Hey All,
Here's your Tuesday dose of Notes on a Pac 12 scorecard. We still miss you, Alan Malamud.
Summaries
Stanford 21- USC 14: The Trojans went into Palo Alto and were physically manhandled by the Cardinal. USC did hold a 14-7 halftime lead behind two 1-yard TD runs by RB Silas Redd, but the second half belonged to the Stanford defense. The Cardnal's front seven dominated USC's offensive line, making life miserable for USC QB Matt Barkley. He was sacked four times while being pressured and hit many other times. The degree to which the USC offensive line was beaten in this game cannot be understated. The USC defense played well enough to win, but ran out of gas in the fourth quarter where Stanford's ball control offense took over. Cardinal RB Stepfan Taylor carried the ball 27 times for 153 yards and a TD. He also took a screen pass 23 yards for TD as well. SU QB Josh Nunes managed the offense well, throwing for 215 yards and two scores.
Telling Stat: Shut down; Stanford didn't allow a third down conversion in the second half, (0/7).
Fresno State 69- Colorado 14: The nightmare known as the 2012 season continues for the Buffaloes. The Bulldogs ran up 665 yards offense, including 288 yards on the ground. Fresno RB Robbie Rouse scored all four of his TDs in a first quarter, (two rushing, two receiving), that ended up being a 35-point period for the Bulldogs. Fresno added three more scores to go up 55-7 at the half. The second half was a glorified scrimmage, but Bulldog FS Phillip Thomas picked off two passes from CU QB Jordan Webb and returned them for TDs. As for the Buffaloes offense, RB Josh Ford rushed for 61 yards and a TD in the loss.
Telling Stat: Over early; Fresno State shredded the Colorado defense for 35 points and 329 yards of offense in the first quarter.
Oregon 63- Tennessee Tech 14: The Ducks coasted to an easy win in this one. 18 different Ducks got touches in the contest with QB Marcus Mariota completing 21 of 28 passes for 308 yards and four TDs, while Freshman RB Byron Marshall saw a lot of action racking up 13 carries for 125 yards to lead all rushers in the contest. As for the Duck defense they limited the Golden Eagles to just 177 total yards and 12 first downs.
Telling Stat: T.O.P doesn't matter; Oregon ran up 63 points and 652 yards of offense despite having the ball for just 21:42.
Washington 52- Portland State 13: The Huskies bounced back from their loss at LSU with a beatdown of the Vikings from the Big Sky conference. The Huskies raced out a 45-0 halftime lead highlighted by Three TD passes from QB Keith Price, a 21-yard interception return for a TD by DB Marcus Peters and a 79-yard blocked field goal return for a TD by CB Tre Watson. The Huskies second half was a snore fest with UW taking on one more TD for good measure. QB Kleran McDonagh threw for 178 yards and TD while also running for a TD for the Vikings in the loss.
Telling Stat: Grounding it; The usually pass-happy Huskies ran the ball 49 times in this laugher.
Washington State 35- UNLV 27: With Wazzu starting QB Jeff Tuel unable to start due to injury, backup Connor Halliday hit on 26 of 45 passes for 378 yards and 4 TDs to lead his squad to victory over the Rebels. WR Marquess Wilson caught two of those TD passes, including a an 81-yard hook up that put Wazzu up 28-10 late in the third quarter. UNLV made a game of it when QB Nick Sherry hit TE Jake Phillips with a 4-yard TD pass to trail 35-27 with just 1:44 left to play. UNLV didn't get the ensuing onside kick, but did manage to get the ball back for one last shot in Wazzu territory. After getting a first down at the Cougars 42-yard line, Perry's last pass fell incomplete as time ran out. UNLV fell to 0-3 on the season, losing all three games by a total of 14 points.
Telling stat: It was an air war. The two teams combined to complete 59 of 94 passes for 729 yards and seven TDs.
Arizona 56- South Carolina State 0: The Wildcats remain undefeated on the season after easily whipping the Bulldogs from the FCS. The Wildcats racked up 43 first downs and 689 yards of offense on the hapless SCSU defense. UofA QB Matt Scott connected on 30 of 36 tosses for 288 yards and 3 TDs while running the ball 9 times for 61 yards and a TD as well. The Wildcat defense did their job forcing six there-and-outs and otherwise bottling up what little offense there was from the Bulldogs.
Telling Stat: No threat; SCSU converted only two of 13 third downs in the game.
Ohio State 35- California 28: The Golden Bears went into Columbus and almost came away with a pretty big upset. Theee OSU held a 20-7 lead going into the the third quarter, but the Cal defense shutdown the Buckeyes. Midway through the period Cal RB Brandon Bigelow broke off an 81-yard TD cut their deficit to just 20-16 as the fourth quarter started. The two squads traded shots in the fourth quarter with Bigelow breaking off another big run, (a 59-yarder), to tie the game at 28-28 with 8:10 to play. The Buckeyes managed to stave off defeat when a blown coverage assignment by the Golden Bears left WR Devin Smith wide open. Theee OSU QB Braxton Miller found Smith, and 72 yards later, the Buckeyes were back on top to stay, 35-28. Bigelow was the big star for Cal. He rushed for 160 yards on only four carries with two TDs on the day. As for the Buckeyes, Miller threw for 249 yards and 4 TDs.
Telling Stat: A bad trifecta; Cal PK Vince D'Amato missed three field goals in the Golden Bears seven point loss.
Missouri 24- Arizona State 20: The Tigers held off a late rally by ASU to come away with a bounceback win after dropping their game last week v. Georgia. The Missouri defense shut down ASU's rushing game while forcing four turnovers to take pressure of their offense. The Tiger offense was without QB James Franklin who missed the game due to injury. RS frosh QB Corbin Berkstresser did a good job managing the game by throwing for 198 yards and running for a TD. ASU QB Taylor Kelly threw for 178 yards and TD while RB Marion Grice continued be money in the red zone by scoring two fourth quarter TDs on short runs to give his squad a shot at victory. ASU's comeback would fall short as Kelly's 3rd and 9 pass from the Mizzou 20 was intercepted by S Keronte Walker with just :38 left.
Telling Stat: Too little, too late: ASU gained 152 of their 296 total yards and scored 14 of their 20 points in their final four drives, but it wasn't enough to stave off defeat.
Utah 24- BYU 21: It took three final plays, but Utah did manage to beat BYU. After the refs declared that there was one second left after BYU QB Riley Nelson's third down pass fell incomplete, the Cougars lined up for a game-tying 51-yard field goal attempt. The kick was blocked by Utah. The ball was still live and the play continued as happy Ute fans stormed the field. Because the fans stormed field while the play was still going, the refs penalized Utah 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. Even though the game clock read 0:00, the game cannot end on a defensive penalty. So, after the mark off by the refs, BYU would receive an untimed down. This time from 36 yards out, BYU PK Riley Stephenson's kick clanked off the left upright and the celebration could begin in earnest in Salt Lake City. The Utah offense didn't do well in their first game without QB Jordan Wynn. It was the Utah defense that helped save the day with a 47-yard fumble return by DB Mo Lee for a TD and by keeping BYU's offense in check for most of the game.
Telling Stat: It wasn't pretty; Utah found a way to win despite racking up only 14 first downs, gaining just 245 total yards and being penalized 10 times for 112 yards in the contest.
UCLA 36- Houston 7: For the first time in three games, bRuin RB Jonathan Franklin didn't rush for over 200 yards. He didn't need to. UCLA QB Brett Hundley connected on 27 of 42 tosses for 320 yards and 2 TDs to lead the bRuins to an easy win over the Cougars. UCLA's defense made life miserable for UH QB David Piland, picking him of five times and pressuring him many other times. The bRuins led 30-0 after three quarters and gave up just a late TD by their second stringers. Franklin finished the game with 110 yards rushing on 25 carries.
Telling Stat: Nothing by the half; UCLA held Houston scoreless and allowed just 91 yards of offense in the first half of the contest.
Notre Dame 20- Michigan State 3: Defense led the way for the Fighting Irish as they got a big win over the Spartans. The ND defense held MSU RB Le'Veon Bell to just 77 yards on 19 carries, while pressuring QB Andrew Maxwell al game. Maxwell did complete 23 of 45 passes for 187 yards, buyt never completed the big passes he needed to to win. As for the ND offense, QB Everett Golson threw for one TD and ran for another to lead the Irish attack in this defensive battle.
Telling stat: They still won; Notre Dame managed to score 20 points despite converting only one of 14 third downs in the game.
Observations
...Only an idea; There's no truth to the rumor that USC's offensive line will given eligible numbers to wear for the Cal game due to the fact they spent most of their time in their own backfield v. Stanford.
...Two C's, two D's and an F; Colorado isn't at the top of the Delta pledge class. The Buffs 0-3 start means statistically that they are 104th in passing offense (182.6), 104th in rushing offense (107.0), 105th in points for (19.6), and 112th in points against (40.3) in the FBS. There are currently 120 FBS teams that factor into those ratings.
...Seeing yellow; In Arizona's three home games, their opponents have been penalized an average of 11 times for 114 yards per game. Hmmmmmm.
...Near disaster; I think security at Utah's Rice- Eccles Stadium will be a little tighter after the crowd almost cost the Utes a game.
...1,100 yards; that's my over/under for total yards in this week's Arizona-Oregon game. I'll take the over.
...And then there were 13; Through three weeks, there are 13 winless teams in the FBS. They are Army, Navy, UAB, Memphis, Southern Miss, Houston, Tulane, UMass, Eastern Michigan, UNLV, Wyoming, Colorado, and Idaho.
...Say it ain't so, Harvard; The Crimson opened up their season with a 28-13 win over the University of San Diego, but it may be a lone bright spot on the season. The school is now sorting out a cheating scandal that could cost the squad a good number of players. The basketball team has already lost its' co-captians from last year and the Crimson may lose most of the starters on the football team if current reports of widespread academic fraud are true.
...A friend with benefits; Wow, talking about having it your way. ND won't become a member of the ACC for football, but if the Irish don't make it to a BCS bowl on their own, they get to jump into the bowl mix with the rest of the ACC's bowl contracts. Wow.
...Dead conference playing; I really don't see the Big East being a football conference five years down the road.
...Okay, whatever you say; When asked about this week's upcoming game with Colorado, Wazzu HC Mike Leach said, "I think we're similar teams from the standpoint of we don't quite have a tent over our circus right now." Ummm, what?
...Crazy three; I can remember ever seeing teams trade turnovers on three straight plays and then on four straight possessions the way USC and Stanford did last Saturday.
...Something's gotta give; UCLA is 2nd in the nation in total offense at 622 yards per game. They will face an Oregon State squad who is 5th in the nation in total defense at allowing just 207 yards per game.
...Not a good streak; for the fourth year in a row Arizona State has a lost a close non-conference road game against a BCS foe.
...Not a good start; I see Kansas is 1-2 so far this season with Charlie Weis at the helm. Don't these other teams know that Kansas has the schematic advantage?
...A false start; don't let Texas Tech's 3-0 record fool you. The Red Raiders have beaten an FCS school (Northwestern St.), a school new to the FBS (Texas State), and a hapless New Mexico squad.
The Commissioner's Super Duper Stone Cold 20 Star Lock of The Week
After BYU let me down by blowing three chances to get to overtime with Utah, here's this week's pick to even up the record.
Arizona + 23.5 @ Oregon
I think neither team stops the other real well in a shootout at Autzen Stadium.
Until next week folks, remember that you can't win when your center is being thrown into the backfield by the nose guard on every play.
-The Commissioner
