Pac-12 the good, the bad and the unknown week eight: Pac-12 running backs not named Bishop Sankey tear it up

The Good

Arizona State's front seven - Dear lord I haven't seen a front seven dominate an offensive front and quarterback like that in a long time. The Sun Devils' front seven made it look like they were going against a high school team against Washington and held their prolific running attack to a mind boggling -5 yards while sacking them seven times. The talented Sun Devils front seven finally came to life in the biggest of ways.

Stanford's defense - Now that was the Stanford defense we expected to see in 2013. The Cardinal defense got after Brett Hundley, forced him into two interceptions, shut down the Bruin run game and generally controlled the game against a very good team.  They held the Bruins to just 266 yards and if they can play like that the rest of the season, the Cardinal could very well win the rest of the games on their schedule.

Byron Marshall & Thomas Tyner - The young Duck running back duo is starting to look like they might be worthy replacements for LaMichael James and Kenjon Barner. They carved up the underrated Washington State run defense for nearly 300 yards and five touchdowns and together averaged well over 10 yards per-carry.

Marion Grice - Maybe the country's most underrated star, Grice did it all against Washington - finishing with nearly 200 total yards and three touchdowns while also excelling in the return game. Grice regularly shook Husky defenders, broke tackles and stretched what should have been short gains into big plays.

Ka'Deem Carey - Carey showed that he can still obliterate a box score with 236 yards and a touchdown against a good Utah defense. He also showed that he can shoulder as big of a load as anyone in the country has he was the Wildcats' rock all day - carrying the ball 40 times.

Sean Mannion & Brandin Cooks - Mannion and Cooks just keep on looking like one of the best connections in the history of the conference. Mannion was 35/45 for nearly 500 yards and four touchdowns while Cooks had 13 receptions for 232 yards and touchdown against Cal. Are you kidding me guys?

The Bad

Washington - Washington's performance against Arizona State, especially on offense was so bad it almost seemed as if the Huskies were taking a dive. Their previously dangerous running attack finished with -5 yards, Arizona State defenders were seemingly in the backfield the second the ball was snapped and the Husky defense completely fell apart in the second quarter. It was truly one of the worst performances by the team in the Steve Sarkisian era, especially considering that they were supposed to be a ranked team.

Bishop Sankey - It wasn't necessarily his fault with how shockingly bad the Husky offensive line played and an odd offensive game plan, but the nation's leading rusher going into the game gained just 22 yards on 13 carries with an average of less than two yards per-carry. An especially strange outcome considering he was going against a Sun Devil defense that had struggled to stop the run all season.

UCLA's offense - The Bruins had their worst offensive game of the season as they scored just 10 points against the Cardinal and looked like they lacked any kind of playmaker outside of Brett Hundley. A lot of it has to do with a good performance by the Stanford defense, but the Bruins don't quite look like an elite Pac-12 team on offense yet and really need to get Jordon James healthy.

Don James' passing - One of, if not the, best coaches to ever coach in the Pac-12 passed on during the weekend. James' list of accomplishments as head coach of the Huskies in the 70s, 80s and 90s is too vast to list, but look it up if you haven't. A true coaching legend is no longer with us.

The Unknown

Steve Sarkisian - Ugh, ugh, what the hell happened Saturday in Tempe. The Sun Devils are good team, don't get me wrong, but I can't imagine that their fans even imagined as lopsided an outcome as was produced against the Huskies who simply looked like death. This was supposed to be the year that the Huskies turned the corner, but it certainly doesn't look like that after a three-game skid and an utterly embarrassing loss in the fifth year of the Sarkisian. Sarkisian is now officially on the hot seat, the only question is exactly how hot that seat is.

Pac-12 South - The balance of power in the Pac-12 South is becoming the mystifying mess that we all thought it would be going into the season, and it is kind of awesome as there are five teams that all seem just about as good as each other. Each week is going to be an interesting shift in the South standings and who will come out on top?

Keith Price - As if things couldn't have gotten any worse for Washington, Price came in banged up, played terribly, got more beat up and now has an uncertain status going forward. Price has looked banged up since the end of the Stanford game and defenses have started destroying him. Will he be healthy enough to come back next week, and may the Huskies benefit from turning their hopes towards a younger quarterback?

Travis Wilson - Wilson's progression has been one of the pleasant surprises of 2013, but he went down with an injury in Utah's loss to Arizona and it's unclear when he will be back. This could be very bad news for the Utes as they are going to have to scrape and claw for every win the rest of the season in hopes of getting back to a bowl game.