College Football Recap: PAC-12 Week Two

The PAC-12 split the weekend with the Big 12 when Oklahoma State beat University of Arizona 37-14 and Arizona State beat Missouri 37-30 in overtime.

Former PAC-10 members Cal and USC forgot to roll out the welcome mat to their new PAC-12 members Utah and Colorado.

Arizona (1-0) vs. Oklahoma State (1-0)

OSU quarterback Brandon Weeden torched the Wildcats defense for 397 yards passing with two touchdowns. Not to be outdone by Weeden, Arizona quarterback Nick Foles threw for 398 yards with one touchdown.

The game was in the Cowboys’ hands by halftime leading 21-0. The Wildcats scored first in the second half cutting the lead to 21-7 then OSU responded just before the end of the third quarter with Justin Blackmon’s second touchdown of the game; an eight yard fade pass. Blackmon finished the game with 12 catches gaining 128 receiving yards.

Arizona head coach Mike Stoops made some questionable calls early in the game going for fourth down conversions instead of kicking field goals. The Wildcats finished the game with one successful fourth down conversion on three attempts.

The difference in the game was OSU’s defense stopping the Wildcats when needed and OSU’s rushing attack piling up 197 net yards. Arizona was a one dimension team as they were held to 41 yards rushing.

Joseph Randle led OSU in rushing with 118 yards on 15 carries with two touchdowns.

Life doesn’t get any better for Mike Stoops this week when Andrew Luck and the Stanford Cardinal travels to Tucson.

Nick Foles and Brandon Weeden are the top ranked quarterbacks in NCAA Division 1 terms of yards per game, averaging 405 yards per game and 392.5 yards per game respectively.

Next Game:

OSU (2-0) plays at Tulsa (1-1).

Stanford (2-0) travels to Arizona (1-1).

Missouri versus Arizona State

ASU outlasted the Tigers after blowing a 14-point fourth quarter lead winning in overtime 37-30.

Missed opportunities and penalties marred the game for both teams. Missouri field goal kicker Grant Ressel missed two field goals including a 47-yard attempt late in the fourth quarter that could have been the difference for the Missouri Tigers. Both teams combined for 23 penalties (ASU 12, Missouri 11) totaling in 110 yards lost for ASU and 114 for the Tigers that kept stalling moment gaining drives.

James Franklin showed marked improvement against ASU after having a poor game against Miami of Ohio in week one. Franklin threw for 319 yards completing 26 passes on 42 attempts with two scores and no interceptions. Franklin picked up tough rushing yards throughout the night finishing the game with 59 yards on 27 attempts. Henry Joesy led the Tigers with 94 yards on nine rushing attempts.

Brock Osweiler made play after play with his arm and legs for the Sun Devils. Osweiler ended the game with 353 yards passing, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. Osweiler added a 12 yard rushing touchdown on a bruising run up the middle to start the fourth quarter.

Both quarterbacks spread the ball out evenly, each finding eight different receivers during the game. Aaron Pflugrad led all receivers with eight catches for 180 and two touchdowns.

Missouri’s tough defensive line was only able to sack the big 6’8” Osweiler once. ASU’s feared defense was able to sack Franklin twice.

Neither defense played particularly well. Missouri gave up 492 yards of offense and ASU gave up 501 yards.

Missouri played without their two top running backs.

Next Games:

Western Illinois (1-1) versus Missouri (1-1).

Arizona State (2-0) at Illinois (2-0).

Oregon State (0-1) versus Wisconsin (1-0)

Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson continued his seemingly effortless transition back into college football helping the Badgers beat the Beavers 35-0. Wilson, a 2010 draft pick of the Colorado Rockies, put his baseball career on hold to finish out his collegiate football career when he transferred to Wisconsin. The move from North Carolina State to Wisconsin has been an early success for both Wilson and the Badgers.

Wilson completed 17 of 21 passes for 189 yards with three touchdowns allowing the rushing attack time to wear down the smaller Oregon State defensive unit. Montee Ball ran for 115 yards on 15 attempts with two second half touchdowns.

OSU starting quarterback Ryan Katz was benched for the second straight game in favor of backup quarterback Sean Mannion. Mannion ended the game completing 25 passes on 38 attempts for 244 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.

OSU was playing without their week one freshman running back stud, Malcom Agnew. Agnew is expected to return to game action for OSU’s October 1, game at Arizona State. Even with Agnew playing OSU would have had a tough time overcoming their poor special teams play. Shanked punts, penalties on special teams, and poor kick return decisions kept the Beavers pinned in their own territory for much of the game. Without Agnew, OSU was held to 23 net rushing yards.

Junior Beaver receivers Jordan Bishop and Markus Wheaton had five catches for 98 yards and eight catches for 83 yards respectively.

Next Games:

UCLA (1-1) at Oregon State (1-1).

Wisconsin (2-0) at Northern Illinois (1-1) in Chicago.

California (1-0) versus Colorado (0-1)

California welcomed Colorado to PAC-12 play in an exciting fashion as the Golden Bears rolled past the Buffaloes 36-33 in overtime.

Colorado field goal kicker Will Oliver kicked a 32-yard field goal with 34 seconds left to send the game into overtime. In overtime Oliver connected on another field goal, his fourth of the day (including a 52-yard bomb in the second quarter), to break the 30-30 tie.

Cal answered with Zach Maynard’s fourth touchdown pass of the game; a 5-yard pass to Keenan Allen for the winning score.

Maynard only completed 51 percent of his passes but of the 18 completions he threw, four of those passes were for touchdowns. Maynard ended up with 243 yards passing and one interception.

Maynard’s Colorado counterpart, Tyler Hansen, had a record setting day for the Buffaloes throwing for 474 yards and three touchdowns. Keenan Allen ended up with 97 yards receiving and tight end Anthony Miller had two catches for 27-yards with a pair of scores.

Both defenses were committed to stopping the run. Colorado’s 2010 1,000 yard rusher, Rodney Stewart, was held to 68-yards rushing on 24 attempts. Stewart could never break past the second tier of Cal’s defense. Stewart’s longest rush was for 13-yards. Colorado finished with 108 net yards rushing while Cal finished with 100 net yards rushing.

Cal’s victory tied Jeff Tedford for the most all-time wins as Cal’s head football coach.

Next Games:

Colorado (0-2) versus Colorado State in Denver.

Presbyterian, a FCS school, (1-1) at California (2-0).

Stanford (1-0) versus Duke (0-1)

Andrew Luck tied a career high with four touchdown passes leading the Cardinal easily past the Blue Devils 44-14.

Duke kept the score close pulling within 3 points with 2:08 left before halftime. Luck immediately led the Cardinal downfield, scoring with 48 second before halftime to pushing their lead to 17-7.

The Cardinal offense was able to take advantage of the outmatched Blue Devils on offense. Luck was efficient completing 20 passes on 28 attempts for the game. The Cardinal finished the game with 205 net rushing yards led by Stepfan Taylor’s game leading 75 total yards.

The Cardinal defense shut down the Blue Devils rushing attack holding Duke to 30 net yards rushing. The Blue Devils tried every different pass play in their book having four different players attempt at least one pass including a fake punt.

Stanford only punted twice during the game.

Next Games:

Stanford at Arizona.

Duke at Boston College.

Nevada (bye) versus Oregon (0-1)

Oregon shrugged off their offensive woes from week one beating the Wolf Pack 69-20. Nevada was down 34-0 in the second quarter before responding with a five yard touchdown pass from Tyler Lantrip to running back Mike Ball.

Nevada, a 13-1 team in 2010, looked like a FCS program against Oregon’s spread option attack. Oregon compiled 603 net yards of offense (331 passing, 272 rushing) on Darron Thomas’ way to throwing six touchdown passes; tying a school record.

Neither team played much defense as Oregon gave up 516 yards of total offense but made plays to stop Wolf Pack drives. Oregon intercepted three passes; Lantrip twice, Cody Fajardo once.

True freshman running back De’Anthony Thomas (Los Angeles), a former USC commitment before changing to Oregon, led the Ducks in rushing with 81-yards on eight carries including a 62 yard run. Thomas also had two receptions for 93 yards and two receiving scores. La’Michael James was held to 65 yards rushing on 12 attempts with one touchdown.

Next Games:

Missouri State (0-2) at Oregon (1-1).

Nevada (0-1) at San Jose State (0-2).

University of Hawaii (1-0) versus Washington (1-0)

Washington’s quick start foils the Hawaii Warriors second PAC-12 victim of 2011 as the Huskies won 40-32.

Sophomore Keith Price responded well to Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian’s criticism of the Huskies’ play versus Eastern Washington in week one action. Price threw for a career high four touchdowns and 315 yards. All-PAC-12 candidate Chris Polk ran for 105 yards and one touchdown to help balance out the Huskies’ offensive attack.

Washington’s defense did a great job containing Hawaii’s double threat quarterback Brian Moniz. Moniz was held to -15 net yards rushing after accounting for two Huskies sacks. Moniz did threaten with his arm late in the game bringing the Warriors within five points at the start of the fourth quarter (26-31). Moniz threw his only touchdown pass of the game with 1:46 to play in the fourth quarter. The Warriors could not get the ball back ending their comeback hopes. Moniz ended the game with 333 yards passing.

Notes to the Game:

Washington wide receiver Devin Aguilar caught five passes for 131 yards and a touchdown.

Washington outgained the Warriors 466 yards to 388.

Hawaii fumbled the ball three times losing possession once.

Hawaii’s field goal kicker missed two extra point attempts.

Next Game:

Washington (2-0) at Nebraska (2-0).

Hawaii (1-1) at UNLV (0-2)

UNLV (0-1) versus Washington State (1-0)

Washington States offense overpowered UNLV defense winning 59-7. The Cougars racked up 610 yards of offense with backup quarterback Marshall Lobbestael. Lobbestael had career highs with 361 yards passing and five touchdowns.

Washington State’s defense responded to the call of their offensive leader Jeff Tuel being out with a broken collar bone as well. The Cougars only gave up 158 yards of offense to the Rebels; 98 yards rushing, 60 yards passing.

Washington State seemingly scored at will only having to punt once.

With this win the Cougars have matched their win total from 2010 and 2008.

Next Games:

Washington State (2-0) at San Diego State (2-0).

Hawaii (1-1) at UNLV (0-2).

Utah (1-0) at USC (1-0)

17-14 or 23-14, either way USC hands Utah their first loss as in PAC-12 play. Controversy over the last play of the game became the headlines over a well played college football game.

On the last play of the game USC blocked Coleman Petersen’s 41 yard field goal attempt and ran it back for a touchdown making the score 23-14 as time expired. An excessive celebration penalty against USC for running out on the field temporarily took the touchdown off the scoreboard. No small irony that the most controversial rule change in college football should cause the biggest controversy amongst college football sports bettors.

Final score aside, Utah showed they could play with the “big boys”. Jordan Wynn drove the Utes to their final score with 6:30 to play in the fourth quarter. Then Wynn took the Utes within field goal range before USC blocked their attempt.

USC did make Utah into a one dimensional team. The Utes riding the arm of quarterback Jordan Wynn proved to be their main source of offense against USC’s defensive front. Wynn threw for 238 yards and one touchdown. Utah’s rushing attack was held to 81 total yards.

USC’s Matt Barkley and wide receiver Robert Woods picked up from their week one performance where they left off. Barkley completed 20 passes for 264 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Woods hauled in eight passes for 102 yards.

Marc Tyler got his first action of the season running for 109 yards on 24 attempts with one touchdown. Tyler was suspended for USC’s first game.

Next Games:

Utah (1-1) at BYU (1-1)

Syracuse (2-0) at USC (2-0).

San Jose State (0-1) versus UCLA (0-1)

UCLA overcomes to lost fumbles and uses a fourth quarter rally to come from behind to beat the Spartans 27-17.

Derrick Coleman and Johnathan Franklin provided the offensive punch needed for the Bruins to survive an upset loss at home. Coleman ran for a game high 135 yards on 14 rushing attempts, all in the second half, while Franklin added 80 yards on 16 attempts. Both Bruin running backs contributed a touchdown rushing. UCLA tight end Joseph Fauria added a receiving touchdown in the second quarter.

UCLA outgained San Jose State 417 yards to 317. The Bruins’ 272 rushing yards as opposed to San Jose State’s 202 made a big difference in the game.

Next Games:

Texas (2-0) at UCLA.

Nevada (0-1) at San Jose State (0-2).

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