By Nick Bartlett, SuperWest Sports
The Pac-12’s final season as a two-team conference kicks off on Saturday with a pair of West Coast matchups.
Washington State hosts longtime Northwest rival Idaho, while Oregon State hosts legacy Pac-12 rival Cal, from the ACC.
Here are my previews of each game, with a look back at Stanford’s heartbreaking loss at Hawai’i in Week 0.
Idaho at Washington State
Saturday, August 30
7:00 pm PT, The CW
Washington State opens its 2025 campaign against Idaho on Saturday in another edition of the “Battle of the Palouse.”
Although this rivalry is not widely known, it’s one of the oldest in the West. One reason for the matchup’s longevity is the proximity of the two schools: Pullman and Moscow are basically the same place.
For the Cougars, this is an opportunity to figure out who they are. WSU has a new Head Coach in Jimmy Rogers, and this rivalry has to be a weird way to start.
Idaho is an FCS school, but they were undefeated at home last season and gave eventual Big Ten Champion Oregon a scare in Eugene.
WSU should hold the talent advantage but everything’s new.
Zevi Eckhaus is likely the Cougs starting quarterback and he looked solid in the Holiday Bowl. Angel Johnson is back from his spring injury, and is hoping to be the star Washington State needs at the halfback position.
The top three receivers are Jeremiah Noga, Josh Meredith, and Leyton Smithson.
Wazzu will have six transfer starters on defense from South Dakota State. They should win this opening matchup, but it’s a little tricky.
Cal at Oregon State
Saturday, August 30
7:30 pm PT, ESPN
Oregon State is hoping to reinvigorate its program after a disappointing 2024 season.
The most notable move the Beavers made was bringing in Maalik Murphy, a transfer from Duke, who led the Blue Devils to a 9-3 mark in 2024.
Murphy should provide a spark for OSU’s passing attack, which finished 94th a year ago. Along with him, the Beavs have brought in a few other players to fill some holes from last season’s roster.
The Beavers might be more excited for their opening week matchup than most.
California beat OSU 44-7 last year. In the rematch, the Beavs will be facing a much different Golden Bears team. Cal’s best two players transferred in the off-season, leaving the Bears barren on offense.
Oregon State also has a bunch of players returning at the skill positions.
Anthony Hankerson should prove to be a standout at halfback. He was phenomenal in 2024. The top receivers are Trent Walker, Taz Reddicks, and David Wells Jr. They just lost Darrius Clemons to a season-ending ACL tear.
On defense, the Beavers need to find a way to pressure the quarterback; it really doesn’t matter how. Skyler Thomas should be the OSU’s best defender at safety.
Hawai’i at Stanford Postmortem
Stanford doesn’t want to talk about football right now.
The Cardinal had a 85.6 chance of winning with just under seven minutes left against Hawaii. It’s gonna be difficult for Stanford to bounce back, but at least they have a bye week to get it right.
Even though the Cardinal faithful probably don’t believe it, the Rainbow Warriors are supposed to be decent this year.
And Stanford almost beat them against an amped up crowd in a new stadium.
The game two weeks from now against BYU should prove rough, but the Tree can make things happen if they can get back-to-back victories against Boston College and Virginia.
They could find themselves 2-2 and undefeated in the ACC.
Both of those matchups are actually winnable. Ben Gulbranson needs to play better but he’s a veteran, and he was a winner at Oregon State.
The combination of Gulbranson, Andrew Luck, and Frank Reich feels credible. If Micah Ford can continue to make an impact in conference play, they could be decent in 2025.
Writes about football and basketball as a Senior Writer and hosts “The Nick Bartlett Show” for SuperWest Sports.