Pac-12 Notebook: USC's Robert Woods and Cal's Keenan Allen could have record-setting weekends

Wide receivers Keenan Allen from Cal and Robert Woods of USC could etch their names into the their respective school's record books Saturday.

By John Breech

Oct 19, 2012 at 6:45 pm ET • 2 min read

With five catches against Colorado on Saturday, WR Robert Woods will become the school's all-time receptions leader. (US Presswire)

Here are some news and notes from around the Pac-12:

The 115th Big Game between Cal and Stanford will be played Saturday and for the first time the game will be played in October. The San Jose Mercury News has 10 facts you may not know about the Big Game. The mosts surprising one: They once played a Big Game in March.
Speaking of the Big Game, Saturday will mark the 30th anniversary of the "The Play," Cal's five-lateral, kickoff return for a touchdown with no time left that won the 1982 game for the Golden Bears. SI.com put together an oral history of "The Play," including interviews with return man Richard Rodgers, Cal hero Kevin Moen, Bears play-by-play man Joe Starkey and Stanford trombone player Gary Tyrell. Moen famously ran over Tyrell when scoring his touchdown on the play.
So how big is the Big Game? Big enough for the Pac-12 to set up a Twitter hashtag battle between Cal and Stanford. If you go to this link, you can see which team's fans are more serious about the Big Game on Twitter.
That's enough talk about the Big Game, let's talk about something else, like the Sporting News' midseason All-American team. The Pac-12 was well-represented with Oregon RB Kenjon Barner, USC WR Marqise Lee, Washington TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Utah DT Star Lotulelei and Oregon State CB Jordan Poyer being tabbed for the midseason team.
Arizona State had a tough time with No. 2 Oregon in Thursday's 43-21 loss. So what went wrong for the Sun Devils? The Arizona Republic has a nice long list that begins with the second play of the game when DT Will Sutton injured his knee.
USC WR Robert Woods only has 36 catches in six games this season -- well under his 60-catch pace through six games last season -- but he's on track to break the school's all-time receptions record Saturday. As the Los Angeles Times points out, Woods needs five catches against Colorado to break Dwayne Jarrett's (2004-06) school record of 216 receptions.
Woods isn't the only Pac-12 receiver that could make school history Saturday. With seven receptions against Stanford, Cal's Keenan Allen would reach 203 for his career, passing Geoff McArthur (2000-04) for No. 1 on the school's all-time receptions list, noted the San Jose Mercury News.
The Seattle Times is expecting a shootout in Tucson on Saturday between Washington and Arizona. Times writer Bob Condotta points out that the Arizona-Washington series has been full of crazy games -- 1998's "Leap by the Lake" and Arizona's 22-point fourth quarter comeback in 2007 are both mentioned -- and fans should look for more of the same Saturday.
Did you know that Oregon State coach Mike Riley rides a bike to practice? Yahoo's Pat Forde noted that fact and a few others in this informative profile of the Beavers coach. Oregon State will look to stay undefeated Saturday when they host Utah.
And finally, CBSSports.com's Bruce Feldman explains why an undefeated Oregon would play in the national title game over an undefeated Notre Dame in his weekly college football mailbag.