Roundup: Mariota has Heisman-esque performance against Stanford
Marcus Mariota got the Stanford monkey off his back, accounting for four touchdowns in a 45-16 Oregon victory over the Cardinal. As such, Sam Cooper of Yahoo! Sports writes that Mariota had a “Heisman-worthy performance” against Stanford. Overall, Oregon is continuing to rebound after the loss to Arizona, writes Anne M. Peterson of the Associated Press.
After a hard-fought 19-16 overtime win against Utah, Arizona State is in the playoff conversation thanks to its defense, writes Doug Haller. The Sun Devils are 11th in the AP top 25 and should be hanging around the top 10 in the CFP standings that come out Tuesday, and the defense has given up just two touchdowns over the last three games combined (Stanford, Washington and Utah).
The Utes gained just 57 yards through the air against ASU, and Kyle Goon of the Salt Lake Trib writes that deficiencies in the passing game are holding Utah back from having a great season.
The fact that Washington State lost 44-17 to USC, thus officially knocking the team out of a bowl contention, took a backseat when it was learned that quarterback Connor Halliday is done in a Cougar uniform after suffering a broken leg in the game. John Blanchette of The Spokesman-Review reflects on Halliday’s career at Washington State, writing that his accomplishments have largely been underappreciated.
There’s much better injury news on the Trojan sideline, as USC linebacker Su’a Cravens hopes to play in the Trojans’ next game against Cal Nov. 13. Cravens injured his right knee against the Cougs and was seen walking around the sidelines on crutches.
It’s more than just a feel-good start to the season now. With a 45-31 win over Oregon State, Cal is 5-4 and just one win away from bowl eligibility. And, while the Golden Bears are known for having a pass-happy offense, it was running back Daniel Lasco who led Cal to a win in Corvallis, rushing for 188 yards and three scores.
Speaking of carrying a team to victory, how ‘bout Washington’s Shaq Thompson? Dude ran for 174 and a score in the 38-23 win over Colorado. He also had 41 receiving yards for 215 yards from scrimmage overall. As a result, the Dawgs got magic win No. 6.
Although the Beavers lost, there were some happy vibes to be had in Corvallis, because Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion became the Pac-12’s all-time leading passer on a 15-yard throw to Connor Hamlett in the fourth quarter.
The SF Chronicle’s Tom FitzGerald discusses what went wrong for Stanford in the loss to Oregon.
Close but no cigar again for Colorado, and Kyle Ringo opines that big plays are a big problem for Colorado’s defense. Washington had four plays go for 39 yards or more.
A lot of people had written off the Bruins after back-to-back defeats to Utah and Oregon, but the Bruins have now won three in a row with their last win coming against a ranked Arizona team. With the final score being 17-7, it’s readily apparent that UCLA’s defense stood tall in the win over Arizona (Jack Wang of the LA Daily News on the link).
Here’s Arizona Daily Star reporter Daniel Berk’s take on Arizona’s loss to UCLA.