This morning we looked at five Pac-12 games from 2012 that no one -- or at least very few folks -- saw coming.
Now it's your turn: Which 2012 result most shocked you?
Let's review the choices.
Stanford's win over USC early in the season became less shocking as the season wore on -- both with USC losing and Stanford winning -- but recall how it felt at the time. I thought the Trojans were going to win the game -- Barkley Heisman heroics! -- until just about the final bell.
Washington's win over Stanford wasn't as high profile as Stanford over USC, but the Cardinal did have a strong recent history against the Trojans. Stanford had owned Washington of late, physically dominating the Huskies in the previous three meetings. It was pretty surprising to see the Huskies holding their own on the line of scrimmage, particularly the defense holding Stanford without an offensive TD.
Stanford's win at Oregon sort of followed that same reasoning. Oregon had dominated the Cardinal in two previous meetings. And, oh by the way, the game was inside Autzen Stadium and the Ducks were in line to play for the national title. In terms of national impact, it was the biggest game of the year: Alabama would not have won the national title had the Ducks prevailed (and gone on to win the Pac-12).
The Apple Cup had no national impact, but it featured not only the biggest comeback in the 105 meetings between Washington and Washington State, it featured a comeback like that from a two-touchdown underdog.
California's win over UCLA was just about the trajectory of the teams and the individual performances. Cal and Zach Maynard had a very bad season. But they shined against the Bruins. UCLA and Brett Hundley had a seeming transformational season. But they were awful against the Bears.
So what do you think?
