Roundup: Utes get signature win
Upset Saturday did not skip the Pac-12 with Utah pulling off a 27-21 stunner of then-No. 5 Stanford in Salt Lake City. The Utes had been so close to breaking through in the Conference of Champions, and now Utah finally has its signature win, writes Kevin Gemmell of ESPN fame. Of course the local media was all over the scene as well, with the Salt Lake Tribune’s Lya Wodraska penning that the Utes’ perseverance paid off. Big-time kudos to Kyle Whittingham and Crew.
Rough one if you’re a member of Nerd Nation, and it was even rougher on Sunday when the Cardinal tumbled eight spots to No. 13 in the AP poll. If this helps cheer you up a bit, here’s a pretty interesting feature on David Shaw scoring an unusual record at Stanford.
No. 2 Oregon did what it does best—winning on the road, that is—by taking care of business in Seattle to the tune of a 45-24 defeat of Washington. The game was a lot closer than three scores for most of the contest, but the Ducks convincingly responded to the pressure, says Ted Miller. With a performance like that, Pat Forde asks us all, “can Oregon be stopped?”
That win makes it 10 in a row now that the Dawgs have lost to the Quacks, and the Ducks kept Washington firmly in their shadow with their trademark dominance Saturday afternoon.
With Arizona State breezing by Colorado 54-13 after a big first half, the Sun Devils proved that there was no letdown after the loss to Notre Dame.
The big story on the Buffaloes’ side of that loss was that coach Mike MacIntyre took the redshirt off quarterback Sefo Liufau and said he will be the starting dude going forward if all goes well.
It was a close game for 45 minutes in Pullman, but Oregon State ran away from the Cougars in the fourth quarter with a 52-24 victory over Washington State, outscoring the Cougs 28-0 in the final frame of regulation. As such, it was another big road win for Oregon State, which has yet to lose a game away from Corvallis this year.
It wasn’t the result the home crowd desired, but at least the fans in Pullman were treated to an air show. With Sean Mannion and Connor Halliday combining for 766 yards passing, the quarterbacks piled up yardage in the Palouse.
True, UCLA knocked off the Golden Bears pretty handily by a score of 37-10 Saturday evening, but Chris Foster of the Los Angeles Times thinks UCLA looks unrefined in beating Cal with defining moments at hand (at Stanford, at Oregon in the next two weeks).
As evidenced in the 27-point loss to the Bruins, Jared Goff felt the pressure: UCLA was able to get to the Cal QB pretty much at will, sacking him thrice.
The Arizona men’s hoops team had its Red-Blue Game this weekend, and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson stole the show at the Arizona scrimmage, scoring 18 points on 8-12 shooting. I imagine that there are a few people in Tucson who are somewhat excited for the upcoming hoops season.
USC is 1-0 under the watchful eye of its interim head coach after a 38-31 win over Arizona on Thursday night, and here’s what Ed Orgeron said to his team before the game. As for their former head coach, Lane Kiffin said his firing was very difficult in an interview with ESPN’s Chris Fowler.