It's time for the Tuesday before Thanksgiving week edition of the column that makes your football season better, Notes on a Pac 12 Scorecard. We still Miss you, Ned Miller and staff.
Summaries
USC 52- UCLA 35: The Trojans took the Victory Bell back from the bRuins with an onslaught of offense and a modicum of defense in the 2019 edition of this storied rivalry. USC QB Kedon Slovis threw over, around, under, and through UCLA defense for 515 yards and four TDs. He also spread the ball around a bit with four Trojan receivers gaining over 100 yards each. USC fans can thank the offense for offsetting a pretty bad effort from their defense and another absolutely abysmal effort from their special teams. UCLA QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson carved up the Trojans completing 26 of 44 passes for 367 yard and three TDs while also rushing for 64 yards on 16 carries and another score. As for SC's special teams, a running into the kicker call, a hands to the face penalty, a fumbled punt and having less than 11 men on the field for a field goal attempt were just some of the errors that drew the ire of the Coliseum crowd. In the end though, USC did come away with a rivalry win that killed UCLA's faint hopes of becoming bowl eligible.
Telling Stat: Twice is nice; USC WRs Michael Pittman, Jr., Drake London, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Tyler Vaughns became just the second set of WRs to all top the 100-yard receiving mark in game this century.
California 24- Stanford 20: Palo Alto, CA- Chase Garbers exited the second quarter of Cal's loss to SC on 11/6 when he re-injured his shoulder. He was held out of all the contact drills in practice ahead the Big Game at Stanford. Garbers then started for Cal, took all the physical punishment Stanford could hand out and with 1:16 remaining in the contest scrambled 16 yards for the game-winning TD to snap Cal's nine-game losing streak in the rivalry and take The Axe back to Berkeley. The Golden Bears looked like a 10th straight loss to the Cardinal was happening when PK Ryan Sanborn nailed a 44-yard field goal with 2:23 to play. Garbers then drove Cal 75-yards in six plays forth game-winning score. The Cal defense then held the Cardinal for downs on the ensuing drive to seal the victory. Garbers finished the day with 285 yards passing and a TD to go with 72 yards rushing and another score. Cardinal QB Davis Mills threw for 283 yards, a TD and two huge interception in defeat.
Telling Stat: 1 is fun; Cal currently has a one-game wining streak over Stanford.
Colorado 20- Washington 14: Boulder, CO- The Buffaloes kept their dreams of bowl eligibility alive and registered their first ever win over the Huskies in the process. Colorado's defense set up camp in the Washington backfield from the opening kickoff and held the Dawgs to 32 yards rushing on 32 carries. That's a nifty 1.0 yards per carry average for the non-math majors out there. The Buffs did hold QB Jacob Eason in check too. They gave up only 206 yards and a TD while picking him off once early in the first period. CU QB Steven Montez had a rare good night. Which means he didn't throw the drive killing interception or cough up the ball on an ill-advised dive for extra yardage. He managed the game well, completing 17 of 28 aerials for 223 yards and a TD. RB Alex Fontenot found the gaps in the Husky defense, carrying the ball 24 times for 105 yards and a TD. Even with the fine efforts of the Buffaloes, UW still had a chance to pull the game out. A Husky punt pinned the the Buffs at their own one-yard line with 5:09 left to play. CU avoided a safety thanks to an offsides call on the Dawgs, then survived a fumble when backup QB Blake Stenstrom fumbled an RPO exchange and then recovered the loose pigskin. Montez came back into the game with an obviously injured left hand and handed the ball to Fontenot five straight times to break the Huskies spirit. Montez then took a final kneel down to kill the clock and get the win.
Telling Stat: They paved the road; With five minutes left, Colorado's O-line took it to the Washington front seven, paving the road for 81 yards in 11 plays to drain the clock and Washington's last chance for a victory.
Arizona State 31- Oregon 28: Tempe, AZ- With 11:59 left to play, the Sun Devils held a 24-7 lead over the Ducks. The Sun Devils had methodically built the lead after falling behind 7-0 early. The ASU defense had held the Webfoots in check and had seemingly iced the game after picking off QB Justin Herbert on consecutive possessions. However, Oregon wasn't finished. Instead they mounted a furious comeback that fell just short as their defense failed them down the stretch. Herbert picked apart the Sun Devils, driving his squad to three TDs in a tad under 7:00 of playing time. He hooked up with WR Joey Johnson for most of the yards on those drives. After two the first two of those TDs, the Quacks defense lost track of ASU WR Brandon Aiyuk. Faced with a 3rd and 16 from his own 19-yard line, QB Jayden Daniels hit Aiyuk on a go route and he took it to the house for an 81-yard TD to put ASU up 31-21 with 3:54 to play. UO did get another TD, but then ASU recovered the onside kick that followed and then killed the clock to seal the victory and end Oregon's playoff hopes. Daniels had arguably the best night of his young career, completing 22 of 32 passes for 40 yards and three scores. RB Eno Benjamin also had a fine night leading all rushers with 114 yards on 31 carries and 54 more yards on five receptions. In the loss, Herebert completed 20 of 36 tosses for 304 yards, two TDs and two costly interceptions.
Telling Stat: 0 for O; Once again, Oregon will go another year without a national title.
Washington State 54- Oregon State 53: Pullman, WA- What a barnburner it was in the Palouse! The two squads combined for 60 first downs and 1,242 total yards. That's not bad a for a game that was just 24-21 Beavers at the half. Wazzu took control of the game in the third quarter shutting out OSU, 14-0 to take a 35-24 lead into the last stanza. Oregon State then went on a 29-7 run over the first 11:43 of the final quarter to take a 53-42 lead. QB Jake Luton and RB Jermar Jefferson made a powerful combo with Luton throwing to Jefferson for two of the TDs during the scoring blitz with Jefferson running for a third. Then, with the home crowd stunned and thinking this was the UCLA game all over again, the Cougs fought back to win. The TD drive to to cut their deficit to five points covered 75 yards in seven plays with WR Dezmon Patton taking it to the end zone form 14 yards out. After the ensuing onside kick failed, the Beavers tried to run out the clock. However, they couldn't. When faced with a fourth & four from the WSU 43-yard line, the Beavers went for it. Luton's pass fell incomplete and the Cougs had a chance. 10 lays later, RB Max Borghi slammed into the end zone from the two-yard line with :02 left to lift Wazzu to victory. That was a pretty gutsy call considering, that the Cougars had not timeouts and being stopped short would mean the clock would run out. Now, for the stats. In the win Gordon completed 50 of 70 passes for 606 yards and six TDs with Borghi rushing the ball 10 toes for 44 yard and two scores. In the painful loss, Luton completed 22 of 40 throws for 408 yards and five scores, while Jefferson lugged the leather 21 times for 132 yards and two TDs.
Telling Stat: No punt = L; Even if an OSU punt went for a touchback with a 1:10 left, Wazzu would have had to travel an extra 23 yards on their final drive. Hmmmmm
Utah 35- Arizona 7: Tuscon, AZ- The Utes ruined Senior Night and ended UofA's hopes of bowl eligibility in a little over three hours last Saturday night. The much maligned Wildcat defense made a couple of surprisingly good fourth down stops of the Utes in the first half, but it didn't matter much as the Utes took a 14-0 lead into the half and then extended that to a 28-0 lead at the end of three quarters. The easy win put the Utes a game away from clinching the Pac 12 South and meeting up with the Oregon Ducks in the Pac 12 title tilt. Utah RB Zach Moss ran over, around and through the Wildcats to tune of 203 yards on 26 carries and a TD. His backfield mate, QB Tyler Huntley completed 19 of 23 passes for 211 yards and a TD to provide the second half of a one-two punch that Arizona couldn't recover from. Meanwhile, the Utah defense held their opponents to 196 total yards and token TD after the game was well in hand.
Telling Stat: Not nearly as closes as it looked; The Utah defense allowed 85 of Arizona's 196 total yards after emptying the benches with a 35-0 lead and 6:50 to play in the fourth period.
Observations
...Get the hardware out; After tastes of rivalry game last Saturday, a boatload of rivalry games will be played this week. Everything form the Apple Cup to the Old Oaken Bucket to the Fremont Cannon will be up for grabs this week. Enjoy the football feast folks!
...Not shocked; The FCS playoff bracket came out Sunday and North Dakota State is the number one seed. Yawn.
...A little strange; With USC having a very poorly placed bye week, it will be very odd not going to the Coliseum this Saturday.
...Imua Warriors!; When SDSU PK Matt Araiza's 48-yard FG attempt missed with eight seconds left, Hawaii held on for a 14-11 win over the Aztecs and claimed the the Mountain West Conference's West Division crown and will face Boise State for the MWC title on 12/7.
...Two gone in the MWC; New Mexico HC Bob Davie and UNLV HC Tony Sanchez were both fired this week.
...The circle is complete; The annual Circle of Suck for the Pac 12 fell into place when ASU upset Oregon. Please check this tweet form the Stanford Tree to see just how the Pac 12 eats its' own.
Daddy sang bass
...Early celebration Part I; After scoring the winning TD with :02 left against OSU, Wazzu HC Mike Leach had his team take a knee on the conversion attempt to prevent any kind of turnover that would result from a possible blocked PAT. Cougs WR Renard Bell didn't realize that the clock doesn't run on a conversion attempt and started celebrating as if the game was over. He was flagged for celebration and WSU had to kickoff form their own 20-yard line to finish the game. He's very lucky the OSU didn't pull of a miracle with those 15 extra yards. Facepalm.
...Feeling it for the Commodores; This speaks volumes about a sad picture of a lost season at Vanderbilt. I think the band outnumbers the fans here.
...Early Celebration Part II; Washington Redskins QB Dwayne Haskins was taking a selfie with a fan and celebratig his first win as a starter in the NFL as any young QB night do. Only problem was that the Redskins still needed to take one final snap. SMH. One more play
...He wasn't happy; At least one Wazzu fan was not thrilled when Oregon State scored to take a short-lived fourth-quarter lead v. the Cougars last week.
...#2 by 91 yards and two scores; USC's Kedon Slovis threw for 515 yards and five TDs v. UCLA and was still only second in the Pac 12 in passing yards last week as WSU's Anthony Gordon threw for 606 yards and six TDs. Wow.
...Imua Warriors- Part II; Hawaii did what UCLA couldn't do this year. They beat San Diego State.
...More Scarlet and Gray; There's no way the Michigan beats Ohio State this week.
...They brought the weather (delay) with them; The Harvard-Yale game was delayed over an hour due to protestors rushing the field at halftime for a climate change protest. So, the game did suffer a weather delay of sorts. lol The Protest at The Game
...2-0; New USC AD Mike Bohn picked up his second win over UCLA this season. Bohn came to USC from Cincinnati who beat UCLA, 24-14 to start the season.
...Best game nobody saw last week; In the first round of the D-III playoffs, Chapman University hit the road to Linfield College in Oregon and walked out with a 68-65 win in triple OT. Way to hold up that SCIAC pride, boys.
Power Five Conference Races Update
ACC: Clemson is the Atlantic division champ. The winner of this week's Virginia-Virginia Tech game will win the Coastal division and face the Tigers in the ACC title game.
Big 12: Baylor will play Oklahoma in the Big XII title game.
Big Ten: TheeeOSU is the Big Ten East division champ and will play the winner of this week's Minnesota-Wisconsin game in the Big Ten title game.
Pac 12: Oregon will face either Utah or USC in the Pac 12 title game. If Utah beats Colorado this week, they are in. A loss to the Buffaloes means the Trojans back into the title game.
SEC: Georgia and LSU will face each other in the SEC title game.
Pac 12 Bowl Predicitons
Oregon- Rose Bowl
Utah- Alamo Bowl
USC- Holiday Bowl
Cal- Redbox Bowl
Arizona State- Sun Bowl
Washington- Las Vegas Bowl
Washington State- Cheez-It Bowl
Grey Cup Update
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are the 107th Grey Cup Champions. They wiped out the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 33-12 to claim their first CFL championship since 1990. Read about it here in the Winnipeg Sun. The Grey Cup, Eh!
Ugly Uniform of the Week
As much I will praise Baylor for further helping Texas football rediscover irrelevancy, these uniforms are just hideous. Hey Baylor, French's called. They want their mustard back.
Departments
Low Score Game of the Week: Maryville, MO- In a first round matchup of D-II playoffs, the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats held off the Harding Bisons, 7-6. The Bearcats held an early 7-0 lead thanks to a 4-yard pass from QB Braden Wright to WR Kyle Raunig. It was defensive slugfest the rets of the way with Harding finally hitting paydirt with 1:14 left to play when QB Tristan Tucker knifed into the end zone from six yards out. Harding then went for two and failed. The Bearcats defense held Tucker short of the goal line to get the win. Harding didn't attempt a single pass in the game. They just ran the ball for all 56 of their offensive plays.
Blowout Game of the Week: Salisbury, MD- The D-III playoffs started as well this week and the Salisbury Sea Gulls destroyed the SUNY- Privateers, 83-0. The Sea Gulls built up a 42-0 lead in the first quarter behind a defense that forced a pair of turnovers and a three three-and-outs which were turned into 35 of the those 42 first quarter points. The Sea Gulls defense held the Privateers to just 71 total yards and two first downs for the afternoon.
C.W. Post Press: Brookville, NY- The nightmare that has been the Sharks first year at the FCS level ended in a 24-10 loss to old foe Merrimack College. The Sharks finish the year at 0-10. Needless to say, the braintrust at Post needs to rethink their decision to leave D-II.
Razorback Report: The Hogs were smashed 56-20 by LSU and this quote from Tigers HC Ed Oregon says it all, "There wasn't gong to be a celebration for beating Arkansas, they haven't beat anyone in a long time."
This Week's Three Notes About Nothing...
My sister is right, Marshalls is great place to buy wrapping paper.
First big rain of the season supposed to hit LA this week, Can't wait to see what poor schlub the local news sends outside in a slicker to tell me that it's raining.
More weather here. If you see the Weather Channel's Jim Cantore in your town, doesn't that mean you should evacuate the area?
Until next time folks, remember that championship level teams play well on offense, defense and special teams.
-The Commissioner
