After a nail-biter of a road trip to Tempe, your Commissioner returns with the next installment of Notes on a Pac 12 Scorecard. We still miss you, Mel Durslag.
Summaries
USC 31- Arizona State 26: 15 minutes of happiness, followed by 44:35 of dread and then :25 of relief is the best way to describe USC's win at Sun Devil Stadium. The first quarter was a treat for Trojan fans, QB Kedon Slovis had a quarter for the ages in his return to his home state. All he did was throw for 295 yards and four TDs to set USC up with a 28-7 at the end of the first quarter. His biggest toss was a 95-yard hookup with WR Amon-Ra St. Brown. Slovis' 295 yards passing were the most by any QB in the NCAA in any quarter in the last 15 years. Then the wheels fell off and USC held on for dear life the rest of the way. ASU QB Joey Yellen, subbing for the injured Jayden Daniels, recovered form a dismal start to bring the Sun Devils slowly back into the game. The ASU defense stepped up the final three quarters as well. With 8:54 left, ASU trailed SC by just five points. The USC defense coupled with a timely flag and a big drop hung on to win the game. The flag occurred earlier in the game when a pick six thrown by Slovis was overturned on a holding call on the ASU defense. Then on ASU's final drive, TE Tommy Hudson dropped a sure TD pass with a little over a minute to play. Two plays later, Trojan DT Christian Rector tipped Yellen's pass and intercepted it to clinch the game for SC with :25 left. Slovis finished the game completing 29 of 39 passes for 432 yards and four TDs. WR Michael Pittman, Jr. hauled in 13 passes for 146 yards, while St. Brown caught eight balls for 173 yards and a score. RB Kenon Christon ran for 62 yards and caught four balls for 82 yards and two TDs. Yellen threw for 292 yard and four TDs in the loss.
Telling Stat: The three that sealed it; USC PK Chase McGrath's 41-yard field goal in the third quarter was the difference in the game.
Washington 19- Oregon State 7: Corvallis, OR- This was a defensive battle where the OSU defense played well, the Washington defense played far better and the UW offense accounted for all the points. The defenses dominated from the get go. Oregon State kept the Huskies in check, but trailed 3-0 thanks to a 47-yard field goal by UW PK Peyton Henry. The Dawgs then put the only real drive of the half together traveling 70 yards in nine plays. RB Salvon Ahmed capped of the drive with a six-yard TD blast. UW took 10-0 lead into the half. The second half was absolutely dominated by the Husky defense. They did not allow the Beavers to make a single first down in the second half, forcing three and outs on all of OSU's second half possessions. However, the Husky offense did their best to give Oregon State a chance. Up 13-0 midway through he third quarter, UW QB Jacob Eason's out route was intercepted by CB Jason Grant who took it back 36 yards for a touchdown. Suddenly, UW's lead was cut to just 13-7. The Dawgs would bounce back and put the game away three series later when Ahmed broke off a 60-yard TD run to finish the scoring for the night. Ahmed was just about all the offense in the game as his 174 yards rushing on 25 carries and two TDs dwarfed OSU's entire offensive effort.
Telling Stat: No O, No W; Oregon State's offense couldn't move the ball at all against Washington. The Beavers were held to 119 total yards and six first downs with their deepest drive only getting as far as the Huskies 46-yard line.
Colorado 16- Stanford 13: Boulder, CO- It was homecoming at Folsom Field and the Buffs sent the home crowd happy with a last second victory. Several things went right for the Buffs that hadn't happened all year to pull out the win. First, Colorado jumped out to an early lead, driving 75 yards in 13 plays to take a 7-0 lead on a 13-yard run by QB Steven Montez. Second, CU played defense. They held Stanford to 13 points and just three of 10 third down conversions. Third, they finished strong, holding the ball for most of the final quarter and putting together a a pair of drives that covered 69 and 61 yards that finished in two field goals that won the game. The key moment in the game came from the CU defense in a situation where Stanford has found success many times in the David Shaw era. With 7:54 to play, Colorado had just kicked a FG to tie the game at 13-13. Usually in these situations, the Cardinal take the kickoff, drain the clock with a long drive and win the game either with either a FG or TD. It didn't happen this time. The much maligned Colorado defense stepped up and forced a three and out. Stanford was forced to punt and never saw the ball again. The Cardinal offense stood on the sideline and watched CU PK Evan Price connect from 37-yards out to win the game for Colorado as time expired. The win ended a five-game losing streak for the Buffs.
Telling Stat: 27/12:31=W; Colorado ran off 27 plays and held the ball for 12:31 of the fourth quarter, which resulted in two field goals and a big win for the Buffaloes.
California 33- Washington State 20: Berkeley, CA- What's the big deal about 57 yards anyway? Throw in an abysmal error by the Pac 12 refs along with a strong effort from the Golden Bears and that's how the Cougars dropped to 4-5 on the year. The strong effort for the Golden Bears came as usual from their defense, but also came surprisingly from QB Devon Modster. Ever since starter Chase Garbers was injured a few weeks back v. ASU, Modster has had a lot of trouble moving the Cal offense. This night he didn't. He completed 16 of 24 passes for 230 yards and three TDs while also running for 43 yards on seven carries and another score. However, his great game was overshadowed by the epic error made by the officials. The error occurred on the kickoff that followed Cal's extension of their lead to 20-11 with 10:14 left in the third quarter. On the ensuing kickoff, the Cougars returned the ball out to midfield. However, they were called for a an illegal hands to the face penalty near their own 15-yard line. The Cougs were penalized half the distance to the goal and their drive started at their own eight-yard line. However, it was really Cal who committed the penalty. The crew penalized the wrong team. Instead of starting their own eight-yard line, Wazzu should have started this drive at the Cal 35 after the correct 15 yard penalty was marked off. That's a 57 yard field position swing. Did this call directly affect the outcome of the game? Possibly, what if Wazzu had scored a TD on this drive instead of a field goal? The entire Pac 12 crew screwed this up. Folks, we are talking about everyone form the head referee to the full replay crew. This error overshadows a fine effort by the Cal to get a much needed win.
Telling Press Release: Here's the Pac 12's very weak statement on the error. 57 Yards
Observations
...Just a rumor; It is not true that the Oregon State campus police got calls from Beaver fans reporting that their O-line disappeared shortly after kickoff against Washington.
...Weather games; With the bitter cold snap hitting most of the east this week, there should be some great games played in bad conditions to watch this weekend.
...For my father; Slippery Rock is 10-0.
...Simple fact; road trip drives home are so much better when your team wins.
...And a punter is #1; Colorado Punter Alex Kinney set the Colorado school record by playing in his 53rd career game last week v. Stanford.
...What a week off; Oregon and Utah are the two teams that gained the most last week by not playing.
...A Trojan shall lead them; Illinois rallied from 25 points down to stun Michigan State, 37-34 at East Lansing. The big WR for the Illini that day was USC transfer Josh Imatorbhebhe. He caught four passes for 178 yards and two TDs. SMH.
...Never great; USC HC Clay Helton is the master at making wins feel like losses.
...He gone; Arkansas could not take it anymore and fired HC Chad Morris last Sunday. Morris' Razorbacks were a dismal 4-18 in his less than two seasons on the job. Memphis HC Mike Norvell is rumored to be the top target of the Hogs search for Morris' replacement.
...So impactful; I see that Ohio State's self-imposed suspensions of DE Chase Young really hurt the Buckeyes. They only beat Maryland, 73-14 last week.
...One play delay; Matt Richards, the ref who blew the call in the WSU-Cal game, informed WSU HC Mike Leach that the error occurred after the Cougars ran their first down play. Because that play was run, that means that by rule the officials couldn't go back and correct their error. Facepalm.
...5 short; Minnesota is 9-0 after their win over Penn State. The last time that happened was 1904. The US only had 45 states back in 1904.
...Memo to Arkansas AD Jeff Long; Please don't go after Gus Malzahn or even consider a return to Fayetteville by Bob Petrino.
...Don't care; I just have no interest in the Oklahoma-Baylor game this week.
...Fun fact; Indiana and Illinois are bowl eligible and Michigan State and Nebraska are not.
...Oh coach O!; Coach Ed Oregon's LSU squad's win over Alabama led to this locker room speech by coach O, which was live-streamed by one his players. The kid shouldn't have done that from the locker room, but it was fun to watch. This link is not safe for work. Roll Tide What?
...A look ahead; If all holds to form, the SDSU-Hawaii game on 11/23 will be for the West division title in the Mountain West Conference.
...Falling short; We are heading into week 12 of the season and the Pac 12 has only four bowl eligible teams. Hmmmmm
...Irony thy name is Wazzu; The Cal player who actually committed the penalty that was wrongly assessed against Washington State last week was LB Ben Moos. Ben Moos is the son of former Wazzu Athletic Director Bill Moos.
...Coach O part Deux; Coach O was not backing down from his speech after the game, warning Bama fans that LSU ain't going anywhere soon. Here to stay
Pac 12 Overreactions
USC will get the dreaded Sun Bowl bid.
Washington will finish 8-4.
UCLA, Utah, Arizona and Oregon's bye week didn't help the Pac 12.
Oregon State is an offensive line away from respectability.
Wazzu won't win another game this year.
Colorado still won't make a bowl.
Arizona State needs to wake up earlier than the second quarter to win games.
Stanford will never fire David Shaw.
Cal still needs a QB.
Poor Uniform Choice of the Week
ASU broke out the all-black uniforms for their game v USC. Not smart to wear all-black in the Tempe sunshine. However, we know ASU had no idea that the game would receive an early kickoff time. Also, they couldn't change the uniform selection once the kickoff time was set. Why? because it was parents weekend and was a designated a blackout game for the fans. All the parents weekend T-shirts and apparel for the week was black and made well ahead of the kickoff announcement. Facepalm.
CFL Update
The playoffs have started north of the border with both Edmonton and Winnipeg wining their divisional semi-finals. That sets up the East and West finals matchups. The Edmonton Eskimos, a crossover team, heads east to take on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Eats final while the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will hit the road to Saskatchewan to face the Roughriders in the West. The winners
will meet in Calgary in the 107th Grey Cup game on Sunday, November 24th.
Departments
Low Score Game of the Week: Brevard, NC- The Brevard College Tornados put together an eight-play, 57-yard drive that ended with a 36-yard TD pass from QB Dalton Cole to WR Blake Taylor to pull out a 10-9 win over the Averett College Cougars. The win lifts the Tornados to 6-2 overall on the season and 4-2 in South Atlantic College play in D-II. The Tornados won despite making only 11 first downs and converting only four of 13 times on third down.
Rivalry Game of the Week: Williamstown, MA- In what is known as the Biggest Little Game in America, the Williams Ephs dominated the Amherst Mammoths, 31-9. The Ephs Held Amherst to 196 total yards and just one for 11 on third down attempts. Willams' RB Joel Nicholas was almost unstoppable, rushing for 211 yards on 24 carries with three TDs in the win. These two have been meeting on the gridiron since 1884.
C.W. Post Press: The Sharks were off this week and will take a trip to Villanova for a Friday night clash with he Wildcats.
Razorback Report: The Hogs were humiliated, 45-10 by Western Kentucky, then Razorback HC Chad Morris was fired on Sunday morning. The Razorbacks will limp into Tiger Stadium on 11/23 to take on LSU.
This Week's Three Notes About Hallmark Christmas Movies...
You don't mind the fact that it is supposed to be winter and yet you can never see anyone's breath on those cold days and the snow is so horribly fake.
The promos and films they are showing this year are featuring the former Full House star who hasn't been arrested by federal agents.
Nobody ever moves to the big city, they all return small town America.
Until Next time folks, remember that one quarter of offense isn't enough to win games.
-The Commissionner
