Oregon at Utah
There were certainly lots of signs all along the way: Week 1 against Fresno State the game was tied deep into the second half until the Ducks finally put it away 31-24; They lost to Stanford in overtime, 31-24—Stanford who is 2-7 and last in the PAC-12 North; They just barely got by UCLA 34-31; and were finally exposed this last week by Utah 38-7. Interesting note going into this coming weekend, Oregon State was one of the three losses on Utah’s schedule this year. Would a healthy and available CJ Verdell, injured early in the season and out for the year, have made the difference? Well let’s see, in Week-2 against the Ohio State defense he rushed for 161 yards and 2 TD’s while averaging 8 yards per carry. He also collected 3 passes from Anthony Brown for another 24 yards and another TD. Do I think it would have made a difference—hell yeah! Verdell’s injury was huge and they are in jeopardy of losing the PAC-12 North to either their very motivated in-state rival or the upstart Washington State Cougars.
Now back to this game that started out slow for both teams with neither making any progress on their first possessions, six plays and a punt for Utah and a three-and-out for Oregon. But on Utah’s next possession we got our first glimpse of what was in store. On a thirteen play 63 yard drive, that took over six minutes, the Utes ran the ball right down Oregon’s throat, eleven times to be precise, resulting in Sophomore RB Tavion Thomas’ first of three TD’s on the day. With Oregon unable to make any progress, two punts and two failed field goals, Utah put on an offensive clinic while putting up three more TD’s by the break, two inside the last minute of the half—one on a punt return for TD as time ran out—now up 28-0. In their first possession after the break Oregon finally got points up on the board on a nine play, 75 yard drive resulting in a 36 yard Anthony Brown pass to Devon Williams. But Utah got it right back with their own 75 yard drive and Tavion Thomas TD run, still leaving Oregon 28 down, now 35-7. Other than a field goal by Utah half way through the 4th Qtr to make it 38-7 that was all the scoring.
Oregon’s QB Anthony Brown threw for 231 yards, 1 TD, and no picks but only connected on slightly less than 50% of his throws, exacerbated by the Utah defense who picked up three sacks and six tackles for loss—holding the Duck’s ground game to just 63 yards on 23 attempts and keeping them out of the end zone. Utah’s QB, Cameron Rising, actually picked up less yards than Brown and did not connect in the end zone either, but he was also free of interceptions, had a better completion percentage, and ran an efficient game—throwing exactly when needed to keep the defense honest and their running game successful to the tune of 208 yards and four TD’s, one by Rising himself.
On the night Utah picked up six more first downs, had about 100 more yards of total offense, was successful on 3rd down almost 80% of the time and had the ball just about 10 minutes longer. Every year we talk a little about the PAC-12’s cannibalization of itself as the season progresses. As the AP wrote for ESPN in their recap; “Utah ended Oregon’s College Football Playoff hopes in dominant fashion. The Ducks’ 38-7 loss Saturday night also ended any chance the Pac-12 champion will claim one of the bids in the four-team playoff.” For Utah, this is the fourth year in a row they have won the PAC-12 South Title. If Oregon can beat their in-state rival Oregon State this coming weekend they will get a chance to avenge the loss in the PAC-12 Conference Championship Game on Friday, December 3rd, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Arizona at Washington State
This should have been easy for the Cougars and it was. Led by Sophomore QB Jayden de Laura’s 259 yards in the air and 4 TD passes, two each to Senior WR’s Travell Harris and Calvin Jackson Jr., along with RB Max Borghi’s career high 139 yards rushing and 2 more TD’s, Washington State easily defeated the Wildcats 44-18 at home to improve to 6-5 and become bowl eligible. Pretty impressive in a year in which they lost their head coach and four assistants. As reported by the AP for ESPN, Interim Head Coach Jake Dickert had this to say about Borghi and the team in general; “That was classic Max Borghi. Our fans will remember Max and obviously he’s gonna be a hall of famer here one day, so it was exciting to put a stamp on his career like that.” Regarding the team; “The guys took the field tonight with a passion and an energy and a focus that wasn’t going to be matched.”
Washington State Sophomore WR Joey Hobert didn’t have any receptions on the night but he still got his hands on the ball a couple of times while blocking two Arizona punts and helping his team with great field position. The Cougars rushed 36 times for 223 yards to go along with the 259 yards in the air for a total offense of 482 yards compared to 369 yards for the Wildcats. Neither team was very good on third down with Washington State only converting slightly better than 35% of the time. But Arizona was way worse with a completion percentage of just 23%. Between Hobert’s two blocked punts and the Wildcats 10 penalties, 1 interception and 3 fumbles, it was one step forward and two steps back all game long for Arizona in this one.
Both teams will be facing their in-state rivals this coming weekend with Washington State taking on Washington at Alaska Airlines Husky Stadium on the Friday after Thanksgiving in the traditional Apple Cup. A win by Washington State combined with a win by the Beavers over the Ducks will result in a three way tie with the Cougars winning the PAC-12 North on a tie-breaker. Arizona State will be hosting Arizona at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe for what is know as the Duel in the Desert, a rivalry that dates back to 1899.
Washington at Colorado
Let’s see, Washington had almost 250 yards more of total offense, 426 to 183, had 22 first downs compared to 9 for the Buffaloes, converted on 3rd down over 65% of the time compared to 14%, had the ball 13 minutes longer and guess what—still found a way to lose the game 20-17. After Colorado scored a field goal on their first possession, Washington took the ball 63 yards on an extended seven plus minute 12 play drive—all the way down to 1st and goal at the Colorado 3 yard line. Taking a timeout to talk it over and make sure they had their Huskies in a row they came out and Jimmy Lake’s favorite QB Dylan Morris mishandles the snap, fumbles the ball, and Colorado Senior LB Jack Lamb picks it up and runs it back to the house to go up 10-0. It wasn’t the last assist they got from Morris who also threw up two interceptions and 3 incomplete passes while sitting at their own 22 yard line with two minutes left in a game they were trailing by just three points to turn the ball back over to Colorado on downs.
Colorado Freshman QB Brendon Lewis connected on 14-of-25 for just 112 yards, 0 TD’s, and no picks while their rushing game was held to 71 yards on 27 attempts and a lone score by Lewis. Throw in the Morris fumble returned for a TD and a couple of field goals and that’s all the offense you need to beat Washington these days. Like Karl Dorrell said after the game; “Well, we found another way to win at home. It’s interesting to look at the stat sheet, and you would say how did they win that game?” Sitting just above the bottom in the PAC-12 South with a record of 4-7 overall, the Buffaloes will play their last game of this season this coming Friday on the road in Salt Lake against a Utah team that just destroyed Oregon. Washington will be playing on Friday as well as they host the yearly in-state rivalry game against Washington State which dates back 121 years to 1900. Named the Apple Cup in 1962, the game is traditionally played on the Friday after Thanksgiving and marks the end of the regular season for both programs. For Washington, like Colorado, it will mercifully be their last game this year.
Arizona State at Oregon State
After becoming bowl eligible the week before, Oregon State came into this game with a higher purpose in mind. As head coach Jonathan Smith said after their win against Stanford last week; “There’s no question win number six is big. I’m not going to dance around that [but] we’ve got a couple more games that can mean a whole lot.” With Utah knocking off Oregon just prior to the start of this game the Beavers knew going in that if they defeated Arizona State they would have a chance at winning the PAC-12 North title in the 125th meeting between the Beavers and the Ducks—fifth longest series between FBS schools. But it’s actually a little more complicated than that. Even though they have the second best overall record in the PAC-12 North at 7-4, they are tied with Washington State in PAC-12 Conference wins at 5-3 and more importantly, the Cougars own the tie breaker having beaten the Beavers 31-24 on October 9th. So they would not only have to beat the Ducks, Oregon State will have to hope that the hapless Washington Huskies can keep their seven game winning streak alive against the Cougars.
As far as this game goes make it a perfect 7-for-7 this season at Reser Stadium in Corvallis for Oregon State and as Donnie Druin wrote in his recap for FanNaton; “The Sun Devils didn’t exactly jump out of the gates as Quarterback Jayden Daniels threw an interception on the second play from scrimmage, and that would be a sign of things to come for Arizona State.” Although it took the Beavers a couple of possessions to get points up on the board, starting with a long 52 yard field goal by PK Everett Hayes, they scored TD’s on their next two possessions as well to go up 17-0 at the half.
Arizona State tightened things down after the break and the Beavers struggled in the third quarter, punting twice, and turning the ball over on downs–unable to score. In the mean time the Sun Devils were catching up, first with a field goal and then a TD on the back of a botched running play and fumble that gave Arizona State the ball 1st and goal at the Oregon State 4 yard line. Two plays later Deamonte Trayanum ran it into the end zone to get the Sun Devils within a possession at 17-10. But just five plays later Junior LB Jack Colletto on a direct snap from a wildcat formation took the ball 47 yards to the house puting the Beavers up 24-10. Arizona State had a couple more cracks at it but were held to a three-and-out on the first and on the second, between two incompletions, two false start penalties and a sack by the Beavers on third and 17, were stopped for good as QB Jayden Daniels threw up one more incompletion on 4th and 18 at the ASU 38 yard line with just 2:22 left in the game. On 2nd and 5 at the ASU 33 yard line Oregon State’s RB BJ Baylor ran for 24 yards for a 1st and goal at the Arizona State 9 yard line with 1:40 left on the clock which the Beavers ran out in three victory formation plays.
Oregon State will have a short week to get ready for their high stakes game on the road against Oregon this coming Friday while Arizona State will go back home to Sun Devil Stadium to host the Duel in the Desert against in-state rival Arizona. A win by Washington over the Cougars and the Beavers over Oregon will result in Oregon State representing the North in the PAC-12 Conference Champsionship game.