On a day chock-full of action, Oregon reigned supreme. The Ducks won an old-fashioned shootout by a score of 62-51 over USC and Kenjon Barner broke the school’s single-game rushing record in front of family and friends, including the guy who held the previous record – his best friend, LaMichael James. Barner’s 321 rushing yards and five touchdowns are big reasons why it’s one down, one to go for Oregon in terms of passing up teams in the BCS standings, as Oregon is now No. 3.
USC was the first team to really challenge Oregon this year, but at the end of the day, the Trojans were handed their third loss of 2012. USC’s season wasn’t supposed to go this way, writes the LA Times.
After a slow start, Cody Vaz and the Oregon State Beavers got back on track to beat Arizona State, 36-26, and rebound from their first loss of the season. Afterward, Mike Riley was pleased with his team’s victory over Arizona State.
During this three-game losing streak the Sun Devils are currently on, they have given up six scoring plays of 49 yards or more. Thus, Arizona State must keep the big plays from happening to stop the skid at three, but USC will make that a tough undertaking for Todd Graham and Co.
From the looks of it, Stanford found a new answer at quarterback as Kevin Hogan led the Cardinal in a 48-0 rout of Colorado in Boulder. The backup completed nearly 80 percent of his throws and tossed two touchdown passes while being evasive in the pocket and scrambling for multiple first downs. There was a lot to like in No. 8 on Saturday.
There wasn’t a lot to like in Colorado’s woeful offense. The Buffaloes mustered just 76 yards of total offense and rushed for -21 yards on the afternoon. At the very least, you can be assured that the Buffs’ defense will keep fighting, as promised by linebacker Brady Daigh.
Washington State is now unable to play in a bowl game after suffering its seventh loss of the season. This time, the defeat came at the hands of Utah, which smothered the Cougars’ attack in a 49-6 decision. After a game like this, you can count on some colorful quotes from Mike Leach. He, uh, wasn’t too happy about things.
This is two wins in a row now for Utah, which is putting it all together. The defense has generally been solid all season, but now the offense is coming around under first-year offensive coordinator Brian Johnson and freshman quarterback Travis Wilson. It also doesn’t hurt when the Wolfman rushes for at least 100 yards – the Utes are now 11-0 over the last two seasons when John White hits triple digits on the ground. How-ooooooooooo! (that’s how you spell the wolf’s howl, right?)
The California Golden Bears also suffered their seventh loss of the season and, therefore, can’t play in a bowl game. It was a 21-13 loss to Washington on Friday night that sealed a no-postseason kind of season, while it was a road win that provided relief for the Huskies, even if it was ugly.
Like the Beavers and Cardinal, UCLA reached the seven-win plateau on Saturday, as the Bruins’ defense set the pace in a 66-10 win over Arizona. Congratulations to Johnathan Franklin on breaking UCLA’s all-time career rushing record. Way to go, Mayor.
No such congratulations to hand out to the Arizona Wildcats, which got nothing but C’s and D’s from Ryan Finley after losing by 56 at UCLA.