Pivotal point for all three Bay Area teams
The goal here is to examine the significance of Week Eight to the Bay Area teams, but we must move quickly. The action will start, and end, before you know it.
This is the rare instance when two of the three teams play Friday night: Cal hosts Oregon while San Jose State visits San Diego State. Both games start at 7:30, and both could be going well past 11.
Saturday brings more unusual logistics, with Stanford hosting Colorado at noon in the first lunchtime kickoff at Stanford Stadium since October ’14.
All three local teams will be finished by Saturday at 4 p.m. Some weeks — many weeks — none of them start before 4.
What should we expect?
San Jose State’s challenge is the most daunting, by far, while Stanford and Cal are field-goal favorites in role-reversal games.
Let’s take a closer look:
San Jose State
For all their struggles, the Spartans (2-5, 1-2) have a fleck of an iota of a hope of a prayer of reaching the postseason.
They must win four of their final five games, beginning with a short-week trip to face one of the top teams in the Mountain West.
SJSU is a three-touchdown underdog at San Diego State, which dominated the Spartans last season and, if anything, is better this year.
Even if the game turns lopsided early, SDSU tailback Donnel Pumphrey is worth watching.
At 185 yards per game, Pumphrey, not Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey, has been the most productive running back in the nation.
Cal
Week Eight holds the key to Cal’s season.
To qualify for a bowl berth, the Bears (3-3, 1-2) must win three of their final six — a predicament created by their crash-andburn at Oregon State.
That’s a difficult task given the stretch-run schedule, which includes USC, Stanford and the Washington schools.
But it would turn unmanageable if the Bears were to lose to the Ducks in a matchup of the worst defenses in the Pac-12 (and two of the worst in the country).
The Ducks are winless in conference play. The Bears are undefeated at home. This is a must-win game for Cal that doubles as a shouldwin. Who figured that would ever be the case.
Stanford
The roles will be flipped at Stanford Stadium, as well.
One team is fighting for a division and conference title, and it’s not the Cardinal.
Former San Jose State coach Mike MacIntyre has orchestrated another amazing turnaround, guiding Colorado to the top of the South division.
Stanford is essentially out of the North race but has a chance to produce a nine- or 10-win season.
After this weekend, the schedule turns soft with five games against teams with .500 or worse records. Running the table is a real possibility, if Stanford can get past the Buffaloes.