Hey All,
Here's that column you love to read on Tuesdays, Notes on a Pac 12 Scorecard. We still miss you, Alan Malamud.
Summaries
Notre Dame 22- USC 13: By the time your team plays its' 12th game of the season, you realize they are who they are. This game was a microcosm of the whole season for USC. The Trojans played a sloppy game with a sluice for a defense and yet still had a chance to win. Notre Dame played solid, if not flashy, winning football. Their fundamentals were great with good blocking and tackling and excellent special teams. Irish RB Theo Riddick rushed for 146 yards and his squad's only TD, while QB Everett Golson threw for 217 yards and ran for 47 more to keep ND's offense clicking down the field. USC QB Max Wittek got his first ever start subbing for the injured Matt Barkley and threw for 186 yards and the Trojans only TD.
Telling Stat: 0/11; Counting all the penalties, USC went 0/11 in trying to get into the end zone after having a 1st and goal on two drives in last quarter.
Utah 42- Colorado 35: An awful decision on special teams cost Colorado a shot at beating Utah. With 8:25 left in the fourth quarter, CU KR Marques Mosley took a kickoff back 100 yards for a TD. That TD tied the game up at 35-35. On the ensuing kickoff, the Buffaloes kicked deep to Utah's Reggie Dunn. As a KR this season, Dunn had returned four kickoffs for TDs. Dunn did it again. His 100-yard scamper to the promised land put Utah up to stay. The Utes were outplayed in this game, but won the turnover battle (5 to 1) and the game. RB John White IV led the Utah attack with 168 yards rushing on 20 carries and one TD. Meanwhile the Utah defense forced five turnovers, including intercepting CU QB Nick Hirschman four times.
Telling Stat: Three quick ones; The final 21 points of the game were scored in a :29 span in the fourth quarter.
Arizona State 41- Arizona 34: Up 27-17 after three quarters, the Wildcats had control of this game and it looked like the Territorial Cup would be theirs. Then, UofA imploded in the final period allowing ASU to come away with the win. ASU scored 24 straight points in the fourth quarter off one long drive, two turnovers and a blocked punt to stun the Wildcats. RB Marion Grice ran for 156 yards and 3 TDs for ASU while QB Taylor Kelly threw for 191 yards. UofA QB Matt Scott sliced up the ASU defense to the tune of 230 yards passing and 3 TDs, but he also threw three big interceptions that changed the game. RB Ka'Deem Carey had a big game in the loss for the Wildcats rushing for 172 yards on 25 carries and one TD.
Telling Stat: Turnovers the key; This truly was a game where turnovers dictated the outcome as the two squads combined for 60 first downs and 18 of 35 on third downs. ASU won the turnover battle and therefore the game.
Washington State 31- Washington 28- OT: UW held a 28-10 lead to start the fourth quarter behind two TD runs by RB Bishop Sankey and two TD passes by QB Keith Price. Then, the Cougars mounted one of their greatest comebacks ever to win the Apple Cup. The comeback started when the Cougs put together a 10-play 75 yard drive that was capped off by a 2-yard run by RB Carl Winston. UW fumbled the ball right back to Wzzu on the ensuing possession and the Cougs drove 47-yards for a TD by Winston who crossed the double stripe from 1-yard out. Throw in the two-point conversion and Wazzu trailed by only three with 7:26 to play. The Wazzu defense then forced the Huskies to go three-and-out. The now almost unstoppable Cougars drove down the field again and got a 45-yard field goal by PK Andrew Furney to tie the game at 28-28 with 1:59 to play. UW the got up off the deck and drove all the way down to the Wazzu 18 with just five seconds to play. PK Travis Coons then missed wide from 35 yards out and overtime was at hand. UW had the ball first in OT and on the first play of OT, Keith Price's pass was intercepted by NT Kalaftoni Pole. After the big man's rumbling try to hit paydirt was stopped by the Huskies, Wazzu started their half of the OT. After getting down to the Huskies nine-yard line, Furney came in and split the uprights from 27-yards out to claim the Apple Cup.
Telling Stat: 27/3; Wazzu only RB Carl Winston only rushed for 27 yards in the game, but he scored three rushing TDs. Those three scores doubled Wazzu's total of rushing TDs for the season.
Oregon 48- Oregon State 24: The Beavers turned the ball over six times and got worked over by the Ducks up in Corvalis. The Beavers only trailed 20-17 a few minutes into the third quarter, but a few turnovers later, Oregon's offense stretched their lead to 48-17 rather quickly. UO RB Kenjon Barner ran for 198 yards and two TDs while RB De'Anthony Thomas ran for 122 yards and three TDs to lead the Duck offense. QB Sean Mannion threw for 311 yards, one TD and four interceptions in the losing cause.
Telling Stat: 6; Turnovers tell the tale here. Oregon was +6 in turnovers and easily won this game.
Stanford 35- UCLA 17: Stanford's most direct path to the Rose Bowl is to beat UCLA twice. The Cardinal got halfway down that path with a win over the bRuins Saturday. RB Stepfan Taylor gashed the UCLA defense with 142 yards rushing on 20 carries and two TDs. Brett Hundley completed 20 of 38 throws for 261 yards and one TD in the loss.
Telling Stat: No O for the S. Stanford seemed to pack up their offense with a 35-17 lead to start the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, UCLA kept trying to get back in the game, but was stopped twice on downs in the final period.
Cranberry Crushers 42- Tough Turkeys 35: Once again the Commissioner's team fell in the annual backyard brawl on one of the world' s smallest football fields. After quickly falling behind 14-0 due to the passing skills of Robert Weissler, the Tough Turkeys rallied using an Oregon-style up tempo offense to get back in the game. It was a see-saw affair after that with the Crushers holding the upper hand for most of the game. However, the Turkeys still had a shot to force overtime as the clock ran down. Turkeys QB Liza Weissler launched a pass downfield over the outstretched hands of Crushers DB Margaret Lenker. The Commissioner snagged the ball and turned towards the pay dirt when he was stopped at the one-yard line by the Crusher's Luci Ursich. The stop saved the game for the Crushers who extended their winning streak in the series to three games. Newcomer Jake Simon draws rookie of the year honors for his solid play.
Telling Stat; Grabbing a spot; big meal + running soon = lots of couch time after the game.
Bowl Math
With 35 bowls on the schedule this season, that means that there are 70 bowl slots. As of this week there are exactly 73 bowl-eligible teams. Georgia Tech could fall out of BE status with a loss this week to Florida State in the ACC title game. UConn and Pitt still have a shot at becoming bowl-eligible as they are both 5-6 with one game left. So, there could be five teams left out of bowling at this time next week.
Flashing the BCS: Kent State
The hot topic this week is how Kent State needs a UCLA or Texas loss to climb into a BCS bowl game. Yes, a team from a non automatic qualifier conference can get to the BCS if they are ranked 16th or higher at the end of the season. However, the other part of that rule is that they also must be ranked higher than the champion of one of the six BCS automatic qualifier conferences. That's where the Big East comes in. There isn't a single Big East team in the BCS top 25. Rutgers will most likely be the Big East Champion. They could finish at 10-2 and end up unranked. Oh, and one of Rutgers two losses on the season is to Kent State. The Big East: an epic failure of a conference. One last thing, if Kent State does make it to the Orange Bowl, the team that would get knocked out of the BCS would be Oklahoma. With Oregon, Florida, and Notre Dame sure to claim three at-large berths, only one is up for grabs and OU is the team on the bubble.
Observations
...Bitter in Boulder; Jon Embree is out at Colorado and not happy about it. He was told he was let go because the trajectory of the program was not going in the right direction. Embree quipped back to AD Mike Bohn, "What direction was it going when I was hired?" Well, CU had a string of .500 and near .500 seasons going 23-26 over the four years before he Embree was hired. Embree's two season total was 4-21. The Buffs went 1-11 in 2012 with no home wins for the first time since 1920. I'd say the AD was right, to pull the trigger after just two seasons.
...Sixth in the state; Just how horrible a season has it been at USC? USC has the sixth best record in the state among it's seven FBS teams. Stanford and San Jose State are 10-2. UCLA, Fresno State and San Diego State are 9-3. USC is 7-5 and Cal is 3-9.
...Hope, thy name is Boise; With everyone concentrating on Kent State busting up the BCS, there is a chance for Boise to claim a BCS berth if Kent State stumbles.
...Gripping the ball too hard; Georgia QB Aaron Murray has been allowed to impose a media blackout on himself by the university for this week's SEC title game. To quote Sgt. Hulka, "Relax, Francis!" Football is a game. Games are meant to be fun. Enjoy it while you can, kid.
...So, It matters now; I find it funny that one of the reasons cited by many Auburn people for the firing of HC Gene Chizik is an investigation into the program by the NCAA. It's amazing how that didn't matter when the NCAA was looking into the purchasing of Cam Newton by Auburn a couple of years ago. Oh, that's right, Auburn was winning then. Never mind.
...An FBS bromance reality show; That's what it must feel like for Boise State's Chris Petersen at this time each year. He heads every school's coaching wish list. Maybe one day he'll leave the Broncos and hand his rose to somebody new.
...Wasted; You wonder how much talent really was wasted at USC this year when WR Marqise Lee takes home the Pac 12's Offensive Player of the Year honor and DE Leonard Williams earned the Defensive Freshman of the Year award.
...A true ramblin' wreck; Georgia Tech will most likely lose their ACC title tilt with Florida State. That would make Tech a 6-7 team. The boys in Atlanta are filling out the forms to apply for an NCAA bowl waiver right now.
...And there ended up being one; Southern Mississippi finished the season at 0-12 after dropping their final game to Memphis, 42-24.
...Not easy being a tree; It's a given that Stanford is a better team than UCLA. However, playing the same team you just beat for a second time just six days later will be tough. This will be a lot closer game than anyone thinks.
...Feeling the FCS; There are some pretty good FCS playoff games on tap this week. South Dakota State takes on North Dakota State in what should be a bare knuckles affair. Also, Stony Brook travels to Montana State. That one will definitely be worth a look.
...Big XII vision; With the Big XII not having a title game, the league is playing out the string this weekend. That gives us all some more games to watch this week than normal this time of year and that's not a bad thing.
...Feeling the old WAC; San Diego State and BYU will tangle in the Poinsettia Bowl. The old WAC conference games between these two were pretty good. I hope this one does not disappoint.
...Can't get Hawaii out of his blood; SMU has accepted a bid to play in the Hawaii Bowl v. a Mountain West foe. Mustang HC June Jones must love these homecomings.
...A quick axe; One 0-12 season wall all the folks at Southern Miss could take. HC Ellis Johnson is out after one miserable season in Hattiesburg.
...Time to strip a bid; It looks like Tulane will be joining the Big East. in a couple of seasons gthe league could have Navy, Tulane, and SMU. It's time for this league to lose its' automatic bid for the BCS. Just give another slot to an at-large team.
And now this week's Three Notes About Nothing...
Anyone who knows me can laugh at how I was asked the other day if the lost dog running around the neighborhood was mine. Ummm, no. It ain't mine.
Fudge is one of the greatest things ever made. Period.
Thanksgiving leftovers rock.
Until next week folks, remember that you gotta have a lot of luck on your side in order to go undefeated.
-The Commissioner
