Week 8

Hey All,

Inhale, now exhale. whewww. Several BCS schools can now relax after getting by some close calls this past weekend. So from East Lansing to Tuscaloosa to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, here's this week's edition of Notes on a Pac 10 Scorecard. We still miss you, Alan Malamud.

Summaries

USC 42- Oregon State 36: The Trojan offense continued to improve, with great efforts from QB Matt Barkley, TB Alan Bradford, and WRs Ronald Johnson and Damian Williams. However, the defense was turned to swiss cheese by OSU's passing game and that gave the fans a game that wasn't decided until the Trojans were able to run out the clock. Oregon State QB Sean Canfield lit up the Trojan defense to the tune of 329 yards and 3 TDs in the losing effort. However, the bigger news from this game may be that the Trojans have found themselves a power back to fill in for the injured Stafon Johnson. Alan Bradford rumbled through the Beaver defense for 147 yards on 15 carries and 2 huge touchdowns. It turned out to be a game where the offense had to carry the defense for USC and they did.
Telling Stat: 3 first downs= W. USC's biggest drive of the game came when they picked up 3 first downs to run the final 5:41 off the clock an preserve the victory.

Oregon 43- Washington 19: The Ducks went into Seattle and got their sixth win in a row over the Huskies. After a sluggish first quarter, the Ducks woke up when Tyrell Irvin fell on a blocked punt in the endzone. The Ducks followed that with a two-point conversion by Nate Costa and never looked back. Up 15-3 at the half, UO then scored on their first three possessions of the third quarter to go up 36-6. The Huskies did score two cosmetic TDs late, but this one was over early. TB LaMichael James ran for 154 yards and two TDs to lead the Duck offense, while QB Jeremiah Masoli threw for 157 yards and ran for 54 more along with 3 TDs on the afternoon.
Telling Stat: They do it quickly. UO put 43 points with only a little over 26 minutes T.O.P.

California 49- Washington State 17: Golden Bear QB Kevin Riley threw three passes in the first quarter and all three went for touchdowns. Thrown in a 76-yard punt return for a TD by Jeremy Ross and Cal was up 28-3 at the end of the period. Then, as they say, the rout was on. Cal then turned the rest of the game into a glorified scrimmage and cruised to an easy win. Wazzu did manage to throw for alomst 400 yards on Cal, but the Cougars were in pure passing mode from about five minutes into the game.
Telling Stat: They averaged a first down per play. The Golden Bears only ran 50 plays in the game, but they ran up 559 yards of offense, that's 11.18 yards per play.

Stanford 33- Arizona State 14: SU TB Toby Gerhart carried the ball 27 times for 125 yards and a touchdown while Fr. QB Andrew Luck hit on 17 of 28 passes for 236 yards to lead the Cardinal to an easy win over the Sun Devils. Stanford's defense shut down the ASU in the first half while the offense built up a 24-0 halftime lead. Even though the Sun Devils did try to make a game of it in the second half, this one was never in doubt. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Stanford V. ASU.
Telling Stat: They shut 'em down. Stanford forced four punts and a fumble in ASU's five first half drives.

Arizona 27- UCLA 13: Once again UCLA's defense and special teams showed up, but their offense didn't in this ugly loss in Tucson. The bRuin defense forced five, count 'em five, Wildcat turnovers and their offense couldn't turn any of those into scores. Heck, UCLA's only TD came off a fumble return for a TD. Meanwhile, the Wildcats got just enough offense to win. UofA QB Nick Foles did throw for three interceptions, yet his two TD passes and 247 yards in the air helped his squad avoid a very embarrassing loss.
3=O TDs = LOSS. The bRuins three QBs completed only 15 of 35 passes for 146 yards and zero TDs in this embarrassing loss.

Observations

...And then there were five. That's the number of winless teams left in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Rice and Miami of Ohio are 0-8, while Eastern Michigan, New Mexico, and Western Kentucky are all 0-7.

...I was eight years old and listening to the old Prudential Colllege Scoreboard (hosted by Dave Dyals) when Iowa State last went into Nebraska and got a win. That was 1977. The Cyclones forced eight Cornhusker turnovers in a 9-7 win last Saturday, in Lincoln. The Cyclones are now 5-3 on the season and one big win away from being bowl eligible.

...While everyone has been talking about undefeated Cincinnati as being the greatest thing since sliced bread in the Big East, the Pitt Panthers are quietly sitting at 7-1 after dismantling South Florida, 41-14. The Pitt-Cincinnati game on December 5th could be have bigtime BCS implications.

...Taylor Mays' game has deteriorated over the last few weeks. He has forsaken coverage and potential interceptions for a quest to make a "sportcenter hit." That's a bad thing for USC.

...Speaking of teams below the radar, the Arizona Wildcats are 5-2 with their only two losses coming on the blown call interception return at Washington and a 10 point loss at undefeated Iowa. However, the Wildcats still face the toughest part of the schedule with tough road games at Cal and USC and a home date with Oregon.

...It's funny how USC's penalty numbers returned to a more normal level when the director of Pac 10 officiating attended the game.

...Well, Idaho's great season took a big hit with their 70-45 loss to Nevada.

...They can now go bowling. Here's the list of bowl eligible schools by conference.
ACC: Georgia Tech
Big XII: Texas, Oklahoma State
Big East: Pitt, Cincinnati, West Virginia
Big Ten: Iowa, Ohio State, Penn State
SEC: Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, LSU
Pac 10: USC, Oregon
C-USA: Houston
MAC- Central Michigan
Mountain West: TCU, Utah, BYU
WAC: Boise State, Idaho
Sun Belt: NONE

...Notre Dame has more Pac 10 wins (1) than UCLA and Washignton State combined (0). This week the Whining Irish take on Wazzu at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, TX.

...Wow, I knew the bRuin faithful were not happy with Norm Chow, but when your own players start calling you names and talking bad about you to recruits, you're in trouble. I really don't think Norm stays in Westwood after this season. However, Randall Carroll has become a new great recruiting force for USC.

...Damian Williams' punt returns have been a great surprise for the Trojan faithful. After a rough start it seems, the Trojan special teams are getting better every week.

...After all the talk about how Miami was the best one-loss team in the nation, they now have two after losing 40-37 in OT to Clemson. I don't which was a bigger surprise, the fact that Miami lost or that Clemson actually won a game that mattered.

...It was great to see Alan Bradford have a breakout game. He's a tough, inside runner who gets better as the game goes on. Note to Jeremy Bates: Give Alan the ball at least 15 times a game.

...For those who love this stuff, it does look like the SEC and the Big XII protect their big teams, while the Pac 10 doesn't. Alabama and Florida are 7th and 9th in penalty yardage in the SEC. Texas is 7th in penalty yardage in the Big XII. Meanwhile, USC is 3rd in penalty yardage in the Pac 10.

...Gameday will be in Eugene this week for the USC-UO game. I guess this will make up for the Berkeley snub earlier this year.

...It's good to see TCU ahead of Boise State in the BCS standings. I think the Mountain West Conference deserves a BCS automatic berth. I also thing the Big East should have their berth taken away.

...I see Notre Dame has weakend their schedule even more for 2010 in the school's great quest to reach a BCS bowl with Mr. Schematic Advantage at the helm. The Whining Irish have added Western Michigan and Tulsa to next year's slate. Why don't they just schedule Occidental and Whittier and get it over with?

...I know the UCLA defense is less impressed with Norm Chow than Randall Carroll.

...It was great to see Stafon Johnson at the Coliseum last Satruday night. I just still wish he was in uniform. You are greatly missed, Stafon.

Until next week folks, when tackling remember to stick, stay, wrap, and grab.

-The Commissioner