Arizona State at USC
I watched this game and Arizona State won, right? If you get to cash in good luck charms during the season to get you over the top in a tough spot the Trojans had to have cashed in every one they had in order to beat the Sun Devils 28-27 in the Coliseum this past Saturday. It was as if USC put a compilation video together of things you don’t want to have happen then go out and they all happen anyway, but you still win in spite of it. Besides the Trojans missed tackles during QB Jayden Daniel’s 38 yard first series scamper down to the USC 26, I started off encouraged in that they held Arizona State to just a field goal considering they were giving up slightly less than 35 points per game last year. USC got a quick first down on a 12 yard Kedon Slovis pass to Stephen Carr on their first possession. But then the offense stalled forcing a punt by Ben Griffiths which was fielded by Jack Jones for the Sun Devils who then fumbles and loses the ball to USC’s Quincy Jountti down at the 20 yard line. Hey, USC’s going to score and go on top!
But then, on 3rd down with 2 yards to go at the 12 yard line Kedon Slovis completes a 9 yard pass down to the Arizona 3 yard line. Senior RB Vavae Malepeai, in an attempt to score a rushing TD on the next play, tries to stretch the ball over the goal line and instead fumbles it. Give the new Trojan’s defense some credit after that as they held Arizona State to a three-and-out, got the ball back and scored on a nice eleven play 70 yard drive-going ahead 7-3 on a 2 yard Stephen Carr run. On the Sun Devil’s second possession after that score they went on a six play, 54 yard drive in slightly over two minutes to retake the lead at 10-7 on a 25 yard run by DeaMonte Trayanum and PAT by Christian Zendajas. USC comes right back on the very next series with an 80 yard, 13 play drive culminating in a Markese Stepp 1 yard run for TD and a Parker Lewis PAT to go up 14-10. On their next possession and with 6:10 left in the half, Arizona State goes 65 yards in just three plays to score again on a Jayden Daniel’s 55 yard pass to Rachaad White and PAT by Christian Zendajas to go up 17-14 where it remained through the break.
Not unusual after a half for scoring to get tougher to come by as teams go in and make adjustments, especially on defense. As a result, both teams go three-and-out on their first possessions after the half. On USC’s 2nd possession, on a 1st and 10 at their own 26 yard line, Slovis connects with Tyler Vaughns for 20 yards but then fumbles the ball. Arizona State recovers and in the process USC adds insult to injury with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty which gets the Sun Devils another 15 yards down to their own 39 yard line. Six plays and 61 yards later, including a USC pass interferrence and four runs for 54 yards by the Arizona State QB Jayden Daniels, DeaMonte Trayanum runs in for another rushing TD from the USC 17 yard line. Another Zendajas PAT makes it 24-10 for the Sun Devils. Twelve plays and 81 yards later USC is knocking at the door in the red zone. But on a 4th and 1 at the ASU six yard line they go for it and end up giving up the ball on downs. Arizona State makes them pay 70 yards later with a Christian Zendajas field goal putting the Sun Devils up 27-14.
Fifteen plays into their drive back down the field the Trojans found themselves back in a 4th down situation at the ASU 31 with 1 yard to go. Like before, instead of taking the points, they go for it and look like they’re going to pick it up on an 8 yard run by Markese Stepp who ends up fumbling-the ball forced out by Evan Fields. Credit the Trojan defense, well as much as you can considering they really sucked against the run all game long, as USC holds them to just four plays and 16 yards after the fumble, forcing the Sun Devils to punt after which some really crazy shit happened.
Down 27-14 with 4:28 left in the 4th Qtr Kedon Slovis completes three big passes, two to Tyler Vaughns for 21 yards and one to Amon-Ra St. Brown for 36 yards to get the Trojans down to the ASU 23 yard line. After a Sun Devil timeout Slovis completes one more 4 yard pass to Vavae Malepeai before getting sacked for 7 yards bringing up a 3rd down with 13 yards to go at the ASU 26 yard line and just over three minutes left in the game. USC calls a timeout to talk it over. The first pass by Slovis after the timeout, intended for Stephen Carr, is broken up. But the second pass into the end zone gets tipped by the defense out of the hands of the receiver right into the hands of another Trojan.
This next play must have made Arizona State Head Coach Herm Edwards wonder why he ever decided to get back onto the sidelines. The onside kick attempt to me made perfect sense. I mean USC is behind 27-21 with less than three minutes left in the fourth against a team that is averaging almost 7 yards per carry on the ground against them who will be able to eat up clock-only needing another Christian Zendajas field goal to put the game away. Like you’re going to give Zendajas, who has been perfect on the night and has three relatives that have been field goal kickers in the NFL, a chance at a field goal. So the Trojans go for the onside kick and as the result of a strange bounce recover the ball.
The ASU defense probably wasn’t ready for that turn of events because on 1st and 10 at the USC 45 yard line they give up consecutive runs by USC’s Vavae Malepeai of 20 and then 13 yards down to the ASU 22 yard line. After two complete passes by Slovis USC is sitting at 4th and 4 at the Sun Devil 16 yard line. A false start by the Trojans put them five yards back, 4th and 9 at the ASU 21 yard line with less than a minute and a half to go. In a play that just might make the difference in this entire shortened season for the Trojans, Slovis completes a 21 yard pass into the end zone to Drake London to put USC up 28-27. Forced into a “must pass” situation Jayden Daniels, who has been more of a game manager, connects with Geordon Porter for 18 yards and a first down to start the drive but ends up four consecutive incompletions later turning the ball back over to USC on downs with less than a minute remaining.
Overall USC had more total offense at 556 yards to 392 with 381 yards of that coming in the air for the Trojans and 258 yards on the ground for the Sun Devils. USC received five penalties against ASU’s four, a step in the right direction having averaged eight last year. Both teams fumbled and lost the ball three times with the Trojans also losing possession one more time due to an interception. The Sun Devil’s defense really outplayed USC by a lot, 104 tackles against 60 for the Trojans, with 56 solo tackles, 3 sacks, and 7 tackles for loss. USC hits the road to take on the Arizona Wildcats next while Arizona State heads back home to host Cal.
Arizona at Utah
This game was cancelled per the Pac-12. The following statement was provided by Utah Athletics on Friday, November 6th. “Over the last 24 hours, the University of Utah Department of Athletics has been informed of a number of positive COVID-19 cases among student-athletes within the football program, which necessitates that Utah’s game versus the University of Arizona scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 7 be canceled. The decision was made following the PAC-12’s football game cancellation policy as Utah does not have the minimum number of scholarship student-athletes available for the game due to the positivie cases and resulting isolation of additional football student-athletes under contact tracing protocols. The health and safety of our student-athletes and all associated with our program is our highest priority and we will continue to follow all applicable PAC-12 and local health policies and guidelines.”
UCLA at Colorado
With the Bruins allowing 34.8 points and 443.5 yards-per-game in 2019 the Los Angeles Times says it all in the first paragraph of their write-up; “With hopes of finally turning around their recent defensive struggles, UCLA made another sour first impression to open the third year of the Chip Kelly era Saturday. The Bruins gave up 525 yards and five rushing touchdowns in their 48-42 loss to Colorado, a team with a new starting quarterback and a running back making his college debut.” Wow-they got worse AND lost to an old UCLA coach in Karl Dorrell. What’s really puzzling is how after two miserable seasons Kelly hasn’t fire the Bruins Defensive Coordinator Jerry Azzinaro. His first year they were 102nd in total defense then dropped to 113th out of 130 last year. I guess they won’t be satisfied until they’re dead last. Brian Norwood, former defensive coordinator for Navy in 2019, was brought in to be the Defensive Backs coach but according to the LA Times in their preview; “his fingerprints will be all over the entire defense.” With his fingerprints everywhere you might as well arrest him because the defensive alignment left lots of room for Colorado Sophomore RB Jarek Broussard to roam, rushing 31 times for 187 yards and 3 TD’s.
If UCLA could only defend because they certainly had enough offense. Dorian-Thompson Robinson, in his third year, was looking as though he was channeling Kahlil Tate during the Rich Rodriguez era at Arizona throwing for 303 yards and 4 TD’s in the air while rushing 9 times for 110 yards and an additional TD on the ground. Throw in 57 more yards and a score on 10 carries by RB Demetric Felton and you have 475+ yards of total offense and six TD’s. With the PATs that’s 42 points, usually enough to beat anybody. That is of course unless you give up 520+ yards of total offense and 48 points to your opponents. Of course Colorado would not have had the ball to gain so many yards leading to points had UCLA not turned the ball over four times with two of those leading to TD’s. On four of five second half drives the Bruin defense finally dug in and held them to field goal attempts each time-even blocking two. But it was too little too late. Had they displayed their 2nd half intensity on defense from the start of the game Chip Kelly might have had his first home opener in three years.
Senior QB Sam Noyer, who spent three years backing up Buffaloe starter Steven Montez, was set to be a graduate transfer until Karl Dorrell talked him out of it and rewarded him with the opening game start. Although only throwing just 40 total passes those three seasons, Noyer did a solid job of managing the game and not helping the other team, connecting on 20 of 31 for 257 yards and a TD in the air as well as rushing 13 times for 64 yards and another score on the ground. The rest of Colorado’s offense and scoring was provided primarily by Sophomore RB Jarek Broussard who, after red-shirting his first two years due to multiple injuries, got his long awaited college football career off with a bang, carrying the ball 31 times for 187 yards and 3 rushing TD’s.
Running Norwood’s 4-2-5 defense last year Navy went 11-2, were ranked 10th nationally, and won the coveted Commander-in-Chief Trophy by beating both Air Force and Army in addition to Kansas State in the Liberty Bowl. After watching Colorado RB Jarek Broussard get to that 2nd level time-after-time, it will be interesting to see if any adjustments are made prior to UCLA’s upcoming game against what should be a much more formidable oppoent in Utah.