Hey all,
Here's the column that makes Tuesdays great, Notes on a Pac 12 Scorecard. We still miss you, Alan Malamud.
Summaries
USC 38- Utah 28: Three minutes into the game, the Trojans found themselves in a 14-0, self-inflicted hole. USC fumbled twice in their first five offensive plays. The Utes turned those miscues into scores and an upset seemd to be brewing in Salt Lake City. USC then then got off the deck and dominated the last 57 minutes of the game. As sloppy as they were, (14 penalties), the Trojans did manage to put 38 points on the board while shutting down the Ute offense. USC QB Matt Barkley completed 23 of 30 passes for 303 yards and 3 TDs. Included in those TD tosses was an 83-yard connection with WR Marqise Lee that gave the Trojans a 31-21 lead early in the fourth period. Lee would finish the game with 12 receptions for 192 yards and that big TD catch. The Trojans then put the game away when CB Nickell Robey picked off an errant toss by Ute QB Jon Hays and took it back 38 yards for a TD. As for the Utes, QB Jon Hays completed 19 of 32 passes for 160 yards and two TDs. The Trojan defense held Utah's star RB John White to just 68 yards rushing for the game.
Telling Stat: No threat; The USC defense held Utah to 48 yards and 2 first downs in the second half
before allowing a late TD drive in garbage time.
Oregon 52 Washington 14: The Ducks made it look easy against the Huskies. The Ducks led 21-0 after the first quarter, 35-7 at the half, and then coasted through the second half in this rout. Duck QB Marcus Mariota completed 15 of 24 passes for 198 yards and 4 TDs to lead the Webfoot attack. The Huskies just couldn't handle Oregon's up tempo offense. The Duck defense forced five UW turnovers to help the cause. One of those turnovers was a 43-yard interception return for a TD by CB Avery Patterson. As for the Dawgs, RB Bishop Sankey ran for 104 yards and a pair of TDs.
Telling Stat: Didin't matter; Over half of UW's total offense and points came after Oregon had put this game away.
California 43- UCLA 17: The Golden Bears stand as kings of the UC system with a big win over the bRuins. Cal QB Zach Maynard looked like Aaron Rodgers in shredding the UCLA defense. He completed 25 of 30 passes for 295 yards and four TDs. C.J. Anderson led the Cal ground attack by rushing for 151 yards on 21 carries and a TD of his own. The Bear defense looked pretty good too. They forced six UCLA turnovers and rushed and smacked around QB Brett Hundley all night. Hundley did throw for 253 yards and two TDs, but he also threw four costly interceptions.
Telling Stat: 6+12= L; Six turnovers and 12 penalties added up to a big loss for the bRuins.
Oregon State 19- Washington State 6: It wasn't pretty, but the Beavers played well enough to grind out an ugly win over the Cougars up in Corvalis. CB Jordan Poyer led the tough Beaver defense with three interceptions as he and teammates limited Wazzu's Air-raid Offense to 227 total yards and a pair of field goals from PK Andrew Furney. The OSU offense wasn't stellar, but they did enough to win. QB Sean Mannion overcame three interceptions to lead the Beavers on two second half TD drives. He capped off the first drive with a 12-yard scoring toss toWR Markus Wheaton. Then later, he handed off to RB Tyler Anderson who plunged over from 1-yard out to ice the game with 4:27 to play. Not a lot of bright spots for Wazzu in this one, but QB Jeff Tuel did throw complete 11 of 17 passes for 126 yards in relief of QB Connor Halliday who was ineffective through most of the first half.
Telling Stat: Chains=Scores; Six of OSU's nine third-down conversions came on their four scoring drives.
Stanford 54- Arizona 48 OT: This was easily the best game in the Pac 12. The two traded hard hits, big, plays and the lead all afternoon. UofA looked like it had pulled away from Stanford with two quick TDs in the fourth quarter to take a 48-34 lead with 9:13 to play. Then, the Cardinal made their comeback. Cardinal QB Josh Nunes took it in from 1-yard out to cut the Wildcats' lead to 48-41, with 6:34 left. After forcing UoA to punt, the Cardinal went on the game-tying drive. Nunes led his team down the field again converting two third-and-longs and one fourth down. Then, with 1st and goal at the Wildcat 3-yard line, Nunes called his own number and ran in for the tying score. The Cardinal defense came up huge in the overtime period picking off QB Matt Scott's third down pass. Two plays later, SU RB Stepfan Taylor then galloped 21-yards for the winning score. Taylor finished the game with 142 yards rushing and two TDs. Nunes was the star for Stanford throwing for 362 yards and 2 TDs. He also ran for 33 yards and three more scores. UofA QB Matt Scott completed 45 of 69 passes for 491 yards and 3 TDs in the losing effort.
Telling Stat: Hanging in there; The Stanford defense did just enough to get a win despite being on the field for 103 plays.
Notre Dame 41- Miami 3: The much-maligned Hurricane defense didn't do anything to shake off their bad reputation as Notre Dame ran over, around, and through them at Soldier Field. The Irish rushed for 376 yards on Miami. RBs George Atkinson III and Cierre Wood each eclipsed the 100 yard mark and combined to score three TDs. QB Everett Golson had a decent day passing for 186 yards and running for 51 more. Things weren't so good for Miami as they just couldn't get out of their own way, making a ton of mental errors and committing costly penalties.
Telling Stat: They stayed on the field; The Notre Dame offense played a great ball control game, holding the rock for almost 40:00 of T.O.P. in the contest.
Observations
...Feelin' The King; some games are masterpieces. USC's, sloppy, penalty infested win over Utah was an Elvis on black velvet.
...A box of rocks; OSU third-string QB Cardale Jones showed us that English 101 is definitely one of the classes he's missing at Theee OSU with this quote, "Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL, we ain't come to play SCHOOL classes are POINTLESS."
...Not a good number; The Arizona defense is giving up an average of 44 points per game in Pac 12 play.
...A mile high in Columbia; WR Dorial Green-Beckham and two other Missouri teammates were arrested for smoking pot near the football stadium. Epic fail.
...Now, not so much; As Nebraska keeps dropping games, UCLA's win over the Cornhuskers looks less and less impressive.
...Half the way there; Navy's big 28-21 OT win at Air Force puts them in line to to win the Commander-In-Chief's trophy.
...Still not #1; You would think by running 103 plays v. Stanford last week, Arizona would be the FBS leader in plays per game. They are #2. UofA runs 90.5 plays per game. Marshall is #1 running 92 plays per game.
...Not this century; UCLA hasn't won at California since 1998.
...An Indie weekend; All four independent schools in the FBS won this weekend.
...And then there were four; There are four winless teams left in the FBS. They are Southern Miss, Tulane, Eastern Michigan, and UMass
...Under the Radar; There are three teams currently bowl eligible. The first two are Oregon and South Carolina. The third is Ohio. Huh? Yup, the Ohio Bobcats from the MAC are 6-0 with their signature win being over Penn State.
...Another black eye; The Big Ten has just had a rough year. This doesn't help. The two teams atop the standings in the Leaders division are Ohio State and Penn State. They are both ineligible.
...Bad coincidence; QBs Taysom Hill of BYU and Sean Mannion of OSU are both out for the year after having season-ending knee surgery for injuries sustained while leading their respective teams to victory last weekend. Oddly enough, the Beavers travel to Provo this week to take on the Cougars.
...This just in; West Virginia QB Geno Smith is pretty good.
...A good push; Notre Dame's offensive line is looking better than it has in years.
...The NCAA limit for maximum amount of pages in a football media guide is 208 pages. Why is that the magic number? Why not 167 or 311 or 87? What makes 208 so special?
Now, Three Notes About Nothing
...I don't find anything fun about "Fun-Sized" candy bars.
...Playoff baseball games during the day are pure Americana.
...I think I should have my own bobblehead night.
Until next week folks, remember that a basic tenet of being a holder for placekicks is to always spin the laces away from the kicker.
-The Commissioner
