What a day for the Pac-10. UCLA/Notre Dame and Cal/Washington both went down to the wire, Arizona only had to have one pass thrown by a wide receiver and Stanford gained more than 100 yards of offense. Way to go Stanford!
Notre Dame 20, UCLA 17
I guess that Brady Quinn is pretty good. He got off to a slow start against a Bruin defense that showed it does have some teeth. They only allowed the Irish to convert 4 of 19 third downs, though they did manage to convert 4 of 5 fourth downs, only gave up 41 rushing yards and minus the last drive, played quite well. But when it really mattered, they folded under fire from Quinn. Here was the game from Notre Dame’s perspective: 55 seconds left, down by 4, 80 yards to a touchdown, No Fear (Yes, that’s a reference to 1994). And they only needed three plays. Quinn found every receiver he was looking for, including Jeff Samardzija for the 45 yard game winning TD. Give some credit to the Bruins for holding their own in South Bend and making the Irish work for a win. Patrick Cowan looks like he might be an adequate replacement for Ben Olson, but Chris Markey can’t put up another 19 carry, 32 yard performance if UCLA is going to finish near the top of the Pac-10.
MVP: Brady Quinn - 27 of 45 for 304 yards and 2 TDs
Arizona State 38, Stanford 3
Wow, did the Sun Devils have a great game or what. Only two incompletions between Rudy Carpenter and Danny Sullivan, 200 yards on the ground and they forced three turnovers. Of course, anything less would have been a huge disappointment. Stanford got outgained by 200 yards again, converted a measly 3 for 14 on third downs, and TC Ostrander had a QB rating of 42.18. This game didn’t really tell us anything other than reinforcing the fact that Stanford really sucks. Given how Duke almost beat Miami, Stanford is likely to be named as ESPN’s second worst team this week and they are really giving Temple a run for their money.
MVP: The Sun Devil running backs - 50 touches for 254 yards and 5 TDs
Cal 31, Washington 24
The Bears barely kept their BCS hopes alive in this one. Even after being gifted 5 interceptions (including another for Daymeion Hughes – Don’t throw at him!) from new Husky QB Carl Bonnell, they still had to go to overtime. After Marshawn Lynch ran in for his second TD and the first score of overtime, Bonnell threw his last interception to linebacker Desmond Bishop, ending the game. But how it got to overtime was the most interesting part of the game. With about a minute left in the game, UW got the ball back after Cal scored a TD and got the 2 point conversion, giving them the lead at 24-17. with six seconds left, UW called a timeout at the Cal 40. With no time left on the clock, Bonnell threw the ball towards the endzone, where there were about five Bears waiting for it. None of them knocked the ball down though, and it ended up in the hands of Marlon Wood for the game tying touchdown. But turnovers killed the Huskies in OT, just like they did in regulation. Why this game was so close, I don’t know. The Bears were able to run the ball and aside from Nate Longshore’s 2 for 9 start, didn’t really have any problems passing either. But UW hung around long enough to get to OT and in the process, put on an offensive show with Cal. After keeping it close with USC, it looks like UW’s rebuilding under Ty Willingham is definitely starting to see results.
MVP: Marshawn Lynch – 21 carries for 152 yards and 2 TDs
Washington State 34, Oregon 23
This was the big upset of the weekend, with the Ducks being the only ranked team in the country to lose to a non-ranked team. Alex Brink had his best conference game of the season, while Dennis Dixon had his worst. I don’t think anyone, save Cougar fan, was expecting that flip-flop to happen. But it wasn’t just Dixon with a bad game. Jonathan Stewart only managed 28 yards on 11 carries and after three quarters, the Ducks were down by 24. Brady Leaf came on to throw a couple of TDs and Oregon got lucky with a defensive TD in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough to win. Despite outgaining and out-first-downing the Cougars, the Ducks didn’t look good at all. Brink and Dwight Tardy were big reasons for that. Brink was 20/23 passing and Tardy had 145 rushing yards. This game effectively ended the Ducks chances of winning the Pac-10 and making a BCS game. Aloha means goodbye!
MVP: Dwight Tardy – 20 carries for 145 yards and a TD
Oregon State 17, Arizona 10
What a barnburner. The Wildcats only managed 183 yards of offense behind Kris Heavner’s first start at quarterback. One week after Chris Henry and Chris Jennings combined for 181 rushing yards, they gained a mere 23 yards on 16 carries against the Beavers. OSU wasn’t much more exciting, but at least they moved the ball. Matt Moore threw two more interceptions, but Sammie Stroughter had another big day catching the ball and Yvenson Bernard had 134 total yards on 31 touches. Way to go Coach Riley! You ran the ball almost twice as much as you passed. You may make a bowl game yet.
MVP: Sammie Stroughter – 5 catches for 91 yards and a TD
The Pac-10 Apostle’s Disciple of the Week
This is the first time we’re giving away this prestigious award, and given the magnitude of the win, this week it goes to….
Mr. Tardy carried the Cougars on his back, all the way to the upset over the Ducks. Well done Mr. Tardy, well done.
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