Hey all,
Week Zero is in the books marking the start of the rollercoaster ride that is the college football season. So, it is time now for the first Notes on Pac 12 Scorecard of the year. We still miss you, Alan Malamud.
Summary
UCLA 44- Hawaii 10: Pasadena, CA- The bRuins won a non-conference game. That's a first for the Chip Kelly era in Westwood. They did some pretty good things against a vastly undermanned Hawaii team. They started fast, putting up 24 first quarter points thanks to an OL that blew open some pretty large holes for Michigan transfer RB Zack Charbonnet. Charbonnet scored on runs of 21 and 47 yards to go with a 1-yard run by RB Brittain Brown and 27-yard FG by PK Nicholas Barra-Mira. Second, the bRuins actually played defense. They forced a pair of turnovers and had a pass rush that Hawaii just couldn't block. Now, that may be because of the fact that Hawaii is epically poor on the OL, but still UCLA took advantage of it to great success. Third they didn't turn the ball over. UCLA has been plagued an inordinate amount of turnovers the last few years. Fourth they had good special teams that included a blocked punt for a touchdown. Hawaii hadn't had a blocked punt since the 2008 season. After the 24-point first quarter, the bRuins tacked on another Charbonnet TD early in the second quarter and the game was basically over at that point. The one down spot for UCLA on the day was the play of QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson. He finished the game completing 10 of 20 passes for 130 yards and a TD, but never seemed to find a real rhythm to his play. Charbonnet had the big day for UCLA rushing for 106 yards and three TDs on just six carries, while Hawaii QB Chad Cordeiro threw for 220 yards, a TD and two picks in the losing effort.
Telling Stat: Familiar drives; UCLA's six scoring drives took an average of 1:46 off the clock. Those sound like old Chip Kelly coached Oregon drive times.
Observations
...They had a plan; Fresno State had a plan in case their cleats melted in their home opener. The on-field temp at Bulldog Stadium was at 125 degrees for their 11:30 AM kickoff with UConn. If you need a plan for your cleats meting maybe you should have moved kickoff back a few hours. SMH.
...Ida-gone; Hurricane Ida had forced LSU football to relocate to Houston to practice this week for their game at the Rose Bowl v. UCLA. Meanwhile, Tulane has relocated to Birmingham to prepare for their game with Oklahoma, a game that has now been moved form Tulane to Norman.
...That time of year; Must be football season if I've been reading the Champaign News-Gazette, El Paso Times and the Columbia Post and Courier.
...War Eagle down; The Patriots have named Mac Jones as their starting QB and released Cam Newton. So Auburn loses to Alabama yet again.
...Don't bRuin your life; Lots of folks are jumping on the UCLA bandwagon after they demolished Hawaii. I think they'd be better hold off on that jump until after UCLA faces LSU this week.
...Graphically brutal; You know things are bad at Nebraska when the Fox broadcast crew puts up the graphic that Scott Frost has the second lowest winning percentage in Cornhusker history during their loss to Illinois.
...Duped for all to see; ESPN was actually fooled into airing a High School game last Sunday between Florida's IMG academy and a phony school (Actually more phony than IMG Academy) named Bishop Sycamore. The funny part is that ESPN just failed in doing any research into the game. The sad and scary part is what a scam Bishop Sycamore is. That is detailed in this SI Article. Bishop Who?
...An eligible man; Zeb Noland came to South Carolina as a Graduate Assistant coach after playing QB at Iowa State and North Dakota State in his college career. Now, he's the Gamecocks starting QB v. Eastern Illinois this Saturday. A foot injury to starter Luke Doty led to Noland's unlikely role as new SoCar QB. Check out the the story here. He's now QB1
...Sitkowski-ing on the bench no more; Illinois QB Artur Sitkowski went from transfer backup QB to starter just 13 minutes into the season when Brandon Peters shoulder was injured after being driven to the turf by a Nebraska defender. All Sitkowski did was complete 12 of 15 passes for 124 yards and two TDs to help lead the Illini to a 30-22 win over the Cornhuskers.
...Somewhere Woody's Smiling; The HBCU Classic for Columbus was played at TheeeOSU in the fabled Horseshoe last Saturday. The Kentucky State Thorobreds defeated the Central State Maruders, 20-6 without completing a pass. They only attempted four tosses, but did run the ball 51 times for 322 yards on the day. I think the ghost of Woody Hayes affected the game. After all he's the one who said, "Only three things can happen when you throw the ball and two of them are bad."
...COVID-Loaded: We are going to hear a lot about Super Seniors and returning starters. Super Seniors are the players that have returned for a sixth season of eligibility thanks to the NCAA granting an extra year to players due to the Pandemic. Also, every team will have a ton of returning starters back because of it. So, don't be surprised when most teams have upwards of 15 or so returning starters.
...Aggies hit rock bottom; Even lowly New Mexico State could at least say they owned the Battle of I-10 with three straight wins over UTEP. Not anymore, The Miners walloped the Aggies, 30-3 to win the 98th game in the rivalry and regain possession off the Silver Spade trophy. The Aggies may now wish to cancel that road trip to Alabama in November.
...Just a rumor; There's no truth to the rumor that this intrepid report has been offered the OL coaching job at Bishop Sycamore.
...The first of five; Illinois was just the first of five early conference game matches in the Big Ten. TheeOSU travels to Minnesota this week while Penn State heads to Wisconsin, Indiana travels to Iowa, and Michigan State goes to Northwestern. Five teams will be 0-1 in the Big Ten before Labor Day. Ouch.
Pac 12 Overreaction
UCLA will finish second in the Pac 12 South and get the dreaded Sun Bowl bid.
The Slates
Here's a quick look at the Pac 12 schedules for 2021
Dream Schedule: UCLA. Yes, the bRuins have a big game with LSU this week, but it is at home. Four of their first five games are at home and they don't leave the state until October 9th for a trip to tailender Arizona. Their toughest stretch is a three game run to finish off October where they travel to Washington and Oregon with a home game with Utah sandwiched in-between.
Could happen: BYU plays four Pac 12 opponents this year. Utah will travel to BYU for The Holy War on 9/11 (Can't make that up, facepalm). They also have road games at Arizona, WSU, and USC. So, it is possible for BYU to finish with more wins win the Pac 12 than Wazzu, Arizona or Oregon State.
USC: For once USC does not have one of the toughest schedules in the country. However, they still, travel to Notre Dame for the rivalry game but the Trojans don't face either Washington or Oregon this year. A well-coached Trojan squad could easily go 11-1 or 10-2 with this schedule. However, with Clay Helton still walking the sidelines, 8-4 or 7-5 is a distinct possibility.
Making the most of it: The Pac 12 has a few big out of conference matchups. If the league is to have any chance at the playoffs, most of these games have to be won.
9/4- LSU at UCLA
9/11- Washington at Michigan
9/11- Oregon At Ohio State
9/11- Colorado v. Texas A&M (in Denver)
10/23- USC at Notre Dame
11/27- Notre Dame at Stanford
FCS X 8: Eight Pac 12 schools will host FCS opponents this year. Seven of the opponents hail from the Big Sky Conference with Stony Brook of the Colonial Athletic Association traveling across country to take on Oregon on 9/18. USC, UCLA, Washington and Stanford are the four playing an all FBS schedule.
0-9 Quacks: The Fighting Nikes of Oregon travel to TheeOSU to take on the Buckeyes on 9/11 where they are winless in nine tries against the Scarlet and Gray. The series goes back to The 1958 Rose Bowl where TheeeOSU defeated the Ducks, 10-7. Five of the games in the series have been played at Columbus with the Quacks dropping a 24-14 decision on their last visit in 1987.
Fun Fact: The 1958 Rose Bowl saw a reserve end for Oregon get to play the final few snaps of the game. That end was future USC HC John Robinson.
28-4: Thats combined record of USC's 2021 non-conference opponents. BYU went 11-1 while Notre Dame went 10-2 and San Jose State went 7-1 and won the Mountain West Conference title last year. It's actually the Pac 12 portion of the slate that makes for a weak schedule strength for there Trojans.
Been awhile: Minnesota will visit Colorado on 11/18. It's the first meeting between the two in Boulder since 1991 when the Buffs roamed the sidelines of the Big XII. CU holds a 3-0 lead in the series which dates back to 1972 where the Buffaloes racked up 467 yards of total offense in a 38-6 rout of the Golden Gophers.
700 the hard way: Saturday, September 4th, will mark 700 days since Arizona has won a football game. Their last win occurred on 10/5/2019 when the Wildcats beat Colorado, 35-30. On Saturday, the Wildcats take on BYU at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas in an effort to grab that elusive W.
Just a rumor: There's no truth to the rumor that the winner of the Stanford-Vanderbilt game on 9/18 will receive internships to Goldman-Sachs.
Feeling nostalgic: Utah's non-conference lineup includes BYU and San Diego State. The schools should bust out old WAC patches for their uniforms in those games.
September cupcakes: Arizona State opens the season by hosting a Southern Utah squad that just got worked over by San Jose State and then MWC also-ran UNLV.
Intriguing matchups: They didn't face off in Berkeley due to COVID last year, so I'm interested to see Cal travel to Fort Worth to take on TCU on 9/11. Another game that could be fun to watch is Oregon State at Purdue on 9/4.
Cool Uniform of the Week
Hawaii wins for their white and green road uniforms v. UCLA. The color combo is great and the island chain on the left side for the helmet rocks.
Departments
Low Score Game of the Week: Mitchell, SD- In the NAIA ranks, the Dakota State Trojans got a pair of field goals of 33 and 38 yards form PK Jacob Nielsen to grab a 6-0 win over Dakota Wesleyan. The win was the Trojans fifth straight over the Tigers. They Trojans also get to maintain possession of the coveted Chamber of Commerce Travelling Trophy.
Blowout Game of the Week: Aberdeen, SD- We stay in the NAIA ranks where the Northwestern (IA) Raiders crushed the Presentation College Saints, 66-9. Northwestern started the rout worth a 24-yard pick six by CB Lucas Nagel en route to a 28 point first quarter. Nagel struck again in the third quarter with a 36-yard pick six in the third quarter to lengthen the Raiders lead to 52-3. The Raiders started the quarter with a 100-yard kickoff return for a TD by RB Kole Tedford. The Raiders dominated all phases of the game in this laugher.
Razorback Report: The Hogs will kickoff their season at home v. Rice this Saturday.
This Week's Three Notes About Nothing...
Some things never change. Bazooka bubble gum still loses its' flavor after about 10 minutes.
My wife tells me Fruit Stripe Gum loses its' flavor after six minutes.
Sidecar Donuts are pretty amazing.
Until next time folks, remember that it is pretty awesome to have football back in whatever way we can enjoy it. Have a safe and Happy Labor Day weekend.
-The Commissioner
