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Pac-12 Picks, Week 7: The Jael Mary

The Jael Mary, the Jael Mary, USC's prevent defense, and the Jael Mary.

By Brent Armstrong
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Last Sunday morning, while nursing a hangover from the night before, I spent a good hour reading angry tweets from USC fans. Most of them called for USC Defensive Coordinator Justin Wilcox to be fired, some called for coach Steve Sarkisian to be fired, and some even called for Pat Haden to rehire Ed Orgeron, the guy who has a 16-27 head coaching record and can't speak English. It was the best hangover I have ever had.

In case you missed it, here's the Mike Bercovici to Jaelen Strong Hail Mary (or Jael Mary, if you will) that shocked the Coliseum:

Game Picks

Last week: 4-2-0
Season: 27-18-0
Home team in CAPS.

Friday, October 10th, 6:00 PM PDT
Washington State (+17) over #25 STANFORD

  • Former Eureka College (Div. III) quarterback Sam Durley laughs at Connor Halliday's pathetic 734 passing yards from last Saturday. Durley still holds the all-time NCAA record with 736 yards.

  • While Connor Halliday was the best QB on Saturday, the second best performance probably goes to ASU's Mike Bercovici. Here he is completing one of his 5 touchdown passes against USC:

  • Condoleezza Rice, College Football Playoff selection committee member, Stanford alum/professor, and former Secretary of State, uses the term "fratricide" to refer to conferences beating themselves up. Gee, I wonder what conference she's talking about.

Saturday, October 11th, 12:30 PM PDT
#18 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES (+2.5) over #12 Oregon

  • Remember this was supposed to be a top ten matchup? But, as Ted Miller points out, if one of these teams runs the table, then they have a really good shot at making the playoffs. Also, I like this picture:

3:00 PM PDT
CALIFORNIA (+3.5) over Washington

  • The Cal-WSU game was insane.

  • So if Cal hadn't lost to Arizona on a Hail Mary, would they be ranked in the top ten? Speaking of Hail Mary's...

  • Chris Petersen, while watching last Saturday's chaos, thinks there will be more games that come down to the wire, due to increased parity in the league. In fact, the Huskies have started to pay more attention to Hail Mary plays in practice. Hey Coach Petersen, here's how not to defend a Hail Mary pass:

7:30 PM PDT
Southern California (-2.5) over #10 ARIZONA

  • Here's a textbook prevent defense by the Trojans from last week's game against Arizona State:

  • Here's a hype video that the Wildcats released for their clash with the Trojans. I don't really get it, since Roman gladiators and ancient Trojans lived over one thousand years apart:

  • USC and Arizona account for two of three Hail Mary plays in the Pac-12 this year. Here is the third:

Colorado

  • You can actually pinpoint the exact moment when this referee fears for his life:

Oregon State (IDLE)

  • Here's a cool video that the Beavers released earlier this month:

  • Here's an even cooler video:

#24 Utah (IDLE)

#20 Arizona State (IDLE)

  • In case you forgot what the state of Arizona looks like, the Sun Devils have added this decal to their "Desert Fuel" helmets that they have yet to wear (they'll probably wear them against Notre Dame).

  • Also, have you seen this?

Song of the Week

Take it away, Tim Healey.

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