Hey All,
Here's that column you love to read, Notes on a Pac 12 Scorecard. We still miss you, Alan Malamud.
Stanford 48- Colorado 7: A glorified scrimmage was held up in Palo Alto last weekend. The Cardinal came out, stretched, broke a sweat and calmly smashed the Buffaloes. Colts future first round draft choice Andrew Luck completed 26 of 33 tosses for 370 yards and 3 TDs. Luck completed passes to 11 different receivers on the afternoon. SU RBs Tyler Gaffney, Stepfan Taylor and Jeremy Stewart each ran for a TD as the Cardinal used a committee of backs in the game. As for Colorado, QB Tyler Hansen threw for 202 yards and his team's only score in the losing effort. The loss was CU's 21st straight road defeat.
Telling Stat: one and done; after allowing CU's lone touchdown, the Cardinal defense held the Buffs to 146 total yards, 7 first downs, and zero points for the remaining 42:54 of the game.
UCLA 28- Washington State 25: The Cougars did everything right except win this game at the Rose Bowl. The stats are staggering. Wazzu outagained UCLA 389- 371. They racked up 28 first downs to UCLA's 15 and held the ball for 13 minutes more than the bRuins, yet lost. Why? They couldn't score TDs in the Red Zone. WSU's miscues and a tough UCLA Red Zone defense forced the Cougs to kick three first half field goals and that was the difference in the game. UCLA seemed doomed for defeat when QB Richard Brehaut was lost for the season with a broken leg in the first half. However, much-maligned QB Kevin Prince came off the bench and threw two fourth quarter TD passes to lead UCLA to the win. UCLA RB Johnathan Franklin led all rushers with 110 yards on 12 carries.
Telling Stat: 3s are not 7s; Wazzu left 12 points on the field in the first half and it cost them the game.
Oregon State 37- Arizona 27: The Beavers raced out to an early 27-6 lead up in Corvalis, then held on for dear life as they weathered the storm of another big passing day by UofA QB Nick Foles. The Beavers were up 14-0 on the Wildcats in the second quarter behind a 1-yard TD run by RB Jovan Stevenson and a blocked punt return by DB Clayton York. In the middle of third quarter, down 30-6, the Wildcats woke up. RB Keola Antolin scored on a run from 13-yards out, then eight seconds later, DB Shaquille Richardson intercepted OSU QB Sean Mannion's pass and returned it 28-yards for a score. The Wildcats were now down only 10 with a quarter to play. UofA pulled within three at 30-27 early in the fourth quarter when RB Ka'Deem Carey crossed the double stripe from one yard out. However, the Beavers put the game away when Mannion found TE Joe Halahuni in the end zone for a two-yard TD pass on fourth and goal with 5:22 to play. Mannion threw for 267 yards and 2 TDs in the Beavers first win of 2011. Foles threw for 378 yards, a TD and 2 interceptions in the loss.
Telling Stat: Digging an early hole; In their five losses this season, Arizona has been outscored 55-3 in the first quarter.
Oregon 43- California 15: For the first 30 minutes up in Eugene, the Golden Bears stuck it to Oregon. Their defense smacked any Duck who got his hands on the ball and their offense built a 15-14 halftime lead. Then, the Webfoots game out and lowered the boom on Cal in the second half. The Duck offense exploded scoring 29 unanswered points to turn this game into a laugher. UO QB Darron Thomas threw for 198 yards and 3 TDs with all three of his TD throws coming in the second half. Duck RB LaMichael James ran for 239 yards and a TD of his own, but left the game in the fourth quarter with a dislocated elbow. As for the Golden Bears, QBs Zach Maynard and Allan Bridgford combined for 321 yards and 1 TD in the loss.
Telling Stat: 4 for 4; The Ducks scored four TDs on their first four second half drives to turn this game into a blowout.
Arizona State 35- Utah 14: Utah played a strong first half against the Sun Devils, but ASU's hard-hitting defense asserted themselves in the second half, forcing three third quarter turnovers that QB Brock Osweiler and the ASU offense were all too ready to take advantage of. Oswelier threw for 2 TDs and a 2-point conversion as part of ASU's 25 point second half. Osweiler would throw for 325 yards and 3 TDs total in the win. Utah QB Jon Hays completed 18 of 30 passes for 199 yards and a TD, but also threw three big interceptions.
Telling Stat: Bad hands team; In their three Pac 12 losses, Utah has turned the ball over 11 times.
Notre Dame 59- Air Force 33: Once again, the Fighting Irish didn't commit any turnovers and once again they came away with a blowout win. QB Tommy Rees completed 23 of 32 passes for 261 yards and 3 TDs while a committee of ND running backs combined for 266 yards rushing and 4 TDs on the ground. ND dominated for the first three plus quarters, building up a 59-19 lead before emptying the benches and giving up a couple of garbage time scores.
Telling Stat: In balance again; For the second straight week, the ND offense showed great balance, rushing for 266 yards and passing for 294.
Observations
...Growing pains; Wazzu's red zone failures at UCLA will stick with the Cougs for awhile.
...Yeah, it had to be a kicker; LSU became the first victim of the new taunting rule when punter Brad Wing showboated on about the five-yard line on his way to the end zone on a fake punt v. Florida. The Tigers TD was taken off the board by the penalty and LSU only got a field goal out of the drive. Doh!
...Undefeated and under the radar; Houston is 6-0 and nobody knows or cares. They're being treated worse than Boise State.
...And then there were three; There are only three winless teams left in FBS football. Oregon State, Miami of Ohio, and Western Kentucky all got off the list with wins last week. The final three winless teams are Alabama-Birmingham out of C-USA, Florida Atlantic out of the Sun Belt, and New Mexico out of the Mountain West conference.
...Quietly making noise; Kansas State has HC Bill Snyder back and they are 5-0. Back-to-Back games with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in a couple of weeks will let us all know if the 'Cats are back all the way.
...Hmmm Stat; On October 1st, USC WR Robert Woods caught 14 passes for 255 yards v. Arizona. Army has completed 13 passes for 205 yards for the season.
...Coaching casualty; Arizona has fired HC Bob Stoops. I'll miss his sideline antics.
...Weird sight; I don't know about anybody else, but watching Thee Ohio State play a conference game at Nebraska was just weird.
...Left at the altar; TCU left the Big East standing in the church to go elope with the Big XII. However, the Big East will be fighting to keep TCU's five million dollar dowry.
...Strange stat; Iowa is 2-2 in their last four trips to Penn State despite only scoring 36 total points in those four games.
...This wasn't in the brochure; Colorado and Utah are a combined 0-6 in Pac 12 play since joining the league.
...Keeping it blue; Nevada whipped UNLV 37-0. It was Nevada's seventh straight win over the Rebels. The Wolfpack won't have to pack up that 1,100 pound cannon after all.
...Have your sun glasses at the ready; Clemson plays at Maryland this week. The uniform clash could hurt your eyes.
...Never saw the Iceberg; The Big East is sinking fast. They've lost three teams already, gonna lose some more, and are frantically trying to add members every day. Their efforts look to me like something akin to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
...Finally gone; I see South Carolina finally dismissed QB Stephen Garcia from the team after testing positive for alcohol and marijuana. What took so long? He had already been suspended from the team on five other occasions. Maybe it was the fact that Garcia was bumped from the starting lineup by sophomore QB Connor Shaw. Funny, how he finally became not expendable anymore when he wasn't the starting QB.
Until next week folks, remember that you need touchdowns in the red zone, not field goals.
-The Commissioner
