PAC-12 ROUNDUP: WEEK 1
At long last, college football returned with a glorious 5 day parade of games from Thursday through Monday. All 12 teams in the Pac-12 played, some even facing actual FBS opponents! Here’s a recap of the best and the worst in the Season’s first Pac-12 Roundup!
What the hell, let’s give it to UCLA who opened the Jim Mora era with a rousing beatdown of Rice. The Neuheisel Era began with a shaky OT win over Tennessee, which was immediately followed by the Bruins getting crushed 59-0 by BYU, so Saturday’s comfortable win felt really good in Westwood.
Rice isn’t much of an opponent, but UCLA doesn’t have much of a football program, and 49 points is the most the Bruins have scored in a game since 2005. Jonathan Franklin exploded for 214 yards and putting PTR’s prediction that he would gain 1,500+ this season on very sound footing.
Everyone was curious to see how Brett Hundley would look in his first live action college game a the Freshman gave Bruin fans a lot to feel good about. Hundley looked very comfortable completing 75% of his passes and he didn’t just crutch on All American TE Joseph Faruia either. Hundley’s 21 completions went to nine different Bruins with none having more than 4.
UCLA will more than have its hands full with Nebraska next week, but a Bruin offense in transition showed lots of promise.
WORST LOSS:
Washington State went down 30-6 in Mike Leach’s debut at BYU, and CU failed to get their one annual reliable win against Colorado State, but Cal’s loss to Nevada was the most disappointing Pac-12 performance of the week.
The Bears had a big party to break in their new stadium and Mt. West punching bag Nevada was their chosen guest. The Bears were 22-2-1 all-time against their Neighbors to the East in Reno, but on Saturday Nevada made it 22-3 and two wins over Berkley in the last three years. But this isn’t the 13-1 win Nevada team that beat Cal in 2010. This is a Nevada team starting a sophomore QB and a freshman tailback, and coming off a 7-6 season in a 3rd tier conference.
Cal has a new stadium to fill and premium seats to fill. Stanford has gone from a nobody to a juggernaut in the last few seasons while Cal’s program just seems to be adrift. Don’t look now but Jeff Tedford’s seat may be getting a bit warm.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Jonathan Franklin may have had more yards from scrimmage, but the player of the week in the Pac-12 was Marqise Lee. Coming into the season, Robert Woods was widely regarded as the best receiver in the FBS, but PTR has been telling anyone who would listen that Woods isn’t even the best receiver on his own team. Though a less targeted true Freshman, Lee nearly equaled Woods’ yardage last season with his absurd 16 ypc average.
Lee finished with nearly 200 receiving yards on a game-high 10 catches, with a 100 yard kick return TD on Saturday, but even those gaudy statistics aren’t as convincing as to his game-opening statement.
Lee served notice to the nation on USC’s first play of the season, when he turned a 6 yard out-route into a 75 yard touchdown that made Hawai’I’s defensive backfield look like Techmo Bowl characters trying to corral Jerry Rice. Paired with Woods, USC arguably has the nation’s best quarterback throwing to the country’s TWO best receivers. Get your popcorn ready.
ADVENTURES IN COACHING CHANGES:
The four new head coaches in the Pac went 3-1 on Saturday with Mike Leach the lone loser. The Cougars’ played, by far, the toughest opener of any team in the Pac, traveling to BYU.
Leach’s Air-Raid offense was prolific and QB Jeff Tuel completed a respectable 30/45 for 229 yards, but the Cougars are clearly a work in progress. WSU was only 5/15 on third down and allowed 426 yards to BYU. But the most troubling aspect of WSU’s first game was their -11 yard rushing total.
Mike Leach’s system is known for the astronomical statistics it produces in the passing game, but when Leach was truly successful at Texas Tech, the Red Raiders averaged over 100 yards per game rushing as well. The Key to Leach’s offense is to spread the defense out with ultra wide splits and receivers lined up from East to West.
The short, quick routes run by Leach’s WRs lead to high completion totals, but equally critical is stretching the defense to open up large running lanes for tailbacks to exploit.
Leach’s system includes a lot of “package plays” that can be either a run or pass. The offensive line executes such plays as though they are run plays, and the WRs run their routes. Then Leach’s quarterback must read the defense after the snap and determine whether he should throw the ball, or if the defense is vulnerable to an inside handoff.
BYU has a stout defensive front 7, but clearly Jeff Tuel has not mastered Leach’s system yet. It’s an intricate offense requiring a great deal of expertise, but also an instinct for what the defense is doing. Tuel can still develop that feel for the game, but his progression will likely only come with time.
Rich Rodriguez, Todd Graham and Jim Mora beat Toledo, Northern Arizona and Rice respectively, but their true tests are coming this week when they play Oklahoma State, Illinois and Nebraska. Meanwhile, Leach looks to get his first win in Pullman this Saturday when Eastern Washington comes to town.