It's time for the column that makes your Tuesdays better than your Mondays, Notes on a Pac 12 Scorecard. We still miss you, Chris Schenkel.
Summaries
California 34- Washington State 28: Cal QB Jered Goff is great, but the Golden Bears defense is why they are now 5-0. The defense forced four turnovers and tallied seven sacks to go with some special teams magic to notch the comeback win over the Cougars. The first special teams play was early in the third quarter when Wazzu attempted a fake punt. Punter Zach Charme fumbled and Cal's Stefan McClure stopped it up and took it 45 yards to the house to put the Golden Bears within striking distance. The second special teams play was an onside kick. The Bears had just scored to close the gap to 28-26 late in the same period. The kick worked and Cal was in business again. They took the ball and marched down the field for the winning TD with Goff hitting WR Maurice Harris for a 24-yad TD. Each team's defense then took over to produce a scoreless fourth quarter and Cal claimed the win. Goff finished the day by completing 33 of 45 passes for 390 yards and four TDs. Wazzu's Luke Falk completed 35 of 49 passes for 389 yards and two TDs.
Telling Stat: It's all about the ball; In a game that was essentially even in every statistical category, turnovers did in the Cougars. They lost the turnover battle, 4-2. That cost Wazzu the game.
Arizona State 38- UCLA 23: With their season circling the drain in the Pac 12, Arizona State rebounded from a drubbing by USC last week to beat the bRuins at the Rose Bowl. Through three quarters ASU built up a 29-10 lead behind a defense that never let the bRuins get their running game going. The Sun Devils also made 1973 Tony Award Winner Josh Rosen look like a rattled freshman with their blitzes. However, with the lead ASU went into a shell offensively and the bRuins came roaring back to within a score, trailing just 29-23 midway through the fourth period. The Sun Devils offense then sputtered. but a great punt pinned UCLA within the shadow of their goal. UCLA didn't move the ball and was forced to punt. Instead of punting though, bRuin HC Jim Mora had his team take an intentional safety in an effort to get the ball back with better field position. The strategy backfired as ASU's offense was unstoppable, ripping off a 9 play, 70-yard TD drive that was capped off RB Kalen Ballage's 23-yard rumble to paydirt in a sea of blockers to seal the victory. ASU QB Mike Bercovici threw for 273 yards and two TDs in the win. He also ran for a score too. As for UCLA, Rosen threw for 280 yards and a pair of scores in the loss. The Sun Devils also turned bRuin RB Paul Perkins into a non-factor in the game allowing him to rush for just 62 yards on 18 carries and one score.
Telling Stat: They ran, they didn't; ASU out rushed UCLA 192 to 62. ASU's ability to win the rushing battle won this game for the Sun Devils.
Oregon 41- Colorado 24: Oregon came into Boulder trying to get off the deck after being embarrassed at home by Utah last week. Colorado came in smelling blood and went after the Ducks with all they had. Unfortunately for the Buffaloes, the Ducks still had a huge edge in the rushing game and that was what won the game. UO QB Vernon Adams was dressed, but didn't play because of his broken finger. That left a QB rotation of Jeff Lockie and Taylor Alie to contend with the CU defense. This game stood tied 17-17 at the half as UO's QB shuffle had their problems and the Buffaloes offense had the Duck defense on their heels a bit behind the rushing of RB Christian Powell and the arm of QB Sefo Luifau. Then, Oregon came out for the third quarter having made a key realization. They simplified the offense and ran the heck out of the ball. The Duck RB combo of Royce Freeman and Taj Grifin carried the Ducks to the win. Freeman gained 163 yards on 27 carries and scored twice, while Griffin gained 110 yards on 11 carries and crossed the double stripe once. Colorado kept it close, but their best chance in the second half ended in a Liufau fumble that handed the momentum to Oregon. Liufau threw for 231 yards and a TD in the losing effort.
Telling Stat: If not by air, then by land; The Ducks ran the ball on 38 of their 42 second half plays to beat the Buffs.
Stanford 55- Arizona 17: UCLA ran all over Arizona last week and this week it was Stanford's turn. The Cardinal held the ball for 37:16 and racked up 314 rushing yards. RB Christian McCaffrey had the bulk of those yards by toting the rock 17 times for 156 yards and a TD. His backfield mates Barry Sanders, Jr. and Remound Wright combined to carry the ball 14 times for 105 yards and three TDs. Oh, and QB Kevin Hogan was nearly perfect too. He only threw the ball 19 times, but completed 17 of those for 217 yards and two TDs. As for the Wildcats, who were minus QB Anu Solomon due to a concussion he suffered v. UCLA, never got much going against a Stanford defense that dared backup QB Jerrard Randall to beat them. Randall never got untracked and was benched for third stringer Brandon Dawkins to start the fourth quarter.
Telling Stat: Theres is no D in Arizona; Stanford scored on their first eight drives of the game to crush the Wildcats. Stanford had the ball 11 times and scored nine times. Oh, and the only reason it wasn't 10 for 11 was that on their final possession, they just rammed the ball into the line four times to run out the clock.
Observations
...Stanford's virtual reality training device will go down as the most revolutionary training method to hit football since the invention of the playbook. Check it out here...
Stanford Goes Virtual
...Could not go the distance; After spending a good 15 hours watching games, I just couldn't make it to the end of the Colorado-Oregon game. When UO went up 41-24 I hit the rack. Need to work on that stamina.
...Running the ball; Have you ever noticed that in this era of incredible QBs that we have in college football, that teams that run the ball well and stop the run are the ones that win consistently? Some things never change.
...That's the guy; QB Taylor Alie should be the staring QB at Oregon.
...And the Sun Belt Trojan Bowl winner is; Arkansas State. The Red Wolves defeated Idaho, 49-35.
...Not when it matters; Georgia HC Mark Richt has the worst asterisk of all attached to his coaching career. *He can't win the big one.
...Paint it red; UNLV beat Nevada, 23-17 to snap the Wolfpack's eight game win streak in the series and claim the Fremont Cannon. The cannon is the largest rivalry trophy in college football weighing in at 545 pounds. The cannon is a replica of a cannon found in the Sierra Nevada mountains that belonged to John C. Fremont's expedition to Nevada in the mid 19th century.
...A little help; ASU's last TD against UCLA was the biggest case of an uncalled penalty for aiding the runner since the Bush Push. However, since it happened to UCLA, who cares?
...Can't believe they are in the same league; How is it that Alabama's trip to Georgia was only their fifth trip to Athens in the last 30 years?
...Short term memory; Remember, two weeks ago, when Arizona was a ranked contender for the Pac 12 title?
...Burning orange; The Texas football program is a dumpster fire. They've become the all-almost team. They almost make tackles. They almost make catches. They almost make blocks. They almost score points, etc.
...Temperature rising; As if Tennessee HC Butch Jones' place on the hot seat wasn't hot enough already, losing at home to Arkansas cranked it up a few more notches.
...Quielty making noise; If it's possible to quietly make noise in the SEC, Texas A&M is cruising along at 5-0 with the meat of their schedule ahead.
...Reminded me of bluegrass; So many Indiana players went down with ankle injuries v. Ohio State I thought I was across the border watching the races at Churchill Downs.
...Note to Fresno State; I hear Pat Hill is available.
...They flew under the radar; ASU punter Matt Haack's punts went mostly unnoticed v. UCLA, but his kicks flipped the field several times on the bRuins. He's ASU's unsung hero.
...He got the axe instead; An unnamed Texas Rangers employee, and obviously a Texas Longhorn fan, got fired after using the official Rangers twitter account to vent his frustrations over the Longhorns 50-7 loss to TCU. The tweet "Fire Charlie. #bye" got him canned. So the two morals of the story are don't tweet on the company account and don't watch Texas football.
...Not feeling it; Mike Riley in Cornhusker Red just doesn't look right.
...They deserve respect; Did anybody think Illinois would have any kind of decent season after their HC was fired in week one? The Illini are 4-1 and playing their hearts out.
...They didn't and they did; Clemson almost "Clemsoned" their game v. Notre Dame, while Wazzu did "Coug it" v. Cal.
...And then there were four; There are four winless teams left in the FBS. Kansas, North Texas, Wyoming, and New Mexico State.
...Can't make this up; While doing some research on the UNLV-Nevada rivalry I came across this tidbit from that oracle of the internet, Wikipedia. "UNLV students see Nevada as an overrated, stodgy institution in an uncultured part of the state." I drew two things from this statement. One, a UNLV grad wrote this article. Two, the statement implies that there is a cultured part of Nevada.
...Feeling nostalgic; With the poor level of announcers that we have today calling games, I really miss Keith Jackson. With that said, I do realize that with the sheer number of games being broadcast, not every announcer is gonna be good, much less great.
Ugly Uniform of the Week: Here we have a culture clash. We see Michigan's classic road white jersey in the same frame with whatever garbage Under Armour gave Maryland. From the Ghosted Maryland flag on the helmet to the obnoxious numbers, the Terps win for ugly uniform.
Cool Uniform of the Week: Colorado's Black, Grey and Gold is a really good look.
Really Tough Trivia or Stuff Only The Commissioner Looks Up: After UCLA's intentional safety debacle, I was looking up some info on intentional safeties and found that in the 1965 Grey Cup, Winnipeg HC Bud Grant (yes, that Bud Grant) gave up three intentional safeties rather than punt into 40 MPH winds. Winnipeg lost the Grey Cup, 22-16. Ouch.
Departments
Crazy Game of the Week: East Stroudsburg, PA- In a five-overtime classic, the Shippensburg State Raiders pulled off a come-from-behind 69-67 win over the East Stroudsburg Warriors. The Raiders trailed 41-38 heading into the fourth quarter. The Raiders won the game when QB Ryan Zapoticky hit RB Jordan Haro with a two-point conversion pass. Zapoticky finished the game completing 28 of 50 passes for 320 yards and 6 TDs. ESU QB completed 40 of 70 passes for 594 yards and 9 TDs in the crushing loss.
Low Score Game of the Week: Durant, OK- It was Homecoming at Southeastern Oklahoma State and the crowd went home happy as the Savage Storm defeated the Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs, 8-0. The Savage Storm did it with defense. They held the Bulldogs to only 177 total yards, while allowing only three drives to penetrate into their territory. PK Joel Carlos hit on field goals of 24 and 30 yards in the second quarter to give SEOSU a 6-0 lead. The Savage Storm defense sealed the victory when LB Jaden Moore nailed Bulldog RB Karitrell Henderson for a safety with 11:29 to play.
C.W. Post Press: Springfiled, MA- The Pioneers got whipped by the American International Yellow Jackets, 44-17. The Hornets picked off a pair of passes from Post QB Jeff Kidd and returned them both for TDs as part of a 24-point second quarter. The Hornets took a 30-6 lead into the half. The Yellow Jackets tallied two long TD runs of 62 and 79 yards to cruise to the win. Post had no answer for AIC RB Matt Easterling who gashed them for 185 yards on 16 carries and two scores. Kidd threw for 216 yards, 2 TDs and 4 big interceptions in the loss. Up next for Post is Homecoming v. Merrimack College.
This Week's Three Notes About Nothing
Sunday was the first day it felt like fall around here this year. It felt good.
Waiting for UPS is a soul-sucking torture
Baked grilled cheeses rock.
Until next time folks, remember that you have to run the ball to win.
-The Commissioner
