Week 8

Hey All,

It's time to read that column you all love, Notes on a Pac 10 Scorecard. We still miss you, Alan Malamud.

Summaries

California 50- Arizona State 17: The Golden Bears bounced back in fine fashion after last week's demolition at the hands of USC. With the game tied at 3-3 in the first quarter the Cal offense put three touchdowns on the board in a little over 10 minutes to take a 23-3 lead. The Sun Devils never got off the deck and Cal cruised to a huge win. Cal QB Kevin Riley threw for 240 yards and 2 TDs while RB Shane Vereen ran for 91 yards and 2 TDs of his own. Meanwhile, the Bear defense held ASU to just 57 yards on the ground and forced three turnovers en route to the win.

Telling Stat: 14-3; ASU's defense and special teams combined to score 14 points, the ASU offense only scored 3.

Oregon 60- UCLA 13: The Ducks came out with their high tempo offense and ran and passed their way around, over, and through a hapless bRuin defense to the delight of the faithful that filled Autzen Stadium. Duck QB Darron thomas lit up the bRuin secondary for 308 yards and 3 TDs while RB LaMichael James ran for 123 yards and 2 TDs. He was the spearhead of an Oregon running attack that averaged 6.8 yard per carry in the game. UCLA cosmetic TD came with 1:53 to go.

Telling Stat: 8/56/1:04; Oregon's average scoring drive took 8 plays, covered 56 yards and took 1:04 off the clock.

Stanford 38- Washington State 28: The Cardinal cruised through the first three quarters and the game had the makings of a blowout with SU up 31-7 to start the fourth quarter. Wazzu's offense then came alive with QB Jeff Tuel throwing three fourth quarter TD passes turning the rout into a real game. However, Wazzu did come up short and extend their Pac 10 losing streak to 14 games. For the victorious Cardinal, QB Andrew Luck completed 20 of 28 passes for 190 yards and three TDs. Stepfan Taylor led the SU rushing attack with 142 yards on 27 carries and 2 TDs.

Telling Stat: 57.3; Wazzu P Reid Forrest averaged a whopping 57.3 yards per punt in the contest. Folks, that includes two punts that were touchbacks.

Arizona 44- Washington 14: The Wildcats came out and kicked the Dawgs around Memorial stadium. The UofA defense harrased and hit UW QB Jake Locker all night long, holding him to just 17 of 29 passing for 183 yards and a lone TD. As for the Wildcats, Sr. QB Matt Scott contiunued to fill in quite well for injured starter Nick Foles. Scott threw for 233 yards and 2 TDs. Scott also ran for 65 yards to outshine Locker in that department as well. RB Keola Antolin was the rushing star for UofA with 114 yards and 2 TDs. Antolin's big play was a 78-yard TD run that came on the first play from scrimmage after UW scored a TD in the second quarter.

Telling Stat: They diodn't let him get loose; The UofA defense held the mobile Jake Locker to -24 yards rushing.

Observations

...In the button-down, sweater-vest-wearin', between the tackles, smashmouth, Big Ten, I love the fact that the Wisconsin-Iowa and Michigan State-Northwestern games both turned on a trick play.

...Golden Bear whiplash.; Cal experienced a 67 point turn around this week. They lost to USC by 34 two weeks ago, then they beat Arizona State by 33 this past weekend.

...So how stunning is UCLA's win over Texas now after seeing the Longhorns embarrassed at home by Iowa State?

...USC's season opening game at Hawaii took three hours and fifty minutes to play. It took Arkansas and Mississippi not one, but two severe weather delays to exceed that mark.

...Stanford is 6-1 for the first time since 1970. They'd be 7-0 if they had brought their clock operator to Oregon.

...Iowa State beat Texas who beat Nebraska who beat Washington who beat Oregon State who beat Arizona who beat Iowa who beat Iowa State. Ahhh, the football circle of life.

...Ohio State smacked Purdue 49-0, and the reaction from the college football world was silence. Wisconsin already beat the Buckeyes and Michigan State doesn't have OSU on their slate. OSU could go 11-1 and finish third in the Big Ten.

...San Diego State is 5-2 and they have three very winnable games down the stretch v. Wyoming, Colorado State, and UNLV. The Aztecs could be in their first bowl since 1998.

...And then there were two; New Mexico and Akron are the only teams left in the FBS without a win. Western Kentucky broke their maiden with a 54-21 thumping of Louisiana-Lafayette in a Sun Belt conference tilt. UNLV's best chance for a win comes on November 13th when they host Wyoming. Meanwhile, New Mexico has two big chances left for a win with dates at Colorado State next week and at home with Wyoming on November 6th.

...The MAC holds a dubious distinction this week. They are the only conference with more teams eliminated from bowl eligibility than they have bowl eligible teams at the moment. Yes, that will change, but right now it's pretty funny.

...Golden Bear whiplash part II; Cal has a 4-3 record. 4-0 at home, 0-3 on the road. Oregon and Stanford both make trips to Strawberry Canyon this year.

...Saw the AP poll. How is Stanford only ranked 13th at 7-1 when their only loss was to the number one team in the nation on the road?

...Baylor is ranked for the first time since 1993. Mississippi State is ranked as well. It's a weird year when they're ranked and Penn State and Texas aren't.

...The myth of SEC dominance lies in the scheduling. Look at Auburn. They have 8 home games. They only leave their home state 3 times. They're non conference slate features four home games v. Clemson, Arkansas State, Louisiana-Monroe, and UT-Chatanooga.

...Golden Bear whiplash part III; Only one other team in the nation is as schizophrenic as Cal. That team is Connecticut. The Huskies are 3-4, being 3-0 at home and 0-4 on the road.

...Hawaii leads the nation in passing yards per game with 415.1 Do you know who #2 is at 369.4? It's Idaho. I never would have guessed that either. Oh, by the way, Army ranks last in this category with 78.3 YPG.

...Notre Dame fun fact of the week; Knute Rockne, Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine, and Lou Holtz all won national championships in their stints as head coach of the Fighting Irish. None of them ever lost a game to Navy.

Until next week folks, remember that Utah and Colorado have played in as many Rose Bowl games as Arizona. That's a big zero.

-The Commissioner

Week 7

Hey All,

It's now time for that column that you all love, Notes on a Pac 10 Scorecard. We still miss you, Alan Malamud.

Summaries

USC 48- California 14: A happy, but stunned crowd sat in the Coliseum at halftime of this rout looking at a scoreboard that read 42-0 Trojans. A couple of questions were being asked in the stands. One, who was this Trojan team out there? Two, where have they been all year? Well, the offense had been there all year for USC, but nobody expected QB Matt Barkley to throw for 259 yards and 5 TD passes in the first half Cal's defense that was ranked 6th in the nation coming into the game. More importantly, the defense finally showed up. They crushed Cal's running game and Harassed Cal QB Kevin Riley all day. USC's Mark Tyler led all Trojan rushers with 79 yards and a TD. The USC defense held Cal to 52 yards rushing as a team. After going up 42-0 at the half, the second half turned into a glorified scrimmage.

Telling Stat: It been a while; Cal RB Shane Vereen scored on a 31-yard TD pass with 2:59 left in the third quarter. It was Cal's first TD v. USC since they scored one with :59 left in the third quarter in 2007. That's a span of 177 minutes, 4 seconds between TDs.

Arizona 24- Washington State 7: The Wildcats came away with a shaky win and a big loss in their contest with the Cougars. The big loss was in the second quarter when UofA QB Nick Foles was knocked out of the game with a right leg injury. He was done for the day and the Wildcat offense struggled with backup QB Matt Scott at the helm. As Scott turned in a solid, but not great day, the running game then became the focus for UofA. RBs Keola Antolin and Nic Grigsby combined for 210 yards and 3 TDs on the afternoon. Meanwhile, even though the score was close, the Wildcat defense held the Cougars in check all day. Wazzu turned the ball over four times in the loss. Cougar QB Jeff Tuel threw for 257 yards and a TD in the losing effort.

Telling Stat: It was an ugly finish. The two teams combined for 4 tunrovers, 3 punts, and 2 turnovers on downs in the fourth quarter.

Washington 35- Oregon State 34 2OT: This one looked like a rout early. Behind three Jake Locker TD passes, the Huskies led 21-0 with 10:06 left in the second quarter. Then the Beavers fought their way back into the game. During a span of 9:45, the Beavers got a Ryan Katz TD pass and two Jacquizz Rodgers TD runs to tie the game at 21 with 11:26 to play in the third quarter. It was here that the defenses took over. The schools traded hard hits and fought to a stalemate that saw the game go to overtime tied at 21-21. OSU broke the ice in overtime with Jacquizz Rodgers' third TD of the day to go up 28-21. Then in their half of OT, Jake Locker threw a 17-yard TD strike to Jermaine Kearse. Erik Folk's PAT sent the game into a second OT tied at 28-28. Locker hit Kearse with a 21-yard TD pass and UW went up 35-28. OSU then took the ball and Rodgers scored his fourth TD of the game. Down 35-34, the Beavers sent their PAT team on to tie the game. Then, OSU HC Mike Riley called timeout and pulled his PAT unit off the field. They didn't return. Instead, Riley sent his offense out. Ryan Katz's pass fell incomplete and the Huskies walked away with another close win.

Telling Stat: Only 1; In a game in which the two teams combined to run 153 plays, make 48 first downs, commit 20 penalties and punt 10 times, there was only 1 field goal attempted.

Notre Dame 44- Western Michigan 20: After a sluggish first half, the Fighting Irish shut down the Broncos in the second half, only allowing a field goal when the game was well in hand. Meanwhile, ND QB Dayne Crist threw for 255 yards and 3 TDs while RB Cierre Wood ran for 94 yards and a TD of his own. The Irish just physically dominated the Broncos all afternoon.

Telling Stat: Who needs third downs? ND ran up 44 points and 448 yards of offense despite converting on only 5 of 13 third downs.

Observations

...It didn't work out for his team, but Mike Riley's decision to go for two against Washington was one of the gutsiest calls made all year.

...If anyone thinks Oklahoma can beat either Oregon or Boise State, they are nuts.

...And then there were three. New Mexico, Western Kentucky, and Akron are the only winless teams left in FBS play. Eastern Michigan got a 12-yard TD pass from QB ALex Gillett to WR Ben Thayer to beat Ball State, 41-38 in overtime. It was the Eagles first win since they beat Central Michigan, 56-52 in the final game of 2008.

...Hawaii beat Nevada who beat Cal who beat UCLA who beat Texas who beat Nebraska who beat Washington who beat USC who beat Hawaii. I don't have a point to make here. That's just weird.

...I'm not a Utah fan by any means, but isn't it weird that all the other undefeated teams get a ton of publicity, but the Utes aren't talked about at all?

...The athletic directors in the new Pac 12 voted for a north-south divisional aligment. The vote that put the southern california and northern california schools in different divisions was 7-5. How the hell were Utah and Colorado allowed to vote on this? They don't know anything about the history of the league and the importance of keeping the California schools together.

...It's already been mentioned that the Gameday crew might set up at the Coliseum for the USC-Oregon game in a couple of weeks. Considering how ESPN has treated USC lately, I'd tell 'em to stay away.

...The folks in Michigan love Denard Robinson, but can't stand Rich Rodriguez. Meanwhile, up in Palo Alto, Jim Harbaugh's secretary had just told him there's a call on line one. It's some guy named Dave Brandon in Ann Arbor.

...No wonder Urban Cryer checked into the hospital after Christ-in-Cleats left. The Gators suck.

...The matchups between LSU-Auburn and Oklahoma-Missouri will be the most talked about games of the week, but the most interesting game of the week could be Air Force-TCU.

...Ummm, has anyone noticed that Baylor is 5-2 this year? They have a better record than Texas, Florida, and Notre Dame. Somewhere Grant Teaff is smiling.

...For all who missed the late night games, the San Diego State- Air Force game was one of the best games of the weekend. The Falcons fought to the end as SDSU hung on by their fingernails for the 27-25 win.

...If there is a record setting, high scoring game in the SEC, most likely Arkansas is involved. The Hogs have been on either end of the scoreboard in five of the highest scoring games in SEC history. Who could forget their 58-56 win over Ole Miss in 7 overtimes back in 2001?

...Undefeated Michigan State could easily be Big Ten Champs and finish at 12-0. The only big game they have left is at Iowa on October 30th. They've beaten Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois and don't play Ohio State this year. It might be time to get that green and white paint out for the endzone in Pasadena.

...Wazzu may be losing games still, but they have become a dangerous team to play. They're sending opponents to the hospital regularly. Just ask Arizona and Oregon.

...Betting lines I thought I'd never see; Idaho, San Diego State, and UTEP are all double digit favorites this week. Yes, they are all playing really bad teams, but wow.

Until next week folks, remember that you're only as good as your next recruiting class.

-The Commissioner

Week 6

Hay All,

Here's the column that makes your Tuesdays worthwhile, Notes on a Pac 10 scorecard. We still miss you, Alan Malamud.

Summaries

Stanford 37- USC 35: Trojan QB Matt Barkley threw for 390 yards and 3 TDs and incredible freshman WR Robert Woods caught all three of those TDs as well as 9 other passes for 224 yards. Those remarkable performances lead a USC offense that lit up Stanford for 498 yards and 35 points only to see it all be for nothing. Thanks to a sieve of a defense and a corrupt clock operator in Palo Alto, USC fell to the Cardinal on a last second field goal, 37-35.

Telling Stat: 75%: Stanford converted 75% of their third downs on USC's sieve of a defense in the game.

Oregon State 29- Arizona 27: Let's see, last weekend was the first weekend in October, which usually means it's just about the time Oregon State gets up off the deck after a medicore start and begins playing good, tough football. The Beavers did just that in their two point win over the previously undefeated Wildcats, in Tucson. OSU HC Mike Riley unleashed QB Ryan Katz on the UofA Defense and he ate them up, throwing for 393 yards and 2 TDs. The Beaver defense bent, but didn't break and OSU got the win. What OSU didn't like was losing WR James Rodgers for the rest of the year when he was tackled after already crossing the goal line for an apparent TD in the second quarter. That TD was called back on a penalty, but the damage was done and Rodgers was lost. UofA QB NIck Foles threw for 440 yards and 2 TDs in a losing cause.

Telling Stat: They kept moving the chains; OSU held the ball for 36:23 and converted on 10 of 15 third downs.

California 35- UCLA 7: The Golden Bear defense never allowed UCLA's pistol offense to fire a shot in this rout in Strawberry Canyon. CAL's defense was the story of this game. They held UCLA to 26 yards rushing, 144 total yards and allowed the bRuins to cross the 50-yard line only twice all day. Meanwhile, CAL RB Shane Vereen ran for 151 yards and 2 TDs to lead CAL's gashing of the bRuin defense for 304 yards rushing and a 34:08 to 25:52 T.O.P. advantage. The bRuins haven't won in Berkeley since 1998.

Telling Stat: 1 is the loneliest number; UCLA ran for 26 yards on 26 carries v. CAL. That's a nifty 1 yard per carry average.

Oregon 43- Washington State 23: 558 total yards of offense and going to 6-0 on the season were good for UO, but two big injuries took the joy out of this win for the Ducks. The first big injury was on a kickoff return when Duck RB Kenjon Barner was absolutley smashed to the ground by Wazzu's Anthony Carpenter. Barner was laying motionless on the field as the UO trainers worked on him. An ambulance was brought out to the field where Barner eventually got up and walked to a waiting stretcher. He was held overnight in Pullman for observation and is supposed to be back in Eugene today. The second big injury happened in the second quarter when QB Darron Thomas was knocked out of the game with a shoulder problem. Thomas was held out of the rest of the game as a precaution. Backup Qb Nick Costa took over and led the Ducks the rest of the way to victory. Costa finished the game with 151 yards passing and one TD. He also ran for 84 yards and another score.

Telling Stat: A dirty dozen; Wazzu's Pac 10 losing streak now stands at 12 games.

Arizona State 24- Washington 14: In a game played in heavy rain for most of the night, the Sun Devils were the ones who conquered the elements and the Huskies in Seattle. ASU QB Steven Threet completed 21 of 34 passes for 288 yards and 2 TDs. His TDs helped give the Sun Devils a 21-7 halftime lead. Both defenses dominated the second half in the bad conditions, but it was ASU's defense that made the big plays down the stretch. The capper was an interception in the endzone by CB Omar Bolden to snuff out UW's hopes with a little over a minute left to play.

Telling Stat: ASU's defense held running QB Jake Locker in check, allowing him to run for only 6 yards in the game.

Notre Dame 23- Pittsburgh 17: ND and their new offense under HC Brian Kelly was firing on all cylinders in the first half, then the Fighting Irish had to hang on in the second half for the win. The key man for ND was PK David Ruffa who hit three big field goals, including a 50-yarder in the third quarter. Ruffa is still perfect in his career at ND having made all 16 of his FG attempts. However, Irish fans couldn't breathe easy until Pitt's last pass fell incomplete with 1:11 to play.

Telling Stat: The first was their worst; While ND was building up a 17-3 lead in the first half, Pittsburgh missed a field goal and turned the ball over twice to dig a hole that they couldn't crawl out of.

Special Section: How They Made Time Stand Still on The Farm

So just what did go on with the clock in the final 1:23 of the USC-Stanford game last week? Well, simply stated, an incompetent referee and a hometown clock operator gave Stanford a better chance to win the game.

1:23 to play, USC has a 2nd and 10 at the Stanford 13-yard line: Matt Barkley hands off to Alan Bradford who runs for 10 yards down to the 3-yard line. The clock stops to move the chains with 1:15 left. The clock stays stopped as the referee calls for a measurement. The measurement shows USC gained the first down.

1:15 to play, USC 1st and goal at the Stanford 3-yard line: With the clock still stopped, the referee gets a signal from the booth for a review of the spot of the ball after Bradford's run. The review upholds the ruling on the field, it is still USC's ball, 1st and 10. It is after this review that the game clock should have been started by the referee. However, HE DIDN'T SIGNAL TO START THE CLOCK! Meanwhile, USC is in the huddle calling their play. By my count, USC takes 16 seconds in the huddle which are never run off the clock.

1:15 still to play: As USC breaks the huddle and lines up, the referee sees that neither the play nor the game clock are running and signals for the 25 second play clock and the game clock to start. HOWEVER, ONLY THE PLAY CLOCK RUNS! 14 seconds tick off the play clock before USC snaps the ball. Then, and only then, the game clock starts. Barkley hands off to Alan Bradford again and he scores on a 3-yard run. The run takes 3 seconds and the game clock reads 1:12 to play. AT LEAST 25 MORE SECONDS SHOULD HAVE RUN OFF THE CLOCK! The referee realizes something went wrong with the clock after the play, but doesn't consult to run the proper time off the clock, instead he just has the operator take only 4 seconds off, so the clock reads 1:08. IT SHOULD READ AT MOST :47 LEFT, NOT 1:08!!!!!

Now, we move onto the ensuing kickoff: Stanford's Chris Owusu fields the ball 5-yards deep in his own endzone. On kickoffs, the clock starts once the kick has been touched by the receiving team. THE CLOCK DIDN'T START UNTIL OWUSU HAD MADE IT OUT TO THE 9-YARD LINE! That' s a span of 4 seconds. Owusu goes down on about his own 25-yard line and the clock reads 1:02 to play. IT SHOULD HAVE READ AT MOST :37 LEFT!!!!!

Now folks, I know this USC defense is a sieve, but I think it would have been a little more difficult for Stanford to get into field goal range with just :37 seconds left on the clock instead of 1:02 when they got the ball for their final drive.

Observations

...And then there were four. Only four winless teams are left in FBS play. The woeful four schools are Akron and Eastern Michigan out of the MAC, New Mexico from the MWC, and Western Kentucky from the Sun Belt Conference. New Mexico State fell off the list when they got a 22-yard field goal from PK Tyler Stampler with 1:56 left in the game to defeat New Mexico last week, 16-14.

...A very light schedule in the Pac 10 this week. I can't remember a week in October where four Pac 10 teams had a bye.

...New Mexico-New Mexico State Redux; The rivalry game between these two schools goes back to 1894, a full 18 years before the Territory of New Mexico was granted statehood.

...Boise State is projected to be number one in the BCS rankings provided they win this week. The eastern backlash on ESPN will fill the airwaves come Monday.

...Everyone likes to talk about TCU and Utah in the Mountain West conference. Watch out for Air Force. The Falcons have enough talent and discipline to make a serious run at the league crown.

...I've talked about teams quietly making noise in the last couple of weeks. However each team I've brought to your attention has been beaten. So, who can I curse this week? How about 5-0 Missouri. The Tigers play at Texas A&M this week.

...I'm hearing rumors that the powers that be in the Pac 10 are thinking about putting the first Pac 12 Championship game in Las Vegas. What a mistake that would be. The only stadium in Las Vegas seats about 30,000 with not enough concessions to serve the crowd. Come on, a bigtime conference should put the game in a bigtime venue.

...Pac 10 officiating has got to be the worst in college football. Everyone from Arizona to Wazzu has been hurt by the extreme incompetence of the officials.

...Sad to see Aaron Corp injured his knee and will be out for the rest of the season. The kid had a tough enough career as it was.

...One of the best games of the week will be missed by most of the country. Nevada plays at Hawaii this week. It could be the highest scoring game all year.

...While the Ohio State-Wisconsin game will be the marquee attraction in the Big Ten this week, the best game might be Illinois at Michigan State. Both teams are coming off big wins.

...Fun stat; Hawaii QB Bryant Moniz has completed 160 passes this year. Army QB Trent Steelman has attempted 52 passes this year.

Until next week folks, remember how much of an impact the clock operator can have on the game.

-The Commissioner

Week 5

Hey All,

Here's that column that makes Tuesdays worthwhile, Notes on a Pac 10 Scorecard. We still miss you, Alan Malamud.

Summaries

Washington 32- USC 31: For the second year in a row, the Huskies got a game-winning field goal from PK Erik Folk. The Trojans wasted a 21 carry, 223 yard, 2 TD game from RB Alan Bradford because the the Trojan defense gave up 536 yards and 28 first downs to a less than stellar Husky team. UW QB Jake Locker looked like the Heisman candidate he was billed to be coming into this season by throwing for 330 yards and rushing for 110 more on USC's sieve-like defense.

Telling Stat: 1; USC's porous defense forced the Huskies to punt once in the contest.

UCLA 42- Washington State 28: Late in the third quarter, Wazzu held a 28-20 lead over the bRuins and the crowd was nervous to say the least at the Rose Bowl. However, UCLA got a big one yard TD run from RB Derrick Coleman and even bigger two-point conversion pass from QB Richard Brehaut to tie the game. UCLA then took control of the game in the fourth quarter. A pair of last period TD runs from Brehaut and Coleman along with a big goal line stand added up to a win over the Cougars. The bRuins ran for 437 yards on the Cougars with RB Johnathan Franklin carrying the ball 30 times for 216 yards and a touchdown.

Telling Stat: Running to daylight; UCLA RBs Coleman and Franklin were the first pair to rush for over 180 yards each in a game in bRuin history.

Oregon State 31- Arizona State 28: The Beavers had the services of only one half of the Rodgers brothers, but it was enough as the orange and black came away with a win in Corvalis. WR James Rodgers missed the game as he was still suffering problems stemming from the concussion that knocked him out of the Boise State game a week earlier. Little brother Jacquizz Rodgers ran for 245 yards and two TDs to lead the Beaver attack. Meanwhile, the Sun Devils kept this one close with 203 yards passing and a TD from QB Steven Threet and 104 yards rushing and a TD from RB Deantre Lewis.

Telling Stat: Fourth quarter blues; In seven fourth quarter drives v. Oregon and Oregon State, the Sun Devils have thrown five interceptions.

Oregon 52- Stanford 31: The Cardinal came out and jumped all over the Ducks, getting two TD passes from QB Andrew Luck and a TD run by RB Stepfan Taylor. SU was up 21-3 at the end of the opening stanza. Then, the Ducks started their come back. However, Stanford still held a 31-24 lead at the half. Then, the Duck defense showed up. The Duck Defense shutout the Cardinal in the second half, while the Duck offense was busy putting up 28 second half points to get the win. UO QB Darron Thomas threw for 238 yards and 3 TDs and ran for 117 yards and another TD to lead the charge for the Ducks.

Telling Stat: Long trips for nothing; Stanford had three drives of over 50 yards in the fourth quarter and came away with zero points on those drives.

Notre Dame 31- Boston College 13: The Fighting Irish came out strong with QB Dayne Crist throwing two first quarter TD passes and a TD run to put ND up 21-0 in the first quarter. BC then managed a mild comeback as true freshman QB Bobby threw a TD pass of his own and led his team on two more drives that ended in field goals. BC trailed at the half, 24-13. Then ND's defense took over, shutting out the Eagles in the second half. Throw in a a TD run by Armando Allen, and ND came away with a much needed win.

Telling Stat: They had no offense. BC's average drive v. ND lasted only 4 plays and covered 15 yards.

Observations

...In the big rivalry game in Los Angeles last week, Occidental beat Whittier, 25-22. The Boys from Oxy get to keep "The Shoes."

...Last week Air Force and Navy combined to complete 11 of 17 passes . Hawaii completed 11 of 17 passes in the first quarter v. Louisiana Tech.

...USC not going for it on fourth down against Washington made the Trojans look like a team trying not to lose instead of a team playing to win.

...Hey BYU, how's that decision to go independent looking right now?

...Can USC now end the failed experiment of Devon Kennard at MLB. He's a DE, not an MLB.

...And then there were six. The same six teams are winless this week in FBS play. I was off by one week with the New Mexico-New Mexico State game. It's this week. Something's got to give in this game. NMSU gives up 46 points a game and New Mexico gives up 54 points per game. Somebody has to win this one by default.

...Quietly making noise; Northwestern is 5-0. This week the Wildcats are home to take on Purdue. Look for the Purple to go 6-0.

...The Michigan-Michigan State game is huge this week. It'll be interesting to see what Wolverine QB Denard Robinson can do against MSU's tough defense.

...Ugly game alert! Ugly game alert! Oregon plays at Wazzu this week. The Ducks could put up triple digits on the Cougs.

...It was just sad to see that the team having fun on the sideline in the Coliseum last week was Washington.

...Let me get this straight, Nevada and Boise State are ranked in the AP top 25 and Texas and USC are not. What a weird season this is.

...It's obvious that the key player in Oregon's explosive offense isn't QB Darron Thomas or RB LaMichael James. It's wideout Jeff Maehl. Maehl is a Wes Welker type that does nothing but get open and keep the chains moving.

...Ouch, another FCS team beat a an FBS team last week. UC Davis beat San Jose State, 14-13. The game wasn't really that close. The Aggies shutout SJSU in the second half. The closest the Spartans came to scoring was a missed 52-yard field goal attempt in the fourth quarter.

...In one of the funny statistical oddities of the week, USC and Washington each had the ball for exactly 30:00 T.O.P.

Until next week folks, remember playing "to win" instead of "not to lose" is what makes a great team.

-The Commissioner