No. 4 Oregon at Northwestern
The 34-14 Oregon win on the road at Northwestern doesn’t look as eye popping as their first two wins, 59-13 and 69-3 respectively, but make no mistake about it this was another dominant win by the Ducks—holding the Wildcats scoreless through three quarters on their own turf. Oregon had the ball to start but barely got past mid-field in seven plays before they had to punt the ball. The Wildcats also ended up giving the ball back on their first possession, but it was an interception at their own 48 yard line 12 plays into their drive and a return of 31 yards that handed Oregon a golden opportunity to score first which they did five plays later on a 1 yard TD run by their Junior RB Jayden Lamar. After holding Northwestern to a three-and-out on their second possession the Ducks would add to the lead on a 42 yard Atticus Sappington field goal to go up 10-0 early in the 2nd Qtr. On a drive that was rife with problems by Northwestern, including a false start and a run by the Wildcats Senior QB Preston Stone that lost 18 yards, they had to punt again at the end of a six play drive that only gained 10 yards. Eleven plays and 89 yards later the Ducks were back in the end zone on a 24 yard pass to Junior TE Kenyon Sadiq by Sophomore QB Dante Moore to go into the locker room 17-zip at the half.
The Wildcats would get the ball to start the 3rd Qtr and on the 12th play of their opening drive they went for a 4th and 9 at the Oregon 34 yard line—didn’t make it and had to turn the ball over. 1 play and 12 seconds later on a 66 yard TD run by Freshman RB Dierre Hill Jr. Oregon expanded their lead to 24-0. Six plays and an interception later the Ducks would be up 31-0 on a 2 yard TD run by another Freshman RB—Jordan Davison. The third quarter would end on another three-and-out by the Oregon defense although the Ducks would hand it back over on an interception just four plays later. But Northwestern couldn’t move the ball past their own 13 yard line and had to give it back which led to another Atticus Sappington field goal—this one from 25 yards out to give them a 34-0 lead. Northwestern finally got it going with back-to-back TD’s after Oregon head coach Dan Lanning put in his second-unit defense to make it 34-14. But with just over a minute left in the game at that point it made the score look more respectable than the game deserved.
For Oregon, QB Dante Moore connected on 80% of his throws for 178 yards, 1 TD, and 1 interception. Led by Freshman RB Dierre Hill Jr. and Junior Jayden Limar the Ducks rushed 30 times for 176 yards and 3 TD’s, one each by Hill and Limar and another by Freshman RB Jordon Davison. The Ducks led in first downs, 21-15; third down efficiency 63% compared to 27%; total yards of offense, 373-313; and had one less turnover. Northwestern had the clock by about five minutes but they shot themselves in the foot with two turnovers that led to a couple of Oregon TD’s. As the Wildcat head coach David Braun said afterwards; “We got our butts kicked by a really good football team today. We went into the game saying we said we need to win the turnover battle and we need to create an edge on special teams. You can’t beat teams like Oregon when you don’t win the turnover battle.” The Ducks need to pay attention as they play host to a much weakened Oregon State team this next weekend and as history has shown us, this in-state rival game that started in 1894 between these two are never that predictable. With a huge white-out game on the road at No. 2 Penn State the following weekend it’s probably hard to not be thinking ahead.
New Mexico at UCLA
It didn’t take as long as I thought it would as UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster was shown the door after the embarrassing 35-10 loss to New Mexico this past Saturday in another empty Rose Bowl. But that’s not the only problem. As long time Los Angeles Time sport’s reporter Bill Plaschke points out it was UCLA Athletic Director Martin Jarmond who hired Foster within 72 hours of Chip Kelley’s departure. As Plaschke writes; “Jarmond [hired] a head coach who was preeminently unqualified to be a head coach, a former running back who had never led a team at any level, a reticent former Bruin who had never even called a play . . . Martin Jarmond has steered this football program into a steaming wreckage, failing to properly manage the most important asset of any modern-day athletic director, turning the Bruins’ largest and most lucrative national presence into a sputtering embarrassment, and you have to wonder. Now that he has buried them, is Martin Jarmond the right person to dig them out? Jarmond has done well in many areas. But in today’s collegiate sports environment, a Power Five athletic director basically has one job and one job only. Don’t fumble football. Football is the cash cow. Football is the monthly rent. Football drives campus revenue. Football creates national reputation. So many people are ridiculing UCLA football this fall that many have forgotten the Bruins greatness in other sports, and in the name of John Wooden, that’s unacceptable.” How do you really feel about it Bill?
Can it get worse you ask—for sure! Patrick Conn for the College Sports Wire wrote this: “According to a report from Brett McMurphy on On3, UCLA wrote a check for $1.2 million to New Mexico. That is quite a huge amount to watch your home team take a loss in which the Lobos ran away from the Bruins with a three-touchdown fourth quarter.” It’s a topic I’ve written about before but should probably get back to again soon. But moving on—last year I complained several times that I thought Foster needed to stop interfering with Eric Bieniemy who UCLA was fortunate to have hired as their Offensive Coordinator. This is the guy who was the Offensive Coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs under Andy Reid while winning Super Bowl LIV and LVII. But instead, Foster fired him—basically blaming him for the team’s failures. Had Jarmond not let that happen UCLA would have had an immediate replacement right now. Jarmond has been there for seven years and according to an LA Times report in January of this year; “It’s the sixth consecutive year that UCLA’s athletic department has run in the red, its deficit over that span totaling $219.55 million.” It’s certainly true that the changing football model including NIL and conference realignment has led to greater costs, but that’s just been over the last couple of years. UCLA will get an influx of $65 to $75 million dollars as a full sharing partner in the Big Ten, but about $23 million of that will get paid out to athletes as a result of the NCAA lawsuit. They spent $10 million to build a new studio to broadcast Big Ten games and UCLA is on the hook to pay out $10 million a year over the next three years to UC Berkeley—huh—it’s complicated. But right in the middle of that was guess who—Martin Jarmond! Speaking of Jarmond again and that $1.2 he paid New Mexico. Subtract that from the $500K average that’s paid to FCS teams and multiply it times the number of teams he’s been over paying times the number of years he’s been doing this. There’s some of your red ink right there! Here’s a link to an AP article entitled; “UC regents committee orders UCLA to pay Cal Berkeley $10 million per year for 3 years.” https://apnews.com/article/ucla-cal-32d4488d904f61063f481eb67c0603ea
I know, this is supposed to be a review of the football game. Well, here it is. After both teams punted the ball on their first possessions of the game, New Mexico scored back-to-back TD’s on either side of a three-and-out by their defense to go up 14-0 early in the 2nd Qtr—holding the Bruins scoreless in the first. UCLA was able to cut that lead in half on a 12 yard TD pass from Bruin QB Nico Iamaleava to Senior WR Titus Mokiao-Atimalala. Neither team was able to score on their final two possessions of the first half. UCLA’s offense started the 3rd Qtr with a three-and-out. Fortunately for the Bruins, New Mexico fumbled on their next possession deep in UCLA’s red zone at the five yard line which prevented a sure TD. But two Iamaleava incompletions later the Bruins were punting after another three-and-out. In spite of good field position the Lobos weren’t able to capitalize and UCLA would tighten up the score with a field goal late in the third quarter to make it 14-10. It was probably the fourth quarter that was the straw that broke the camel’s back regarding DeShaun Foster’s job with New Mexico scoring on back-to-back-to-back TD’s while holding the Bruins scoreless to finish up a 35-10 embarrassment in a Rose Bowl that observers say had about 15,000 in attendance—about 17% of the capacity of the stadium. The Lobos led in first downs, 22-15; total yards of offense, 450-326; led in rushing by an almost 3-1 margin and had about 13 minutes extra time-of-possession. The only statistical category that the Bruins “won” was penalties. They had 13 for 116 yards compared to less than 30 yards in penalties for New Mexico. At least UCLA’s next loss won’t be at home as they hit the road to take on Northwestern in the start of Big Ten conference play that could leave them winless for the entire season. Sorry Tark!
USC at Purdue
After a 1-4 road record last year where their only win “away” was over at the Rose Bowl against their cross town rivals, the Trojans travelled to Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana this past Saturday to take on the Purdue Boilermakers where they prevailed 33-17 after a slow start—and I don’t mean the 3 hour lightening delay-of-game. In Ryan Kartje’s article for the Los Angele Times entitled; USC exorcises its Big Ten road demons by beating Purdue to remain undefeated, he points out that; “USC would have to outlast not only Purdue, but its own inner demons. It marked the first win outside of the West since 2012 for USC, which had lost 14 straight games in the Eastern and Central time zones.” After winning the toss and deferring, USC held the Boilermakers to 8 plays and 25 yards on their first possession, forcing a punt which led to a 3-0 lead for the Trojans at the end of an 8 play 84 yard drive and 24 yard field goal by their Freshman Punter Ryon Sayeri. On the eighth play of the Boilermakers’ next drive USC Senior Safety Bishop Fitzgerald would pick off Sophomore QB Ryan Browne on a 3rd and goal play at the USC 3 yard line. 10 plays and 80 yards later on a 3 yard TD run by their Junior QB Jayden Maiava the Trojans would go up 10-0 at the start of the 2nd Qtr. After a Spencer Porath 39 yard field goal by Purdue to make it 10-3, USC would follow up with another TD at the end of a 13 play 75 yard drive on a 6 yard TD run by their Junior RB Waymond Jordan to make it 17-3 at the break.
The Trojans had the ball to start the second half and would extend their lead to 20-3 with a another Ryon Sayeri field goal—this one from 37 yards out after their opening 8 play 65 yard drive bogged down at the Purdue 19 yard line. The Boilermakers would finally get their first TD of the game on their next possession, an 8 play 67 yard drive and 26 yard TD run by their Sophomore QB Ryan Browne to make it 20-10 almost half-way through the quarter. Ryon Sayeri would kick his third field goal of the game from 48 yards out less than four minutes later to go up 23-10. And then for the second time in this game D’Anton Lynn’s secondary would come up big in the red zone with another interception—but this one off a tipped ball to 360 pound nose tackle Jamaal Jarrett that he would take to the house to go up 30-10. Purdue would cut into that lead really early in the 4th Qtr on a 9 yard TD pass from Browne to Sophomore WR Nitro Tuggle to make it 30-17 followed by a missed Sayeri field goal and then another Trojan interception—this one by Freshman Cornerback Marcelles Williams. Ryon Sayeri would get another chance and from just 19 yards out would connect on his fourth of five field goal attempts to make it 33-17 where it would stay. With Sayeri having also kicked three extra points, the Freshman punter was responsible for almost half of the Trojans points on the board in this one in which it was reassuring to know that with a solid special teams and defense you can still win games even on days in which your offense sputters.
For USC, Junior QB Jayden Maiava was 17-of-28 for 282 yards, no TD’s and no interceptions while also carrying the ball 7 times for 10 yards and one of the Trojans’ two rushing TD’s. On the ground Junior RB Waymond Jordan and Senior Eli Sanders led the way collectively rushing 28 times for 152 of USC’s 178 yard total with Jordan picking up the other TD. The defense recorded 5 sacks, 10 tackles for loss, and those three big interceptions. They led in total yards of offense, time of possession, were perfect on their 4th down attempts, had three times the rushing yards, and didn’t turn the ball over once. However, the last couple of games they are averaging 98 yards in penalties, a stat–combined with the offense that struggled in this game if it shows back up this next Saturday–that could be a problem against a well buttoned up Jonathan Smith coached Michigan State team that will be coming in as a 13 point underdog. I haven’t been back to the Emerald Queen Indian Casino in Tacoma, WA since they gave Arizona State 11 points in their college football playoff game against Texas. I’m contemplating a return but I also want to see the Trojans keep on winning,