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