The season is winding down as Autumn itself speeds toward the holiday season. Here's a look back on the weekend that was with another edition of Notes on a Big Ten Scorecard. We still miss you, Tom Kelly.
Summaries
USC 28- Nebraska 20: Los Angeles, CA- It was Homecoming at USC. The stadium end zones were painted in retro style and the Trojans themselves came out in 1972 throwback uniforms for their clash with the Cornhuskers. Mired in a miserable 4-5 start, the Trojans benched QB Miller Moss in favor of backup QB and UNLV transfer Jayden Maiava. So, one could hear the massive groans of the Trojan faithful when Maiava threw a gift wrapped pick six to Nebraska DB and Trojan transfer Ceyair Wright on SC's second possession. Maiava was shaky to start the game, but did manage to get USC back into a 7-7 with 5:04 left in the first period when he hit WR Zach Branch with a six-yard TD pass. The score was made possible by an outstanding catch by TE Duce Robinson of a poorly thrown ball that went for 24 yards and set USC up with a 1st and Goal at the Nebraska six-yard line. The Men of Troy took a 14-7 lead early in the second period when WR Kyron Hudson made a juggling catch of the ball of the end zone for a 12-yard TD. The Huskers tied the game on the ensuing drive when RB Emmett Johnson grabbed a short throw from QB Dylan Raiola and sprinted away from the secondary down the right sideline for the score. Neither team did much atfter that and the game stood tied at the intermission. Nebraska got the ball to start the third period and marched right down the field and had a 1st and 10 at the SC 12-yard line. The Trojan defense then made a stand and forced the Huskers to settle for a 29-yard FG from PK John Hohl and a 17-14 lead. The Trojan offense swept down the field on the ensuing possession thanks to a great 3rd Down grab from Hudson to keep the drive alive at midfield. Two plays later Maiava hit a wide open Robinson on a crossing pattern and he took it down the left sideline 48 yards to paydirt. SC now led 21-17. After forcing a punt by NU, the Trojans made one of those second half mistakes that have proved destructive in their five losses. Trying to keep the play going while being sacked Maiava coughed up the ball and handed Nebraska the ball on the SC 15-yard line. NU had the opportunity to take control of the game and once again the Trojan defense forced a field goal. Hohl was good from 30 yards out and we had a 21-20 game going to the final quarter. So, once again SC had a fourth quarter lead. Would they blow it? The Trojans got the ball back with 10:19 left and needed to eat clock and score to get some separation from the Big Red. A near interception and a fumble recovery by Maiava kept SC's drive alive, but SC was faced with a 4th and 1 at the Huskers 47-yard line. SC went for it and ran a speed option to the left. Maiava pitched the ball to RB Woody Marks who rumbled 34 yards to the NU 13-yard line. Three plays later Maiava kept the ball, made a man miss and glided into the end zone for a 28-20 lead. There was 2:45 left on the clock and NU had one last chance to tie the game. It came down one final play form the USC 19-yard line with :05 left. Raiola took one final shot at the end zone where he was picked off by DB Greedy Vance and USC had the victory. For the now 5-5 Trojans. Maiava completed, (with a lot of luck), 25 of 35 passes for 259 yards, three TDs and one huge interception. He also ran the ball five times for 20 yards and a score. Meanwhile, RB Woody Marks lugged the leather 19 times for 146 yards as the backbone of the Trojan attack. For the Cornhuskers, Raiola completed 27 of 38 passes for 191 yards, a TD and two interceptions.
Telling Stat: Mobility matters; USC QB Jayden Maiava's 20 rushing yards don't seem like much, but his ability to run made a huge difference in the USC offense.
Washington 31- UCLA 19: Seattle, WA- It was senior night last Friday on Montlake and the Husky seniors went out with a hard fought W over the Sons of Westwood. The all-black clad Dawgs and the all-white clad bRuins entered the fourth quarter with the score in favor of the UW, 17-13. UCLA had driven 49 yards to the Huskies 26-yard line and faced a 4th and 7. UCLA elected to kick a 44-yard FG attempt to move within a point of the Dawgs. PK Mateen Bhaghani's kick sailed wide. UW had stopped the bRuins and then seized on that momentum. They marched 74 yards in eight plays where QB Demond Williams, (who was subbed in for QB Will Rogers who threw two straight interceptions), flipped a one-yard TD toss to TE Decker Degraaf for a 24-13 lead. The Dawgs then forced a UCLA turnover on downs and turned that into a two-yard TD run form RB Jonah Coleman and 31-13 lead with 1:54 left to play. UCLA would add a cosmetic score with :09 left to make the final tally, 31-19 in favor the Huskies. Williams was solid in relief of Rogers hitting seven of eight passes for 67 yards and a score. Coleman was the leading group gainer and steadying force for the Dawgs, gaining 95 yards on 21 carries with two TDs. In the loss, UCLA QB Ethan Garbers completed 27 of 44 passes for 267 yards and two TDs.
Telling Stat: 3 out of 5 =L; UCLA fumbled, missed a FG and was held for downs on 3 of their 5 seconds half drives to lose the game.
Ohio State 31- Northwestern 7: Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL- The Friendly Confines hosted this clash of old foes. The first quarter was one of frustration for both squads as the Wildcats drove into the Red Zone and fumbled, while Ohio State had a 10-play drive end in a punt. The Wildcats then drew first blood in the second quarter on a 92-yard drive that ended with QB Jack Lausch scoring on a nifty eight-yard scamper. Then the roof fell for Northwestern. TheeeOSU went on a 31-0 run to take a 31-7 lead midway through the third quarter. The final period was a glorified scrimmage with the game firmly in the win column for the Scarlet and Gray. For the now 9-1 Buckeyes, QB Will Howard completed 15 of 24 passes for 247 yards and two scores. His backfield mate, RB Quinshon Judkins led all rushers with 76 yards on 15 carries and two TDs of his own. For the Wildcats, QB Jack Lausch completed 21of 35 aerials for 201 yards and he ran for the Wildcats only score.
Telling Stat: 322-65= Shutdown; Ohio State's defense held Northwestern to just 65 total yards and zero points while their offense gained 322 yards ands scored 31 points over the same span to take control of this game.
Illinois 38 Michigan State 16: Champaign-Urbana, IL- The Fighting Illini pulled away in the second half to secure their sixth home win of the year against a undermanned Spartan squad. MSU came into the game with an injury riddled secondary that was forced to start a lot of youngsters and it showed. On their first drive of the game, Illini QB Luke Altmyer hit WR Pat Bryant and he took it 57 yards for a TD and a 7-0 lead. MSU answered right back with a 52-yard scoring strike of their own from QB Aiden Chiles to WR Aziah Johnson, but the PAT failed and the Spartans trialed, 7-6. The Green and White would never get that close again. Illinois took a 21-9 lead into the half on a TD run of 11 yards from RB Josh McCray and a four-yard pass from Altmyer to WR Zakhari Franklin. MSU did make the game interesting when Chiles hit Nate Carter with a five-yard TD toss to make the score, 21-16. Illinois then took control of the game and went on a 17-0 run to finish off the Sons of Sparty. When it was over, Altmyer completed 19 of 32 passes for 231 yards and two scores. His favorite target was Bryant who hauled in four passes for 135 yards and a TD. In defeat, Chiles completed 23 of 40 passes for 256 yards and two TDs.
Telling Stat: Still Chains; Illinois held MSU to just 2 of 15 on 3rd Down Conversions.
Penn State 49- Purdue 10: West Lafayette, IN- The only thing that could stop the #4 Nittany Lions was themselves as they easily outclassed the Boilermaker on Senior Day at Ross-Ade Stadium. A two-yard TD plunge from RB Kaytron Allen, a 15-yard TD pass from QB Drew Allar to TE Tyler Warren and 10-yard trip to paydirt by RB Nick Singleton staked PSU to a 21-3 lead at the half. The third quarter saw Penn Sate strike from long distance there times to put the game away. Warren bulled his way through the Purdue defense for a 48-yard TD run, WR Harrison Wallace grabbed a 46-yard TD pass form Allar and then backup QB Beau Pribula raced 49 yards for a TD to account for PSU's 21 third quarter points. Up 42-3, the Fighting Paternos gave up a late TD when their third and fourth stringers gave up a 20-yard TD pass from PU backup QB Ryan Browne to TE Max Klare. Penn State added one final score when Pribula connected with TE Luke Reynolds for a 20-yard score. Allar was nearly perfect completing 17 of 19 passes for 247 yards and three TDs for the Lions. Warren had a great day for PSU, catching eight passes for 127 yards and a TD while also rushing for 63 yards on three carries with a TD. For the Boilermakers, Klare was the lone bright spot, hauling in seven passes for 91 yards and a score.
Telling Stat: 6.9 is oh so fine; Penn State averaged 6.9 yards per carry on the hapless Purdue defense.
Rutgers 31- Maryland 17: College Park, MD- The Scarlet Knights hit the road to grab a win and become bowl eligible. Trailing 3-0 in the second period, the kids form Jersey went on a four TDs in five drives run to take control of the game with a 28-17 lead. The Rutgers defense bent a lot, but did break for the last 26:16 of the second half to ensure the win. The four scores were a pair of TD passes from QB Athan Kaliakmanis to WRs Ian Strong an Dymere Miller and pair of short bursts across the double stripe from RB Kyle Monangai. A 46-yard FG from PK Jai Patel finished off the scoring and the Terps who now sit at 4-6 and need to beat both Iowa and Penn State to be bowl eligible. In the win, Kaliakmanis completed 20 of 30 throws for 238 yards and two scores. In the loss, QB Billy Edwards, Jr. completed 32 of 55 passes for 335 yards, a TD and an interception. Terps RB Roman Hemby led all rushers with 87 yards on 15 carries and a score.
Telling Stat: Hollow Yards = L; In the second half, Maryland went on drives of 45, 51, 61, and 71 yards and came away with zero points.
Oregon 16- Wisconsin 13: Madison, WI- Camp Randall was rocking as the Badgers forged a 13-6 lead over the Ducks through three quarters last Saturday night. Wiscosin held the powerful Webfoot offense to just a pair of FGs from PK Atticus Sappington. The Ducks looked off from the start of the game, but still remained within striking distance of the Badgers as the final stanza began. However, top teams don't quit and UO forged a tie at 13-13 with an 11-yard TD run by RB Jordan James. His run capped off a 13-play, 81-yard drive. After an exchange of punts, UO regained the lead on a 24-yard FG from Sappington. Wisconsin had two shots to tie or win the game over the final 2:32 but they were held for downs and then UO picked off QB Braedyn Locke on a tipped pass to end the Badgers upset bid. The RBs were the stars of this game with James toting the rock for 121 yards and a TD on 25 carries while UW's Tawee Walker carried the ball 20 times for 97 yards.
Telling Stat: 10-0 for 11-0; It wasn't pretty, it looked more like an Elvis on black velvet, but Oregon shutout Wisconsin, 10-0 in the final period to move to 11-0 on the season.
Observations
...Schadenfreude is real; Seeing Colorado drub Utah, 49-24 in a game that wasn't that close made me feel good.
...Brown out in Amherst; UMass cut loose HC Don Brown in the middle of his third season with the Minutemen. His record was 6-28.
...A yard too far; On their first drive against Purdue last Saturday, Penn State was flagged for a false start. The penalty yardage was then marked off wrong. It should have a standard five-yard mark off. The ball was moved from the PSU 48-yard line back to the 42-yard line. That's six yards. Facepalm.
...This just in; Purdue stinks on a generationally bad level.
...One game, two Owls bagged; The Temple Owls beat the Florida Atlantic Owls, 18-15 in OT last Saturday. Come Monday, Both HCs were fired. Temple sacked HC Stan Dayton in his third year after posting a 9-25 record while FAU cut ties with Tom Herman in the middle of year two with a 6-16 record.
...Historic venue for a big game; 9-0 Army taking on 9-1 Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium just gives all the feels of a historic big game. This game could easily be a total blowout, This game will be the third game between the two at Yankee Stadium since 1969. They met almost every year at Yankees Stadium from 1924-1946.
...Husker praise; Watched a postgame breakdown of the Nebraska-USC game from the Huskers perspective. It was good video, but the fun part was seeing how impressed their crew was with the Coliseum. It served as good reminder as to how great the Old Gray Lady is and how lucky I have been to spend so much time there.
...When Army ruled the gridiron; Army won three straight National Titles from 1944-46. They went 27-0-1 over that stretch and produced two Heisman winners Doc "Mr. Inside" Blanchard and Glenn "Mr, Outside" Davis.
...Benched for a big reason; The New York Giants have benched QB Daniel Jones amid another awful season in Gotham. Jones has not played well, but the real reason for him being told to grab some Pine is the injury clause in his contract. If Jones gets hurt and cannot pass the standard NFL physical when the new League year begins next March, he would be owed a 23 million dollar guarantee by the club.
...He said it; Ole Miss HC Lane Kiffin said that some SEC HCs don't want to play in the SEC title game because it could hurt their playoff chances. Hmmmmmm Just skip it
...7 is it; This intrepid reporter's gut feel is that a total of seven Big Ten and SEC teams will make the playoff.
...Opt out clause; It's a week too early to speculate on this, but my research tells me that a USC upset of Notre Dame would give the CFP committee the excuse they need to keep the Irish out of the playoff.
...Provo Problem; Kansas upsetting BYU may mean that the Big XII gets just one team into the CFP.
...Stiifarm Statue Awareness; Travis Hunter and Ashton Jeanty are your Heimsan favorites, but part of me thinks that Penn State TE/ Everything Else Back Tyler Warren deserves a trip to New York.
Big Ten Overreactions
USC could be a 7-5 team.
Nebraska HC Matt Rhule needs to go for it on 4th down more.
Ohio State can't believe that Indiana is good.
Northwestern is a 4-8 team.
Washington still wonders how they got to play both USC and UCLA at home.
UCLA is a 6-6 team.
Oregon's talent overcame their jet lag to stay undefeated.
Wisconsin's loss to Oregon will sting for a long time.
Penn State is an 11-1 team.
Purdue needs a defense transplant.
Michigan State is better than they look.
Illinois could end up being the most overlooked 9-3 team in the country.
Rutgers is a 7-5 team.
Maryland is happy Purdue keeps them out of last place.
CFL Update
The 111th Grey Cup Champions are the Toronto Argonauts! They put up 24 fourth quarter points to beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 41-24. Argos QB Nick Arbuckle completed 27 of 36 passes for 252 yards and two TDs while RB, and former Arizona star, Kadeem Carey ran for 79 yards and a TD on 15 carries to lead the the attack for the Boatmen. The loss is especially painful for Winnipeg who has now lost their third straight Grey Cup. Argonauts!
Ugly Uniform of the Week
This color combo is always ugly no matter how you slice it. Fight On! Beat the bRuins!
Keeping Up With Your Exes
...Helluva sophomore year; Arizona State 2nd year HC Ken Dillingham has the Sun Devils at 8-2 and in contention for the Big XII title after his squad went into the Little Apple of Manhattan, Kansas and upset the #16 K-State Wildcats, 24-14.
...Upset in the empty seats; Among a handful of fans and a lackluster "marching" band saw Stanford upset #19 Louisville, 38-35. Stanford scored the final 17 points of the game including a 52-yard FG from PK Emmet Kenny as time expired to get the win.
Departments
Low Score Game of the Week: Martin, TN- We go to the Big South-Ohio Valley Conference of the FCS where the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles held on for a 10-9 victory over the University of Tennessee- Martin Skyhawks. The Golden Eagles took a 10-0 first quarter lead on 15-yard TD run from RB Jalen Mitchell and a 24-yard FG from PK Dom LeBlanc. The game remained scoreless until forth quarter when UTM got a 40-yard blocked punt return TD from LB Cam Robertson and another blocked punt and then a safety a few minutes later to cut their deficit to 10-9. However, that's where the score would stay as UTM PK Jaren Van Winkle's 28-yard attempt bounced off the crossbar with :30 to play. The win gave Tennessee Tech possession of the rivalry prize, the Sgt. York Trophy.
Blowout Game of the Week: Fulton, MO- We head to the Heart of America Conference in the NAIA where the Benedictine College Ravens went on the road to crush the William Woods University Owls, 86-0. The Ravens jumped out to a 17-0 lead, then really blew it open with a 41-point second quarter for a 58-0 halftime edge. Ravens QB Jackson Dooley competed 10 of 18 tosses for 136 yards and five TDs in one half of work. The blowout loss marked the end of the the very first season of football for William Woods. They fished the year at 1-10 with their only win coming over Westminster College, 50-35 way back on 9/21.
Razorback Report: The Hogs fought hard, but didn't have enough in the tank to take down the #3 Texas. It was tight affair with the Horns taking a 10-0 lead into the half. The Hogs played the Horns to a a dead heat in the second half, but it wasn't enough in the 20-10 loss. Arkansas QB Taylen Green completed 17 of 25 passes for 149 yards and an interception. Up next for the Hogs is a home date with Louisiana Tech. A win over the Bulldogs would make the Razorbacks bowl eligible at 6-5.
This Week's Three Things About Nothing...
Turned on the heater for the first time this Fall. It's just one of those annual milestones we mark around here.
Linzer cookies are pretty good.
Why do all the leaves in the alley have to blow into my garage every time I open the door?
Until next time folks, remember that dual threat QBs are pretty cool.
-The Commissioner
