Week 7

Hey All,



After a great trip to South Bend that produced another great Trojan victory over Notre Dame and Charlie Weis' schematic advantage, it's time for the column you all love to read, Notes on a Pac 10 Scorecard. We still miss you Alan Malamud.


Summaries


USC 34- Notre Dame 27: This roller coaster of a game had everything. A true freshman that threw for almost 400 yards. A tight end that had five catches for over 150 yards, a fake filed goal, numerous missed calls, bad calls, and replays. It also had sacks, big runs, big hits and late hits. It also had one big goal line stand by the Trojans. A stand in which USC had to win the game on the final play twice. After four hours, the Trojans walked away with their eighth straight win over the Fighting Irish. Once again Matt Barkley continued his incredible freshman year by throwing for 380 yards and 2 TDs. Meanwhile, the USC defense led it's young defensive line consistently put pressure on Irish QB Jimmy Clausen.
Telling Stat: Mr. Schematic advantage is now 0-5 Vs. USC.


Arizona 43- Stanford 38: In this shootout of a game, the Cardinal held a 38-29 lead at the end of third quarter and looked well on their way to a big Pac 10 win. Then the Wildcats stepped it up and dominated Stanford in the fourth quarter and got a win to keep pace with the top teams in the Pac 10. UofA's defense stopped Stanford twice on fourth down deep in their own territory to give their offense a chance. The Wildcat running game, which had been dormant for most of the game, then came alive. First it was TB Greg Nwoko with a 43-yard TD to put UofA within two points at 38-36. Then, with 2:57 to play, TB Nic Grigsby broke a 57-yard TD run to put the Wildcats up to stay at 43-38. There were big stats for the QBs in this one. Stanford's Andrew Luck threw for 423 yards and three TDs, while Wildcat QB Nick Foles threw forn 415 yards and three TDs of his own.
Telling Stat: They did it in two plays. The two long TD runs that won the game for UofA accounted for 110 of the Wildcats 138 total rushing yards in the game.



California 45- UCLA 26: The Golden Bears put up big numbers with some big plays to spank the bRuins at the Rose Bowl. Cal scored five first half TDs on the bRuins, but none was bigger than TB Jahvid Best's 93-yard TD run with 5:05 to go in the half. The funny thing is except for that run, UCLA held him check, as he finished with 102 yards on 18 carries for the day. On the offensive side of things for UCLA, they got a a decent effort out of TB Jonathan Franklin who ran for 101 yards on 11 carries and two TDs. bRuin QB Kevin Prince did manage to have a decent day as well throwing for 311 yard and a TD, but his interception that was turned in to CAL's last TD of the day was plain horrible. The win gave CAL HC Jeff Tedford his first win in the Los Angeles area. Until then he had gone 0-7 combined Vs. UCLA and USC at the Rose Bowl and Coliseum.
Telling Stat: Who needs to get into the red zone? CAL's five offensive TDs were on plays that covered 42, 43, 51, 93, and 24 yards.



Arizona State 24- Washington 17: Another week, another cardiac finish for the Huskies. After punting to ASU with 22 seconds left, it looked like the game was headed to overtime tied at 17 all. Then, embattled Sun Devil QB Danny Sullivan let one fly and amazed the crowd in Tempe. Sullivan stepped up in the pocket threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Chris McGaha with five seconds left to give the Sun Devils a 24-17 win. The Sun Devils had seen their 17-7 third quarter lead evaporate after a Chris Polk 23-yard TD run and a Erik Folk 29-yard field goal tied the game with 3:50 to play. Then came the bomb. The TD pass was McGaha's only reception of the game for the Sun Devils who remain a factor in the Pac 10 race with the win.
Telling Stat: All it takes is one. Until the TD pass, the Husky defense allowed only three points since the early in the second quarter.


Observations


...And then there were six. There are six winless teams left in the FBS. Rice, Miami (OH), Eastern Michigan, Ball State, Western Kentucky, and New Mexico are all still looking for that elusive first win.


...Just how bad can the officiating get in the Pac 10? The Pac 10 crew that worked the USC-Notre Dame game was just plain awful.


...Is it any surprise that according to Pollspeak.com, a website that tracks college football polling, Scott Wolfe of the Los Angeles Daily News is always rated as one of the worst voters in the AP Poll every week?


...With their 35-23 win over Hawaii last week, Idaho is bowl eligible for the first time this century. The Vandals are the only team with a wining record left on Boise State's schedule.


...I found out a rather disturbing fact from one of the officials from the USC-Notre Dame game last week. He told me that the replay booths in college football aren't equipped with HD setups. That means that all of us at home are looking at better views of the game than the replay officials. That's scary.

...I guess it's time for everybody to take notice of Arizona. The Wildcats are 4-2 with their only losses coming on the road to undefeated Iowa and on a bad call at Washington.

...Oh, by the way, the crew that blew the call that cost Arizona the game at Washington was the same lousy crew that worked the USC-Notre Dame game.

...Alabama looks like the most complete team in the nation right now.

...Outside of Idaho, the most surprising 6-1 team this year has to be Pittsburgh. However, big games against South Florida, Notre Dame, West Virginia, and Cincinnati still loom large on the Panthers' schedule.

...I think we can officially announce the end of Jimmy Clausen's 2009 Heisman Trophy hopes.

...Wouldn't it be neat if Tennesse beat Alabama this week?

Until next time folks, watch for fake field goals and the quarteback draw.
-The Commissioner