USC... The worst is first... lost to Alabama 6-53, the second worst USC beating of all time. Kudos to Alabama's DC for his adjusting defensive schemes that shut down USC after they got 90 yards in their first two drives. And kudos to a USC defense that held Alabama to 10 first half points and 142 yards. . With the USC offense going 6 drives of 3 downs or less in the first half (3 more in the second half), the defense looked slower in the second half.. The bad news..they laid an egg on a national showing. The good (sort of) .digging deep news.. 1. The defense in the first half., 2. I decided not to go to Arlington. 3 . I saw, in person, the worst beating, 0-51 slaughter to Notre Dame in 1966. It was numbing for weeks, but USC went to the Rose Bowl (a long story) and...lost , but by 13-14 to #7 ranked Purdue. The year after that they went 10-1 and won a national title. Just saying. Grade: C- for the first half. F for the second. One last word for Kiffin, seen joyously gesticulating when Alabama hung 50 on USC ...."Grow up" Next up Utah state at home (USC's only home game in the first 4).
UCLA- They lost to unranked Texas A&M in OT by 24-31. TAMU had 6 sacks vs. Rosen hinting at OL problems. The best of Rosen showed in his 17 point comeback. The worst of Rosen...he threw 3 interceptions, 2 very bad ones. And, at the end of the OT he was 3rd and goal at the TAMU 5 and missed both passes. At a minimum it speaks to Rosen trying too hard, perhaps to compensate for loss of personnel, with UCLA losing, mostly on the ground, to a Texas A&M team ranked 5th in the SEC West. Grade: C+. Next up UNLV.
Stanford- won 26-13 versus a team ranked 6th in the 10 team Big 12. KSU is young with only 6 returners on O. Yet they were able to keep Stanford close (17-10 in Q4) by blitzing past the Stanford Oline, and holding McCaffrey mostly in check except for 2 long TD runs (one at game's end). Chris was held to 50 yards on the other 20 run attempts. The new Stanford QB and their OLine looked very uneasy during the game. Grade B-. Next up, USC, after a bye this week.
Washington took care of business versus Rutgers 48-13, a new bottom dweller in the Big 10. QB Jake Browning looked pretty good but their running game did not. No conclusions are likely until three weeks from now, while they face Idaho next week and Portland State the week after. Grade B-.
Others briefly:
Cal beat low ranked Hawaii 51-31 in Australia. The after game buffet featured shrimp on the Barbie. Same Cal persona-Good passing, weak defense (especially against the run) . Grade: C+. Next up SDSU after a bye. Colorado beat in-state rival Colorado State 44-7 convincingly. This team is young, but could surprise some teams this year. . Grade: B-. Next up Idaho State before a challenge at Michigan. Oregon beat UC Davis 53-28. They looked good on offense but weak against the pass. Grade: B-.Next week versus low ranked Virginia.
BYU beat Arizona 18-16 in Tucson. And 13 of the UA points came in the 4th quarter. QB Anu Solomon gave up 2 interceptions. The UA highpoint was their K/P who hit a FG and punted for 47.5 yards net. Grade: C-. Next up Grambling State and then Hawaii. ASU looked to be the better team in Arizona beating Northern Arizona 44-13. stopping the No. Az. team nearly completely in their rush game. QB Wilkins threw for 180 yards and ran for 89 more (their top runner). Grade: B-. Next up Texas Tech,
Utah beat So. Utah 24-0 in an expected win but Punter Wishnowsky averaged 55.5 yards per punt. Wow. Grade; B. Next up, BYU, the O/U in points must be about 20 in that game. OSU hung in there with Minnesota losing 23-30 as the Gophers dug out of a hole (SIC) in the 4th Quarter. OSU could win a few games in the PAC-12 IMO. Grade: C+. Next vs. Idaho State, after a bye. .
Notre Dame, an unofficial member of the PAC-12 (they play USC and Stanford yearly) lost to Texas in OT. Their QB Kizer is very good, as was their offense. Their D was surprisingly porous against a team they beat 38-3 last year. I'm not one that thinks ND is a Championship level contender. They are replacing a lot of talent with 9 total starters back. Grade: Offense B+. Defense D. Next up Nevada.
UCLA- They lost to unranked Texas A&M in OT by 24-31. TAMU had 6 sacks vs. Rosen hinting at OL problems. The best of Rosen showed in his 17 point comeback. The worst of Rosen...he threw 3 interceptions, 2 very bad ones. And, at the end of the OT he was 3rd and goal at the TAMU 5 and missed both passes. At a minimum it speaks to Rosen trying too hard, perhaps to compensate for loss of personnel, with UCLA losing, mostly on the ground, to a Texas A&M team ranked 5th in the SEC West. Grade: C+. Next up UNLV.
Stanford- won 26-13 versus a team ranked 6th in the 10 team Big 12. KSU is young with only 6 returners on O. Yet they were able to keep Stanford close (17-10 in Q4) by blitzing past the Stanford Oline, and holding McCaffrey mostly in check except for 2 long TD runs (one at game's end). Chris was held to 50 yards on the other 20 run attempts. The new Stanford QB and their OLine looked very uneasy during the game. Grade B-. Next up, USC, after a bye this week.
Washington took care of business versus Rutgers 48-13, a new bottom dweller in the Big 10. QB Jake Browning looked pretty good but their running game did not. No conclusions are likely until three weeks from now, while they face Idaho next week and Portland State the week after. Grade B-.
Others briefly:
Cal beat low ranked Hawaii 51-31 in Australia. The after game buffet featured shrimp on the Barbie. Same Cal persona-Good passing, weak defense (especially against the run) . Grade: C+. Next up SDSU after a bye. Colorado beat in-state rival Colorado State 44-7 convincingly. This team is young, but could surprise some teams this year. . Grade: B-. Next up Idaho State before a challenge at Michigan. Oregon beat UC Davis 53-28. They looked good on offense but weak against the pass. Grade: B-.Next week versus low ranked Virginia.
BYU beat Arizona 18-16 in Tucson. And 13 of the UA points came in the 4th quarter. QB Anu Solomon gave up 2 interceptions. The UA highpoint was their K/P who hit a FG and punted for 47.5 yards net. Grade: C-. Next up Grambling State and then Hawaii. ASU looked to be the better team in Arizona beating Northern Arizona 44-13. stopping the No. Az. team nearly completely in their rush game. QB Wilkins threw for 180 yards and ran for 89 more (their top runner). Grade: B-. Next up Texas Tech,
Utah beat So. Utah 24-0 in an expected win but Punter Wishnowsky averaged 55.5 yards per punt. Wow. Grade; B. Next up, BYU, the O/U in points must be about 20 in that game. OSU hung in there with Minnesota losing 23-30 as the Gophers dug out of a hole (SIC) in the 4th Quarter. OSU could win a few games in the PAC-12 IMO. Grade: C+. Next vs. Idaho State, after a bye. .
Notre Dame, an unofficial member of the PAC-12 (they play USC and Stanford yearly) lost to Texas in OT. Their QB Kizer is very good, as was their offense. Their D was surprisingly porous against a team they beat 38-3 last year. I'm not one that thinks ND is a Championship level contender. They are replacing a lot of talent with 9 total starters back. Grade: Offense B+. Defense D. Next up Nevada.
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