Week one was a bit of a let down for the Pac-12. Teams expected to contend like Arizona State and Stanford flopped big time, while other teams did what they were supposed to do. Here’s a rundown of a few notable teams.

Washington opened up at Boise State, a homecoming for coach Chris Petersen who was the head coach for eight years at Boise State. The Huskies have had to replace three star defensive players, all in the front seven including Shaq Thompson, Hau'oli Kikaha, and Danny Shelton. They will rely more on star safety Budda Baker for leadership. Washington’s special teams shined as they had a blocked punt and did all the scoring with punt returned for a touchdown along with two field goals. The anemic offense from last year didn’t seem to improve, but the defense seemed like a more cohesive unit. The Huskies gave up the first 13 points of the game before mounting a comeback, but ultimately losing 16-13.

Arch-rival Oregon opened the season against Eastern Washington, new senior starting quarterback Vernon Adams’ former team. The Ducks' offense was its usual self, gaining over 700 yards, but the defense has room to improve. Although it’s typical for an Oregon defense to give up a lot of yards, the secondary looked particularly vulnerable which can be a downfall against a quarterback driven league like the Pac-12. We will learn much more about Oregon when they play Michigan State.

The Ducks biggest challenge in the North Division over the last few years has been Stanford, who was upset on a road trip at Northwestern 16-6. The usually powerful running attack was only able to muster 85 yards on the ground and a typically stingy defense gave up 225 yards rushing. This Stanford team reminded me of the Cardinal teams of my childhood where they were boring and awful.

USC, led by Heisman Trophy candidate, quarterback Cody Kessler, is a popular choice to win the conference. They beat Arkansas State 55-6. The Trojans have been given a lot of praise, but it’s hard to tell just how good they are. On one hand, it seems as if Kessler piles up stats against bad teams, but it’s also true that he was far more efficient than Marcus Mariota on third down last season. The one thing that is true, though, is that coach Steve Sarkisian needs to win games after a disappointing November last season and a drunken tirade at a recent booster event.

Crosstown rival UCLA started true freshman quarterback, Josh Rosen, who beat out veteran Jerry Neuheisel. Rosen threw for 351 yards and three touchdowns against Virginia. Two-way player Myles Jack had rushing touchdown for a 34-16 victory. The Bruins should challenge USC for the South Division championship.

Utah opened the season against Michigan in coach Jim Harbaugh’s debut at his alma mater. The Utes defense looks strong again as they picked off Jake Rudock three times. Star running back Devonte Booker, who’s goal is to rush for 2,000 yards this season, had 22 carries for 69 yards and a touchdown. They won Thursday night 24-17. It’ll be interesting to see where this team ends up in a loaded South Division.

The team with probably the second-biggest flop of the day was Arizona State. The Sun Devils played Texas A&M in Houston. The score was 17-14 until eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter, but A&M’s offense was able to withstand the Sun Devil’s blitzing defense and exploded for 21 points to win 38-17.

The main test of the conference this Saturday will be when Oregon goes to Michigan State, which was a thrilling game last year where the Ducks exploded for 28 points in the second half. Even with a bad opening weekend, the Pac-12 is still a strong conference and a one loss champion should be good enough in the eyes of the committee to earn a playoff bid.