Iowa at Washington
I started following the Washington Huskies in 2014, Chris Peterson’s first year as head coach after his successful run at Boise State. Having been a fan of Peterson at Boise as well as curious about the town of Gig Harbor WA as a possible retirement spot, I purchased season tickets that year, rented an AirBnb and came up to watch. We eventually bought a condo in town, sold it three years later and bought a house on Raft Island. During those first three years Peterson’s Huskies went from 8-6 overall with a 4-5 conference record to 12-2 overall, 9-1 in conference and winning the “PAC-12” in 2016 for the first time. Kind of a full circle moment for the Huskies since they won the inaugural Pacific Coast Conference championship exactly 100 years previously in 1916. Of course they had won back-to-back titles under the great Don James as a PAC-10 team and was also the last PAC-8 conference winner. You might wonder why I am sitting here writing about the successes of their past. Well, it’s because I can find little good to say about the team I watched lose 41-24 to Iowa on Friday.
I think the fact that the Husky’s rushed for negative 3 yards and the QB was sacked six times tells you pretty much how it went for their offense. With the Iowa QB connecting for 3 TD’s and their leading Senior RB Kamari Moulton rushing for over 200 yards and 2 TD’s tells you pretty much how it went for the defense. It was ugly—as ugly as I’ve ever seen Washington play in the years I’ve been watching. Iowa picked up back-to-back field goals and a touchdown in the 1st Qtr and back-to-back TD’s in the second quarter while holding Washington to five punts—four three-and-outs—and a field goal to lead it 27-3 at the break.
Losing their starting QB, Demond Williams Jr., to injury in the first half Washington’s backup, Elijah Brown, came in and provided a spark for the offense in the second half—scoring on back-to-back TD’s in the 3rd Qtr. But with Iowa matching them on the scoreboard with a TD in the 3rd Qtr and another to lead off the 4th, the Huskies still trailed 41-18. With Iowa’s starters on the bench, just three minutes left on the clock, and aided by back-to-back Hawkeye penalties—Washington would find the end zone one last time on a short TD pass from Brown to Freshman WR Mason James to mercifully end this one 41-24.
For Washington, Demond Williams Jr. was 6-of-11 for 69 yards, 0 TD’s and 0 interceptions. Backup QB Elijah Brown connected on 28-of-39 for 251 yards, 3 TD’s—1 each to Sophomore WR’s Chris Lawson and Dezmen Roebuck and that last one to James—and no interceptions. On the ground, as I mentioned above, they collectively rushed 25 times for negative 3 yards. How is that even possible!? For Iowa, Junior QB Jeremy Hecklinski connected on 73% of his passes for 202 yards, 3 TD’s, and no interceptions. On the ground it was Moulton who led the way, rushing 26 times for 208 yards and both of their TD’s.
In spite of Washington not getting a full share of the Big Ten media right’s money until 2030 it was still expected that by year three of head coach Jedd Fisch’s tenure the Husky’s would have improved as his last team Arizona State had. But as Mike Vorel pointed out in his column for the Seattle Times; “In Washington’s 40-16 loss at Iowa in 2024 [ Fisch’s first year] the Huskies surrendered 220 rushing yards, 5.9 yards per carry and two rushing scores. In Washington’s 41-24 loss to Iowa Friday, the Huskies surrendered 263 rushing yards, 6.9 yards per carry and two rushing scores.” We seem to be either treading water or headed in the wrong direction. Washington hits the road this week for another Friday game—this one against Purdue.
No. 21 UCLA at No, 13 Oregon
The last time a team I was following closely got 11.5 points before a big game it was Arizona State against Texas in a 2024 college football playoff game. Although I rarely gamble I was totally confident that this would be free money and so I hopped on the I-5 (N) and got off less than 20 minutes later at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, placed the bet and went back home. At the time Arizona’s QB was Sam Leavitt—now LSU’s QB—and the RB was Cam Skattebo—now lead RB for NFL’s NY Giants. Those guys and a talented receiving corp gave Texas fits and sent the game into Double Overtime. It looked for a while like the Sun Devils were going to win it outright. The Longhorns won—but by not enough to cover those 11.5 points. I bring that up because I saw they were giving UCLA 11.5 points in their game on the road against Oregon. I thought the same thing—free money. But it was late on Friday and having already made plans for Saturday I was just too lazy to get in the car and go. Had I known the Ducks were going to help out with seven turnovers maybe that would have been enough to push me out the door. Well, as you must already know, I missed out because the Bruins didn’t even need the points as they beat Oregon outright 17-15. Wow—go Bob Chesney and UCLA—how exciting for Bruin nation and their long time faithful fans—hey Tark!
Although UCLA took the ball and a 3-0 lead on a 21 yard field goal by their Senior PK Mateen Bhaghani, they fumbled on the first play from scrimmage to start their second possession with the ball ending up on their own 1 yard line. One play later they were down 6-3 after a failed two-point conversation. When you watch a game like this and the team you’re pulling for is a heavy underdog on the road, you’re thinking they’ll need to play clean to win. But then they make a huge mistake and you’re thinking this could be a really long and painful game. Even with just about eight minutes left to play in the quarter there was no further scoring by either team with UCLA and Oregon both being held to a three-and-out on their next possession as well as another punt each to end the period.
In a game that turned into a defensive battle early UCLA was held to three-an-outs their first two possessions of the 2nd Qtr. But instead of being able to take advantage, the Bruins forced an Oregon fumble on each of their first two possessions—the second leading to a Bruin TD on a 35 yard run by Senior RB Wayne Knight to put UCLA up 10-6. They held the Ducks to a three-and-out their next possession but blew an opportunity to extend their lead when Bhaghani miss a chip shot field goal from the Oregon 9 yard line. They would hold the Ducks again to a three-and-out but their Senior QB Nico Iamaleava would get picked off. Three plays later they would intercept Oregon’s Junior QB Dylan Raiola and then three plays later—in what felt like an episode of the Twilight Zone—Iamaleava would get picked off again. But with well under a minute left in the half the 2nd Qtr ended with UCLA up 10-6. Having suffered a lower leg injury in the second quarter Iamaleava didn’t play at all the second half—replaced by backup Senior QB Ty Dieffenbach.
The third quarter was more of the same. No scoring by either team with UCLA holding Oregon to a three-and-out on their first possession followed by the Ducks fumbling and losing the ball on their second and then getting intercepted on their third at the end of the quarter which led to another UCLA TD and a 17-6 lead to start the 4th Qtr. The Ducks would pick up a TD and a field goal in the 4th Qtr to make it 17-15 but UCLA would force the ball out of Oregon’s hands twice more—the second time to end the game.
For UCLA, Senior QB Nico Iamaleava was 10-of-17 for 162 yards and 2 interceptions. Backup Senior QB Ty Dieffenbach was 3-of-6 for 43 yards and 1 TD to Senior RB Wayne Knight. On the ground Senior RB Wayne Knight led the way rushing 22 times for 103 yards and a TD. For Oregon, Senior QB Brock Thomas was 11-of-15 for 156 yards, 1 TD to Senior WR Evan Stewart, and no interceptions. Their Junior QB, Dylan Raiola, connected on just 6-of-19 for 43 yards and 2 interceptions. On the ground, Sophomore RB’s Dierre Hill Jr and Jordon Davison combined for all of their 85 positive yards on 23 carries with Davison picking up their sole rushing TD.
UCLA led in first downs, 17-12; had about twice as many rushing yards; six more passing yards, 205-199; although only successful 25% of the time on their third down conversions it was still a lot better than Oregon’s 8%; they had possession of the ball an incredible 19+ minutes longer than the Ducks; and in the category that broke Oregon’s back—turnovers—Oregon had an incredible seven turnovers—the most they’ve had in 20 years! Regarding that, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning had this to say afterwards; “You’ve got to protect the ball, right? You can coach it and you can say it, but if it shows up, you’re not coaching it well enough. You’re not doing a good enough job there.” UCLA heads back to the Rose Bowl to host Wisconsin while Oregon stays home to host Nebraska who lost by just three points on Saturday.
No. 19 USC at Penn State
The last time I looked Penn State’s Beaver stadium was the second largest stadium in the Western Hemisphere and the fourth largest in the world. Currently undergoing a $700 million dollar renovation that will be completed in 2027 the capacity was projected to hold over 108,000 seats with the potential to exceed 109,000 seats with temporary seating. Well, the news out of State College Pennsylvania after the game is that the announced attendance for Saturday night’s game was 114,419—a new Beaver Stadium record. So, projections achieved and exceeded ahead of schedule. But as far as the fans all decked out in white go, they would have preferred the win over the record—and it was close.
Both teams scored a touchdown on their first possessions of the game to make it 7-7 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter started the exact same way with a touchdown each to give us a 14-14 game just five minutes into the period. USC would miss a 56 yard field goal attempt on their second possession but nail one from 37 yards out on their third to go up 17-14 with just over two minutes left in the half. But Penn State came right back down the field and hit one from 48 yards out with time expiring to tie the game up at 17 each going into the break.
The Nittany Lions would get all the way down into the Trojan red zone to start the third quarter and take a 20-17 lead on a 35 yard field goal after finding themselves 4th and 8 at the USC 16 yard line. But 10 plays and 75 yards later the Trojans would take the lead back on a 13 yard TD run by their Sophomore RB King Miller to make it 24-20.
Starting the 4th Qtr just like they started the third, Penn State would make it down inside the USC red zone. But sitting 4th and 5 at the USC 7 yard line and with less than a minute gone in the period took the chip shot field goal to cut that Trojan lead to just one point, 24-23. 10 plays and 75 yards later the Trojans’ Senior QB Jayden Maiava would hit his Freshman WR Kayden Dixon-Wyatt with a 10 yard TD pass to extend their lead to eight, 31-23. On the 10th play of their next possession and sitting 3rd and 10 at the USC 39 yard line the Penn State QB, Rocco Becht, would get sacked and lose 9 yards on the play back to the Trojan 48 yard line and well out of field goal range. They would punt the ball but hold USC to a three-and-out and get the ball back in a one possession game with four minutes left on the clock and a chance to tie it up and send it into overtime in front of 114,419 crazed fans.
But it wasn’t to be and on the first play from scrimmage at their own 40 yard line, Rocco Becht’s completed 25 yard pass to Junior WR Brett Eskildsen down to the USC 35 yard line was forced out of his hands by USC Senior Safety Christian Pierce and recovered by Trojan Sophomore CB Chasen Johnson. Picking up two first downs right away on running plays by King Miller, USC was able to run out the clock and hang onto a huge must have win. For the Trojans, Senior QB Jayden Maiava connected on 21-of-33 for 301 yards, 3 TD’s—1 each to his Freshman WR’s Trent Mosley and Kayden Dixon-Wyatt, and the other to Sophomore WR Tanook Hines. On the ground it was their Sophomore RB King Miller with 102 yards and a TD on 19 carries. For Penn State, Senior QB Rocco Becht was 21-of-32 for 289 yards, 1 TD to Junior TE Andrew Rapplayea, and no interceptions in addition to running 10 times for 20 yards. They averaged just 2.2 yard per carry for a combined 68 yards rushing on 31 carries with Senior RB Carson Hansen finding the end zone for their sole TD on the ground. USC led in first downs, 25-18; were more successful on third downs than Penn State, 45% to 16%; led by just 12 yards in passing, 301-289; and by almost double on the ground, 129-68. Yards per pass were basically identical and they both were successful every time they went for it on fourth down, the Trojans twice and Penn State five times. Nobody lost this one for lack of effort. The Trojans have a week off before they head to Madison to take on the Badgers while Penn State goes from one big house to another as they hit the road to take on Michigan. Both teams will be looking for their first Big Ten conference win of the season.