Chaos claims Pac-12 victims Upsets aid Big 12 case for playoffs
The Pac-12 After Dark upsets started Friday when California took out eighth-ranked Washington State.
They ended late Saturday with Arizona State discovering a defense and upsetting No. 5 Washington.
That the upsets came a week after Washington coach Chris Petersen and ESPN had some back and forth over the network’s late-night scheduling of Pac-12 games was just cruel coincidence.
Cal’s 37-3 victory over Washington State on Friday featured a highlight run and flip into the end zone by quarterback Ross Bowers who had a simple description: “I didn’t think I could go left or right, so why not right over the top? Luckily I was able to land safely and all that stuff.”
Mike Leach, the former Texas Tech coach, was a bit too candid in his assessment of his Washington State team: “There was no bright spot. We were pathetic. We’re a bunch of pathetic front-runners.”
As for Washington, the Huskies had “one of the most frustrating nights we have had in a long time on offense,” Petersen said. Washington had been averaging 43 points per game but didn’t score until the fourth quarter.
It was the highestranked team the Sun Devils had beaten since knocking off No. 1 Nebraska in 1996.
Washington and Washington State are both a half-game behind Stanford in the Pac-12 North.
Stanford, which beat Oregon 49-7 on Saturday, has a Heisman candidate that is worth staying up for.
Bryce Love rushed for 147 yards and has 1,387 yards through seven games. He carried once in the second half.
As for the Pac-12 South, Southern Cal stopped a Utah two-point conversion attempt with 42 seconds to get a 28-27 win. Trailing 21-7, the Trojans scored on drives of 98, 88 and 98 yards in the second half.
“Our players made a decision to define our football team in the second half,” USC coach Clay Helton said.
It made for a great latenight show in the Pac-12.
Florida schools in Group of 5 pack
San Diego State’s bid to be the highest-ranked Group of Five team and a spot in one of the New Year’s Six bowls took a hit late Saturday when the Aztecs were wiped out by Boise State, 31-14.
San Diego State’s Rashard Penny was held to 53 yards rushing on 21 carries as the Aztecs lost for the first time.
The Group of Five race for a New Year’s bowl now focuses on South Florida and Central Florida of the American Athletic Conference.
USF won its 11th game in a row, and the sixth this year under former Texas coach Charlie Strong, defeating Cincinnati 33-3. Quarterback Quinton Flowers passed the 3,000yard mark for career rushing in the win.
“We don’t know how far we can go because we haven’t played a complete game yet,” Strong said. “When that happens, we’ll see what kind of team we have.”
UCF is 5-0 after a 63-21 win over East Carolina. The Knights are the highest-scoring team in the country.
South Florida and Central Florida play Nov. 24.
SEC experiences division of power
The SEC looks like it will have Alabama and Georgia in the conference title game.
At the risk of sparking another vehement quote from Alabama coach Nick Saban, the Crimson Tide looked like the No. 1 team in the country with a 41-9 win over Arkansas.
Alabama scored on the first play of the game, a 75-yard run by Damien Harris, and didn’t allow a touchdown until 3:03 left in the game. The performance came after a 27-19 win over Texas A&M that sparked a Saban rant that described some media reports of Alabama’s prowess as “rat poison.”
A more subdued Saban this week said, “I think we learned a lot of lessons in the Texas A&M game. I didn’t know how the team would play, to be honest with you.”
As for Georgia, the Bulldogs found themselves tied with Missouri at 21 before breaking it open for a 53-28 win. Georgia finished with 696 yards in offense, the second-most in school history.
“The defense needed a wake-up call,” coach Kirby Smart said. “The offense picked us up.”
It’s two weeks from the first College Football Playoff rankings on Oct. 31 but Saturday’s upsets (and No. 2 Clemson’s loss Friday) had to be a plus for the Big 12.
TCU, which stayed undefeated with a win at Kansas State, is at the top of the conference, but Oklahoma’s win over UT can help the one-loss Sooners work their way back up. TCU and OU meet Nov. 11 in Norman.
Oklahoma State, another of the Big 12’s oneloss hopefuls, is at Texas this week where the 3-3 Longhorns will hope for more than another “moral victory.”