Some key Pac-12 games will overlap Saturday night

Let’s summarize Week 4 in the Pac-12 with a few numbers:

Five conference games total.

Four conferences games on Saturday.

Three conference games on Saturday at night.

Zero chance this schedule is optimal for the Pac-12 brand.

Many of its best teams, top players and most compelling storylines will be fighting each other for eyeballs and airtime in the 7/7:30 p.m. broadcast windows.

Why jam UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen and Stanford tailback Bryce Love and surging Oregon and the Washington-Colorado rematch into the same window?

Well …

The TV partners, ESPN and Fox, don’t have the premium late-afternoon slot available this week. Instead, there is just one afternoon opening (12:30 p.m.). At the urging of the conference, ESPN/ABC opted to show USC-Cal at 12:30.

(The Trojans have a Friday night road game in Pullman next week and should not play at night in Berkeley. That’s a basic student-athlete welfare issue and would be true for any team, especially one that, like USC, is playing 12 weeks in a row.)

The Pac-12 Networks have one afternoon window available, at 3 p.m., and will show Washington State-Nevada.

Yes, it would have been ideal for Oregon-Arizona State - no airtime competition for Justin Herbert, Royce Freeman, etc., once the USC game ends - but the Pac-12 Networks had no choice in the matter:

Oregon-ASU had to be at night because of conference policy regarding home games in Arizona in September.

That left the Ducks and Devils for the Pac12Net’s 7 p.m. window, up against ESPN’s selection (UCLA-Stanford) and the FS1 game (Washington-Colorado).

Hardly optimal, but given the available windows and scheduling parameters at play, there was no choice.

Best matchup (in theory): Washington at Colorado. Should be closer than the Pac-12 title game (41-10), but how much closer? I’m not convinced the Buffaloes are sharp enough offensively to match UW touchdown for touchdown for four quarters. Or even for three.

Best game (in actuality): UCLA at Stanford. Struggling offense vs. turnstile defense and devastating aerial game vs. elite secondary should make for a close, entertaining affair. Also, both team are coming off road losses and are approaching desperation mode, if they aren’t already there.

Statement game: Oregon. Trip to Tempe provides Ducks with a chance to show they’re capable of keeping pace in the North after three mostly-convincing wins against three unquestionably bad teams. (Yes, Nebraska is bad.)

Las Vegas has set the over/under at 75. That’s for both teams, not just Oregon.

Head games: UCLA. The last time UCLA beat Stanford, Jim Mora was in between NFL gigs, Josh Rosen was 11 and Andrew Luck had yet to play a game for the Cardinal.

The Bruins have come close several times since Oct. 18, 2008 - they led 13-9 with two minutes remaining last year, in fact - but Stanford inevitably finds a way to win. Or UCLA inevitably finds a way to lose.

Trap game: USC at Cal. Hard to imagine a more vulnerable spot for the Trojans after their Stanford/Texas back-to-back and with the looming Friday nighter at Washington State … and facing a team they have pummeled annually for forever.

Game inside the game: Colorado vs. Washington. The Buffaloes are holding opponents to 4.5 yards per punt return. Dante Pettis awaits, with a recent history of big returns in big games at high elevation.

Last stand: Arizona State. Lose, and the Sun Devils are 1-3 with a grueling stretch upcoming and no reasonable path to the postseason. Lose badly, and the Todd Graham Watch will commence in some corners. Perhaps even the corner offices of the ASU administration.

Last chance: Washington State. With USC in town on Sept. 29 for the most anticipated game in years (Apple Cup excluded), the Cougars have four quarters to solve all outstanding problems.

First time: USC at Cal. With a victory, the Trojans would be 4-0 for the first time since 2010. With a victory, the Bears would be 4-0 for the first time since 2015 - and oh-by-the-way beat USC for the first time since 2003.

Point spread peek: Utah at Arizona. The line opened at Utah -4.5 and has dropped to a field goal. Possible reason for drop: RichRod rents the Utes, with four wins in five games.