Two bye weeks again in the Pac, but two teams went out of conference so we had a full six game slate. USC had is annual weekender to the Bay Area, Utah went to Pittsburgh and got a much needed win on Heinz Field, and Oregon and Stanford continued to look great. Let’s honor the best of the best and the worst of the worst in the Week 7 Pac-12 Roundup.
BIGGEST WIN OF THE WEEK: Hard to believe we’re more than half way through the season and the OREGON DUCKS haven’t taken this category yet. The Ducks were the pre-season media favorites to win the Pac-12, but haven’t made a big splash against a good team yet. So in spite of losing LaMichael James to an injury last week against Cal, the Ducks had to come up big against the only AP top 25 team that will visit Eugene this year.
With College Gameday set up in front of Autzen Stadium and the whole nation watching in prime time, Oregon not only beat the Sun Devils, but made a major statement about the quality of it’s program.
Not many teams could lose a Heisman candidate tailback and an all-conference quarterback to injury and maintain top 10 level performance against one of the top teams in its league. But that’s exactly what Oregon did on Saturday.
The Ducks proved they are as deep at the skill positions and innovative schematically as any team in the nation, plugging-in Kenjon Barner and De’Anthony Thomas at tailback and rushing for 327 yards.
Quarterback Darron Thomas was injured early in the 2nd half, but Oregon’s offense hardly missed a beat. Bryan Bennett jumped in for Thomas and the Offense exploded just like it does every 2nd half. Bennett was not very effective in the passing game, but the Ducks rushing totals jumped from 58 yards in the 1st half to an insane 269 in the 2nd. Bennett was very confident running the option and he averaged over 13 yards per carry himself.
More than anything, this speaks to the incredible job done by Chip Kelly at Oregon. He has both recruited a fantastic amount of talent and he has that talent exceptionally well prepared to run his ingenious system. He is truly one of the great head coaches in college sports.
For ASU’s part, on Saturday night, they certainly played like themselves. Brock Osweiler had a very nice night throwing for 291 yards and two touchdowns and ASU had 460 yards of offense.
The Devils’ athletic defense bottled up Oregon’s rushing attack in the 1st half and forced a pair of turnovers. But the Pac-12’s most penalized team was even more penalized than usual on Saturday, giving the Ducks 95 yards on 8 (mostly defensive) flags. The Devils also turned the ball over twice themselves, negating the turnover advantage have thrived on in nearly every game this season.
Oregon’s explosive offense takes advantage of mistakes and the Devils made pleanty on Saturday night. Arizona State probably did not expect to win this game and still go into their bye week as the clear favorites in the Pac-12 South, but there is clearly a lot of room for improvement from this talented group.
WORST LOSS: Not any horrible losses this week, but the CAL BEARS had pretentions of contending for a bowl position in the tough North Division, but were
humiliated at home by USC in front of a national, prime-time television audience. The Bears play solid defense and have an exceptional playmaker in WR Keenan Allen, but once again, were unable to overcome a horrible game from quarterback Zach Maynard.
Cal out-gained USC, had the same number of 1st downs and the exact same 3rd down percentage, yet lost at home by 3 touchdowns. It’s no coincidence that +3 was also USC’s margin in the turnover column.
Maynard accounted for 4 of Cal’s 5 Turnovers and has the worst completion percentage in the Pac-12. The foundation is there for Cal to be a contender in the conference, but nothing will come of it if the Bears don’t get vastly improved play from that all-important position.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Let’s spread some love up North and give this week’s award to the surprise performer of the season: WASHINGTON QB KEITH
PRICE. In my pre-season preview of the Huskies, I predicted that UW would more than likely get a jump in it’s passing production this season in spite of losing Jake Locker. But I had no idea that things would be this good in Seattle.
Sophomore quarterback Keith Price is lighting up the Pac-12 passing leaderboard right now, ranking #1 in Touchdowns, #2 in QB Rating, and #3 in completion percentage.
On Saturday Price threw a UW record 4 TDs in the first half as the Dawgs topped 50 points for the first time in over a decade. The Huskies beat CU so bad that Price was pulled in the early 4th quarter, and Washington Head Coach Steve Sarkisian felt like he was at USC again.
Last week I said a 2nd straight bowl was likely for Washington. Now with 5 wins and Arizona, OSU and Wazzu still on the schedule, it’s all but a certainty. Washington still has its toughest games (Stanford, Oregon, USC) ahead, but regardless of how they shake out, it’s clear Steve Sarkisian is building something lasting in Seattle.
HEY COACH ERIKSON! YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME! As mentioned above, the ASU Sun Devils were out-matched on Saturday by an Oregon team with more big game experience. But the Devils were only down 4 points at the half and still had a chance to win in the 4th quarter, but Denis Erickson played like he was ahead in the game, not behind.
Oregon’s offense caught fire in the 3rd period scoring touchdowns on drives of 1:05 and 1:50, and a Field Goal on a drive lasting less than 2:30.
ASU was simply not getting stops and trailed by 14 when their first drive of the 4th quarter went 57 yards to the Oregon 13, and Dennis Erickson kicked a Field Goal…why? The Devils needed two touchdowns. Alex Garoutte’s kick sailed through the uprights and the Devils still needed two touchdowns!
ASU kicked off to the Ducks and 3:18 later, Oregon was erasing ASU’s FG with one of their own (and P12R wrote the words “Game Over” in his playbook).
WEEK OF THE GREAT MATCHUP: Next Saturday, you can either despair that it’s Week 8 and the college football season is 2/3 over, or you can enjoy the most intreaguing slate of matchups so far this season.
Utah and Cal meet in San Francisco this weekend as mirror images of each other. Both have one of the most respected coaches in the conference at the helm. Both have superb defenses (Utah is #2 in total D in the Pac, Cal is #3), and playmakers at receiver.
Sadly, both also have major issues at quarterback. Cal is breaking-in their least accurate QB since Joe Ayoob (you almost forgot about that disaster, didn’t you?), and Utah is dealing with an injury to starting QB Jordan Wynn. The Utes have been forced to turn to JC transfer Jon Hays who only joined the program in August. Hays is brand new to the offense at Utah and has not yet been very productive.
Both teams also turned the ball over 5 times in their last conference game, and both have a 3-0 non-conference record to go with a 0-3 mark in the Pac-12. Something has to give…and it will probably be the ball, to the other team. I don’t know what exactly this game will prove, but I can’t wait to watch it.
UCLA and Arizona will face-off in Tucson and it’s hard to say who will be more jealous. Arizona fans that UCLA had reason enough to keep Neuheisel this long, or UCLA fans that UA has already pulled the band-aid off and is moving on. We’ll see if the talented ‘Cats are any better without Mike Stoops on the sidelines.
If that wasn’t enough, Washington is playing well enough that it looks like they will give Stanford its first actual challenge of the season, and USC will visit South Bend for another chapter in college football’s most storied rivalry.
There’s also going to be an epic suck-off in Pullman where Oregon State and Washington State will play with both teams knowing they probably won’t have another chance this season to get a victory.
Oregon will also visit Colorado, but I have nothing to add on that one. Happy viewing everyone!