Hey All,
It is officially fall and here's the first edition of Notes on a Pac 12 Scorecard for the season that I hope you all find filled with turning leaves, family and football. We still miss you, Joe Jares.
Summaries
USC 42- Arizona State 28: Tempe, AZ- The Trojans came into this one off a bye week and as 34.5 point favorites over a Sun Devils squad that had been humiliated by Fresno State last week. So naturally, the Sons of Sparky played well enough to upset an out of sync Trojan team. However, USC had enough talent to outlast ASU down the stretch. QB Caleb Williams got SC out to a 7-0 lead when he stretched inside the pylon on a one-yard run. On Troy's second possession, Williams and RB MarShawn Lloyd messed up a handoff and fumbled to give ASU the ball on the Trojans' 15-yard line. Three plays later, RB Cameron Skattebo ran through the SC defense for a 15-yard TD to tie the game at 7-7. From then on it was a back and forth affair that never saw SC pull away until the end. The second quarter saw the Sun Devils execute well on some trick plays with the legs of Skatrebo and the arm of QB Drew Pyne to go into the half trailing SC by a count of 21-13. USC started off the third period with a 53-yard FG from PK Denis Lynch. Just five plays later WR Elijah Badger hauled in a 25-yard TD pass from Pyne and a two-point conversion run from Skattebo. Suddenly SC's lead was just 24-21 with a ton of time left to play. A 36-yard FG by Lynch would give SC a 27-21 lead to end the third period. USC Safety Calen Bullock picked off Pyne on the next drive and it looked like SC would get some separation from ASU. That was not to be because after SC's drive stalled at the Sun Devils' 12-yard line, HC Lincoln Riley eschewed another FG attempt that would give his team a two score lead. Instead he kept the offense on the field. Caleb Williams' fourth down pass to Michael Jackson III fell incomplete. ASU now had momentum and the ball, but did nothing with it. Following an exchange of punts, SC DE Solomon Byrd stripped Pyne of the ball and De Romeo Height fell on the ball at the ASU 44-yard line. Two plays later, Williams hit WR Brenden Rice with a 29-yard TD pass and a 35-21 lead. ASU stayed in the game on their next drive. Facing a Fourth and Seven from their own 48-yard line Pyne hit Skattebo in the flat and he rumbled 52 yards to paydirt. With their lead cut to 35-28, the Trojans didn't waste anytime worrying about it. Williams needed just two plays to cover 75 yards and put SC up for good at 42-28. The defense then took 12 plays to finally snuff out ASU's final scoring threat with 1:40 left on the clock. The offense was out of sync most of the night for the Men of Troy, but Williams still completed 20 of 31 passes for 322 yards and three TDs. He also ran for a score. Lloyd led all rushers with 154 yards on 14 carries. For the Sun Devils, Pyne completed 21 of 36 passes for 221 yards, two TDs and an interception while Skattebo was the heart of the ASU attack. The hard charging runner gained 111 yards on 20 carries with a TD and caught four balls for 79 yards and a TD too. He also completed two of three passes for 42 yards and scored on a two-point conversion.
Telling Stat: Off Night W; USC's offense converted only 3 of 10 third downs, lost the time of posession battle and looked out of sync all night, yet they still scored 42 points and gained 535 yards in a shaky win over ASU.
Oregon 42- Colorado 6: Eugene, OR- Bluster, trash talk, bling and the rest of it that makes up the current Colorado football program arrived with much fanfare to Land of Nike this week. Talk of a Colorado upset ran rampant until kickoff. After kickoff is where all that talk died as Oregon did everything but smash Deion Sanders sunglasses at midfield to the delight of a raucous Autzen Stadium crowd. The first half saw QB Bo Nix lead the Webfoots to a 35-0 halftime lead. RB Noah Whittington ran for the Ducks first TD from three yards out, then Nix threw TD passes of one, 16 and 36 yards to extend the Ducks lead to 28-0. He then capped off his huge first half with an 11-yard run to bring the lead to 35-0. While UO was building their huge lead, the CU offense never got untracked. Oregon would tack on another score to start the third quarter on a one-yard plunge by RB Jordan James. After that, the game took on the look of a glorified scrimmage with Colorado getting their lone score well after the game was decided. Nix Fnished the game completing 28 of 33 passes for 276 yards, three TDs, an interception and a TD rushing. James, Whittington, and fellow RB Bucky Irving combined to gain 189 yards rushing on 25 carries with two TDs to spearhead the Ducks ground attack. For the Buffs, QB Shadeur Sanders completed 23 of 33 passes for 159 yards and a TD.
Telling Stat: A rout by the numbers; At the half, Oregon had 35 points, Colorado had 22 total yards.
Utah 14- UCLA 7: Salt Lake City, UT- Utah QB Cam Rising practiced all week and even warmed up before the game in full pads, but when the team came out from the locker room for the opening kickoff, Rising was in street clothes. He and a several other key starters on both sides of the ball watched their teammates execute a very conservative gameplan and gut out a tough win. UCLA star frosh QB Dante Moore couldn't handle the pressure from the Utah defense that stuffed the bRuins run game and dared him to throw. Moore's biggest mistake dealing with the pressure came on the first play from scrimmage when Utah LB Karen Reid jumped a slant route and returned it 21 yards for a TD. Utah extended that lead to a 14-0 halftime advantage when QB Nate Johnson capped off a 51-yard drive with a seven-yard TD pass to TE Landen King. The second half was a basically a standoff with the teams trading punts most of the time. UCLA did finally break through and get on the scoreboard with 3:39 left in the game when WR Josiah Norwood hauled in a 17-yard TD pass from Moore. The bRuins would get the ball back one final time deep in their own territory, but that drive would end on Utah's seventh sack of the game. The Utes offense, if you could call it an offense, held the ball for 34:28 and gained a total of 229 yards. Johnson completed nine of 17 passes for 117 yards and a TD. The Utes held the ball for 34:28 and gained a total of 229 yards. Meanwhile, the hard luck Bruins gained 243 total yards with just nine of those coming on the ground. Moore finished the game with 15 completions in 35 attempts, a TD and that costly interception.
Telling Stat: A DC's dream; The Utah Defense gave up seven points, scored seven points, forced eight punts, forced two turnovers and held for down three times in this game that took a shade over three hours to play.
Washington State 38- Oregon State 35: Pullman, WA- It sure looked like Wazzu had run away with a win in the game billed as the Pac 2 Championship. The Cougars held a commanding 35-14 lead with 5:15 left in the third quarter. WSU QB Cam Ward had thrown for four TDs, ran for another and looked pretty much unstoppable. Then the Beavers made a furious comeback only to fall just short of victory. Trailing 38-21 with 9:12 to play in the game, OSU QB D.J. Uiagalelei and drove his squad down the field and that resulted in a short TD run by RB Deshaun Fenwick to cut Wazzu's lead to 38-28. Wazzu then tried to put the game away with another score, but the Beavers made a goal line stand and took over posession on their own two-yard line with 3:58 left. 13 plays and 98 yards later, Uiagalelei found TE Jack Velling in the end zone for a TD to make the score 38-35. OSU then tried and onside kick which was recovered by Wazzu. The Cougars then ran the final 1:10 off the clock and walked off with the victory. Ward completed 28 of 34 passes for 404 yards and the aforementioned five scores. WR Josh Kelly caught eight of Ward's passes for 159 yards and three TDs. In the loss, OSU's Fenwick rushed for 101 yards and three TDs on 11 carries while Uiagalelei completed 17 of 34 passes for 198 yards, a TD and an interception.
Telling Stat: One play; Wazzu's recovery of OSU's onside kick attempt with 1:10 left was the difference in the game.
Arizona 21- Stanford 20: Palo Alto, CA- Road games are hard. It doesn't even matter if your opponent lost to an FCS school the week before. Arizona had to find a way to win their conference road opener after losing QB Jayden de Laura at the end of the third quarter to an apparent leg injury. When the injury occurred, UofA found themselves trailing an inspired Cardinal squad 17-14. So, how did we get to Stanford leading at this point? They did it with solid defensive play and a two QB rotation. Ashton Daniels and Justin Lamson split the signal caller duties all game. The two would rotate in and out on different plays in almost every offensive series. That kept the Wildcats off balance on defense. The results were a 35-yard FG from PK Josh Karty and a pair of short TD runs from RB Sedrick Irvin and WR Bryce Farrell. Meanwhile UofA's 14 points came on a 36-yard TD pass from de Laura to TE Tanner McLachlan and seven yard TD gallop from de Laura. The fourth quarter began with Stanford driving down the UofA 34-yard line where Karty missed a 51-yard FG attempt to extend the Cardinal lead. Arizona then took over the ball without the injured de Laura. Backup QB Noah Fifita came in with the game on the line and led his teammates on a nine play, 67 yard march to take the lead. Fifita completed two passes to give the Wildcats a 1st & 10 at the SU 19-yard line. Arizona kept the ball on the ground the rest of the way with RB D.J. Williams knifing into the end zone from two yards out for the go ahead score. Stanford did respond on the ensuing drive. They moved the ball to the Cats 27-yard line where they faced a 3rd & 16. Daniels rolled out and completed a great pass for the first down. Unfortunately he was three yards past the line of scrimmage when he threw the ball. The penalty with the loss of down left the Cardinal no choice but to kick a FG and then try to get the ball back one more time. Karty mad the FG to make the score 21-20, but Stanford never got the ball back. UofA ran out the clock and escaped with their first win in Palo Alto since 2009. For the winning Wildcats, de Laura threw for 157 yards and a TD before his injury. The combo of Daniels and Lamson combined to complete 18 of 32 passes for 246 yards and they ran the ball 20 times for 50 yards in the defeat for the Cardinal.
Telling Stat: The second, second QB was #1 in the clutch; UofA's Noah Fifita completed all four of his passes for 47 yards and ran twice for nine yards coming off the bench to lead his squad to victory.
Washington 59- California 32: Seattle, WA- It's hard to win a game when you hand out turnovers like door prizes at a church social. The Golden Bears took themselves out of this one early. QB Ben Finley got the start over Sam Jackson V and he set the tone for failure by throwing an interception on the Bears very first drive. That interception was retuned for a TD by UW LB Edufan Ulufoshio. Washington then forced a Cal punt on their second drive which Dawgs WR Rome Odunze promptly returned 83 yards for a TD. Washington now led 14-0 before taking an offensive snap. Finley led Cal to a TD on their next possession but, the PAT was missed by PK Michael Luckhurst. Cal then trailed 14-6. That would be the closest the Golden Bears would be to the Huskies for the rest of the game. Finley would throw two more interceptions in the first quarter alone. Those picks were turned into 10 points by the UW offense that finally got to see the field. Then in the second quarter Husky QB Michael Penix, Jr. torched the Cal secondary which led to the Purple Gang holding a 45-12 lead at the break. The third quarter saw Penix, Jr. throw for one more TD before taking the rest of the game off. Adding injury to insult, the Dawgs defense knocked Finley out of the game late in the period with a back injury. The fourth quarter saw Cal pile up yards and points against the Washington backups well after the game was long decided. Penix, Jr. completed 19 of 25 tosses for 304 yards, four TDs and an interception, while RB Dillon Johnson led all rushers with 66 yards on 10 carries and a TD. Odunze had himself a day. In addition to the punt return TD, he hauled in five passes for 125 yards and two TDs. His teammate, WR Ja'Lynn Polk caught eight balls for 127 yards and two TDs of his own. For the error-prone Bears, Finley completed 17 of 32 passes for 207 yards, two TD and three interceptions.
Telling Stat: 3+ 1 in 1= L; QB Ben Finley's three interceptions plus Cal giving up a punt return TD in the first quarter doomed the Golden Bears to defeat.
Observations
...Trivia Time; Arizona beat Stanford in Palo Alto in 2009. Who were the starting QBs for the teams in that game?
...A big hole in his boat; After their epic collapse against Northwestern, one has to wonder how much longer will the Minnesota admin keep rowing the boat for HC P.J. Fleck.
...He said it; WSU HC Jake Dicker took Lee Corso and ESPN to task after his Cougars beat Oregon State in a game Corse called the "No One Watches Bowl." Hey Lee!
...33 the hard way; Iowa ran just 33 offensive plays in their 31-0 shutout loss to Penn State and those 33 plays netted just 76 total yards. Faceplam.
...And then there were five; Virginia, Sam Houston State, Connecticut, Buffalo, and Nevada are the only winless teams left in the FBS.
...70; The Dolphins hung 70 points on the Broncos last Sunday. That was the first time since the Redskins walloped the Giants, 72-41 back in 1966 that an NFL team has scored 70 points in a game.
...She's got game; Shenandoah Safety Haley Van Voorhis became the first female non-kicker to appear in a college game on any level when she saw action against Juniata college this past weekend. She's a Safety!
...Quietly making noise; Fresno State is 4-0 this year and owns the nation's longest winning streak at 13 games.
..They move the chains; Kansas leads the nation with a 3rd Down Conversion rate of 60.5%.
...Overlooked; While UW's Michael Penix, Jr is a heralded Heisman candidate, his counterpart across the Evergreen State, Cameron Ward of Wazzu is having an amazing season and is right behind Penix, Jr, in almost every statistical category.
...Just a rumor; There is no truth to the rumor that the University of Iowa has changed its' name to I-wa because their O has been missing for years.
...The Big Red W; Shockwaves were sent through he Ivy League when Cornell PK Jackson Kennedy's 30-yard FG attempt sailed over the crossbar to hand the Big Red a 23-21 upset win over the defending Ivy League Champion Yale Bulldogs.
...Memory of a generation; When us Gen X'ers were kids this CBS graphic let us know that another weekend in the fall was essentially over.
...4th and Excellent; Army is an amazing 13 for 14 on fourth down conversions.
...Misery on the Midway; How bad are the 0-3 Chicago Bears? They are 3.5 point underdogs this week at home to Broncos. Yes, those Broncos that just gave up 70 points to Miami last Sunday.
...Perspective; If an off day for USC's offense results in over 500 yards of offense and 42 points, I can live with it.
...In a nutshell; Got this dispatch summing up Alabama's win over Ole Miss from our field office near Oxford, Mississippi. "Ole Miss did not capitalize on any of the opportunities Alabama gave them (in the first half). In the second half, Alabama did not give them opportunities and Nick Saban schooled his prodigal son. "
...Graphic evidence; If anything shows how out of sync USC's offense was last week, check out this unexpected snap that nailed Caleb Williams in a sensitive spot v. ASU. Nads!
...Better luck the second time?; Syracuse is 4-0 for the second straight year. Last year they started out 4-0 and finished up at 7-6. Can they improve on last year's finish? We will wait and see.
...It can't win; The defensive scheme run by USC DC Alex Grinch just can't be relied on to win a conference title, much less a national title.
...Day ranting into the night; After TheeeOSU beat Notre Dame on the final play of the game, Buckeyes HC Ryan Day went off on former Fighting Irish HC Lou Holtz who spoke disparagingly about his team.
...Trivia Answer; In that game, which Arizona won 43-38, the starting QBs were Nick Foles for Arizona and Andrew Luck for Stanford. The two combined to complete 61 of 86 passes for 838 yards and six TDs.
...10x2 for ND; Notre Dame had just 10 men on the field for the final two plays in their loss to TheeOSU. Here's a close up shot before the final snap where you can see where the defensive end over the left offensive tackle was missing.
Pac 12 Overreactions
Washington might run away with the Pac 12 title.
A fully heathy Utah could be scary.
USC is a nine win team.
ASU will win five games.
Stanford is still a 1-11 team.
Arizona won't go bowling.
Wazzu playing on spite and anger is an eight win team.
UCLA's bye week is gonna feel really really long.
Oregon will lose to Washington.
Colorado is still a six win team.
Oregon State will beat Oregon.
Cal is a 5-7 team.
CFL Update
It's Toronto's world in the 110 yard league. The Argonauts have already clinched the East Division title at 12-1 with five games left in the regular season. The West Division is a dogfight to see who will take the crown as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and BC Lions stand tied at the top with identical 10-4 records. It is a down year overall for the league as nobody else in either division has a winning record. To keep up with the CFL give the guys at 3 Down Nation a look. 3downnation
Ugly Uniform of the Week
Notre Dame wins for this all-green ensemble that just looks like they tried to channel their inner Oregon and failed.
Departments
Low Score Game of the Week: Washington, DC- This game comes from our nation's capitol where the Alfred University Saxons held on for a 9-6 road win over the Catholic University Cardinals. In the first quarter after being held out of the end zone on a goal line stand, Alfred took an early 2-0 lead when they caused a fumble that resulted in a safety at the end of the first quarter. The Cardinals managed to take a 6-2 lead into the half despite the 20+ MPH winds and near constant rainfall. Cardinal PK Connor Gill provided the second quarter points on FGs of 31 and 24 yards. Alfred then took the lead for good in the third quarter when RB Max Freeman IV burst thought he Catholic defense for a 10-yard TD run. Catholic had one last chance to send this game to OT but Gill's 35-yard FG attempt with :19 left sailed wide.
Blowout Game of the Week: Davidson, NC- This week's game shows what happens when an FCS school hosts and NAIA school. The Davidson Wildcats crushed the St. Andrews Knights, 84-6. The Wildcats were even handed in their beatdown of the Knights. They scored 42 points in the first half and another 42 points in the second. 15 different Davidson backs combined to carry the ball 54 times for 463 yards and nine TDs, while QB Cleland Coulter completed 10 of his 11 pass attempts for 149 yards and two TDs.
Razorback Report: Baton Rouge, LA- The Hogs are quickly earning the title of an almost team as they almost won for the second straight week, losing to LSU, 34-31. The Hogs tied the game at 31-31 with 5:06 to play, but then let LSU march 72 yards in nine plays to Arkansas three-yard line. With :03 left, PK Damian Ramos nailed the 20-yard FG as time ran out to give the Bayou Bengals the win. In the bitter loss, Hogs QB K.J. Jefferson completed 21 of 31 aerials for 289 yards, three TDs and two interceptions. Up next for Arkansas is a trip to Jerryworld to play Texas A&M.
This Week's Three Things About Nothing...
It's fun to see Halloween decorations starting to go up in the neighborhood.
Flat tires and working on the waterfront go hand in hand.
Fall has officially arrived and I dig it.
Until next time, remember that good teams find a way to win on the road.
-The Commissionner
