It's time once again for that column that makes the week between games shorter, Notes on a Pac 12 Scorecard. We still miss you Alan Malamud.
Summaries
Washington Sate 37- Arizona state 32: Wazzu HC Mike Leach got nailed for a big fine from the Pac 12 for accusing ASU HC Todd graham of sign stealing. You have to wonder just how well ASU did steal signals in the way that they couldn't really stop the Cougars all night. WSU QB Kevin Falk lit up the Sun Devils secondary for 398 yards and three TDs WR Gabe Marks was Falk's favorite target hauling in eight aerials for 107 yards and a TD. However, Wazzu's rushing game looked as bad as it ever has with the Cougs totaling just nine yards rushing before you count the sacks Falk suffered from the ASU defense. Add those in and WSU's official rushing total is a miserable -52 yards for this game. ASU made this game close despite gaining a paltry 280 total yards and 12 first downs. Down 37-21 in the fourth ASU got a 70-yard punt returned for a TD from PR Tim White and a late field goal from PK Zane Gonzalez. However, WSU was able to run out the clock on the ensuing possession to leave the valley of the sun with a closer than expected win.
Telling Stat: 1 > 4; ASU had four different players play QB in this game, yet one Cougar, Kevin Falk more than doubled their production on his way to making WSU 4-0 in the Pac 12.
Colorado 10- Stanford 5: Yeah, this looks like a baseball game played at the Stanford's famous Sunken Diamond. However, this was a football game at Stanford Stadium. The Colorado defense stuffed the Cardinal all-day long. They held SU to 263 total yards. SU RB Christian McCaffrey did rush for 92 yards, but he didn't have any big plays to break open the game in Stanford's favor. The Buffs also forced four Stanford turnovers to snuff out any possible Cardinal threats. This game should have been a blowout, but Colorado misfired on three drives that ended in missed field goals and had a TD called back on offensive pass interference. CU QB Sefo Liufau threw for the only TD in the game when he found WR Shay Fields for a 15-yard scoring toss with 11:59 to go in the second period. CU RB Phillip Lindsay was the bright spot in the CU offense rushing for 131 yards on 12 carries. Colorado took an intentional safety with a few seconds left to ensure the Cardinal would not have a chance to send this game into overtime.
Telling Stat: A quiet 88; Colorado's defense held Christian McCaffrey in check, allowing the once Heisman hopeful only 88 all purpose yards. Colorado's defense bottled up the plodding Stanford offense with ease en route to the win.
California 52- Oregon 49 2OT: Nobody east of the California state line saw one of the most exciting finishes of the season as Cal held on to win in double overtime. Double OT did not seem like it was in the cards as the first half unfolded. It looked like a Cal blowout as the Bear-Raid Offense under the control of QB Davis Webb. While the Ducks had several drives derailed by costly penalties, the Golden Bears scored on five of their six first half possessions to build up a 31-14 halftime advantage. At the half, Oregon must have realized that Cal's defense was just as bad as their defense and outscored the Bears 28-11 in the second half. Cal looked like they had this one won in regulation , but PK Matt Anderson missed a 41-yard FG attempt as time ran out. In the first OT, UO QB Justin Herbert found WR Jalen Brown for a 30-yard TD toss to put the Ducks up, 42-35. Cal answered that TD with one of their own when Webb pulled off a great fake at the line of scrimmage and went into the end zone untouched from the one-yard line. Oregon then looked like they had broken serve on Cal when they held the Bears to a 28-yard field goal to start the second OT. The Cal defense, which had gone missing for almost the entire second half, made a play when they had to. LB Jordan Kunaszyk picked Herbert at the Cal 10-yard line and returned it seven yards before he realized he had just ended the game and fell harmlessly to the turf. The numbers on this game were pretty staggering with Webb throwing for 325 yards and five TDs. Call also had two RBs crack the 100 yard mark. Khalfani Muhammad rushed for 148 yards on 23 carries and Tre Watson rushed for 154 yards on 28 carries. For the Ducks, Herbert completed 22 of 40 passes for 258 yards and six TDs. He also threw the costly pick that ended the game.
Telling Stat: 127th for a reason; Oregon came into this game, the 127th ranked rushing defense on the FBS. They allowed Cal's passing offense to rush for 311 yards. Oh, and there are only 128 teams in the FBS.
Washington 41- Oregon State 17: The Huskies have a pretty simple pattern to winning this season. They come out fast, bury their opponents in a quick hole and then empty the benches in the second half. The Beavers were this week's victims for the Dawgs who built up a 21-0 lead after the first period on a TD run and two TD passes from QB Jake Browning. The Dawgs tacked on 10 more points in the second quarter to take a 31-0 lead into the half. The second half was mostly garbage time with the Dawgs emptying the benches. Browning finished the game with 291 yards passing and three TDs to go with his rushing TD. RB Myles Gaskin led all rushers with 128 yards on 18 carries and a score for the Dawgs. As for the hapless Beavers, RB Tim Cook rushed for 108 yards on 18 carries and a TD.
Telling Stat: Quick work; UW had a 14-0 lead over a the shell shocked Beavers five minutes in to game and never looked back on the way to victory.
Utah 52- UCLA 45: The bRuins came into this game with a bad o-line that couldn't generate a rushing game and a backup QB to face the hard charging Utes. With the game on his shoulders, UCLA QB Mike Fafaul had both brilliant and bad moments which almost lifted UCLA to the upset win. Fafaul's stat line says it all. He completed 40 of 70 passes for 464 yards, five TDs and four interceptions. Fafaul's favorite target was TE Nate Iese who caught eight passes for 146 yards and two TDs. Utah really never figured out how to stop him all game. Utah countered the bRuins passing with a healthy ground attack. How healthy? RB Joe Williams ran over, around and through UCLA amassing 332 yards rushing on 29 carries and four TDs.
Telling stat; 15 for the W; With 4:38 left, Utah RB Joe Williams gained 15 yards on five carries that drained the clock and UCLA's chances of sending this game to overtime.
Observations
...Bowling with the Buffs: With their win over Stanford, the Colorado Buffaloes are bowl-eligible for the first time in many years.
...Next bRuin up; UCLA QB Mike Fafaul will only get better as Josh Rosen stays injured.
...De-rooted out of his job; Fresno State parted ways with HC Tim DeRuyter Sunday. DeRuyter's overall record at Fresno was 30-30 but his Bulldogs were 1-7 this season and finished 3-9 in 2015. That trend of downward dogs got him let go. The two top names to come out as his replacement are Lane Kiffin and Jeff Tedford.
...Fresh as a daisy; We all know that Jim Harbaugh has a shelf life for wherever he goes, but the Michigan faithful are loving this team that is just blasting their opponents while having a great time in the process. Be afraid, Ohio State, be afraid.
...Bama Backup; A water pressure loss at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa Saturday forced the PA announcer to address the problem and issue the stadium staff's request that nobody use the restrooms in the facility until it was fixed. That put 100,000 folks on hold for #s 1 and 2 while watching #1 host #6.
...Scary schedule; Whoever comes in as the new Fresno State HC will get to face both Alabama and Washington on the road in non-conference games in 2017. Just ask USC fans about that road combination.
...Dad said so; The scuttlebutt over in Westwood is that QB Josh Rosen was cleared to practice this week by team doctors, but Rosen's father got involved and is holding his son out. He probably doesn't want his son to stand behind UCLA's sieve of an O-line anymore.
...Cubs crossover; Among all the crazy stats that arose out of Oklahoma's 66-59 win over Texas Tech, this one is my favorite. Texas Tech QB Pat Mahomes II threw 88 passes in the game, Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks threw 88 pitches in Game Six of the NLCS v. the Dodgers.
...And then there were NONE; For the first time in years I am proud to write that nobody in the FBS will go winless this season. Saturday, Rice beat Prairie View A&M, 65-44 to be that last team to get a victory.
...Quietly making noise in the thin air; HC Craig Bohl has his Wyoming Cowboys at 5-2 and 3-0 in Mountain West Conference play. The Cowboys get both Boise and SDSU at home in the coming weeks.
...Those orange things; Just prior to kickoff off of the Utah-UCLA game at the Rose Bowl, Utah HC Kyle Whittingham noticed that something was missing from the field. The grounds crew hadn't set out the pylons in the end zones. After a few minutes, the grounds crew came out with the pylons and placed them on the field. Then, there was another few minutes delay as the referees went around after the grounds crew and replaced each pylon correctly. Epic fail for the grounds crew on this one.
...Not a friendly handshake; ASU HC Todd Graham gave Wazzu HC Mike Leach an earful after his Sun Devils lost to the Cougars. Graham was never happy with Leach's assertions that ASU was stealing their signals. Here's the exchange, it's not easy to make out, but Graham does utter one expletive to Leach and he runs off.
Chickenbleep
...Quacks on board; Oregon praised themselves for fighting hard against Cal and putting out a great effort in their loss to the Golden Bears. Those statements punched the Ducks tickets for this season's moral victory tour. Get used to acceptable losses, Phil.
...A piece of the rock; While fooling around as I do on YouTube looking for old football games, I stumbled upon a full game broadcast of the 1974 Michigan-Ohio State game. I enjoyed listening to the great Keith Jackson. However, at the end of the game there was a ten minute bit of nostalgia that was just plain fun to watch. So, please follow this link and fast forward to the two hour, forty-six minute mark of the video.
As Jimmy would say, "The way that it used to be."
Ugly uniform of the Week
This week's winner is Oregon. When you're winless in the Pac 12, you're just a lousy team in an awful shade of green.
Departments
Low Score Game of the Week: Kings Point, NY- QB Sean Richardson took off on a keeper and rambled 78 yards for a TD to lift the St. Lawrence University Saints to an 8-0 win over the Merchant Marine Academy Mariners. The Saints two-point conversion came when Holder Tyler Bush took a high snap and knifed his way into the end zone. Both teams moved the ball well between the 20s in this game, but only St. Lawrence managed to light up the scoreboard.
Blowout Game of the Week: Burnaby, British Columbia: In The D-II ranks, the Azusa Pacific Cougars put on a stellar defensive performance en route to a 57-0 victory over the Simon Fraser Clan. The Cougar defense returned there interceptions and one fumble for touchdowns and also tallied a safety. The 30 points scored by the APU defense was more than the offensive output of 81 other teams on the Division II level last Saturday.
Georgetown Gridiron News: Washington, D.C.- The Hoyas played good defense, but the Fordham Rams played just a little better defense and beat GU, 17-14. A field goal by Fordham's Makay Red with 6:08 to play was the difference in this one. Fordham held GU to -2 yards rushing and 167 total yards. In fact, GU had more first down by penalty (2), than by rushing (1). Up next for the Hoyas is a trip to Lafayette.
C.W. Post Press: Brockville, NY- QB Joe Kidd did not suit up for the Pioneers this week due to an injury he suffered last week v. Southern Connecticut State. Backup QB Matt Brennan only lasted midway through the first half v. American International College. He was injured and Post would have to play the rest of the game with the stronger Michael Campbell at the helm. Nursing a 3-0 lead at the half, C.W.Post turned things over the to their running game. RBs David White and Malik Pierre combined for 176 yards on 34 carries and three TDs to carry the Pioneers to a 22-7 win. C.W. Post is now 8-0 on the season and will host the Pace University Setters this week.
Razorback Report: The Commissioner missed this spot in the column last week and didn't get to talk about how Arkansas defeated Ole Miss, 34-30. Arkansas lost this past week at Auburn, 56-3. So, I will praise the Hogs again for beating Ole Miss where QB Anthony Allen threw for 229 yards and three scores. Up next for the Hogs is bye week, then a home date with Florida.
This Week's Three Notes About Nothing...
I now see the light. After all these years, I find out that Mother's Taffy Cookies aren't taffy at all. They are Dulche De Leche. Hmmmmmm
Time does march on. My wife and I lowered the age demographic at the Jimmy Buffett concert by ten years. my nieces did it by twenty-five.
The Shwack in Dana Point makes a pretty great burger. The Shwack sauce makes it so.
The Century Mark
I am proud to say that this week's blog marks the 100th edition of Notes on a Pac 12 Scorecard. I am also proud to see what this blog has become over the years. Way way back when, it was just a set of typewritten notes that I mailed out to our tailgate group. It then morphed into an email release and then finally became Notes on a Pac 10 Scorecard. That incarnation lasted 33 posts until the new frontier of the Pac 12 occurred and hence we have this current blog. I love how this blog just continues to evolve. The input form all of you who read it makes it a living thing. Some of the best parts of this blog were suggested by you guys. Among those suggestions, I thank my sister Luci for suggesting the Ugly Uniform of the Week section and my buddy Chris Eggers suggesting the Three Notes about Nothing section. Heres' to the Trojans, Razorbacks, Golden Bears, Wildcats, Wolverines, Beavers, Cougars, Golden Gophers, Pioneers and all the other mascots that have graced these pages. I thank you all for reading these weekly ramblings about the game I dearly love. It has been a great ride.
-Fight On!
The Commissioner
