Pac-12 Roundup: Week Seven
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No Mannion? No problem for the Beavers. (conway_ba/Creative Commons)
Oregon State Responds
A week after losing starting quarterback Sean Mannion to a season ending injury, Oregon St. set the tone offensively, leading to a 42-24 victory over Brigham Young. Junior gunslinger Cody Vaz picked up the pace for the Beavers completing 20-of-32 passes for 332 yards and three touchdowns.
Storm Woods took the bulk of the carries for the Beavers and added a necessary balance to the offense. Brandin Cooks gave Vaz a great receiving threat raking in 173 yards receiving while Markus Wheaton grabbed two scores.
The defense played outstanding, racking up three interceptions including one returned for a TD by Jordan Poyer. Oregon St. also held the vaunted BYU rushing attack to only 81 yards on 33 carries. This team is balanced and ready to control the Pac-12
UCLA Finds A Way To Hold Off The Utes 21-14
The Bruins started slow with many incompletion and a fumble that was returned for a touchdown. After that point, the Bruins took control and found a way to hold on for the victory.
Brett Hundley was very efficient, 15-of-21 for 183 but did not take many shots down the field. Hundley also used his legs to confuse the Utah defense, rushing for 68 yards on 15 carries.
Tyler Wilson played well for Utah but made a key freshmen mistake throwing an interception late in the first half that cost Utah points. John Hays actually came in the fourth quarter and threw the only offensive touchdown for Utah, but his efforts were not enough.
USC Wins
The Trojans played solid special teams and made enough plays early in the game to defeat the Washington Huskies, 24-14. Matt Barkley definitely did not help his Heisman campaign, completing only 50 percent of his passes for 167 yards.
Luckily, Silas Redd dominated the game on the ground with 155 yards rushing and gave USC the strength to control the time of possession. The Trojans did face a top-five passing defense, but Matt Barkley must play better if the Trojans want to win more football games convincingly.
Keenan Allen Dominates, Leads Cal To Win
The California Bears defeated Mike Leach’s Washington State Cougars 31-17 largely in part due to one of the best receivers in the nation, Keenan Allen. Allen recorded 116 yards receiving on 11 receptions and was the one bright spot in the Bears passing offense.
The Bears passing attack was poor outside of Allen, but their rushing attack definitely picked up the slack. C.J. Anderson, Isi Sofele and Zach Maynard and explosive back Brendan Bigelow combined for 312 yards rushing.
When they need it most, the defense stepped up and forced two interceptions to secure the victory. Cal has now won two in a row and looks much more formidable and confident heading into their Bay-Area clash with Stanford next week.
Arizona State Offense Is Explosive
Granted, it was against Colorado, but ASU looks like the second-best offense in this conference. ASU can throw, run and it has a quick-hitting offense, scoring 45 points while losing the overall time of possession
Taylor Kelley threw for over 300 yards and a whopping five touchdowns. Cameron Marshall was close to 100 yards on the ground for the Sun Devils.
Quite honestly, be afraid, Trojan fans, of this matchup, because dual threat quarterabck Kelley will give any defense fits with his arm and legs. Another big play for ASU occurred in the third quarter when Rashad Ross returned the opening half kickoff 100 yards for the score.
Though he had a big day, Taylor couldn't get the one yard to keep Stanford alive. (Jerry Ting/NT)
The Stanford Cardinal finally cracked the Irish defense and took a lead against Notre Dame. Stepfan Taylor rushed for 102 yards on 28 hard carries but could not get the yard necessary to win.
Notre Dame made two goal-line stands to preserve the victory, continuing its improbable undefeated season. Josh Nunes looked uncomfortable all afternoon and threw two interceptions in the wet and cold conditions at Notre Dame.
Give the Cardinal credit; they played a top-ten team and took them toe-to-toe. This team is still very strong and still deserves their top-25 ranking. If the Cardinal want to take a step forward, they must get better passing on play action from Nunes.
