Week 4

Hey All!

It's time for that column you've all been waiting for, Notes on A Pac 10 Scorecard. (We still mis you Alan Malamud.)

Summaries

USC 27- Washington State 6: This game was a mixed bag for Trojan fans. Frosh sensation Matt Barkley returned to action and shined, throwing for 247 yards and two TDs. The Trojan defense made it clear that Wazzu would have trouble getting a first down, much less getting into the endzone, and the special teams executed a great onside kick. On the other side of things, USC committed 13 penalties for 115 yards, more players were lost to injury and a fumble by Aaron Corp in the fourth quarter infuriated the crowd. It was a game that really didn't give the Trojan faithful much to be happy about.
Telling Stat: Eight feels great. The USC defense sacked WSU QBs eight times last week.

Stanford 34- Washington 14: What a crazy first quarter it was in Palo Alto. SU's Chris Owusu took the opening kickoff back for a TD. Both teams then turned the ball over twice with UW's Justin Glenn taking one Stanford miscue back 51 yards for a TD. Next came a 60-yard TD run by SU's Toby Gerhart which made the score 14-7. Then the game slowed down from there with the Cardinal grinding out a win over the Huskies. The Cardinal ran through the Husky defense to the tune of 321 yards rushing, with 200 of those and a TD coming from Gerhart. SU QB Andrew Luck only threw 14 passes completing 7 of those for 103 yards on the day. The Cardinal are now 3-1 and on top of the Pac 10.
Telling Stat: They finished it off. SU ran the last 8:09 off the clock with a drive where they converted four third downs and ran the ball for all 13 plays of the possession.

Georgia 20- Arizona State 17: After going down 14-3 in the first quarter, the Sun Devils scrambled back and had the Bulldogs scared before falling on a last second field goal between the hedges down in Athens. In fact, the Sun Devils held the lead, 17-14 with 5:25 left in the third quarter after a Jarrel Holman pick six. The Bulldogs' A.J. Green was the hero for UGa. He caught eight passes for 153 yards and a TD. His final catch set up PK Blair Walsh's game winning field goal as time ran out. However, his biggest play came when he blocked ASU's go ahead field goal attempt late in the game. ASU QB Danny Sullivan threw for 116 yards and a TD in the losing cause.
Telling Stat: No ground game. ASU had almost as many penalty yards (62) as they had rushing yards (88).

Arizona 37- Oregon State 32: With their TB Nic Grigsby out for the game after his first carry and TE Rob Gronkowski already out for the year, the struggling Arizona offense calmly went into Corvalis and beat the Beavers. Wildcat QB Nick Foles completed 25 of 34 passes for 254 yards and three TDs. Nine different backs carried the ball for UofA and the defense came up big at the right time in this victory. OSU had three chances for a game winning drive, but threw an interception, gave up a safety and gave up two sacks to end the game. OSU's Rogers brothers had over 200 yards of offense and two TDs, but it wasn't enough.
Telling Stat: Not a lot of defense here. Both schools combined to give up seven scoring drives of 60 yards or more to two of the lowest ranked offenses in the NCAA.

Oregon 42- California 3: A funny thing happened on Cal's way to the BCS last week. The Bears were humiliated by the Ducks. UO ran up 524 yards of offense on the vaunted Bear defense. They had no answer for Duck QB Jeremiah Masoli who completed 21 of 25 passes for 253 yards and three TDs. That's an 82% completion rate, folks. Cal looked lost all day. Chief among the lost was TB Jahvid Best who saw his budding Heisman candidacy take a severe hit with an unimpressive 16 carry, 55 yard performance. This game sent shockwaves around the nation, and not just because the ducks were actually wearing a regular uniform.
Telling Stat: They couldn't move the ball. Cal only had three drives all game that lasted longer than 5 plays.

Observations

...They don't have the best talent, but no team in the Pac 10 is playing with more heart and desire right now than Stanford. The Cardinal have a hunger to win that I just haven't seen in the rest of the conference.

...I wish I could have recorded that Oregon State- Arizona game the other night, but it was on the Vs. Channel. A channel that was dropped by DirecTv. How do you get dropped by DirecTv? I mean there are a thousand channels on my TV!!! How lame do you have to be to get dropped by a satellite system that has over 1000 bleeping channels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...I've seen some bad accidents in weight rooms over the years, but the Satfon Johnson accident just blows me away. Get well, Stafon.

...Boise State, TCU, and Houston all have a great chance to go undefeated and crash the BCS party. They play in three different conferences and will be favored in all their remaining games.

...The Fresno State moral victory tour rolled on this week as the Bulldogs dropped a 28-20 decision to Cincinnati. Way to go, Pat Hill.

...If it weren't because of a horrible call down in Wake Forest, Stanford would be 4-0 and in the top 25.

...And then there were ten. There are ten teams left in the Football Bowl Subdivision that are winless. Virginia is the only school from a BCS conference that doesn't have a win. My new darkhorse candidate to go winless is New Mexico. They lost the Silver Spade in their rivalry game with New Mexico State. I think that was their best shot at a win this year.

...Boy, that loss to Boise State must seem like years ago to the Oregon Ducks.

...Quietly making noise. Don't look now, but Idaho has won back-to-back for the first time this century. It must be fun to be in Moscow right now.

...Why is that when Pac 10 schools all start beating each other in conference play that the league is called weak, but when it happens in the SEC it's called great competitive balance?

...Don't look now, but the biggest BCS buster is Cincinnati. Yeah, they're in the Big East, but if they run the table, it could really mess up the BCS.

Until next week folks, keep an eye on the play clock and don't break the huddle with 12 men.
-The Commissioner