The Utes are monsters on third down. How do other Pac-12 defenses stack up?

Utah fell from the ranks of the unbeatens, Washington looked human and USC’s defense generated headlines for all the wrong reasons. It was an eventful weekend in the Pac-12, which continues to have a strong and entertaining season.

We’re less than two weeks away from the biggest game in the Pac-12 so far — a top-10 battle between Oregon and Washington on Oct. 14 — and it’ll be one of the first major dominos in the league title race.

With so much attention placed on the conference’s offenses, let’s look at one key stat for each Pac-12 team’s defense. It’s that side of the ball that’s ultimately going to dictate who wins the championship.

Jedd Fisch walked into difficult circumstances in regard to defensive personnel, and it showed in his first two seasons at Arizona. But the Wildcats rank 35th in scoring defense through five games (19 points per game). Over the past 10 seasons, Arizona has not finished better than 80th in points allowed — including 126th in 2022.

Washington’s offense looked extraordinary the first four games, but the Wildcats kept a lid on the explosive plays and held the Huskies to a season-low 31 points, their first time scoring fewer than 41. Arizona’s defense has improved sooner than most expected, but USC, Washington State and Oregon State will test that unit this month.

Kenny Dillingham had to turn over the Sun Devils’ roster as soon as he took over last November and then Arizona State self-imposed a bowl ban during preseason camp. Despite that, Dillingham and defensive coordinator Brian Ward are still getting good effort from the Sun Devils’ defense, even amid a 1-4 start.

Arizona State is in the middle of the road nationally in yards per play allowed (51st at 5.24) — up from 107th last year — and the defense has kept it competitive in most games. The Sun Devils have notched 13 sacks, tied for 34th nationally, though six of them came in the 29-0 loss to Fresno State.

The Golden Bears’ defense has slipped a bit by their standards under Justin Wilcox, ranking 82nd in yards per play allowed (5.7). But they’re 3-2 because of their ability to take the football away. Cal has forced 13 turnovers, which is second nationally, including a critical interception that set up a touchdown in a 24-21 win over Arizona State on Saturday.

It seems likely that Deion Sanders will eventually stock Colorado’s secondary with high-profile talent, but it’s clearly a work in progress. The Buffaloes have surrendered 16 touchdown passes, the most in the FBS. Caleb Williams exploited the holes in the Buffaloes’ banged-up pass defense with six touchdown passes in USC’s 48-41 win on Saturday.

Getting Travis Hunter and Shilo Sanders back from injury over the next few weeks should help the unit, which ranks 117th in pass efficiency defense and 123rd in yards per play allowed.

In 2022, Oregon ranked 102nd in passing yards allowed per game (256.4) and gave up 24 touchdown passes, which ranked 96th.

Through five games this season, the Ducks are allowing 153.6 passing yards per game (eighth nationally) and 4.8 yards per attempt (third) and have surrendered just six touchdown passes. No performance was more impressive than when Oregon shut down Colorado’s prolific passing attack.

If the Ducks are going to win the Pac-12, their secondary will have to be up to the challenge. It’ll certainly be under the microscope with matchups against Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., Washington State’s Cameron Ward and USC’s Caleb Williams looming. Top corner Khyree Jackson was banged up against Stanford, so that’ll be worth watching.

The Beavers have been tremendous against the run in allowing 2.29 yards per carry, which ranks fourth nationally. They limited Utah to 57 rushing yards on 32 attempts in their 21-7 win last Friday.

That win kept Oregon State alive in the Pac-12 title race. The Beavers face Cal’s Jaydn Ott and UCLA’s versatile rushing attack over these next two weeks. If Oregon State’s defense contains those run games, it’ll set the stage for a critical final month of the season for the Beavers.

The Cardinal are surrendering 6.75 yards per play, which is tied for 126th. Oregon posted 8.3 yards per play against Stanford in a 42-6 road win on Saturday — and that wasn’t even the most allowed by Stanford this season. USC averaged 8.95 against the Cardinal.

After a coaching transition, Stanford lost a lot of talent to the draft and the transfer portal. It was known coming into the season this would be a tough year, but the defensive struggles underscore the lack of talent on the roster and just how much ground first-year head coach Troy Taylor has to make up over the next few years.

Yes, the Utes lost to Oregon State on Friday, but Utah is 4-1 despite the fact that starting quarterback Cameron Rising has not taken a snap while recovering from a torn ACL in the Rose Bowl, which is an unquestioned win.

The offense hasn’t contributed much to that, but it’s not because of lack of opportunities. Utah’s defense has done a great job of getting the ball back to the offense, ranking first in third-down defense. Opponents are converting on just 21.2 percent of their third-down attempts into first downs (14-of-66). Oregon State was just 4-of-15 on third downs against Utah last week, and the Utes are one of seven teams allowing fewer than a point per drive, according to TruMedia.

The Utes’ defense has carried the team through five games, but the margin for error is so slim now that Utah has already suffered a conference loss. And while the defense has been great, it’ll need Rising back and the offense to be much better because the high-scoring offenses of USC, Oregon and Washington await.

The Bruins haven’t finished better than 73rd in scoring defense since Chip Kelly took over in 2018. But entering Week 6, UCLA is sixth nationally in scoring defense (11 points per game), second in points per drive (0.73) and first in yards per play (3.75).

Over the past few years, the Bruins’ offense has been dynamic but the defense has let them down on several occasions. UCLA’s defensive improvement is coming at a good time while it’s breaking in freshman QB Dante Moore.

Among the Bruins opponents, though: NC Central (an FCS team); San Diego State, which ranks 117th in scoring offense; and Utah, which is tied for 119th in scoring. Coastal Carolina is the best offense UCLA has faced so far, and it ranks 60th in scoring.

So we’ll see if the Bruins can maintain this pace against better offenses, though they do avoid both Oregon and Washington in Pac-12 play.

The Trojans have allowed 29 plays of 20-plus yards this season, which is tied for 118th in the FBS. USC allowed eight such plays in a porous defensive performance against Colorado when it allowed a season-high 41 points and 564 yards.

It’s particularly concerning for the Trojans because they ranked 121st in the category last year, so there hasn’t been much improvement — and this has been against the easier part of the schedule. Washington, Notre Dame and Oregon are among the top 13 in plays of 20-plus yards gained and they’re all on USC’s remaining schedule.

Some of the key defensive metrics like yards per play allowed and scoring defense suggest Washington is just fine. The Huskies are in the top 40 in both categories.

If there’s one thing that’s concerning, it’s that Washington has notched just six sacks in five games, which is tied for 119th nationally after it finished 19th last year. Some of the league’s other potential title contenders, USC (19) and Oregon (18), have recorded three times as many sacks as the Huskies, who rank 102nd in pressure rate and 129th in sack rate, per TruMedia.

Edge rushers Bralen Trice and Zion Tupuola-Fetui have had big sack seasons in the past but have notched a combined three sacks this season — and Washington’s been ahead in plenty of games and faced the third-most passing attempts per game in the country.

Washington will have to be able to disrupt the QB against Oregon and USC, or those will be long days for that defense.

The Cougars have received a lot of goodwill and buzz for their 4-0 start. The offense has been lighting opponents up, but some of the defensive numbers are concerning.

Washington State ranks 85th in yards per play allowed (5.73 yards), which is worse than USC’s much-maligned defense and ranks ahead of only Colorado and Stanford in the Pac-12. They’re also 122nd in yards allowed after contact per rush, according to TruMedia.

So if the Cougars are going to go on a Cinderella run, it’s going to require a tremendous effort from Ward and the rest of the offense.

— This article originally appeared in The Athletic.