Northwestern at No. 19 USC
This is the USC team that I think we would have all loved to see last week on the road in their narrow 21-17 win against Nebraska. And by that I don’t mean performing at an other worldly level—just the level that they’re capable of. Last week, the Trojan’s Junior QB Jayden Maiava’s pass completion percentage was under 40% while back in the comfortable confines of the Coliseum against Northwestern this past Friday night he connected on 72% of his passes. USC’s been averaging slightly over 300 yards in the air per game and picked up 309 in this one. They’ve been averaging 39 points per game and won this one 38-17. Last week they couldn’t score at all in the 1st Qtr and only had six points by the half. At home they scored in every quarter, were ahead 21-14 at the half, and then held Northwestern to just three after the break while scoring 17 more of their own. For a while on Saturday it also looked as though the Trojans with a 5-1 record in the Big Ten were going to get exactly the kind of help that they needed as Penn State was ahead of the Buckeyes 24-20 late in the 4th Qtr. But then, with just 36 seconds left in the game, the Hoosier’s Junior QB Fernando Mendoza connected on a 4 yard TD pass to WR Omar Cooper Jr. to win it 27-24 on the road in Beaver Stadium and stay undefeated in the Big Ten ahead of Ohio State in second, USC in third, and the Oregon Ducks in fourth.
With USC never leading in their Week-10 game against Nebraska until the fourth quarter, this game was much less stressful to watch as they took a 7-0 lead right from the start on a text book seven plus minute, 16 play, 82 yard opening drive and 7 yard TD pass from Junior QB Jayden Maiava to WR Makai Lemon and never trailed the entire game. The Wildcats would tie the score at 7-7 on a seven minute drive of their own and TD pass from Senior QB Preston Stone to Junior WR Griffin Wilde on their first possession as well. The 2nd Qtr would start exactly the same way, a TD from USC to retake the lead 14-7 on a 6 yard Maiava run into the end zone followed by a Northwestern TD run by Sophomore RB Caleb Komolafe four minutes later to tie it up at 14-14 with over seven minutes left to play in the half. Both defenses stiffened up after that leading to a four play punt by the Trojans and the Wildcats being held to a three-and-out. But then a USC 55 yard explosive run by King Miller, a 13 yard pass from Maiava to Ja’Kobi Lane, and another run by Miller—this one for 12 yards into the end zone would put the Trojans up 21-14. With back-to-back three-and-outs and then a fumble by Northwestern on their next possession that’s where the score would stay going into the locker room.
As it turns out that seven point difference would be as close as the Wildcats would get the rest of the way. After holding Northwestern to a punt on their first possession of the 3rd Qtr., the Trojans would score again 8 plays and 91 yards later on a 10 yard TD pass from Maiava to Junior WR Ja’Kobi Lane to double the score 28-14. The Wildcats would eat into that lead just a little bit with time expiring in the 3rd Qtr on a 33 yard field goal by Senior Place Kicker Jack Olsen to make it 28-17. But it would be the last points for Northwestern as the Trojans would shutout the Wildcats in the fourth quarter while putting up ten more points of their own on a TD run by Junior Makai Lemon and a 22 yard field goal by Freshman Punter Ryon Sayeri to make it 38-17 with over four minutes left to play. But after holding Northwestern to another three-and-out the Trojans would play out the clock for their fifth Big Ten Conference victory.
For USC, Junior QB Jayden Maiava connected on 24-of-33 for 1 click shy of 300 yards, 2 TD’s—1 each to Junior WR’s Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane—and 1 interception while also rushing 4 times for another 10 yards and a TD. Lemon and Lane collectively pulled down 18 receptions for 235 of the team’s 309 yards in the air. On the ground, walk-on RB King Miller was the workhorse again for USC in this game rushing 15 times for 127 of the team’s 173 yards and 1 of their 3 TD’s with Maiava and Lemon getting the other two. For Northwestern, Senior QB Preston Stone was 20-of-30 for 150 yards, 1 TD to Junior WR Griffin Wilde, and no interceptions. On the ground, Sophomore RB Caleb Komolafe led the way with 118 of the team’s 130 yards and their only TD. USC led in first downs, 24-13; total yards of offense, 482-280; picked up their third downs better than 50% of the time and were perfect on the two fourth down conversions they tried; they played a pretty clean game for once with just 4 penalties for only 30 yards, won the time-of-possession by about five minutes, and had one less turnover than Northwestern. All the Trojans can do at this point is keep their head down and take care of business which is to win their next game against an Iowa team who lost a close one at home on Saturday against Oregon.
No. 9 Oregon at No. 20 Iowa
Oregon head coach Dan Lanning probably owes Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith a thank you for this win. The Duck’s Senior Place Kicker Atticus—sometimes known as Automatticus—Sappington hit a 39 yard field goal to turn a one point deficit into a two point 18-16 win with just three seconds left in the game on the road. With a field goal percentage right at 93% he led the PAC-12 in 2023 and was ranked fifth nationally while playing for Oregon State in Corvallis. When the PAC-12 broke up and Jonathan Smith took the Big Ten job at Michigan State, Sappington transferred to Oregon and has been their field goal and kick-off specialist for the last two years. The fact that this was a low scoring affair wasn’t a surprise as the two teams came in ranked 4th and 6th nationally in points allowed per game at 12.4 for Iowa and 13.5 for Oregon. With the easiest schedule left and just squeaking by Penn State this past Saturday it looks as though Indiana will probably be on top of the Big Ten at the end of the regular season. But if Ohio State, currently sitting 2nd, loses to Michigan and USC wins out—including their games against Iowa and Oregon—it will be the Trojans facing the Hoosiers in the Big Ten Championship Game as they hold the tie breaker over Michigan. For the Ducks to get in, along with Michigan knocking off Ohio State, they needed this win against Iowa, as well as their upcoming games against Minnesota, Washington, and USC.
Back to this game. It was a slow starter for sure with the only points in the first quarter being scored by Oregon on a safety when a botched snap from Iowa to their punter standing in the end zone was recovered by the Ducks for a 2-0 lead with just five minutes gone in the game. Their possession afterwards resulted in an interception which Iowa was not able to convert—having to punt the ball back sitting 4th and 14 at their own 37 yard line. Starting from their own 18 yard line the Ducks would start the second quarter off with a 19 yard TD run by their Freshman RB Dierre Hill Jr at the end of an 8 play 82 yard drive to go up 9-0. Iowa would finally join the party with a TD of their own six minutes later at the end of a 10 play 75 yard drive and 3 yard TD pass from Senior QB Mark Gronowski to Freshman TE DJ Vonnahme to cut the lead back to just two points, 9-7, with just under six minutes left in the half. Oregon would be held to a three-and-out on their next possession with the Hawkeyes having to punt the ball back after their turn just yielded 11 yards in five plays thanks to a sack. Starting at their own 20 yard line with less than two minutes left before the break Oregon moved the ball 41 yards on three consecutive running plays by Senior RB Noah Whittington. Two short passes and another run by Whittington got them down to the Iowa 28 yard line where with just two seconds left the Ducks’ Place Kicker Atticus Sappington would connect on a 46 yard field goal to put Oregon up 12-7 at the half.
Just like the first quarter, points were hard to come by in the third. After holding Oregon to a three-and-out Iowa would fumble the ball inside the Ducks’ red zone 11 plays into their almost seven minute drive. Starting from their own 13 yard line Oregon would capitalize on that mistake with another Sappington field goal—this one from 40 yards to put the Ducks up 15-7 with time running out in the third quarter. Iowa would score on their first two possessions of the fourth quarter on either side of an Oregon punt. They cut the lead by three on their first, a huge 58 yard field goal by their Senior Place Kicker Drew Stevens to make it 15-10. On the second, their QB Mark Gronowski found the end zone himself at the end of a 93 yard 12 play drive to take a 16-15 lead after a failed two-point conversion try with less than two minutes left. The Ducks used all but three seconds of it to put Sappington in position to win the game 18-16 with a 39 yard field goal. Close call, but the Ducks got it done.
For Oregon, Sophomore QB Dante Moore was 13-of-21 for 112 yards, no TD’s, and 1 interception while also rushing 4 times for 46 yards. On the ground Senior RB Noah Whittington led the way with 118 yards on 17 carries with Moore and Freshman RB’s Jordan Davison and Dierre Hill Jr. combining for the rest of the team’s 261 yards with Hill picking up the only TD. For Iowa, Senior QB Mark Gronowski was 10-of-18 for 138 yards, 1 TD, and no interceptions while also rushing 12 times for 25 yards and their only TD on the ground. Led by Sophomore RB Kamari Moulton, collectively the Hawkeyes rushed 43 times for 101 yards. As you can imagine the team stats were kind of a mixed bag in this one. Oregon had one more first down, 19-18, with neither team very effective on third down—Oregon 30% and Iowa 38%. Iowa went for it on fourth down four times and converted three of those while Oregon had no attempts. Oregon has more total yards of offense, 373-to-239, and one less turnover but also had five penalties to one for Iowa and had the ball about seven fewer minutes. Up next, Minnesota at home back in Eugene before they host USC and then take to the road to play the Huskies in their final regular season game.
Nebraska at UCLA
One would hope that if your opponents starting QB is out, as was the case in this game with Freshman TJ Lateef starting in place of Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola—injured the prior week in their game against the Trojans—that the new guy wouldn’t play like he knew exactly what he was doing. But that’s what happened in spades with Lateef connecting on over 80% of his passes for 205 yards, 3 TD’s—two caught by Junior RB Emmett Johnson and the other by Sophomore WR Jacory Barney Jr.—and no interceptions while also rushing 5 times for 31 yards. Johnson also carried the ball 28 times for 129 of the team’s 156 yards and their only rushing TD.
After winning the toss, deferring, and then holding UCLA to a three-and-out on their first possession, Nebraska would score first on a two yard TD pass from Lateef to Barney to go up 7-0. The Bruins would tie the score at 7-7 on a 1 yard run into the end zone by their Senior RB Jalen Berger at the end of an almost 10 minute 17 play drive that ate up the rest of the first quarter and two minutes of the second. But that’s as close as UCLA would get in this one with the Cornhuskers scoring back-to-back TD’s on their next two possessions while forcing the Bruins to turn the ball back over on downs and taking a 21-7 lead. UCLA would have one more possession in the 2nd Qtr, but at the end of their 13 play 51 yard drive would miss a 49 yard field goal with time running out in the half.
Both teams would score TD’s on their first possessions of the third quarter to make it a 28-14 game going into the fourth where the Bruins would score one more time on a 9 yard TD pass from Iamaleava to Senior RB Anthony Frias II at the end of a 12 play 96 yard drive to close within a possession at 28-21. But with less than five minutes left it was too little too late and the Cornhuskers were able to run out the clock and preserve the victory. For UCLA, Sophomore QB Iamaleava connected on 17-of-25 for 191 yards, 2 TD’s—one to Junior RB Anthony Woods and one to Senior RB Anthony Frias II—and no interceptions. On the ground the Bruins collectively carried the ball 17 times for 191 yards with Woods and Frias also picking up a rushing TD each. Looking at the team stats, either team could have come out on top in this. They both had the ball exactly 30 minutes with UCLA collecting one more first down and Nebraska 13 more yards of total offense. They differed by just one yard in the rushing game, by just a few percentage points in third down conversions—Iowa at 62% to 57% for the Bruins— with UCLA converting two of the three times they went for it on fourth down. The missed field goal and a couple of long drives where they couldn’t put points up on the board seemed to be the difference. UCLA has a rough end-of-season schedule with No. 1 Ohio State up next on the road before they go back home to host Washington in the Rose Bowl before facing off against USC in the Coliseum for bragging rights in a game that is always hotly contested.
No. 23 Washington at Wisconsin
There’s just over a minute left and the Huskies have the ball and trailing late 13-10. Their kick-ass RB Jonah Coleman got injured during the game and was on the sidelines as was their kick-ass WR Denzel Boston who limped off the field after the last play. They were missing their starting center and a tackle from the get-go so the kick-ass Sophomore QB Demond Williams Jr. tries to pick up the 4th and 6 from their own 41 yard line himself and comes up short. Game over, first win for the Badgers at home against a Top-25 team since 2021—first win against any Big Ten team this entire year so far. You look at just the number of wins and losses of these two teams coming in you can’t imagine Washington dropping such an important game to an overall 2-6/0-5 Wisconsin. But looking into the details it’s definitely a tale of two teams and as far as the Huskies go, it’s the worst of times.
You hear talk of good losses in college football when discussing strength-of-schedule and ranking. Well, regarding that Wisconsin has had their share so far this year losing to No. 21 Michigan, No. 9 Oregon, No. 4 Alabama, and No. 1 Ohio State and after this celebration against No. 23 Washington will most likely drop another to No. 2 Indiana this next Saturday. Lots of character building going on in Madison this year. Washington had one “good” loss to No. 1 Ohio State as well but now two other losses to unranked teams. Looking at those losses there’s definitely a glaring problem and it’s not just that Coleman and Boston were on the sideline. In those losses they averaged less than 8 points and just 72 yards on the ground with only 1 single rushing TD combined while allowing a combined 12 sacks, 25 tackles for loss and 4 pass disruptions. You can blame it on the starting center and tackle being gone but no matter the reason the Washington offensive line is not good and I don’t think it’s a lack of size with the group easily averaging over 6 feet tall and over 300 pounds.
The Huskies were shut-out in three of four periods in this one scoring all ten of their points in the second quarter on a 42 field goal by Grady Gross and a TD from Williams-to-Boston set up by the Husky Special Teams on a Wisconsin punt that was blocked and recovered at their own 1 yard line to give them a 10-3 lead going into the half. Washington would fumble and lose the ball on their first possession of the 3rd Qtr at their own 7 yard line. Two plays later the game was tied 10-10 on a 2 yard TD run by Freshman QB Carter Smith. After holding the Huskies to a three-and-out Wisconsin would go out in front 13-10 on a 32 yard field goal to end the quarter. On Washington’s first possession of the 4th Qtr they would have their field goal attempt to tie the score blocked and after being forced to punt on their next possession found themselves in the position I described at the beginning.
For Washington, Sophomore QB Demond Williams Jr. was 20-of-32 for 134 yards, 1 TD to Junior WR Denzel Boston, and 1 interception while also rushing 19 times for 61 yards. One the ground, it was Williams and Sophomore RB Adam Mohammed who combined for all but 2 of the 117 rushing yards gained on 36 carries without ever finding the end zone. For Wisconsin, you can safely say they have been struggling at QB. Their starter, Sophomore Danny O’Neil who was making his first start since getting injured in their third game against Alabama, was taken off the field in the first quarter with what looked to be a leg injury. Three other guys stood in for O’Neil during the course of the game and were a combined 6-of-18 for just 48 yards with no TD’s or interceptions. On the ground Freshman RB Gideon Ituka and QB Carter Smith combined for 120 of the team’s 157 yard total on 34 carries with Smith picking up the only TD. They should probably give the game ball to Senior Place Kicker Nathanial Vakos who was responsible for seven of those points, 1 extra point and two field goals. Washington heads back home to host Purdue this coming Saturday while Wisconsin hits the road to take on No. 2 Indiana.