Week 4

Hey All,

After a victorious trip to the Palouse, I bring you the column you love to read, Notes on a Pac 10 Scorecard. We still miss you, Alan Malamud.

Summaries

USC 50- Washington State 16: After giving up an early score, the Trojans' Stanley Havili scored on a 59-yard TD run on USC's first play from scrimmage. USC never looked back and crushed the Cougars, in Pullman. USC QB Matt Barkley threw for 290 yards and 3 TDs, while Havili was the big star, rushing for 80 yards and a TD and racking up 107 receiving yards and another score. Freshman CB Nickell Robey led the Trojan defense with 2 interceptions, the first one being a 25-yard TD return.

Telling Stat: 119-16; In their last two trips to the Palouse, USC has outscored Wazzu, 119-16.

Oregon 42- Arizona State 31: It was 101 degrees in Tempe for the 7:00 kickoff and this game was a hot and wild one to the end. ASU outplayed the Ducks, running up almost 600 yards of offense, holding the ball for 34:26, and holding the quack attack to a season low of yards. However, the Sun Devils turned the ball over 7 times, and they went down to defeat. ASU QB Steven Threet threw for 387 yards and 3 TDs, but his 4 interceptions were the difference in the game. As for the Ducks, QB Darron Thomas threw for 2 TDs and ran for another in the winning effort. Meanwhile, the Duck defense had 2 returns for touchdowns of its' own.

Telling Stat: 0; for a game that was exciting to the end, the teams played a scoreless fourth quarter.

Stanford 37- Notre Dame 14: The Cardinal went to South Bend and slapped the Fighting Irish around in front of their home fans. SU QB Andrew Luck threw for 238 yards and a TD while directing a ball control offense that wore out the Notre Dame defense. As for the Cardinal defense, they held ND to 44 yards rushing, just 4 of 13 on third down conversions, and harassed ND QB Dayne Crist all day. What really put this one in the win column for Stanford was when FB/LB Owen Marecic scored on a 1-yard TD run, then scored a second TD 13 seconds later on a 20-yard interception return.

Telling Stat: 1; Stanford punted just once against Notre Dame.

Arizona 10- California 9: Wow, an actual defensive battle in the Pac 10. Arizona came into this one after their emotional win over Iowa, while Cal came in off their brutal loss to Nevada. Cal held a 9-3 lead with 2:41 to go play and was set up for a 40-yard game clinching field goal. PK Giorgio Tavecchio missed the kick and that gave UofA one last chance. After getting a quick first down, Wildcat QB Nick Foles hooked up with WR Juron Criner on play that covered 51 yards and gave UofA a 1st and 10 at the Cal 12-yard line. Three plays later the pair hooked up again for a 3-yard TD and the Wildcats escaped with a 10-9 win.

Telling Stat: 18/167; In this sloppy defensive struggle, the two teams combined for 18 penalties totaling 167 yards.

Boise State 37- Oregon State 24: They painted their practice field blue, but it didn't help as the Beavers fell to the Broncos in this primetime matchup. They kept it close, but as usual, Mike Riley's squad lost a key non-conference game. The turning point in this game was when OSU's James Rodgers was knocked out of the game with a concussion after a helmet-to-helmet hit by BSU safety Winston Venable. The Beavers were never the same offense after that and Boise secured the win. Bronco QB Kellen Moore connected on 19 of 27 passes for 288 yards and 3 TDs while RB Doug Martin ran for 138 yards in the winning effort.

Telling Stat: 57; The win was BSU's 57 th straight home win in the regular season.

UCLA 34- Texas 12: In the shocker of the year so far, the bRuins went into Austin and embarrassed the Longhorns. UCLA ran for 264 yards on a Texas defense that was number 1 in the nation against the run. bRuin RB Johnathan Franklin had 118 of those yards and a TD on 19 carries, while QB Kevin Prince ran for 50 yards and a TD and threw for 27 yards and a score. The bRuins ran so well, that they threw only 8 passes all game. As for the Texas offense they played a game of give-away, committing 5 turnovers, and never threatened to win.

Telling Stat: 22; UCLA had Texas so beaten up front, that at one point they ran the ball 22 consecutive times.

Observations

...Washington State is just a couple of players away from being a good team... Mark Rypien and Rueben Mayes.

...It was fun watching Texas HC Mack Brown look so stupid in his team's epic loss to UCLA. I've been laughing about it for days.

...I know the SEC loads up on cupcakes every year, but now the Big Ten has really made a trip to the bakery this season. 10 of the 11 squads in the conference will play an FBS team and a Mid-America Conference team.

...Underneath the veneer of the America's Darlings image that Boise State has lies a bunch of cheap shot artists.

...I don't know what was the more impressive stat from the Arizona State-Oregon game. Was it the fact that ASU turned the ball over seven times or the fact that Oregon punted 10 times.

...And then there were six. There are six winless teams left in FBS play. They are Akron, Eastern Michigan, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Florida International, and Western Kentucky. Look for the number to drop to at least five next week as New Mexico takes on New Mexico State. The rivalry trophy between these two is a silver spade.

...Quietly making noise; yes, their schedule has been a weak one, but San Diego State is 3-1. The Aztecs came within an eyelash of upsetting Missouri and they open up Mountain West Conference play at BYU in two weeks.

...When USC wants to put a cupcake on their schedule they make a date with a Big Ten team.

...Wisconsin put up 70 points on Austin Peay last weekend. The Badger basketball team broke 70 points only few times last season.

...Why is it that in games in the desert heat in Tempe, that the Sun Devils always look more tired than their opponents. Don't they practice in this heat all the time?

...I love the different offenses in college football. Air Force leads the nation with 394.0 yards a game rushing, while Hawaii leads the nation with 405.5 yards per game passing.

...I think Iowa will smash Penn State this week.

...This week Navy takes on Air Force as one part of the battle for the Commander-In-Chief's trophy gets settled.

...Do you think UCLA's upset of Texas has taken a little shine off the OU-Texas game this week?

...Who thought that coming into this week's Georgia-Colorado game, that the Buffaloes would have the better record?

...Nevada and UNLV will hook up in their annual rivalry game this week. The winner gets possession of the Fremont Cannon. It's the largest rivalry prize in college football. It weighs 1,100 pounds and can fire live rounds.

Until next week folks, remember that in cover 2 defense the safeties split the filed and have responsibility for the deep middle.

-The Commissioner