PAC 12 ROUNDUP: WEEK 3
Three weeks in and the college football season is already 1/4 over. Week 3 gave us what is certain to be one of the best games of the year in the Pac, and the teams are starting to take shape. Time to go over the best and the worst in this week’s Pac-12 Roundup!
BIGGEST WIN:
Lotta this on Saturday. (Photo: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE)
Washington State getting the first FCS win of the Mike Leach Era had this in the bag….until the end of Friday night.
Unfortunately for the Cougs, their huge win over UNLV was upstaged by Stanford registering the biggest upset of the weekend, maybe of the season, on Saturday night.
USC was the preseason favorite to win the national championship. Their offense is so loaded it’s almost impossible to describe without using historical terms. USC has arguably the nation’s best quarterback, best TWO receivers and two 1000 yard rushers in the backfield.
Meanwhile, all Stanford had was a million questions wondering what they would be after losing the best head coach and the best quarterback of the last five years. When the Cardinal opened the season with a very unconvincing win over San Jose State, a lot of people wondered if it was going to be back to business as usual on the Farm.
But on Saturday, that team that no one was sure about walked right up to the all-timers and punched them square in the mouth. In years past when top 5 USC teams have been upset, the Trojans have left behind a trail of fluke turnovers and 3rd down personal fouls a mile long (See Stanford’s 2005 win over the Trojans and every time USC has lost @ Oregon State). That was far from the case on Saturday when Stanford lined up with USC and simply out-played the mighty Trojans.
Stanford has the Pac-12’s best front seven, so Saturday was unfortunate timing for the Trojans to lose All-American center Khaled Holmes. The Cardinal repeatedly penetrated the middle of USC’s line against overmatched Freshman Cyrus Hobbi, and the entire line seemed out of sync without their senior leader calling the protections.
“Hi, Tim? it’s Matt. Could you text me that speech you gave after you lost to Ole Miss? Yeah I think I’m gonna need that later tonight. “(Photo: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE)
Stanford sacked Matt Barkley four times (half the number of sacks the Trojans allowed all of 2011), but that stat hardly does justice to the pressure Barkley was under all night. The Cardinal lived in the Trojan backfield recording 10 tackles for loss, allowing USC less than a yard per carry and administering numerous punishing blows to the quarterback.
For his part, Barkley was at his worst under pressure on Saturday, completely failing to make plays when the chips were down. The (former) Heisman front-runner completed less than 50% of his passes for the first time since his freshman year (and third time ever), but most damning to Barkley’s Heisman campaign are his dreadful third down numbers.
USC faced 3rd down, 13 times, called passes on 10 and Barkley did not convert a single one. He finished 3/9 with a sack and an interception, all three of the completions going well short of the sticks. Alltogether, USC was 1 of 13 on 3rd downs.
When you don’t convert 3rd downs, you don’t score. and the Trojans didn’t put p a single point in the 2nd half. USC had 6 possessions in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Four of those were three-and-outs and none resulted in a score. So much for the, “best offense of all time”.
WORST LOSS:
Colorado dodged this last week after a loss to an FCS School by virtue of PTR’s particular intolerance for Utah losing to Utah State. But the Utes took care of business against this week’s in-state rival, so the Buffs get their long-deserved award for making Fresno State look like Oregon playing Tennessee Tech.
The Bulldogs are no slouch this season, but no Pac-12 school should allow 69 to a Cal State under any circumstances. Fresno Beat Colorado like they were a high school team, taking a 35-0 lead, IN THE FIRST QUARTER. The Dogs had scoring plays of 97 and 94 yards in the opening quarter, and stretched their lead to 48-0 by the mid-point in the 2nd.
Quarterback Derek Carr (yup, they’re related) completed 77% of his passes and starting tailback Robbie Rouse averaged 16 yards per carry. It is looking like a LOOOONG season for the Buffalos.
Jordan Richards ensuring that Randall Telfer does not catch this pass(Photo: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE)
PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Stanford tailback Stepfan Taylor ran for over 150 yards and simply looked like the best skill player on either team on Saturday night, but the Pac-12 Player of the Week HAS to be on Stanford’s defense. No player personified the physical beating the Cardinal gave USC like safety Jordan Richards. The Sophomore from Fulsom was the single most disruptive force against the Trojan passing attack.
Richards intercepted Barkley once and broke up four other should-have been completions with vicious hits. He also recorded 4 tackles in the game, including one for a loss of 13 yards.
ARE THEY WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE?
Cal was beaten at home by a good but not great Nevada team in week 1 and then gave up 31 points to FCS Southern Utah. When they went to the Horseshoe last weekend to play the very impressive Ohio State, a lof us expected a slaughter. The Bears lost 28-35 but held the explosive Buckeyes to less than 250 yards of offense and erratic Zach Maynard completed 70% of his passes. You never want to lose, but the Bears’ performance in Columbus made the Pac-12 North race look all the more crowded.
Utah also showed marked improvement getting up off the mat from their loss to Utah State and upsetting top 25 ranked BYU. The Cougars’ defense has been advertised as the best of the Bronco Mendenhall Era, but Utah moved the ball better and scored more points against the Cougars than they did v. Utah State, and they did it without retired quarterback Jordan Wynn and injured star tailback John White IV.
ASU looked vulnerable for the first time of the season when Mizzou contained their offense and beat the Devils with a back up quarterback. Next week’s Utah vs. ASU game is starting to look interesting.