Roundup: Stanford survives big test
An eventful Saturday for the Pac-12 saved the best for last, with Stanford holding on to beat Washington 31-28 on The Farm. After dropping some passes in last year’s loss to the Huskies, Ty Montgomery shined before Stanford withstood Washington’s rally. The junior receiver returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, hauled in a dime of a pass by Kevin Hogan for another one and almost broke off another kick return to paydirt. The game was not without its controversy, however, and Washington accused Stanford of faking injuries to slow down the game.
That wasn’t the only bit of controversy, as Keith Price’s fourth-down completion to Kevin Smith was overturned by instant replay and called incomplete, effectively ending the game. Tough way to lose such a hard-fought contest, but Sark was proud of his fellas afterwards. So despite the loss, the Huskies don’t feel beaten, writes one Kyle Bonagura. Also, and this is a huge link roundup mistake for not including this in Friday’s edition, but you really need to read this story about Bishop Sankey’s grandfather seeing Bishop play for the first time after getting surgery to let him see again (he had been completely blind for five years). Adam Jude of the Seattle Times FTW. That was from before the game, and here is the aftermath of Albert Sankey watching Bishop play Saturday night.
With a 57-16 win over Colorado, the Ducks have scored at least 50 points in all five of its games this year, making them the first team to score 50 in five straight in nearly 130 years (who remembers them 1885 Princeton Tigers, y’all?). Número ocho made another case to be the Heisman Trophy winner in 2013 as the Ducks flew high behind Marcus Mariota at Folsom. Mariota accounted for seven touchdowns and nearly 400 yards of total offense. If you thought that was good, the scariest thing is that the Ducks say they can get better. Unfortunately, the team took a hit when tight end Colt Lyerla decided to withdraw from Oregon on Sunday.
As bad as a 41-point loss sounds, Colorado was much more competitive this year against Oregon than it was in 2012, even holding an early lead against the Ducks. Plus, Colorado honored legendary coach Bill McCartney and Paul Richardson made the potential catch of the year (this grab is unreal, yo), so there were some good things to take away.
The Sun Devils made it close against Notre Dame Saturday evening, but Arizona State football came up short again on the big stage, dropping the contest 37-34 to the Irish. Oh, and here’s Arizona State’s uniform combination for the Colorado game. Maroon helmet, maroon jersey and gold pants.
People expected a shootout in Berkeley, and they more or less got one with Washington State’s 44-22 triumph over Cal, but it was two defensive players- Kalafitoni Pole and Ioane Gauta - who had breakout games for Washington State.
Yeah, so Cal didn’t have its best Saturday of the season, but after the Cal-WSU stats were corrected, Jared Goff set a school record with 504 passing yards. One of his passes was originally ruled a rushing attempt for his receiver Chris Harper, and there was a change in credit for the safety. Some game for Harper, too: 14 grabs for 231 and a touchy.
Sean Mannion has already thrown for more than 2,000 yards, and he isn’t even halfway through the regular season slate yet. He’s got a heck of an offensive coordinator to learn knowledge from, and it was a preseason conversation between Danny Langsdorf and Mannion that set the tone for the 2013 season.
Unfortunately we got some injury news to dish out in Westwood, for UCLA offensive tackle Torian White is out for the season, as he will have surgery for a torn ligament. Also, running back Jordon James is doubtful to play against Cal on Saturday.
He committed to play for Pete Carroll, started playing under Lane Kiffin and is now set to take orders from Ed Orgeron. Luckily, USC’s Dion Bailey has learned to embrace change. Coaching switches can certainly be difficult transitions.
If you thought one thief apprehension was enough for the Utah men’s basketball coach, think again, because Larry Krystkowiak continued to fight crime, taking down another suspect last week.
Basketball season is right around the corner, and freshman stud Aaron Gordon—a “drop-dead professional”—is already living up to the hype. San Jose, baby (his older brother Drew dunked on me twice at local parks- that’s my basketball claim to fame)!