Welcome back for this week’s Gold Nuggets, Saturday Out West columnist Jon Gold’s weekly trip around the Pac-12.

Read below for news, notes and quotes from Week 11 …

Arizona: Jedd Fisch puts Jayden de Laura on the shelf

In the mist of a brutally rain-soaked game (pun intended), Jedd Fisch had seen enough.

His Wildcats were bumbling and fumbling — 7 times! — and getting blown out by the Utah Utes. Quarterback Jayden de Laura was getting smashed and the last thing Arizona can afford with bowl eligibility still on the table is de Laura to be sidelined over the last three games.

So what did Fisch do? Sideline de Laura to start the 4th quarter, replacing him with true freshman Noah Fifita. After de Laura completed 10-of-20 passes for 159 yards, Fifita came in and hit 5-of-10 passes for 72 yards and a touchdown pass to his high school teammate, wideout Tetairoa McMillan.

“You (have) got to make a decision on where you are in the season,” Fisch told reporters after the game, according to AZ Desert Swarm’s Brian J. Pederson. “Where you’re going, is he getting hit a lot? You’ve got to keep a lot of things in mind as it’s going to try to be able to do the best thing we can do for our program, not just selfishly try to grab some stats by keeping someone in or something like that. So what I wanted to do, and what Jayden was very comfortable with is, at the point in the game that we made the decision, he understood that it was the right decision and he wanted to get himself fully healthy for UCLA. And we wanted to see what we can do in the fourth quarter.”

Arizona State: Shaun Aguano shuffles the deck once more

Two weeks after making a big change on the offensive side of the ball, installing former backup quarterback Trenton Bourguet into the starting lineup to great success, Sun Devils interim head coach Shaun Aguano is making big changes to the defense.

His hand might have been forced this time, though.

The Sun Devils gave up more than 400 yards on the ground to a UCLA running game that was missing its top rusher — and the top rusher in the conference — in Zach Charbonnet. It’s one thing for Charbonnet to run all over you. But when Colson Yankoff is doing the pounding? Not quite the same.

Aguano implied that his defense would have to get more aggressive against the run, as the UCLA offensive line frequently initiated contact against ASU.

“As expected, we were thin so we knew we were going to struggle up there,” Aguano told reporters, according to Arizona Sports’ Jake Anderson. “We’ll be healthy this week. But we need to make a change. We need to make sure this is addressed. I got with the defensive staff and understood that they have my attention in regard to the things that need to be done and we need to make sure that we’re aggressive and taking it to them. I just thought that UCLA dictated to us. (QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson) is a heck of an athlete and it’s tough for us to cover that guy because he’s the extra guy. But we need to make sure that we stop the run and that’s a whole conversation that we had.”

Cal: Plummer finally brings some balance to offense

The Cal passing offense has been anywhere from bleak to serviceable this season, but never more than that. The Bears’ running game, meanwhile, has been brilliant at times.

But starting quarterback Jack Plummer displayed the most confidence in his Cal career on Saturday, albeit in a 41-35 loss to USC. Plummer blossomed in the second half, and he showed why head coach Justin Wilcox has too much faith in him to turn over the keys to freshman Kai Millner.

Plummer passed for a season-high 406 yards, including 273 in the second half with 3 touchdowns and zero interceptions, guiding the Bears to a narrow defeat that saw them nearly complete the comeback. Meanwhile, Cal’s terrific freshman running back Jaydn Ott managed just 10 rushing yards after the Bears’ first possession of the game.

“I think I played pretty well,” Plummer said, according to Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report. “The interception before halftime might be the difference between a win and a loss for us. You can’t turn the ball over in a 2-minutes drill, and they end up scoring a touchdown [to give USC a 20-7 lead at halftime], so it’s a big swing for us. If [we] go down there and get a field goal, that’s a 10-point swing.

Colorado: Are Buffaloes narrowing in on their target?

ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg is reporting as such:

Stung the last time they made an outside-the-box hire, Colorado never really got past being jilted by Mel Tucker, who bounced from the Buffaloes after 1 season to take the job at Michigan State. The last time around, Colorado turned to the familiar in Karl Dorrell, and we all know how well that worked.

This is not a hire that the Buffaloes can afford to take lightly, though, not with conference realignment offering a potential bonanza for the Buffaloes. Colorado feels like a natural fit for the Big-12 as things continue to sort themselves out, but the Buffs would be a whole lot more attractive if they had someone steering the ship in the right direction.

Oregon: Ducks improve their standing in national offensive rankings

Heading into the final quarter of the season, the Oregon offense ranks among the nation leaders in several offensive categories.

Will that be enough to get the Ducks into the College Football Playoff?

It just might be.

The Ducks rank 3rd in scoring offense (43.1 points per game, up from 5th); 11th in rushing offense (231.2 yards per game, down from 9th); 21st in passing (289.3, up from 23rd); No. 2 in total offense (520.6 ypg, up from No. 3); 1st in 1st downs (248, up from No. 2); 1st in sacks allowed (1, remains No. 1).

Oregon State: Will Nolan get another Chance this season?

The way Jonathan Smith made it seem last week, Chance Nolan was back in the fold for the Beavers and at least an option for Oregon State heading into their Week 10 matchup with Washington.

Nolan returned to practice last week in limited fashion and participated in light drills, but he still has not been cleared to practice in full, the Oregonian’s Nick Daschel reported. Asked when he might return from the neck injury he suffered on Oct. 1 against Utah, Smith said, “I don’t know. And that’s all I can say.”

That leaves Ben Gulbranson as the Beavers’ best option. Gulbranson has started the last 4 games for Oregon State, starting 3-0 before laying an egg against the Huskies. Smith continues to back Gulbranson rather than turning to Tristan Gebbia.

“The narrative is so much on Ben, but he was undefeated as a starter after three games,” Smith said. “Ben has given us the best chance to win.”

Smith did say that Gulbranson has things to work on after completing 12-of-19 passes for just 87 yards.

“He’s got a couple guys running wide open, he’s got to hit them,” Smith said. “(Quarterback play) needs to be better. We’ve had opportunities for it to be better. We’ve chosen a brand of football with our current staff. But we’ve got to get better in the passing game.”

Stanford: Could David Shaw call an audible on his own gig?

Cardinal coach David Shaw is in an interesting predicament. He is firmly on the hot seat with Stanford headed to its 4th straight losing season. Yet he still maintains a heavy cache based on his early track record with the Cardinal.

I wonder if perhaps Shaw himself thinks it might be time for a change?

So, too, does Athlon’s Steven Godfrey:

“Still, Shaw can write his ticket in Palo Alto after guiding the program to 3 conference titles, 4 New Year’s Day bowls, and winning the Rose twice. If a change happens here, it will be on Shaw’s terms, and given how many times he’s shrugged off other jobs, he’s almost certainly headed for some kind of leadership position on campus.”

That scenario makes a ton of sense to me. Forget the fact that Shaw would be an incredible athletic director — or even something not affiliated with sports at all, because the man is brilliant — he simply might not see a path forward for the Cardinal in this day and age. And he’d be right.

UCLA: Backfield availability still muddled

While UCLA may regain the services of star running back Zach Charbonnet for Saturday’s tasty matchup with Arizona, the Bruins may be down other key rotational backs against the Cats. With Charbonnet sidelined against Arizona State in a 50-36 win on Saturday, UCLA still managed to gain more than 400 yards behind the strength of Kazmeir Allen, Keegan Jones and Colson Yankoff.

Now the Los Angeles Daily News’ James H. Williams is reporting that Allen, who shifted to wide receiver from running back this season, was seen on an exercise bike during practice on Tuesday during the media viewing period after he missed a short portion of the second quarter in the medical tent after limping off the field. He came back into the game and continued to dominate, finishing with 137 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries with four catches for 63 yards.

“I’m just a ball player, at the end of the day,” Allen said after the game, according to Williams. “I just like the ball in my hands. I (didn’t know) Zach was unavailable until the beginning of the game. … I’ve played running back before so it wasn’t like, ‘I’m kind of nervous.’ No. I like the ball. It was pretty normal for me.”

USC: Trojans giving credit to Colorado, no matter how silly

If Lincoln Riley has done one thing right this season — and he’s done a lot more than one, but stay with me — it is in having his Trojans echo his messaging and idealism.

With a cupcake of a contest against Colorado in the offing before the stakes tick higher with UCLA and Notre Dame in the final 2 weeks, Caleb Williams made it clear the Trojans are not looking past the Buffaloes.

“Their record might not show it, but they haven’t given up on the season yet,” Williams told reporters Tuesday. “Those guys are still out there fighting and so we’re not going to take anyone lightly. No, we’re going to give that team respect and we’re going to go out there and play our game. Regardless of how they’re feeling or what they’re thinking or how they think they’re going to come out or anything like that. We’re gonna play our game. Like I said, they’re not a team that has given up. They’re still playing hard. They’re still fighting.”

Utah: Utes get ground game back on track

After a season in which the Utes had a clear-cut No. 1 running back in the prolific Tavion Thomas, Utah has turned to a variety of running backs this year, for better or for worse.

Thomas’ myriad setbacks this year — from the loss of a dear family member to fumbling issues to discipline issues — have caused the Utah running game to regress.

Against Arizona on Saturday, the Utes found the recipe, rushing for 306 yards on 55 carries. Ja’Quinden Jackson led the way with 13 carries for 97 yards, Jaylon Glover had 8 for 69, Micah Bernard had 12 for 48, Thomas had 8 for 38. Five more Utah ball-carriers had another 54 yards on 14 carries.

“The offensive line was doing a great job of blocking things up and reestablishing the line of scrimmage and getting knock-off on the line of scrimmage,” head coach Kyle Whittingham told reporters, according to Jeff Call of the Deseret News. “The running backs ran hard, and they did some good things on their own, but nobody rushes for over 300 yards without the offensive line controlling the line of scrimmage.”

Washington: Edefuan Ulofoshio eager to quack the Ducks

After getting his feet wet last Friday in a 24-21 win over Oregon State, Washington linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio is champing at the bit to get a real taste of the action on Saturday against the mighty Oregon Ducks.

After missing 14 straight games because of a season-ending arm injury that halted his season a year ago, the potential all-Pac-12 could get his first start against the top team in the country.

For Ulofoshio, getting back on the field against a team like the Ducks is personal.

“They don’t hold nothing back. When they come here, they can definitely feel the hate. When we’re over there, we can definitely feel that hate, too,” he told reporters, according to Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies. “It doesn’t take a genius to understand we don’t like each other.”

Washington State: Jaden Hicks recalls fond fumble recovery

Washington State freshman safety Jaden Hicks has played at a level higher than any Pac-12 freshman defender, but he took it to another level on Saturday in a huge Washington State win over the Stanford Cardinal.

Hicks, who won Pac-12 freshman of the week honors, had 6 tackles, a QB hurry and a 17-yard scoop-and-score.

“It was crazy,” Hicks said, according to CougFan.com’s Jamey Vinnick. “Just scrambling for the ball and all of a sudden it pops up right to me. As soon as I saw it pop up to me I was like, ‘Oh yeah, this is a touchdown.’ So just running down and seeing the guys happy, that was a great feeling … I’ve had pick-6s but never a scoop-and-score.”