Washington at Michigan
This was a tough loss for Washington on the road and the third successive game in a row where the team came out flat and got behind early. But unlike their games against Maryland and Rutgers in which they were able to come back and win, against a determined Michigan team playing in front of the home crowd in the Big House the Huskies couldn’t even come close to pulling it off—losing 24-7 and now sitting 2-2 in conference making them out of play in the Big Ten for this year. Coming into this game Washington QB Demond Williams Jr. had 8 TD’s and 1 interception while also averaging 62 yards on the ground. In this one he had 0 TD’s, 3 picks, and negative 19 yards rushing. In their past six games the Huskies averaged 188 yards on the ground but were held collectively to just 40 in this one with Jonah Coleman picking up the only rushing TD and actually gaining 50 yards on 16 carries before the negative yardage was added in.
Washington was held scoreless in the first, third, and fourth quarters with their only TD coming on their second possession of the second quarter after a missed field goal by the Wolverines. At the end of a 13 play 70 yard drive, Coleman ran it in from 1 yard out. Two of the three Washington interceptions led to TD’s with the first one happening with the score tied at 7-7 in the third quarter. Williams got picked off on the first play from scrimmage inside the Washington red zone. One play later, Michigan Sophomore RB Jordan Marshall, ran it in from 14 yards out to give the Wolverines a 14-7 lead. It would be 21-7 after the next interception with three more points added on late in the fourth with a field goal by Michigan’s Senior Place Kicker Dominic Zvada to make it 24-7. With over four minutes left Washington would have another chance to score but Williams would throw his third interception, once again on the first play from scrimmage, with Michigan running the clock out from there.
For Washington, Williams was 20-of-32 for 209 yards, 0 TD’s, and 3 interceptions while also losing 19 yards hanging onto the ball. On the ground the Huskies rushed 23 times for a mere 40 yards collectively with Senior RB Jonah Colman being the only somewhat bright spot while gaining 50 yards and the 1 TD. With Washington recording just 1 sack and only 3 tackles for loss Michigan Freshman QB, Bryce Underwood, connected on 21-of-27 for 230 yards, 2 TD’s—1 each to Junior TE Zack Marshall and Freshman WR Andrew Marsh—and no interceptions while also rushing 7 times for 25 yards. On the ground, Sophomore RB Jordan Marshall led the way with 133 yards on 25 carries and the Wolverines only rushing TD. Michigan led in first downs, 23-to-14; total yards of offense, 417-249; had the ball 15 minutes longer and had no turnovers. Washington heads back home to take on Illinois with their Husky tail between their legs after not only losing the game but also down two tight ends and a left tackle—all injured during the Michigan game and out for an indefinite amount of time.
No. 8 Oregon at Rutgers
Oregon didn’t waste any time getting the bad taste from that Indiana defeat at home out of their mouth scoring 14 points in the first quarter and twice that in the second to go in at the half up 42-3. Holding Rutgers scoreless after the half they would add 14 more before taking out their starting Sophomore QB Dante Moore and shutting it down in the 4th Qtr with the Scarlet Knights finally able to get a TD on the board playing against the Duck’s backups. Final score, 56-10.
For Oregon, Moore connected on 15-of-20 for 290 yards, 4 TD’s, and 1 interception while also rushing 3 times for 49 more yards. His Sophomore backup QB, Brock Thomas was 3-of-4 for 45 yard, no TD’s and no picks while also rushing once for 15 yards. Junior TE Kenyon Sadiq and Freshman WR Dakorien Moore led the receiving corp with six receptions for 143 yards and 3 TD’s, two for Sadiq and one to Moore, with Senior RB Noah Whittington picking up the third. On the ground Oregon tore it up with Whittington and Freshman RB Jordon Davison leading the charge picking up 225 of the team’s 415 total yards and three of the team’s 4 rushing TD’s, two for Whittington and one for Davison with Freshman RB Dierre Hill Jr rushing 5 times for 62 yards and the other TD. It was a hard day at the office for Rutger’s Senior QB Athan Kaliakmanis connecting on just over 30% of his passes for zero TD’s and 2 interceptions. On the ground, Junior RB Ja’shon Benjamin and Sophomore Antwan Raymond picked up all 124 Rutger’s rushing yards with Benjamin the only TD.
Oregon owned all the team stats and led in first downs, 29-to-12; passing yards, 335-79; rushing yards, 415-123; and converted their third down attempts over 70% of the time compared to just 27% for Rutgers. Both teams had three turnovers which will give head coach Dan Lanning something to work on this week as they come back home to take on a beleaguered Wisconsin. But afterwards he was feeling pretty upbeat as recorded by the AP in their Recap for ESPN and said; “I was expecting our players to play with an edge [and] was expecting them to execute and do their job at a really high level. I thought the things that we were asking our guys to do, that they were able to do, and they did that tonight.” Oregon sits in third place in the Big Ten behind Ohio State and Indiana. In addition to continuing to win, with those teams not scheduled to play each other Oregon will need to get some help from somewhere else in order to break into the Top 2 and play for the Big Ten Conference Championship on Saturday, December 6th at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
No. 20 USC at No. 13 Notre Dame
This is a game that some folks would like to see off of the Trojan’s yearly dance card. Let’s face it, when they were in the PAC-12 and the national championship was going to be determined by just four teams, most years they needed a game against a Top-25 ranked Notre Dame to help them in the polls. But now that they’re in the Big Ten, USC will be facing plenty of Top-25 teams just playing their regular conference schedule and don’t need the game—especially if they lose like they did this past Saturday, 34-24. In spite of that the Trojans are sitting in fifth place in the conference and have games coming up against the two teams directly above them, Northwestern and Oregon. So all is not lost quite yet. But since the top two teams won’t be facing each other in the regular season, they’ll need some help from other teams to ever stand a chance of playing for the Big Ten Conference Championship.
The Trojans had the ball to start the game and drove it 75 yards down the field and into the end zone in under four minutes on a 10 yard TD pass from Junior QB Jayden Maiava to Senior TE Lake McCree to go up 7-0. With the USC defense allowing their opponents an average of just 108.5 yards rushing coming into this game but 243 yards in the air it was the Trojan secondary that I thought might be a problem. But the first drive of the fighting Irish was an eye opener and an indicator of just how they planned to win this game. Just four plays after the USC TD, Notre Dame was in the end zone, getting there on two runs by their Junior RB Jeremiyah Love. The first for 63 yards down into the Trojan red zone and the second for 12 right into the end zone to tie the score 7-7. USC would combat that with two pass completions from Maiava of 25 and 21 yards for a 1st and 10 just outside the ND red zone. One four yard pass and two incompletions later and sitting 4th and 6 at the ND 25 yard line the Trojans would bring in Freshman Punter Ryon Sayeri who made a 42 yard field goal to put USC up 10-7. With still eight minutes left in the quarter both teams would have a couple of hacks at it but all for naught as each possession ended up with a punt, including back-to-back-to-back three-and-outs to end the quarter.
Notre Dame had the ball to start the second and, very much like their first drive of the game, came 63 yards back down the field in less than two minutes on four consecutive runs of 32 yards, 7 yards, 8 yards, and 16 by Junior RB Jadarian Price into the end zone to go up 14-10. The Trojans would make it down into the Notre Dame red zone on their next drive but would fail to convert on a 4th and 3 from the 19 and have to hand it back over. On Notre Dame’s next possession they started mixing in some passing plays to go along with a running game the Trojans seemed unable to slow down. But sitting 3rd and goal at the USC 2 yard line Freshman QB CJ Carr threw one too many and got picked off. The Trojans would cash in on that opportunity. Although, after getting bogged down at the Notre Dame 7 yard line with less than two minutes left in the half, decided to settle on a field goal instead of attempting a 4th and goal conversion attempt from 7 yards out. Score at the break, 14-13 Notre Dame.
Notre Dame had the ball to start the second half and extended their lead to 21-13 at the end of a seven minute drive with a 6 yard TD pass from Carr to Senior WR Will Pauling. Aided by two Irish pass interference calls the Trojans were able to make it back down the field in under two minutes but got stuck just outside the red zone. Sitting 4th and 3 at the Notre Dame 26 yard line they opted for a Ryon Sayeri field goal to make it 21-16. For only the second time in the game USC held the Fighting Irish to a three-and-out on their next possession and took over again. After another pass interference penalty and a six yard completion, Maiava would connect with Ja’Kobi Lane for a 59 yard TD pass and 2-point conversion afterwards to go back on top 24-21 for the first time since the end of the first quarter. I remember thinking that this was a turning point and that USC was going to be able to get this done. And then, just moments later, another Notre Dame player is running down the field untouched after breaking two tackles. This time it was Junior RB Jadarian Price on a 100 yard kick-off return for TD to put the Fighting Irish right back on top 27-24. With a minute left in the 3rd Qtr USC would get the ball back but Maiava would be intercepted five plays later, turning the ball back over to Notre Dame to start the 4th Qtr.
Sensing it was now or never the USC defense bore down and although didn’t produce a three-and-out forced the Fighting Irish into a field goal attempt from inside the red zone sitting 4th and 4 at the Trojan 13 yard line. Miraculously their Senior Place Kicker Noah Burnett missed and it certainly felt like this was the golden opportunity USC needed to take the lead back and hold on to it for the win. But just moments after an exciting 42 pass completion from Maiava to Makai Lemon down to the Notre Dame 37 yard line, on the next play Lemon would get the ball knocked out of his hands by Sophomore Safety Adon Shuler and recovered by Irish LB Kingston Viliamu-ASA. Seven plays and 50 yards later, CJ Carr would run it into the end zone himself to put Notre Dame up by 10 points, 34-24, with just over seven minutes left in the game. Just a little over a minute later USC was sitting 4th and 1 from their own 44 yard line and failed to convert. Notre Dame wouldn’t score again on their next possession but would eat precious time off the clock with the Trojans not getting it back until the Figting Irish turned it back over on downs at the USC 28 yard line with less than three minutes left to go. But nine plays into their drive Notre Dame’s Luke Talich would end it with an interception of Maiava’s attempt to convert a 3rd down and 17 from the ND 46 yard line.
For USC, Junior QB Jayden Maiava would connect on 22-of-42 for 328 yards, 2 TD’s—1 each to Junior WR Ja’Kobi Lane and Senior TE Lake McCree—and 2 interceptions. Playing without Junior RB Waymond Jordan who rushed for just shy of 100 yards and 2 TD’s against Illinois and with Senior RB Eli Sanders—also out with injury—collectively ran for 247 yards on the ground against Michigan State, the Trojans had to rely completely on their Freshman walk-on King Miller who although had a stellar outing against Michigan in Week-7 could only muster about half of those yards against a much stiffer Notre Dame run defense. After averaging 226.5 yards on the ground per game prior to the trip to South Bend, collectively—with any negative yardage added in—USC rushed 29 times for just 68 yards without finding the end zone. Those RB injuries combined with the Trojans inability to stop the ground game of Notre Dame were killers. For the Irish, Junior RB Jeremiyah Love ran for 228 yards and a TD on just 28 attempts—a 9.5 yard per carry average, with his sidekick in arms Jadarian Price picking up 87 yards on 13 carries and another rushing TD. USC will get a week off to correct their run defense before hitting the road again to take on Nebraska.
Maryland at UCLA
This one was a lot closer than the past two games and the Bruins won it in a nail biter on a field goal with time expiring that kept the game from going into overtime—but win it they did—making it three in a row. And as crazy as it seems there are two undefeated teams on top of the Big Ten Conference, No. 3 Indiana and No. 1 Ohio State. After that, in conference at least, there are seven teams at 3-1, including the Bruins. Yeah, they’re at the bottom of that seven and sure, it would take a parting of the Red Sea kind of miracle to get them to the top—but the turnaround is really encouraging and has been fun to watch.
This one was slow to get going with three-and-outs for both teams from the start and nothing but punts in the 1st Qtr. Maryland, in what looked like the strategy UCLA employed on Penn State, would take a little more than eight minutes and 18 plays to drive the ball 88 yards down the field to start the 2nd Qtr. But jammed up inside the UCLA red zone and sitting 4th and goal at the 6 yard line, the Terrapins would bring in their Place Kicker Sean O’Haire for a 24 yard field goal to go up 3-0. UCLA would need just a quarter of the time and number of plays to find the end zone and take a 7-3 lead on a 55 yard TD run by Senior RB Anthony Frias. Four punts, a fumble, and an interception would take up the rest of the first half.
The third quarter was much the same—four punts and a turnover on downs to start. Starting from their own 2 yard line the Bruins had the ball with a little more than five minutes left in the 3rd Qtr. But after a 2 yard run, Maryland’s Junior DB Jamare Glasker would intercept Iamaleava and run it in for a TD and a 10-7 lead. Six unproductive possessions later, including a missed 56 yard field goal attempt by UCLA’s Junior Place Kicker Mateen Bhaghani, the Bruins would get back in the lead at the end of a 9 play 80 yard drive and 14 yard TD pass from Iamaleava to Junior WR Mikey Matthews to take the lead back at 14-10. After intercepting Maryland on their next possession, UCLA would make it a 17-10 lead on a 42 yard Bhaghani field goal with just two minutes left. Maryland would tie the score 10 plays and 75 yards later on an 8 yard TD pass from Freshman QB Malik Washington to Senior WR Jalil Farooq with just 40 seconds remaining. With back-to-back pass completions from Iamaleava to Titus Mokiao-Atimalala totaling 33 yards and a 35 yard run down to the Maryland 5 yard line by Senior RB Anthony Frias, with just two seconds left UCLA Junior Place Kicker Mateen Bhaghani hit a 23 yard field goal with time expiring to win it 20-17.
For UCLA, Sophomore QB Nico Iamaleava after averaging less than 1 interception a game coming into this one threw up two picks—one for a TD—while connecting on 21-of-35 for 221 yards and 1 TD to Junior WR Mikey Matthews. On the ground Senior RB Anthony Frias and Jalen Berger combined for 162 of the Bruins total 193 rushing yards with Frias picking up the only TD. For Maryland, Freshman QB Malik Washington was 23-of-48 for 210 yards, 1 TD to Senior WR Jalil Farooq, and 1 interception while also leading their team on the ground with 67 yards on six carries. Collectively the Terrapins rushed for 127 yards on 26 attempts without finding the end zone.
Of all our heritage PAC-12 teams, UCLA had the toughest 2025 schedule by far and will have to beat a No. 2 Indiana on the road to get to .500 before coming home to host Nebraska and then hitting the road again to take on No. 1 Ohio State in The Shoe.