition. If Oregon can finish 12-1, Helfrich’s team will have a strong resume to present for the playoff committee.

Perhaps the Cardinal’s Week 1 loss against No. 17 Northwestern (who isn’t so bad after all) was all that was needed to jump-start the team for the rest of the season. However, the Cardinal quietly rebounded in impressive fashion in Week 2 by handling UCF 31-7.

He didn’t practice Monday and probably won’t until late in the week, head coach David Shaw said.

Stanford’s offense comes alive and USC falls apart. Hogan completed 18-of-23 passes for 279 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions against the Trojans. The man who seemed out of his depth at Washington; left Seattle without having done much of anything; and then allowed the final 90 seconds of Saturday’s game against Stanford to dwindle away – instead of kicking a field goal with 45 to 50 seconds left, as he absolutely needed to do – is the man in charge of the Trojans. “Last year we fought and fought but couldn’t find a way to win it”, MacIntyre said. Even reading previews of Stanford-USC, you can see the prevalent theme of “Stanford is physical, Stanford will run the ball, yadda yadda yadda” dominating despite evidence to the contrary right under everybody’s nose over the last two weeks.

Conflicting reports have emerged about an alleged tunnel altercation involving Steve Sarkisian’s USC team.

Stanford scored on seven of its nine possessions, moving the sticks eight of 12 times in a third down situation.

The question going forward is: Which was the aberration, Week 1 or Week 3? USC’s offense is averaging 48.3 points per game, and there’s no shortage of playmakers or talent for quarterback Cody Kessler. Also, Browning looked like he could live up to the freshman hype as he put together a hell of a game against one of the best mid-major defenses in the country. Playing a road night game against a conference foe for the first time this season will be a huge challenge, and if Rosen can’t answer the bell, the possibility of an October spent adrift at sea becomes disturbingly real for Jim Mora, Jr.