McLaughlin: Big Nonconference Pac-12 Football Games

It's time to start thinking about games to watch out for prior to Conference play

Posted on June 6, 2022


  By Spencer McLaughlin of Locked on CFB for SuperWest Sports

With Week 1 of the 2022 College Football season less than 100 days away, it’s time for Pac-12 fans to start thinking about which games to watch out for prior to the start of Pac-12 play.

Pac-12Utah and Oregon’s SEC matchups with Florida and Georgia, respectively, are the conference’s biggest games that will likely catch the most eyeballs in the non-conference schedule.

But beyond those two Week 1 games, there’s a bevy of opportunities for Pac-12 teams to pick up high-quality wins before entering the conference slate.

On today’s episode of Locked On Pac-12, I go beyond the Week 1 schedule of non-Pac 12 games to highlight more notable out-of-conference matchups.

Among today’s featured matchups are Washington State @ Wisconsin, Arizona State @ Oklahoma State and Arizona playing host to former WSU coach Mike Leach and Mississippi State.

People shouldn’t sleep on Oregon State’s non-conference opponents just because they don’t feature a Power-5 opponent—they have the potential to make an early-season statement if they can beat both Boise St and Fresno State.

Arizona football Pac-12Also on today’s show, I provide my latest coaching grade/evaluation of the Pac-12 football coaches featuring Arizona’s Jedd Fisch. Despite a 1-11 record in his first season as the Wildcats’ head coach, Fisch has done some things right and has a higher grade than one might expect after nearly going winless in his first campaign.

The recruiting has so far been his strongest area, while his game management/scheme has certainly been his weakest, even after one year in which he took over a program that had lost 12 straight games. Meanwhile, his staff hires have been somewhere in the middle of those two categories, and they have plenty to prove in 2022.

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—More from Spencer McLaughlin—