Week 14

Hey All,

Here's the column that makes Tuesdays a little more fun, Notes on a Pac 10 Scorecard.

We still miss you, Alan Malamud.

Summaries

Notre Dame 20- USC 16: Suppose I told you that one team would force four turnovers, hold the opposing QB to 149 yards passing and just 5 of 15 on third downs. You would think that team would win, right? Not so, USC did all those things and still managed to lose to the Fighting Irish. Many things factored into this loss. A way too conservative gameplan from Trojan HC Lane Kiffin, numerous dropped passes, and a defense that failed at the most critical moment all combined to help ND snap their eight game losing streak to USC. Trojan backup QB Mitch Mustain got the start for the injured Matt Barkley and was victimized by his own HC's lack of confidence and his own wideouts case of the drops. Most notably was WR Ronald Johnson's drop of a sure TD pass when he was wide open with just a little over a minute to play.

Telling Stat: No room to run; With USC's inability to pass, ND was able to load the box and hold USC to just 80 yards rushing on 30 carries. That's a dismal 2.7 yards per carry.

Stanford 38- Oregon State 0: The Cardinal did a little BCS resume polishing over the holiday by crushing the Beavers in Palo Alto. SU QB Andrew Luck turned in another stellar effort completing 21 of 30 passes for 305 yards and 4 TDs. Meanwhile the Cardinal defense forced 5 OSU turnovers in a dominating effort. The Cardinal are now just hoping that they hold onto their #4 spot in the BCS and a big bowl game.

Telling Stat: 38-0/14:50; That was the score and time left when Stanford emptied the benches and a lot of hard-working kids got their letter.

Oregon 48- Arizona 29: Stop me if you heard this one before, you see Oregon was down at the half, then they came out and destroyed the other team in the second half. Well, it did happen again and the Wildcats were the victims. Duck QB Derron Thomas threw for 3 TDs and ran for another, while RB LaMichael James ran for 126 yards and 2 TDs of his own. As for UofA, Qb Nick Foles did throw for 448 yards and 3 TDs in a losing cause.

Telling Stat: 2nd half magic; After a lackluster first half, the Oregon offense came out and scored TDs on their first 5 possessions of the second half to turn this game into a rout.

Arizona State 55- UCLA 34: After the first 13 minutes of play, UCLA had run and thrown at will on the ASU defense, building up a 17-0 lead. The bRuin defense had dominated as well. They even knocked out starting QB Steven Threet. Then, the roof caved in on the bRuins. Backup QB Brock Osweiler came in and calmly completed 27 of 36 passes for 380 yards and 4 TDs. Those four TD passes were part of ASU's 55 point explosion in the final 47 minutes of the game. RB Cameron Marshall ran for 147 yards and a TD to lead the ASU rushing attack. As for the bRuins, QB Richard Brehaut had a good game throwing for 321 yards and 3 TDs of his own, but his day paled in comparison to the ASU backup. The Win by ASU kept their faint bowl hopes alive while ending UCLA's bowl hopes for 2010.

Telling Stat: Long Road; In their comeback win, ASU scored on drives that covered 78, 51, 63, 86, 99, and 82 yards.

Washington 16- California 13: It was a thriller in Strawberry Canyon, where the Huskies pulled off one of the gutsiest calls of the season and came away with a victory. The Huskies were down, 13-10 with 4:39 to play and the ball on their own 21-yard line. QB Jake Locker then led his team on a nine play march that put the UW on the Cal one-yard line with :02 left on the clock. Husky HC Steve Sarkisian shunned the field goal and decided to end the game right then and there. On the tenth play of the drive, Locker handed off the RB Chris Polk who crossed the goalline as time ran out. The Huskies won and are now a win away from bowl eligibility.

Telling Stat: 2012; That's the next time us fans will see either Husky Stadium or Memorial Stadium in use. Both are undergoing major facelifts in 2011.

Observations

...The last taste; The late start of the USC-UCLA game this week would make everyone think that it wold be the last regular season college game of the year. It's not. On December 11th, the Army-Navy game will finish the FBS regular season.

...Stones and glass houses; I know Ohio State President Gordon Gee had a point to make about Boise's weak schedule, but Gordon, your Buckeyes played 8 home games, and your non-conference slate featured Miami, Marshall, Ohio U., and Eastern Michigan and your squad didn't play a road game until October 2nd.

...Bowl Math- The Return; There are right now 70 bowl eligible schools for the 70 bowl slots. However, there are four schools left who are on the bubble of bowl eligibility. Those five are Arizona State, Oregon State, Washington, Middle Tennesee State and Louisiana Tech. We could have 75 bowl eligible teams for the 70 slots after this week.

...Hey this isn't what we signed up for; Sorry, Boise, but with TCU's defection to the Big East Conference, that means Utah, BYU, and TCU won't be there for you as you play in what's left of the Mountain West Conference. Can you say WAC 2.0?

...Way to go, San Diego State! Your new HC Brady Hoke has turned your program around and you're going to bowl for the first time in a while. Enjoy it now, Hoke looks like he'll be on Minnesota's sideline next year.

...And then there were NONE! With Akron's big 22-14 win over Buffalo, there are no winless teams in the FBS! So, at least every team got to feel like a winner at some point this season.

...Circle of life; USC beat Hawaii who beat Nevada who beat Boise State who beat Oregon State who beat USC. Whoa, I'm dizzy now.

...Ice, Ice, Replay; I never thought I'd ever see officials ice a kicker, but it happened in Reno. After Boise's Kellen Moore threw an incredible hail-mary to Titus Young that put BSU in line for a chip shot game-winning field goal, out came Kyle Brotzman and the FG unit. Then, the refs called for a review. Brotzman then paced around during the review and started to really think about it. By the time the review was done, he was iced. Nevada needs to send the replay ref a thank you gift.

...You don't love me anymore; Miami HC Randy Shannon was fired this week. That's a pretty funny thing to do after Miami gave him a four year contract extension in August. That's gotta be a big buyout.

...Coming home; The Michigan AD, Dave Brandon may say he's waiting until after the bowls to evaluate HC Rich Rodriguez. He's just waiting for Jim Harbaugh to be available. Rich-Rod is a dead coach walking.

...Passed by; Can we all, and by we all, I mean the USC coaching staff included, realize that the Tampa 2 defense has become outdated in the college game? It happened to the 6-1, the 5-3 Stack, 7 Diamond, and the Wide Tackle 6. Let's embrace some change here.

...Important news; this year's Family Turkey Bowl winners this year were the Cranberry Crushers who beat the Tough Turkey's 56-28. Your author here was doubtful for the game, but came off the bench to throw a couple of TDs a la Brett Favre, but brother-in-law Robert was the Defensive MVP of the game with his many interceptions and my mother got offensive MVP for running the coolest center sneak for a TD I've seen in many years.

Until next week folks, remember that you can ask for a free kick after a fair catch.

- The Commissioner

Week 13

Hey All,

The column you love to read is back. The author is still on the DL, but at least he could get it together this week. Here's another edition of Notes on a Pac 10 Scorecard. We still miss you, Alan Malamud.

Summaries

Oregon State 36- USC 7: It was another nightmare for the Trojans in Corvallis. USC came out for this game flat and lazy. The Beavers made them pay for it by physically pounding the Trojans up and down the field. OSU QB Ryan Katz torched USC's poor pass defense by completing 17 of 24 passes for 154 yards and a pair of TDs. Meanwhile, RB Jacquizz Rodgers toted the leather 26 times for 128 yards and a TD of his own. As for the star of this game it had to be OSU DT Stephen Paea. Paea made the USC O-line look like a bad JC squad. Hey, and I should know, I was a bad O-lineman on a bad JC squad. Then to top off the horrible night, the Trojans lost QB Matt Barkley due to injury right before halftime.

Telling Stat: An all-time low; The last time OSU scored a 30+ point win over USC was the first time the two schools ever met back in 1914.

Stanford 48- California 14: The two squads almost came to blows before the game with a lot of bluster and fire, but Stanford was the only squad to keep that fire throughout the game as they smacked the Golden Bears around at Strawberry Canyon. SU QB Andrew Luck threw for 235 yards and a pair of TDs, but it was a long run by Luck that showed his dominance in this game. He took the ball after being flushed from the pocket in the first quarter and ran over a Cal DB on the way to a big first down that showed Stanford would take no prisoners. Behind Luck's performance and RB Stepfan Taylor's 3 TDs, SU led 45-0 at the end of three quarters. Then they emptied the bench so everyone could say they played in "The Big Game."

Telling Stat: a long time ago; Stanford's 48 points were the most they have scored on Cal since the Cardinal beat Cal 41-0, in 1930.

Washington 24- UCLA 7: It was a blackout night in Seattle, The fans wore black, the cheerleaders wore black, and the Huskies came out in all black uniforms. Then the Huskies made it a black night for the bRuins. The Dawgs' defense caused UCLA's pistol offense to misfire early and often. They forced three turnovers while holding UCLA to 163 total yards of offense. Meanwhile, Husky QB Jake Locker was no great shakes either, but he directed the offense well enough to get UW the win. UW RB Chris Polk ran for 138 yards and the game clinching TD with 4:24 to left in the fourth quarter.

Telling Stat: Jake Locker completed only 10 passes for 68 yards, yet he had more completions and more yards than UCLA's three QBs combined.

Observations

...Bowl math; there are 35 bowl games this year. That means you need 70 teams to be bowl eligible at season's end. Right now 64 teams are bowl eligible.

...I don't really like bench clearing incidents in sports, but it was fun to see a little good old fashioned hatred between California and Stanford last week.

...Bowl math part II; There are 20 teams left to trying to get bowl eligible. The Sun Belt Conference has 5 of those teams. However, it is quite possible that none of those 5 teams will be bowl eligible, rendering them the only conference to go through a season without a bowl eligible team.

...Wazzu beating Oregon State a couple of weeks ago has done more damage to Boise State than any loss the Broncos have ever suffered on the field.

...If San Diego State beats UNLV this week, the Aztecs will finish the year at 8-4. Their four losses have been by a total of 14 points. SDSU HC Brady Hoke has done a great turnaround job at Montezuma Mesa.

...With all the talk about the rules changes for the Illinois-Nortwestern game last week at Wrigley Field, it's amazing how quickly those were all forgotten once the game started.

...So, how long does Jeff Tedford remain the HC at Cal?

...Bowl math part III; As of this week, the Pac 10 has only 3 bowl eligible teams. It is almost certain that the conference will not fill all of it's bowl tie-in slots.

...The "From the Penthouse to the Outhouse" award goes to the Texas Longhorns. Last year they were in the National Championship Game, this year they are last place in the Big XII South. Also, please note, that Longhorns have had no major injuries, scandals, or any other major incidents within the program. They just stink.

...So, Hawaii will be joining the Mountain West Conference. Doesn't that mean that all the old original WAC teams are together again? Maybe they can ask for their old league name back.

...Talk about a clash of styles; The Rose Bowl might end up being a matchup between Wisconsin and Boise State.

...Army and UCLA rank dead last in the nation with 5 TD passes thrown this season. That's pretty bad, but even worse for bRuin fans when they realize they've thrown the ball 116 more times than Army.

...Hawaii fun fact; The Warriors average 44 pass attempts per game. That's tops in the nation. They run the ball 20 times a game. That's last in the nation.

...The playoffs began last week for the teams in D-II and D-III. This week they begin for the FCS schools. Funny how every level of football has managed to run a playoff system well except for the big boys.

...Here's a cheer for the Penn Quakers. Last week they beat Cornell to claim the Ivy League crown. The Quakers went 7-0 in league play and 9-1 overall with their only loss being to FCS power, Villanova.

...They fly jets, but love the ground attack. Air Force has run the ball 699 times this season.

...Huge game in the WAC this week, folks. Boise State plays at Nevada. It should be a great game.

...Gotta love Thanksgiving week. Family, food and football. It doesn't get much better.

Until next week folks, remember football is something to be thankful for.

-The Commissioner

Week 9

Hey All,

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

Summaries

Oregon 53- USC 32: The Ducks and Trojans traded punches for almost three quarters before the depleted Trojans ran out of gas while Oregon found their passing gear and showed USC and the nation why they are number one. UO QB Darron Thomas shredded USC's sieve of a defense for 288 yards and 4 TDs through the air, while RB LaMichael James ran for 239 yards and three TDs to lead the Ducks rushing attack. USC had a 32-29 lead with 11:19 to go in the third quarter, then they faded and were outscored 24-0 down the stretch by the Ducks whose high energy, high octane offense proved to be too much for USC's weak defense to handle.

Disturbing Stat: In USC's first 668 home games they had given up 50+ points only once. It's happened twice in games 669-675.

Arizona 29- UCLA 21: UofA's fake punt trumped the bRuins flea-flicker and the Wildcats came away with a hard fought win at the Rose Bowl. UofA backup QB Matt Scott filled in as the starter again for the injured Nick Foles and lit up the UCLA secondary for 319 yards and a TD. However, the Wildcats held a slim 26-21 lead after bRuin QB Richard Brehault connected with WR Josh Smith on the flea-flicker for a 49-yard TD. With 6:23 left, the Wildcats executed a fake punt to perfection with P Jake Fischer running for 29 yards and a big first down. Then the Wildcats put the game away with an Alex Zendejas 30-yard field goal with 1:21 to play.

Telling Stat: They couldn't cash in; UofA ran up 583 yards, 32 first downs and held the ball for 37:55, but could only manage to put 29 points on the board.

Stanford 41- Washington 0: The Cardinal went into Husky Stadium and just whipped the Dawgs. The Stanford defense harassed QB Jake Locker all day. They held him to 7 of 14 passing for 64 yards and two interceptions. Then, they nailed Locker, breaking his ribs, possibly ending his season. The Huskies finished with 107 total yards of offense and a meager seven first downs. Meanwhile, QB Andrew Luck threw for 192 yards and a TD. He also ran for 92 yards and another score. RB Stepfan Taylor ran for 104 yards and 2 TDs for the boys from Palo Alto. The Cardinal are 8-1 for the first time since 1970.

Telling Stat: 36 seasons; Stanford picked up their first road shutout since beating Oregon 17-0 in 1974.

Oregon State 35- California 7: It was a road game, so Cal got blown out. This time it was at the hands of the Beavers who got 119 yards and 4 TDs from RB Jacquizz Rodgers to go with 184 yards and a TD through the air from QB Ryan Katz. The Beavers kept the Golden Bears caged, allowing only 206 total yards and 10 first downs on the afternoon. Cal's lone score game with :20 left on 45-yard TD pass from QB Brock Mansion to WR Anthony Miller.

Telling Stat: Meaningless yards; 93 of Cal's 206 total yards came on their final drive of the day after the Beavers had emptied the bench with the game well in hand.

Arizona State 42- Washington State 0: After being embarrassed by Cal last week, the Sun Devils came out and declawed the Cougars, in Tempe. Sun Devil QB Steven Threet threw for 300 yards and 3 TDs. Not bad for a kid just coming back from a concussion the week before. The Cougars got 200 yards out QB Jeff Tuel, but the ASU defense picked him off twice and held WSU's ground attack to 8 yards on the day.

Telling Stat: Long fields; Wazzu's average starting field position in this game was their own 21-yard line.

Tulsa 28- Notre Dame 27: What was a horrible week at ND got a little bit worse when the Fighting Irish threw away a win over Tulsa. The game started poorly for ND as QB Dayne Crist was lost for the year when ruptured the patella tendon in his left knee. That put true frosh QB Tommy Rees on the spot and the kid responded by completing 33 of 54 passes for 334 yards and 4 TDs. He also threw 3 interceptions. One of them was returned for a TD and his final one handed Tulsa the win. ND was on the Tulsa 19-yard line with :39 left and Rees threw into the endzone where it was intercepted by DB John Flanders. It was Tulsa's first win over a BCS school since 1998.

Telling Stat: Man, he hates Halloween; This is the second straight year that ND's Dayne Crist has suffered a season-ending injury on Halloween weekend.

Observations

...Something you don't see every day; After UTEP's Kris Adams scored on a 23-yard TD pass from Trevor Vittatoe, the Miners attempted a two-point conversion. Vittatoe's pass was intercepted and taken back 100 yards for a defensive conversion.

...My heart goes out to the family of ND undergrad Declan Sullivan. It just hurt to read of a young life cut short in a senseless accident.

...Bowling Math; There are 35 bowl games this year. That means there are 70 slots for teams out of the 120 teams in the FBS. That's a lot of teams considering there were barely enough bowl eligible teams with fewer bowls last year. This will be interesting to watch how it plays out down the stretch.

...Something you don't see every day Part II; Nebraska's Roy Helu, Jr. had a 300 yard rushing game. He actually ran for 307 yards and 3 TDs on 28 carries in the Huskers' 31-17 win over Missouri. That's a nifty 10.9 yards per carry.

...You know things have hit the skids at Notre Dame when the ND message board moderator has to post warnings to their fan base to quit calling the players and coaches names in their posts.

...Big, big, game in the Mountain West this week as TCU visits Utah. This battle of unbeatens serves as an elimination game for a BCS berth.

...Quietly making noise; Baylor is 7-2 after their 30-22 win at Texas. Wouldn't it be cool if the Baylor-Oklahoma game meant a trip to the Big XII title game was on the line for both schools?

...And then there were still two. Akron and New Mexico are the only two winless teams in the FBS. Akron is losing their MAC games by an average of 28.2 PPG. UNM gave up 720 yards and 72 points to Oregon back in week one of the season.

...As of this week, the Big East and Sun Belt conferences have no bowl eligible teams.

...Michigan is in ninth place in the Big Ten. I never, ever thought I'd write that sentence.

...So, just how bad has USC's secondary been this season? The Trojans are ranked 114th in the nation against the pass. Hell, Wazzu is ranked 107th.

...The battle for the WAC title is this week as Hawaii travels to Boise State. Heck, the halftime score could be 51-49.

...Speaking of big games, Arizona plays at Stanford this week. This one will be a smashmouth affair. No spread finesse here.

...This is Joe Paterno's 45th year as Head Coach at Penn State. That is equal to the tenure of all the head coaches in the Pac 10 combined.

...If Air Force can beat Army this week, they will take home the Commander-in-Chief Trophy. USAFA comes into the game ranked 2nd in the nation in rushing offense and 116th in passing. USMA comes ranked 7th in rushing offense and dead last, 120th in passing offense. This game could be over in under two hours.

Until next time folks, remember that the Tampa 2 defense wasn't designed with spread offenses in mind.

-The Commissioner