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Pac-12 Pickings: Is USC back after dismantling of Stanford

by Jack Harris -

(Photo: JC Lopes/WCSN)

During their march to the Rose Bowl last year, many wondered if USC was finally “back”. On Saturday, it sure looked like they were.

The Trojans thoroughly dominated Stanford, gaining over 600 yards, and possessing the ball for almost 35 minutes. The running back duo of Stephen Carr and Ronald Jones both ran for over 100 yards, while quarterback Sam Darnold had just 5 incompletions on a 4 touchdown night.

Traditionally, the Cardinal are the team to expose USC’s weaknesses. Stanford had won seven of the previous nine meetings in the series, including each of the past three.

But, it’s a new day in Los Angeles. Head coach Clay Helton has recalibrated the Pac-12 power, instilling a balance of skill and physicality his post-Pete Carroll predecessors never could.

After a shaky start in the season’s opening week, the Trojans pushed around the conference’s stingiest team. Not since 2010 had the Cardinal allowed over 300 yards on the ground. Almost half of their own 170 yards of rushing production came on one play.

It has been a decade since the Trojans were legitimate national contenders. But they put in a national championship worthy effort on Saturday.

Washington won in a blowout, Oregon looked back for a half, Utah won a rivalry game, and Washington State came back to win in overtime. But all of those triumphs pale in comparison to USC’s victory this week.

They are finally the class of conference again, and by the looks of their most recent performance, it might stay like that for a while.

Weekly Awards

GOAT of the Week: Patrick Laird (RB, California)

It might have been the least noticed game in the Week 2 Pac-12 slate, but California had to beat Weber State. If not for Patrick Laird, they might not have.

The Golden Bears nearly undid all of their hard work from last week’s impressive win at North Carolina, finding themselves in a dog fight back on the west coast against an FCS school. Cal entered the fourth quarter trailing by three points, and in danger of embarrassing their new head coach Justin Wilcox in just his home debut.

But Laird, a junior running back who had only 14 career carries before Saturday, exploded onto the scene in the final 10 minutes. He capped a 7-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown to tie game midway through the fourth quarter, before breaking off a 73-yard bomb to seal it in the final two minutes.

The San Luis Obispo, California native also had a 51-yard second quarter score. He finished the afternoon with 191 yards on 12 carries, serving as the main catalyst for Cal’s improval to 2-0.

There were other big statistical performances around the conference this week, but without Laird’s breakout day, Cal could have suffered a setback defeat. Instead, an auspicious start to 2017 continues in Berkley, thanks to their newest star in the backfield.

 

Scape-GOAT of the Week*: Arizona State’s Offensive Line

Few teams in the conference have running back groups as deep or talented as ASU’s.

But after two games, no Pac-12 ground attack has less total yards than the Sun Devils.

In losing to San Diego State on Saturday, ASU gained just 44 yards running the ball. In their opener, head coach Todd Graham’s squad picked up only 79 rushing yards. Their 123 total yards in the run game this season matches their national ranking in that statistic (123rd). No team with two games played has averaged less than their 1.7 yards per attempt either.

Despite having a majority of upperclassmen in their front five, the Sun Devils offensive line has been dormant through the season’s opening couple of weeks. Their pass protection has suffered as well, surrendering 12 sacks thus far.

The team tried making personnel changes against the Aztecs, pulling sophomore guard Steven Miller in favor of Zach Robertson. But nothing seemed to work against SDSU’s six man front.

One thing is clear. If the Sun Devils are going to get to a bowl game, they are going to have to run the ball much better. There is just no sign of that happening yet.

 

*HONORABLE MENTION: While Arizona State has struggled through their first two games this year, a group of fans took their anger too far following Saturday’s loss.

Quarterback Manny Wilkins, who has actually been one of the Sun Devils best players so far, came back to the locker room postgame to a disturbingly profane and sordid direct message waiting for him on Twitter. He was not the only one.

ASU’s athletic department responded after learning of the electronic hate mail sent to its players.

College sports is supposed to be a setting for student athletes to play out the final years of their athletic careers at the highest level. They don’t get paid, and many don’t get any sort of recognition. Only a select few can turn pro. Almost every player, not just at ASU, but at every program around the country, takes the field for the right reasons.

Mistakes happen. Especially when teenagers and twenty-somethings are placed on a stage as intense as Power 5 college football. But, tearing the players down helps nobody. The mixing of hate and social media that impacted ASU this weekend exemplifies what is wrong with the state of today’s dollar-centric sport.

The genuine effort of student athletes on Saturdays are the epitome of everything that is right with it. They aren’t the ones to take cheap shots at.

Play of the Week: Jamal Morrow (RB, Washington State)

 The most exciting Pac-12 game of the weekend was won with one of the most exciting plays you’ll see.

After overturning a 21-point deficit in the final EIGHT MINUTES of the fourth quarter, Washington State forced their game against Boise State into a triple overtime.

After the Broncos settled for a field goal on the first drive of the third extra period, Cougars’ running back Jamal Morrow put the exclamation point on the night with his diving touchdown.

It gave Mike Leach’s squad another big win, helping the school avoid another early season slip-up. Though the tight game meant WSU fell a spot in this week’s AP Top 25, the Cougars continue to position themselves for a run at a Pac-12 North title. You can add Morrow to the list of reasons why.

 

Pac-12 Power Rankings

1. USC (Last week: 1) – As mentioned at the start, the Trojans turned in arguably their most complete performance in the Clay Helton era by dismantling Stanford this weekend. Their offense continues to click, while their defense picked up the slack after a nervy opener against Western Michigan. A home test against Texas awaits next week, but all signs are pointing to USC making a push for a College Football Playoff spot.

2. WASHINGTON (Last week: 3) – Jake Browning threw for 259 yards, and the Huskies’ defense gave up a lone touchdown in the school’s 63-7 rout of Montana. All of the opening week sings of rust in Seattle have been washed away by three straight dominant halves of football. With Browning at the helm, Washington once again appears to be the North’s best team.

3. STANFORD (Last week: 2) – The Cardinal were outclassed on Saturday, but are still one of the premier programs out West. Losing to USC is a letdown, but Bryce Love had another big game running the ball, and Stanford’s defense picked up the slack in the second half, holding the Trojans to 14 points in the final 30 minutes. A conference championship will be a tall task, but David Shaw still has his program pointed in the right direction.

4. OREGON (Last week: 5) – For a half, the Ducks looked like they were back. Running back Royce Freeman was unstoppable, quarterback Justin Herbert was playing lights out, and Willie Taggart’s side had a four touchdown halftime lead on Nebraska. Then the second half happened. The Cornhuskers mounted a furious rally, shutting out the Duck’s offense over the final two quarters. Nebraska just ran out of time, and timeouts, before completing the rally, but still showed that the Ducks still have holes to address. Where Oregon goes from here is anybody’s guess. The talent seems to be back in Eugene, but ironing out a more complete effort will be on the top of the priority list with tough conference challenges looming.

5. WASHINGTON STATE (Last week: 4) – It was a big win for the Cougars. But for the majority of the game, they were outplayed. Leach’s teams have never been ones to start seasons strong, but their offense did not come to life until their star quarterback Luke Falk left the game with an injury. Backup Tyler Hilinski played admirably in relief, but only scoring 10 points in three-plus quarters with Falk under center is not a trend that can be sustained in conference play.

6. UTAH (Last week: 7) – The Utes held on late the win their “Holy War” rivalry game against BYU on Saturday night. While being overshadowed by showdowns in Los Angeles and Pullman, the Utah-BYU game was one of the more compelling of the weekend, especially in the second half. Receiver Darren Carrington had another monstrous night on the stat sheet, hauling in 129 yards on 7 catches to help the Utes claim the rivalry victory for the seventh consecutive year. The senior now has over 250 yards receiving, and is averaging more than 15 yards a catch.

7. UCLA (Last week: 8) – Josh Rosen did not disappoint in his encore to last week’s miraculous comeback. The junior quarterback had more touchdowns (5) than incompletions (3) in the Bruins’ 56-23 blowout of Hawaii this week. UCLA will have one more trap game to navigate when traveling to Memphis next week, before their real evaluation begins in Pac-12 play. They are now ranked by the AP, but only time will tell just how special, or not, Jim Mora’s team is.

8. COLORADO (Last week: 6) – Colorado did nothing wrong in a straight forward win over Texas State. The Buffaloes won by five scores, and new quarterback Steven Montez was again reliable, throwing for almost 300 yards. But, CU’s offense was slow out of the gates once again against the Bobcats, finding the end zone just once in the opening half. Defense and special teams have been outstanding against inferior competition so far. But questions remain surrounding the productivity of the Buffaloes new look offense.

9. CALIFORNIA (Last week: 9) – The Golden Bears remain at this spot by default. As a team, they were bad in Week 2. But, they were supposed to be bad this year anyway. Anytime Cal picks up a victory this season, it’s a positive, no matter how ugly it comes. They host Ole Miss next week, another game that many will chalk up as a loss. But, under Justin Wilcox, they have yet to lose. That has to count for something, right?

10. ARIZONA STATE (Last week: 10) – The Sun Devils honored their late legendary head coach Frank Kush on Saturday in many forms. Their play at the point of attack was not one of them. In addition to the aforementioned issues on its offensive line, ASU defensive front was battered by San Diego State’s Rashaad Penny, who collected more than 300 all-purpose yards in the Aztec’s road win. There is talent on Todd Graham’s roster, but if they can’t contain a Mountain West rushing game, they could be in for some nightmares against the likes of Oregon, USC, and other dominant Pac-12 offenses.

11. ARIZONA (Last week: 11) – Head coach Rich Rodriguez had a chance to earn a quality win on Saturday. But, as has too often been the case in recent years, the Wildcats couldn’t seal the deal, instead falling to Houston 19-16. The loss felt a lot like last season’s Week 1 defeat to BYU, an 18-16 defeat in Glendale. Arizona probably isn’t as bad as its 4-10 record over the last year-plus shows. But that won’t be enough to save Rodriguez’s job. Only wins will.

12. OREGON STATE (Last week: 12) – For a moment in the second quarter, it looked as though the Beavers were getting themselves back into their game against Minnesota. Then the second half happened. OSU’s offense picked up 1 first down in the final 30 minutes, fumbled the ball on their second drive of the third quarter, and were lifeless as they went three-and-out on their other 5 possessions. There is a lot of work to be done in Corvallis.

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