Oregon
Who would have thought that Oregon could beat an unranked Stony Brook and move up from No. 4 to No. 3, but that’s what happened as last week’s No. 3 Oklahoma struggled but finally held on to defeat Nebraska this past Saturday. Stony Brook reminded me of Washington in their Week 1 game with Montana where the Huskies scored once and never again as Oregon easily handled the Seawolves 48-7. After throwing an interception and then having to punt on their next possession, Stony Brook finally scored on an 11 play, 75 yard, 5:18 minute drive to make it a 10-7 game with the Ducks up at the end of the 1st Qtr. But that’s as close as it got with Oregon tossing a 38-0 shutout the rest of the way with another TD in the 2nd Qtr and two a piece in the third and fourth.
The game could have been a lot closer but four Stony Book turnovers led to three Oregon scores, two TD’s and a field goal. The Duck’s Senior QB Anthony Brown was very efficient, connecting on 75%+ of his 18 attempts for 159 yards, 1 TD, and no interceptions. Wanting to give his backup QB some real game experience, Oregon Head Coach Mario Cristobal turned the reins over to Freshman Ty Thompson in the 2nd half who completed 6-of-9 for 82 yards for two scores and no picks including a 54 yard bomb to fellow Freshman WR Donte Thornton, putting the Ducks up 34-2 with just about half of the fourth quarter gone.
All toll Oregon scored three times in the air and three times on the ground against Stony Brook’s one sole rushing TD. The Seawolves had the ball a couple of minutes longer than Oregon but the Ducks did a lot more with the ball when they had it with 12 more first downs, five more scores, and 150+ more total yards. Stony Brook hurt themselves throughout the game with four turnovers and thirteen penalties. This was obviously a game Oregon was expected to win but also one of those games that could have dropped them in the rankings if they didn’t win decisively. Fortunately they did and Oklahoma struggled keeping our PAC-12 College Football Playoff rep still in the hunt. The Ducks will be home to take on Arizona this coming Saturday.
Washington
The Huskies finally won a game in a way in which before the season started most everyone thought they would in a 52-3 blowout of Arkansas State. Butch Jones was hired as head coach of the Red Wolves this past December after the departure of Blake Anderson who left to coach Utah State. With head coaching experience at Tennessee, Cincinnati and Central Michigan, as well as three seasons on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama it is expected that the program should improve, but probably not much in Year 1.
In a committee approach Washington used four RB’s who accounted for 150 of their 200 yards on the ground with Senior Sean McGrew and Sophomore Richard Newton combining for 3 rushing TD’s. In the air, Washington’s Freshman QB Dylan Morris connected on slightly under 60% of his 39 attempts for 367 yards, 3 TD’s, and two picks with 175 of those yards and one of the scores hauled in by Freshman WR Jalen McMillan who averaged 17.5 yards per reception. On the season so far Morris has completed 57% of his passes for 886 yards, 4 TD’s and 5 interceptions—not good enough for him and not good enough for the Husky pass defense that has allowed 8 sacks.
Arkansas State’s Junior QB James Blackman and Sophomore Lane Hatcher completed about 45% of their passes, 22-of-49, for 220 yards but were unable to connect in the end zone while being sacked three times with Hatcher also throwing a pick. On the ground they rushed 23 times for a mere 48 yards, slightly over 2 yards per carry. In addition to an interception the Red Wolves fumbled and lost the ball twice, one of those a 72 yards return for TD by Husky Freshman LB Bralen Trice. Washington’s good performance was just in the nick of time as they open PAC-12 play this coming Saturday against Cal.
Oregon State
The Beavers had it going in the air and on the ground all game long in a 42-0 blowout win against Idaho. Well actually, not quite all game long, as they didn’t score in the 4th Qtr. But they didn’t need to after scording 2 TD’s in each of the first three while keeping the Vandals out of the end zone and scoreless. Based on back-to-back wins It seems that Sophomore Chance Nolan will be Oregon State’s QB going forward. He’s been very efficient since replacing Senior QB Sam Noyer in the third quarter of their opening loss against Purdue. In the game against Idaho he completed well over 70% of his passes for 3 TD’s with 7 different receivers picking up double digit yards. Noyer was put in late, after the game was decided, but it’s clear his confidence hasn’t returned connecting on only 1-of-3 passes as well as throwing an interception.
On the ground the Beavers rushed 39 times for 248 yards and 3 TD’s, with Junior RB B. J. Baylor picking up two of those giving him seven on the year. The ground game for the Vandals wasn’t as productive, rushing 35 times for 108 yards with any effort towards scoring met with 10 tackles for loss by Oregon State. Idaho’s passing game was equally ineffective as their two QB’s combined for just 13-of-25 for only 84 yards. The Beavers scored TD’s on six of their first seven possessions and appear ready to start PAC-12 play on the road this coming Saturday against the Trojans who better get ready, after allowing an average of 240 yards in the air, to see a whole lot of the Oregon State QB Chance Nolan as well as RB B. J. Baylor who is tied for first in the nation and first in the PAC-12 in rushing TD’s.
Cal
The Golden Bears finally got their first win of the season this past Saturday, 42-30 against Sacramento State, in their last chance to prepare for PAC-12 play on the road at Washington, another team that just picked up its first win as well. Without a couple of missed field goals by the Hornets and an interception that led to a Cal TD, Sacramento State could have been within two points late in the third. But instead, the Bears pulled ahead 42-20 and didn’t need to score again despite a 4th Qtr FG and TD by the Hornets.
Cal had possession of the ball eleven minutes longer while picking up 29 first downs and 534 total yards against 467 yards for Sacramento State, with the vast majority of those coming from Junior QB Jake Dunniway who completed 25-of-43 for 370 yards, 2 TD’s, and 1 pick. For Cal, Senior QB Chase Garbers completed 22-of-34 for 288 yards, 1 TD, and 1 pick in addition to rushing 4 times for 68 yards and another TD. All toll, the Bears rushed 33 times for 246 yards and 3 TD’s with Sophomore RB Damien Moore picking up 87 yards and the other two TD’s. The Hornets didn’t rush for a whole lot, just 59 yards total, but their Junior RB Asher O’Hara picked up 49 of those and two TD’s. There were only two tackles for loss by either team and no sacks which should bode well for Dylan Morris this coming Saturday in Husky Stadium.
As Cal Head Coach Justin Wilcox said after the game; “”You never minimize a win. It’s hard winning in college football, regardless of who you’re playing. … It’s good to get a win. But we all know that we need to be much, much better.”
Stanford
For most of the first half it looked as though Stanford, on the road for their third consecutive game, was going to have to really struggle to beat the SEC’s current last place team-a Vanderbilt squad that hadn’t won a home game since November of 2019. In a decision Head Coach Shaw would later say he regretted, the Cardinal had a 1st and goal at the Vanderbilt two yard line and after a knocked down pass and two failed running plays faced a 4th and goal. Instead of taking the three points, Stanford went for it and were stuffed. But, as Daniel Wu wrote in his review for The Stanford Daily; “heading into halftime barely ahead 17-14 in a brawl with the SEC’s basement dweller, in a couple of electrifying minutes the Cardinal turned things around to show off their potential — and some of the team’s future stars. Freshman cornerback Jimmy Wyrick lept in front of Vanderbilt quarterback Ken Seals’s pass to secure his first career interception. Two plays later, senior wide receiver Brycen Tremayne cashed in the turnover with a jump-ball touchdown. The Stanford defense forced a three-and-out, and sophomore running back Casey Filkins broke loose on the punt return and took the ball 48 yards into the red zone. Sophomore kicker Joshua Karty drilled the field goal to tack on an additional three points and sent the Cardinal back into the tunnel with an improbable [27-14] lead-[scoring] 10 points in one minute and 48 seconds.”
That momentum helped Stanford outscore Vanderbilt 14-9 in the second half and secure a 41-23 win, their second of the season. But their inability to push the ball into the end zone from the 2 yard line earlier in the game and the fact that their defense allowed 247 yards on the ground does not bode well as they move into PAC-12 competition against three teams in a row with outstanding running games, starting with UCLA this coming Saturday.
Against the Commodore’s, Stanford Sophomore QB Tanner McKee connected on 65% of his passes, 19-of-29 for 218 yards, 2 TD’s and no picks while the Cardinal rushed 27 times for 204 yards and 3 TD’s on the ground, including one by McKee himself-giving him three scores on the day. The teams were within 24 total yards of each other with Vanderbilt picking up a few more first downs and controlling the time of possession by a few minutes but also turning the ball over twice, one leading to a Stanford TD. Not a perfect game, but a win.