Utah at Washington
It was a picture perfect day on Montlake Blvd and I arrived at my favorite but very small parking lot, close to University Village, four hours ahead of kick-off so I could be sure to get a spot. After walking around the village and hanging out at Starbucks reading for a couple of hours I began to work my way back towards Husky Stadium via the parking lots and various tail-gating parties. Some say that the best way to tailgait at a Husky football game is to “sailgate,” via a boat out on Lake Washington. That may be, but it’s hard to imagine a fancier tailgate than what you’ll find being hosted outside one of the $500k+ Class A motorhomes you’ll see parked in the lot. Complete with comfortable seating, patio covers, big screen TV’s, catered food, games, and sometimes even a working DJ, the Husky fans know how to put on a high end tailgate. As much as I love walking through that area I tend to relate more with the next lot over which is full campers, trucks, old VW buses and even an ambulance or two that have been converted to deliver hamburgers and hotdogs along with music, beer pong, and all the pre-game fun one expects to find at a tailgate.
The game started off equally as perfect as the weather. Washington deferred to the second half, got a quick three and out and then marched 70 yards right down the field on a 13 play 6 minute drive which culminated in a Jacob Eason to Jordan Chin 11 yard pass for TD and an early 7-0 lead. The Utes had the ball longer on their second drive, but only three plays longer before they had to punt-this time down to the Washington 9 yard line. Unfortunately for Washington, QB Jacob Eason fumbled the ball on their own 15 yard line on the third play of the possession. Three plays later thanks to a sack by Husky Benning Potoa’e, Utah was facing a 4th and 8 at the Washington 13 and opted for three points on a Jadon Redding 31 yard field goal. Washington wasted no time making up for the mistake as 2:37, 6 plays, and 75 yards later Eason connected with TE Hunter Bryant for a 34 yard TD to put Washington up 14-3.
In spite of the mistake I thought wow, that was easy-especially since this was supposed to be such a low scoring affair and Utah had been holding their opponents to an average of less than one TD a game. Washington already had two and there was less than three minutes gone in the 2nd Qtr. Washington would end up scoring 4 TD’s in the game and Jimmy Lake’s Husky Defense would sack Utah QB Tyler Huntley four times in addition to picking up nine tackles for loss even though Huntley had been getting sacked on average less than once per game. But in spite of the Utes fumbling the ball late in the third with Washington ahead 21-13 they found a way to come back and win this game-but it took Utah’s pressure defense and more help from Washington’s QB Jacob Eason to get it done.
On the first play after the fumble Eason was bull-rushed and sacked for a loss of 12 yards. On the second play and under more pressure the Washington QB let one go that was picked off by Utah’s Jaylon Johnson and taken 39 yards back to the house. Head Coach Kyle Whittingham opted for a 2 point conversion that failed leaving Washington up 21-19 with three minutes left in the third quarter. At that point it was feeling a lot like the Oregon game where the Huskies had them and then let them slip right through their fingers. Utah held Washington to a three-and-out on their next two possessions scoring a TD after each on almost identical five minute plus, 80+ yard drives to take the lead 33-21 with just under five minutes left in the 4th. Washington would close to within five points on a Jacob Eason to WR Aaron Fuller pass into the end zone but it would take 19 plays and almost four minutes to get it done. With slightly over a minute left Washington sent their Place Kicker Peyton Henry out to try an onside kick in a desperate attempt to get the ball back and win the game. Peyton had not missed a single field goal or extra point all year long, but his kick went about 18 yards right into the hands of Utah proving the old adage that “you can’t be good at everything.”
Utah’s win combined with USC’s loss put the Utes on top in the PAC-12 South Division and in a collision course to meet Oregon in the conference champsionship if they don’t start celebrating too early. At 5-4 overall, Washington’s loss puts them still one game shy of being bowl eligible. The one positive thing that could be a result of Washington’s poor result of 2-4 so far in conference this year would be for Junior QB Jacob Eason, who has a big NFL caliber arm but is light on experience, to come back and play his Senior year at Washington instead of declaring for the NFL draft. We’ll see. Utah gets to take a week off before hosting the very much improved UCLA Bruins while Washington has to get over this loss quickly as they hit the road to meet what has turned into a very dangerous team offensively in Oregon State this coming Friday. If the young Washington players, having let both No. 7 Oregon and No. 9 Utah off the hook after seemingly having them beat, decide to start feeling sorry for themselves they could very well loose their fifth conference game on the road in Corvallis.
Oregon at USC
It took a quarter of play in which the Oregon defense gave up a first possession 16 play 77 yard drive and TD to USC as well as Justin Herbert ending his streak of 133 straight passes without a pick, but USC’s attempt at pulling a rabbit, or was that a duck, out of a hat is over leaving only a very remote possibility of them winning the South and making it into the PAC-12 Conference Championship. The 56-24 loss to Oregon not only sealed USC’s fate as a team but the 12 penalties for 157 yards and 100 yard kick-off return for TD probably also sealed the fate of Trojan Head Coach Clay Helton who has been hanging onto his job with his fingertips for quite a while.
Los Angeles Times Sports Writer Bill Plaschke didn’t hold any punches in his assessment and wrote; “It’s over now, finally, mercifully, a USC football era ending Saturday night on a field filled with mistakes surrounded by fans teeming with anger. There’s no way Clay Helton comes back from this. There’s no way the Trojan’s football program can continue on like this . . . Gone, completely gone, is the idea that this program can be fixed under its current leadership. It won’t be. It can’t be. The evidence is glaring. The history is screaming. One season after going 5-7, the Trojans are now 5-4 and need to win one of their final three games — two of which are on the road — to even be bowl eligible. Three seasons after leading this team to that inspirational Rose Bowl victory over Penn State, Helton has been buried under bad losses, bad mistakes, unfulfilled potential and a consistent twisting of a proud motto. These Trojans may still fight on, but they don’t fight smart, they don’t fight with discipline, they don’t fight with focus.”
Oregon’s Senior Signal Caller Justin Herbert, everyone’s favorite pick to be the first QB selected in Round 1 of next year’s NFL Draft, connected on 80% of his throws for 225 yards, 3 TD’s and 1 interception leading to 3 points of USC’s 1st Qtr 10-0 lead. But the Ducks came back quickly scoring 4 TD’s in the 2nd Qtr, three with the help of USC Freshman QB Kedon Slovis who fumbled and lost the ball and threw an interception, both leading to Oregon scores as well as throwing a pick-six putting Oregon ahead 21-10 with just over two minutes left in the 2nd Qtr. Slovis got one back on a 13 yard completion to Michael Pittman Jr. in the end zone. But then with just eight seconds left in the half, in a play that epitomizes some of USC’s play calling this year and lack of discipline, instead of a squib kick that teams can seldom return the distance, they kick-off and allow a 100 yard kick-off return for TD-going into the half down 28-17.
Oregon put up 28 more points in the 2nd half with the Trojans getting one more in garbage time after Oregon had already sat down some of their starters to make it a 56-24 final score. All toll, the Ducks had 4 TD’s in the air including one thrown by Freshman Backup Tyler Shough with the other three TD’s all collected by Senior WR Juwan Johnson who pulled in 7 receptions for 106 of Oregon’s 266 total receiving yards. The Ducks added another 139 yards on the ground and 2 additional rushing TD’s, 1 by Herbert for 405 yards of Total Offense against 355 for the Trojans. USC Freshman QB Kedon Slovis connected on 56% of his passes for 3 TD’s, 264 yards, and three interceptions-all leading to Oregon TD’s. USC had one more first down than Oregon and both teams were better than 50% efficient on third down conversions. But it’s the glaring 4 turnover to 1 ratio with three interceptions, all leading to TD’s, in addition to the completely undisciplined 12 penalties for 157 yards that is really glaring when looking at the stats for this game.
Oregon heads back home to Eugene to take a week off before hosting the struggling Arizona Wildcats on Saturday, November 16th while USC packs up to take on Arizona State next Saturday, November 9th. Leaving town and getting some distance between themselves and the rest of Trojan Nation is probably a good thing for both right about now.
Colorado at UCLA
Led by two back-to-back three and outs and an interception on their third possession by the Bruin defense, QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson started out super hot at home in the Rose Bowl against Colorado connecting on 10 of his first 11 pass attempts, two for TD’s, one to Junior Tight End Devon Asiasi and a 45 yard bomb to Senior Wide Receiver Ethan Fernea. Add on another three points off a JJ Molson field goal and it was 17-0 UCLA with almost four minutes left in the first quarter. Colorado got seven back by the break on a 12 play, 83 yard, drive resulting in a 2 yard keeper into the end zone by Buffalo QB Steven Montez.
After the half, facilitated by an interception thrown by UCLA’s QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Colorado had a chance to cut the lead to just three points on a 9 play drive that took them all the way down to the UCLA 8 yard line. But after a couple of passes and a run that went no where the Buffloes were looking at 4th and goal at the UCLA 10 and, with lots of time left in the game, opted for the field goal-but missed, leaving the score at 17-7. UCLA wasted no time after that near miss and scored again on their next possession, an 11 play 80 yard drive ending in a Joshua Kelley 5 yard run into the end zone for a 24-7 lead with just over four minutes left in the third quarter.
Both teams got another TD a piece before it was over but UCLA led this one from start to finish in what looked like an easy 31-14 victory over Colorado at home. The Bruins not only had almost 150 more yards of Total Offense at 426 to 283, but had great balance with 226 yards and 2 TD’s passing as well as 200 yards and 2 TD’s rushing with UCLA Senior RB Joshua Kelley picking up both scores and 126 yards of the total. As noted by the AP in their recap of the game; “UCLA is on its first three game winning streak since 2015.”
Here we are getting ready to go into Week 11 and who could have possibly thought that it would be UCLA in position at this point to control their own destiny in the PAC-12 South. And yet, that’s exactly where we’re at. Utah leads the South with a conference record of 5-1, their one loss being early against USC. The Trojans and the Bruins are tied for second place in the South with conference records of 4-2 a piece. However, after their bye week coming up UCLA will travel to Salt Lake to take on Utah Saturday, November 16th. If they were to beat Utah, which is pretty much unimaginable, and then beat USC the following Saturday in the Coliseum they would be on top of the PAC-12 South only needing to win out against the struggling California Bears to make it into the PAC-12 Conference Final against Oregon. Sounds crazy, right! Would love to see it happen-it won’t-but would love to see it
In an interesting note pointed out by the AP and something else Colorado fans who wear MAGA hats can blame President Obama for; “Colorado might want to start asking for the first Saturday in November as its bye week so that [they] can properly celebrate National Bison Day. Since President Barack Obama declared National Bison Day, the Buffaloes are 0-7.” Regarding just this season, Colorado has lost five straight and may pick up their 6th this coming Saturday as they’ll play host to the Stanford Cardinal.
Oregon State at Arizona
With a bye week to prepare, Oregon State traveled down to Tucson to take on an Arizona Wildcat team that had just fired and replaced their Defensive Coordinator with Chuck Cecil, a former NFL assistant coach. But in a rude welcome to college football the Beavers lead the entire game, putting up 35 points on the board by the break and scoring five touchdowns on their first six possessions. Oregon State QB Jake Luton ran a tight ship connecting on better than 75% of his throws for 328 yards and 3 TD’s, 2 of those going to Junior Wide Receiver Isaiah Hodges who he connected with 7 times for almost half their total yards in the air. Meanwhile the RB tag team of Senior Artavis Pierce and Sophomore Jermar Jefferson combined for 219 of the Beavers 244 yards on the ground as well as four of Oregon State’s five rushing TD’s giving the Beavers a combined 572 yards of Total Offense and eight TD’s on the day in a 56-38 win on the road.
With Arizona’s record as it is, 4-5 overall and 2-4 in conference, Head Coach Kevin Sumlin has made a few decisions that he hopes will get them in a better place for next year. In addition to bringing in a new Defensive Coordinator, he also fired their Linebackers Coach John Rushing as well as deciding to give Freshman QB Grant Gunnell more playing time while still utilizing departing Senior Kahlil Tate. As far as this game goes, Arizona wasn’t that far behind in Total Offense with 526 yards but struggled down in the Red Zone settling for field goals instead of TD’s and not always making all of those opportunities either.
Gunnell connected on 65% of his passes for 269 yards, 2 TD’s and no picks while Tate, who only played the 1st Qtr connected on 7 of 12 for 109 yards. Arizona Junior RB’s J.J. Taylor and Gary Brightwell combined for 132 of Arizona’s 148 yards on the ground and 3 rushing TD’s collectively. Arizona had two more first downs than the Beavers, only 40+ yards less of Total Offense, had no turnovers, had the ball longer, and was far less penalized, 5 times for 65 yards against 12 times for 120 yards, but still lost by a significant margin. Oregon State was 70% efficient on their third down conversions which tells you that Arizona was allowing the Beavers to gain too many yards on 1st and 2nd downs all night long. Add that to Arizona’s inability to score in the Red Zone as well as being unable to limit Oregon State to just field goals once they got into the Red Zone was pretty much the story of the loss for the Wildcats.
Arizona gets a bye week to figure things out and break in those two new coaches before hitting the road for what should be a really tough game for them against Oregon on Saturday, November 16th. Oregon State heads back home to Corvallis on a short week to host the Washington Huskies this Friday, November 8th, at 7:30pm on FS1.