Here's the column you love on a day when we all need a little distraction, Notes on a Pac 12 Scorecard. We still miss you, Carol Merrill.
Summaries
Washington State 30- USC 27: Funny what happens when a lesser talented, but well prepared team takes on a more talented, but poorly prepared team. Washington State played inspired football to take down the Trojans in Pullman. WSU QB Luke Falk stayed calm in the face of a strong USC pass rush to hit 34 of 51 passes for 340 yards and a pair of TDs to lead the Cougar attack. Meanwhile, USC didn't have much of an offensive attack as injuries to three starting OL plus questionable and predictable play calling hurt the Trojans. USC's ineffective offense ran just 58 plays in the game to Wazzu's 81. USC's defense played well, but wore down as the game went on. They were on the field for over 35 minutes. When USC wore down, it was hard to watch WSU complete the same pass route four or five times in a row. The WSU defense had an easy day, holding USC to 327 yards and just 2 of 11 on third downs.
Telling Stat: 2; Wazzu now holds a two-game winning streak over USC. That's embarrassing.
Oregon 45- California 24: Oregon used a 21-point fourth quarter to defeat the Golden Bears, which is remarkable considering what shape the Quacks were in by that point of the game. In the first half, the Ducks lost QB Justin Herbert, RB Royce Freeman and WR Dillon Mitchell all to injury. Top that off with losing backup QB Taylor Alie in the fourth quarter and you can wonder how Oregon won this game at all. The Ducks did it with a deep bench and a strong defense when it mattered. UO RBs Kani Benoit and Tony Brooks-James picked up the slack for the injured Freeman as they combined to rush for 214 yards on 34 carries and score three TDs. They took the pressure off Alie who just had to manage the offense. Alie finished with only 41 yard passing, but he kept things winnable for the Ducks. Cal QB Ross Bowers had a fine game, competing 23 of 41 passes for 255 yards, three TDs and no interceptions.
Telling Stat: D over O; For once Oregon won a game with their defense. They held Cal to just 28 yards rushing for the game and in a see-saw fourth quarter forced a fumble and held for downs twice to ensure a victory.
Stanford 34- Arizona State 24: Two words: Bryce Love. The Stanford RB literally had a day for the record books. He lugged the leather 25 times for 301 yards and three TDs. His efforts were the main reason the Cardinal edged the visiting Sun Devils. His 301 yards were also the most ever gained in a single game in Stanford history. His three TD runs weren't exactly short plunges either. His TD jaunts covered 61, 43, and 59 yards. however, his best run all day came when he picked up three yards on a 3rd-and-2 at the ASU 25-yard line with only a couple minutes left. That first down pick up led to a 22-yard field goal by PK Jet Toner to extend their lead 10 pints and essentially put the game away. As for ASU, they did their best to stay with a the Cardinal. The Sun Devils fell behind 14-3 to start, but did close the gap to seven points at several points in the game, but couldn't make the one or two plays they needed to in order to win. RB Demario Richard rushed for 80 yard and a pair of scores while QB Manny Wilkins threw for 181 yards for the Maroon and Gold.
Telling Stat: 301; Stanford RB Bryce Love's 301 yards rushing is the only stat you need to know from this game.
Washington 42- Oregon State 7: The Huskies usually start fast and bury lesser opponents quickly. For some reason that didn't happen here. Sure, the Dawgs defense had OSU bottled up from the start, but the offense just wasn't clicking. So, some eyebrows did raise around the country when the Huskies held a slim, 7-0 lead at the half. Then, Washington remembered who they are and who Oregon State is and blew the doors off the Beavers in the second half. QB Jake Browning completed 26 of 34 passes for 293 yards and three TDs. All three of Browning's TDs were caught by WR Dante Pettis who hauled in 12 receptions total for 105 yards. RB Myles Gaskin had another good afternoon, gaining 113 yards on 15 carries and scoring one TD. The Beavers didn't have any real offense to speak of, but RB Thomas Tyner did gain 54 yards in nine carries and score OSU's only TD. Oh and yes, this is the same Thomas Tyner who left Oregon with a medical retirement a year or so ago. He decided he wanted to make a comeback and The Beavers allowed him to join their squad.
Telling Stat: Never in doubt; Washington's defense made sure that their offense's slow start was nothing to worry about. UW held Oregon State to 184 total yards, eight first downs, and an abysmal 2 of 13 on third downs in this late arriving laugher in Corvallis.
UCLA 27- Colorado 23: The loser of this one would all but be eliminated from the Pac 12 South race. With that in mind, the bRuins ran a little more, threw a little less, played strong defense in the red zone and got a little help from a huge blunder from Buffs HC Mike MacIntyre to pull off the tight win at the Rose Bowl. The bRuins only ran for 95 yards, but they did run the ball 35 times and passed it only 45, which took the pressure off QB Josh Rosen to make every play. Rosen also benefited from a truly weak pass rush from Colorado to complete 28 of 45 passes for 372 yards and a TD. Colorado helped the bRuins cause just before the half when they attempted a fake field goal instead taking the easy points. The UCLA defense played better than last week when they got rolled at Stanford. However, they picked up another targeting call and had a couple of cheap shots pointed out by the announce team. Where they did shine was in the red zone where they held CU to field goals instead of allowing TDs. That was the big difference in the game. For the Buffs, QB Steven Montez threw for 243 yards with a TD and ran for 108 yards in the loss.
Telling Stat: 18/13=L; Colorado scored only 13 points in 18 plays in the red zone to lose this close one in Pasadena.
Observations
...Memo to Clay Helton; If you don't hit, block and tackle in practice, you won't be good at it in a game.
...When you know it's bad; Here's a play that symbolizes Tennessee's lackluster efforts v. Georgia.
Butt Snap Fumble
...Memo to Mike MacIntyre; Never, ever, ever, run a play where your kicker has to run for a first down.
...Purple on my mind; Anybody taking TCU seriously yet in the Big XII? I'm talking to you, Oklahoma.
...Roar, Lions Roar!; Al Bagnoli had coached Penn for 23 years, amassing nine Ivy League titles along the way. He retired from football as an Ivy League legend in 2015. Bagnoli's retirement lasted 13 weeks. He took the HC job at Columbia and in three seasons has turned a perennial loser into an Ivy League contender. His Lions are currently undefeated after taking down Princeton, 28- 24 on the road. Way to go, Al.
...Unlikely help; I've never expected any empathy at all for USC from any NorCal scribe, so I was a bit stunned to say the least when my wife showed me this story on Pac 12 scheduling from the San Jose Mercury News. It's an interesting read. Thanks, Larry Scott
...Definiton of Embarrassment; LSU paid 945,000 dollars to lose to Troy. I would have lost to LSU for the bargain price of 500k.
...Quietly making noise; Notre Dame is steadily improving each week and their one-point loss to Georgia is looking pretty good right now.
...A good thought; It's not all bad Trojan fans. You could be Tennessee fans.
...Irrelevancy resides in Provo; BYU is 1-4, has an offense that needs a GPS to find the end zone, can't really stop anybody on defense and has a HC that is on the hot seat... and nobody cares.
...Aztec rising; The timing is just perfect for SDSU to open up at 5-0. The city of San Diego needs this team right now.
...An unlucky stat; USC has scored only 13 points all season in the third quarter.
...The Price is right... again; UTEP's AD and HC Sean Kugler "mutually agreed" that Kugler would resign Sunday after the Miners latest loss moved them to 0-5 on the season. So, who was hired as the interim HC? Mike Price. Yes, that Mike Price. The man with a penchant for strip club spending is back in the west Texas town of El Paso.
...Memo to USC OC Tee Martin; Tight Ends are eligible receivers and you are allowed to throw to your running backs out of the backfield too.
...Just a rumor; There is no truth to the rumor that there will be protests when Tennessee HC Butch Jones is fired. However, I have heard there are many parties planned.
...A longer stay than expected; The wheels have seemed to come off quickly for LSU HC Ed Orgeron. However, don't expect him to be shown the door soon. According to CBS scribe Tom Fornelli, Coach O's buyout figure for this year is 12 million dollars. Next year it drops to just a mere 8.5 million.
Big Green for Coach O
...A grand September; Stanford's Bryce Love cracked the 1,000 yards rushing mark for the season and it wasn't even October, yet. He'd really gets some publicity if he played in league with a decent TV deal.
...A pretty flat six-pack; UMass is 0-6 before October. That has to be an FBS record.
...An obvious truth; It truly looks like its' Alabama's world and the rest of the SEC is just living in it.
...Memo to Jim Mora; Teams will pick up a targeting call here and there during the season, but to pick up one per game and have your team called out for other cheap shots on national TV points to lack of discipline or a willful disregard to teach the game properly.
...He made his last deal; Legendary game show host Monty Hall passed away last week at 96. Who could forget his iconic game show, Let's Make a Deal? In honor of Monty, here's a link to the cheesiest, goofiest, and least played song from Jimmy Buffett. Rest in peace, Monty. Door Number Three
Pac 12 Overreactions
Arizona State will ruin somebody's season.
California won't win another game this year.
Oregon can't win consistently without Justin Herbert.
Oregon State will go 0-9 in Pac 12 play.
Stanford will win the North.
Colorado has no pass rush.
UCLA will lose a player to targeting in every game.
USC will lose three more games without a change at OC.
Washington State will finally play a road game.
Washington will lose at Stanford.
Ugly Uniform of the Week
This week's winner is the Tennessee Volunteers. Volunteer Orange is an iconic color. Making it an accent color in these prison-issue gray togs is just awful.
Departments
Low Score Game of the Week: Dudley, MA- We head to the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference of Division III where the Dean College Bulldogs beat the Nicholls College Bison, 10-3. After a scoreless first half, Dean RB Noah Taiese plunged over from a yard out to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead in the third quarter. PK Hank Lechthaler added a 22-yard FG early in the fourth period to put Dena up 10-0. Dean's defense did the rest, holding for downs three times to secure the win.
Blowout Game of the Week: Eagle Rock, CA- Let's take a trip to the SCIAC, California's only D-III league for this week's game. The Occidental College Tigers, who cancelled their previous game due to a diminished roster, put together enough players to be whipped by the Redlands Bulldogs, 72-13. The Redlands QB duo of Levi Plante and Nathan Ramirez were too much for Oxy to handle. Plante threw for 186 yards and two TDs while Ramirez ran for 92 yards and three scores. For Oxy, WR Ian Bonde hauled in two TD passes well after the game had been decided.
Best Game Nobody Saw this Week: Edmond, OK- Leon Lett just can't catch a break. The Bronchos of Central Oklahoma scored two TDs and two, two-point conversions in the final 3:06 to pull off a 53-52, come-from-behind win over the Emporia State Hornets. UCO WR Josh Crockett is the hero as he was the one who crossed the goal line on that final two-point play. The two teams combined for nearly 1,100 yards of offense with the QBs responsible for most of those stats. UCO's Chas Stallard completed 32 of 49 passes for six TDs, while ESU's Braxton Marstall Competed 27 of 42 passes for 429 yards and five TDs in defeat. These two teams play in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association in Division II.
Georgetown Football News: Washington D.C.- The Hoyas took on the Harvard Crimson at the stadium named after former Harvard alum and footballer, Robert Kennedy. Kennedy would be proud of how his old squad handled the Hoyas at RFK Stadium. Harvard whipped Georgetown , 41-2. The Crimson scored easily and often on the Hoyas. They built up a 31-2 halftime advantage and then cruised through the second half to victory. Crimson RB Charlie booker scored a pair of first half TDs to lead the offensive attack. Harvard also scored on a 91-yard punt return and a 23-yard interception return on the hapless Hoyas. GU's only score came on a fumble by the Crimson that became a safety for GU. Up next for the Hoyas is the third and final leg of their Ivy League swing with a trip to New Jersey to take on the Princeton Tigers.
C.W. Post Press: Brookville, NY- Things are getting worse for the Pioneers. They were worked over at home by the Assumption Greyhounds, 54-20. The Greyhounds got four field goals from PK Cole Tracy, a pair of TDs on a 73-yard pass from QB Marc Monks to WR Sam Blake and punt return TD from Vincent Conneta to take a 33-0 halftime lead. Post showed some offense in the second half, but the teams just ended up trading scores. QB Yianni Gavalas throws for 208 yards and three TDs for Post. However, most of those yards came well after the game had been decided. Assumption RB Dylan Oxsen ran through the Pioneers for 144 yards on 25 carries. In all, the Greyhounds ran 262 yards on the Pioneers. Up next for Post is home date with Southern Connecticut State University.
Razorback Report: The Hogs had an easy time with New Mexico State, beating the Aggies, 42-24 to end a two-game losing streak. QB Anthony Allen passed for a season high 264 yards and three TDs in the victory. Up next for the Hogs is a trip to South Carolina to to take on the Gamecocks.
This Week's Three Notes About Studio City
If you need a dive bar to watch NFL games in Studio City, I know one.
Studio City Humor; One of the wifi networks that popped up on my phone there was named, Router?IHardlyKnowHer.
I knew I had to be in Studio City when two guys were discussing their script meeting with NBC in the men's room at the dive bar.
Until Next Week Folks, remember that you have a pretty good life if you have time to worry about your football team.
-The Commissioner
