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Week 8 in Pac-12 Football

Oct 16, 2018
WSU Athletics

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• With No. 12 OREGON facing No. 25 WASHINGTON STATE, it’s the fourth time this season that a pair of Pac-12 ranked teams are squaring off in conference play. The game will feature two of the nation’s most potent offenses as Washington State ranks 16th in the FBS with 485.5 yards of total offense per game, with Oregon 18th at 482.8 yards of total offense per game. The Cougars are 11th in scoring (43.0 ppg), while the Ducks are 15th (41.8 ppg).

WAVING OL’ CRIMSON... ESPN’s College GameDay show will make its first-ever appearance on the Washington State campus in advance of Saturday’s Oregon-Washington State game. The tradition of waving Ol’ Crimson in the background of the GameDay set started in Austin, Texas on October 4, 2003. That streak reached 216 consecutive appearances before ESPN announced plans to broadcast its iconic show from the Pullman campus.

MIDSEASON ALL-AMERICANS... The AP released its midseason All-America and the Pac-12 was represented by a trio of players on both first and second teams - First: Shane Lemieux, G, ORE; Laviska Shenault Jr., WR, COLO; Ben Burr-Kirven, LB, WASH. Second: Porter Gustin, LB, USC; Taylor Rapp, S, WASH, Ugochukwu Amadi, S, ORE.

THE RANKINGS: Three Pac-12 teams are ranked in the AP poll, while five grace the Coaches poll. OREGON (12/11), WASHINGTON (15/14), WASHINGTON STATE (25/23), STANFORD (nr/24), COLORADO (nr/25) ... Washington has now appeared in the AP Top 25 for 40 consecutive ranking periods, and have been in the Top 10 in 29 of the last 39 ranking periods ... Washington State makes its first appearance this season in the AP poll, becoming the eighth difference Pac-12 team to grace the rankings this year.

BOWL ELIGIBLE: The outcome of both games in the Pacific Northwest on Saturday will provide the Pac-12 with a pair of bowl eligible teams. The winner of Colorado (5-1) at Washington (5-2), and Oregon (5-1) at Washington State (5-1) will give the Conference two 6-win teams.

TRIPLE THE PLEASURE: Utah QB Tyler Huntley pulled off an uncommon feat of throwing a touchdown pass, rushing for a touchdown, and being on the receiving end of a touchdown pass in the Ute’s win over Arizona. Here’s a list of the nine occurrences since 1996 where a Pac-12 player threw a touchdown pass, rushed for a score and had a touchdown reception in same game:

Tyler Huntley, Utah vs. Arizona (Oct. 12, 2018) 2 Pass, 1 Rush, 1 Rec
Troy Williams, Utah at USC (Oct. 14, 2017) 1 Pass, 1 Rush, 1 Rec
Kevin Hogan, Stanford vs. USC (Dec. 5, 2015) 1 Pass, 1 Rush, 1 Rec
Christian McCaffrey, Stanford vs. USC (Dec. 5, 2015) 1 Pass, 1 Rush, 1 Rec
Brett Hundley, UCLA at Utah (Oct. 3, 2013) 1 Pass, 1 Rush, 1 Rec
Marcus Mariota, Oregon at Arizona State (Oct. 18, 2012) 1 Pass, 1 Rush, 1 Rec
Joseph Ayoob, California vs. Oregon State (Oct. 15, 2005) 1 Pass, 1 Rush, 1 Rec
Kyle Boller, California at Michigan State (Sept. 14, 2002) 2 Pass, 1 Rush, 1 Rec
Jake Plummer, Arizona State at UCLA (Oct. 12, 1996) 3 Pass, 1 Rush, 1 Rec

STREAKERS: Several Pac-12 players have active streaks of three games or more in the following categories:

Games Rushing for 100 or more yards: 
3 - CJ Verdell, Oregon (115 vs. Stanford, 106 at California, 111 vs. Washington)
3 - Joshua Kelley, UCLA (124 at Colorado, 125 vs. Washington, 157 at California)
3 - Eno Benjamin, Arizona State (104 at Washington, 312 vs. Oregon State, 120 at Colorado)

Games Receiving for 100 or more yards: 
3 - Dillon Mitchell, Oregon (239 vs. Stanford, 105 at California, 119 vs. Washington)

Games Passing for 300 or more yards:
6 - Gardner Minshew II, Washington State (319 at Wyoming, 414 vs. San Jose State,
   470 vs. Eastern Washington, 344 at USC, 445 vs. Utah, 430 at Oregon State)

BOW UP: Washington QB Jake Browning and RB Myles Gaskin are climbing the Pac-12 career charts and are among the all-time top ten in several categories.

Career Passing Yards
7.      11,249       Derek Anderson, OSU, 2001-04
8.      10,913       Alex Brink, WSU, 2004-07
9.      10, 911      Steve Stenstrom, STAN, 1991-94
10.    10,855       Jake Browning, WASH, 2015-18   

Career Total Offense
7.      11,621       Carson Palmer, USC, 1998-2002
8.      11,285       Cade McNown, UCLA, 1995-98
9.      11,011       Alex Brink, WSU, 2004-07
10.    11,025       Jake Browning, WASH, 2015-18

Career Touchdown Passes
5.      96              Jared Goff, CAL, 2013-15
6.      90              Connor Halliday, WSU, 2011-14
7.      88              Jake Browning, WASH, 2015-18
         88              Cody Kessler, USC, 2012-15

Career Rushing Yards 
1.      6,245         Charles White, USC, 1976-79                  
2.      5,621         Royce Freeman, ORE, 2014-17                
3.      5,082         LaMichael James, ORE, 2009-11            
4.      5,044         Ken Simonton, OSU, 1998-2001              
5.      4,814         Marcus Allen, USC, 1978-81                    
6.      4,678         Myles Gaskin, WASH, 2015-18

Career Rushing Touchdowns
1.               60              Royce Freeman, ORE, 2014-17
2.               59              Ken Simonton, OSU, 1998-2001
3.               53              LaMichael James, ORE, 2009-11
4.               52              LenDale White, USC, 2003-05
5.               50              Myles Gaskin, WASH, 2015-18

PAC-12 HEADLINERS: Among 177 returning starters are a number of headliners, including a total of 10 first-team and 12 second-team All-Pac-12 performers. Nine of the 12 squads return at least six starters on offense, and seven squads return at least six starters on defense ... Returning are the reigning Offensive Player of the Year in Stanford senior running back Bryce Love, as well as the Freshman Co-Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year in Arizona running back J.J. Taylor and Stanford offensive lineman Walker Little, and Arizona linebacker Colin Schooler. Four teams have multiple returning First Team all-conference performers - USC linebacker Cameron Smith, defensive back Marvell Tell and all-purpose/special teams Michael Pittman Jr.; Stanford’s Love and offensive lineman Nate Herbig; Washington offensive lineman Kaleb McGary and defensive back Taylor Rapp; Utah placekicker Matt Gay and punter Mitch Wishnowsky. Additional returning first team performers include Arizona State junior wide receiver N’Keal Henry and Oregon junior all-purpose/special teams Brenden Schooler.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

OFFENSE: CJ Verdell, RB, ORE
Rushed for 111 yards on 29 carries and two TDs in Oregon’s 30-27 overtime win over No. 7 Washington. Scored the game-winning TD on a six-yard run on third down in overtime. Became the first Duck to run for 100 yards in each of the first three Pac-12 games of the season since Byron Marshall in 2013. Became the first Oregon freshman ever to rush for 100 yards in the first three Pac-12 games of the season.

DEFENSE: Keisean Lucier-South, DB, UCLA
Posted a career-high 3.5 tackles for loss, tied his career-high with a sack which forced a fumble, picked off his first career interception, and recovered a fumble which he returned 38 yards for a touchdown. After UCLA had taken a 20-7 lead entering the fourth quarter, the Bruin defense forced Cal turnovers on four straight possessions and Lucier-South was involved in three of the four takeaways. The redshirt junior was credited with six total tackles in helping UCLA to its first win of the season.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Mitch Wishnowsky, P, UTAH
Had four punts for a season-high average of 48.2 yards per punt against Arizona. Arizona had zero yards on one punt return. Wishnowsky, who had two punts of 50 or more yards (long of 55), landed three of his four punts inside the 20-yard-line and two inside the 10. His final punt was a 55-yarder downed on the Arizona 2-yard line with 2:33 remaining in the game. He also faked a punt for a 28-yard rush (the longest of his career) to set up Utah’s final touchdown of the game.

  Offensive Defensive Special Teams
Sept. 4 JJ Arcega-Whiteside, STAN Nate Landman, COLO Chase McGrath, USC
Sept. 10  Laviska Shenault Jr., COLO Chase Hansen, UTAH Brandon Ruiz, ASU
Sept. 17 Gardner Minshew II, WSU Ben Burr-Kirven, WASH Travell Harris, WSU
Sept. 24 J.J. Taylor, ARIZ Ben Burr-Kirven, WASH Jay Tufele, USC
Oct. 1 Eno Benjamin, ASU Ugochukwu AmadI, ORE Marvell Tell III, USC
Oct. 8 Laviska Shenault Jr., COLO Jaylon Johnson, UTAH Matt Gay, Utah
Oct. 15 CJ Verdell, ORE Keisean Lucier-South, UCLA Mitch Wishnowsky, UTAH

Player of the Week Notes: Colorado’s Lavisk Shenault is just the fifth receiver to earn Offensive Player of the Week twice in the same season. He joins USC’s Dwayne Jarrett (2006), Stanford’s Troy Walters (1999), California’s Bobby Shaw (1997) and USC’s Johnnie Morton (1993) ... Washington’s Ben Burr-Kirven is the first player to repeat as Defensive Player of the Week since Arizona State LB Antonio Longino in 2015 (Nov. 16, 23), and the first Husky defender to repeat since CB Derrick Johnson accomplished the feat in 2002 (Nov. 9, 17).

POLL NOTES: WASHINGTON’s preseason AP No. 6 ranking was its highest preseason ranking in the AP poll since 1997 when the Huskies opened the year at No. 4. The Huskies have now appeared in the AP Top 25 for 40 consecutive ranking periods ... STANFORD has appeared in the AP preseason Top 25 for the eighth consecutive year. The Cardinal are one of eight teams to have appeared in the preseason AP poll in each of the last eight seasons, joining Alabama, Ohio State, Florida State, USC, Oklahoma, LSU and Georgia ... USC has appeared in each of the last 17 presesaon AP polls and 58 preseason polls overall. Only Ohio State (65) and Oklahoma (60) have appeared in more preseason AP Top 25 polls.