Let Them Play #Washington@Stanford

Another exciting day of college football is in the books and now it's time to put another blog in there as well.

First things first, here is the Game of the Week:

Washington@Stanford

This was another great example of 2 great teams going hard at it, and this game definitely lived up to my Game of the Week ranking.

If anyone was thinking Washington's defense was racking up stats against sub-par offenses and wasn't all that good...you can't think that anymore. Washington was tough on Stanford all night. The Huskies only allowed 100 yards passing and 179 rushing. It seemed like a couple of times that Stanford was going to take control of the game with their running attack, particularly when Stanford would bring in 3 extra blockers to take on the smaller Huskies; but Washington held their own when they needed to. They gave up  a 67 yard TD drive in the third quarter and looked completely over-powered, but they responded later on Stanford's 12th possession when Cardinal QB Hogan ran a play-action boot-leg on third and 1 around the 2 minute mark. Washington stopped Hogan from picking up the first down, WHILE Stanford committed a holding penalty. This set up the Huskies for their last drive of the game. The Washington defense was constantly getting 4 man pressures on Hogan all night and they never gave up the huge back-breaking run play. Huskies DB Peters was a one man wrecking crew with tackles in the back-field, pass deflections, and an interception. It took a perfectly thrown ball by Hogan late in the second quarter for Stanford to score a touchdown over him.

As good as the Huskies were on defense, the offense was just as in-consistent. Three and outs, short possessions, dropped balls, and killer penalties put the Huskies' back against the wall all night long. On Washington's first drive they committed a holding penalty that negated a first down that they got on 4th down. And then on their 3rd drive a chop block put them in a 3rd and 27 situation, backed up on their side of the field. The Huskies had 8 penalties for 64 yards in the first half alone. I said on Wednesday I was worried about Sankey having 40 attempts in the game prior to this one. Against Stanford he carried 27 more times for 125 yards, but could not break the big play; perhaps a little fatigue was starting to set in. Huskies quarterback Price was nothing short of spectacular. He was 33 of 48 for 350 yards and 2 touchdowns. And if Hogan had pressure all night, Price was being ran ragged. The Huskies had only given up 3 sacks all year and they gave up 5 to Stanford. Price was constantly having to improvise and throw short most of the game. Stanford got pressure with blitzes, with 4 man fronts, and with 3 man fronts. It baffles me how a team can have 5 offensive lineman and fail to block 3 defensive linemen. Price was not helped by his wide-outs; I counted at least 4 dropped passed when Price put the ball on their hands. Price did have one interception late in the game while Washington was driving for a score, but once again he had pressure in his face and the ball got tipped. The heart he showed was amazing, as he took numerous hard hits and played the fourth quarter with a taped up thumb on his throwing hand.

Special teams was also a vital factor in this game. Stanford's wideout Ty Montgomery piled up 209 yards of kick return yardage, including a 99 yard return to start the game. He also had another large return that set up the Hogan touchdown pass right before half-time, which Montgomery caught. Washington was plagued by short punts and inexplicable kick offs all night. I am not sure if it was a coaches' call or if the kicker just can't kick off deep, but the short pop up kicks did nothing to help Washington all night and continued to put the defense in high pressure situations.

Stanford looked like what we have come to expect from Stanford. They relied on their defense and their running game. Stanford will literally line up with nothing but big bodies and dare you to stop the run. They have no need for a quarterback to throw for 7 touchdowns and rack up 500 yards. They are going to hit you in the mouth and pound on you all game. It was a very impressive win for Stanford, although I still don't think they are as strong as they have been in the past couple years.

If I have one complaint with this game it is that the officials decided the out-come. It is not right when two teams have competed their hearts out for 60 minutes and the entire game comes down to an official's call. And I have come to the conclusion that Pac12 officials are the worst in the country right now. All day long there were close calls that were being made around the country, and it in all of those close calls there was no indisputable evidence to over-turn the call on the field. So I bring you to the last play of the last Huskies drive. It is 4th down and 10 and Price is under all kinds of pressure. He runs backwards, stiff arms a defender, starts rolling out and towards the line of scrimmage, bodies are flying everywhere, he loads up and fires down field and his receiver goes down and dives forward to make an incredible catch for a first down with a minute and 16 seconds left to go in the game. The play is reviewed. In the review you MAYBE see the ball in the hit the ground in one angle, but in another angle you clearly see the receiver's elbows under the ball. It was ruled a catch and by rule it can only be definitive evidence to over-turn a call on the field. There is none in this case. You cannot tell 100% if the ball is dropped or not and regardless of that, the receiver had control of the ball through the whole process, and it is my understanding that a ball can touch the ground as long as the receiver has control. Well...the call was over-turned, it was ruled incomplete and the game is over. What bull-crap. What's the harm of letting these kids play on? Why make that call and change the entire out-come of the game when you don't have anything solid to stand on? Those of you who remember the Arizona State/Wisconsin game remember the Pac12 officials failing to set the ball or make a timely call which ultimately cost Wisconsin the game. So do Pac12 officials just like to play God? Is it in their contracts? Nothing is more frustrating when officials decide the game.

The bottom line is though, Washington would not have been in a position to be raped by the officials if they hadn't dropped a first down catch on 3rd and 10. Washington would not have been in that position if they didn't have 10 penalties in the game. And last but not least, Washington would not have been in that position if their special teams had played better. The hard truth is Stanford made enough plays to put themselves in position to win. Officials should never decide a game, but a team should never be in a position to lose to an official, particularly a top 25 team.

UCLA@Utah

Here was another game were Pac12 officials almost blew another call. Utah threw an interception, due to a tipped pass by UCLA. However, the officials originally said there was no tipped pass and that it was pass interference on UCLA. The replays clearly showed however, that UCLA was in the backfield and had a hand on the ball as soon as it left the Utah quarterback's hand. They had to review the play and thankfully got it right, but how does a referee miss that play? He is supposed to be watching the quarterback right? This was an ugly game all around anyways. Utah's defense was stingy and looked very tough. It was also ironic that the same player that recovered Utah's onside kick then dropped a pass on 3rd down on the next drive when Utah was trying to tie the game. I thought Hundley for UCLA looked really good with his decision making, except for the time he got flushed out of the pocket around his own end zone and threw a pass that turned into a Pick 6. Wilson for Utah was throwing high most of the game and ended up with 6 interceptions, although not all of them were his fault. It was an ugly win for UCLA, but it was a win.

Ohio State@Northwestern

I file this game in the: "It Sucks to be Right Sometimes" category. I have been all about Northwestern since before the season started, but when it came down to it, I picked the Buckeyes in this game. I was worried about Northwestern's tendency to turn the ball over through-out the season. Ironically enough it was Ohio State who turned the ball over 3 times. But Northwestern threw an interception deep in their own territory late in the game that led to Ohio State taking the lead 27-23. Then towards the end of the game when the Wildcats were driving for a go-ahead score, quarterback Colter dropped the snap on a 4th and 1 quarterback sneak, which is what probably cost him the chance at picking up the yardage needed. Northwestern's defensive scheme was nothing short of brilliant. They rushed 4 and played coverage, which resulted in frustrating Braxton Miller and keeping the big play and deep passes out of Ohio State's execution. Miller worries me as a big time quarterback. In this game he had 2 fumbles, almost had an interception early in the game, overthrew open receivers, and generally made me question his decision making ability. I saw the same thing against Wisconsin last week. However he did have an amazing play on a 3rd and 1 where he ran almost to the sticks after scrambling around, but then was able to pull up and throw the ball down the field for 38 yards. At one point it looked like Guiton was going to replace Miller but I'm glad that Meyer stayed with Miller. If he had made the change it would have done nothing but put doubt in everyone's mind about the leadership of the offense, and that's the last thing a team on an 18 game win streak wants. Carlos Hyde is also a beast of running back for Ohio State. He carried 26 times for 168 yards today and is a load to bring down every time he has the ball. The Buckeye defense has no problems stopping the run either, for the second straight week they went up against a Top 20 rushing attack and they only allowed the Wildcats 94 yards on the ground. However, Northwestern put up 343 yards of passing offense. Quarterback Colter was 12 of 12 for 98 yards and Siemian was 13 of 18 for 245. I think we can officially wonder about the passing defense. It was a valiant effort by the Wildcats, Ohio State didn't score an offensive touchdown until there was only 3:54 left in the third quarter, but it just wasn't enough.

Other Top 25 Tid Bits:

Miami turned the ball over 4 times against Georgia Tech, gave up 335 yards rushing and got down 17-7. Then the Hurricanes put up 551 yards of offense, scored 3 times in 6 minutes with a pick 6 of their own, forced 3 Tech turnovers, and out-scored the Yellow-Jackets 38-6 over 37 minutes for a victory.

Arizona State returned an interception for a touchdown against Notre Dame and looked like they had the victory in hand. They were down 30-27 with 3 minutes to go and there's no way that Notre Dame defense stops this Sun Devil offense....well a Notre Dame pick-6 later and the Irish pull out the victory. For those of you keeping score that's 4 pick-6's so far from all the games I have listed.

Georgia....Georgia...Georgia....you gonna beat LSU and then throw that victory out the window with a loss at Tennessee?? Not quite, but it was close. The real Georgia special teams showed up and allowed Tennessee to score a touchdown on a blocked punt and the Bulldogs missed a field goal. Keith Marshall (RB), Michael Bennett (WR), and Scott-Wesley (WR) all got hurt for Georgia as well. It's a wonder Murray had anybody to throw the game tieing touchdown pass to.

LSU had to score 28 points in the 4th quarter to put Mississippi St away. The Bulldogs piled up 468 yards against the LSU defense and averaged 8 yards a pass play. Throw it deep on the Tigers, that's what I always say.

Ole Miss had a really good game against Auburn. The offense gained 464 yards and 340 in the air. Auburn only had 93 yards passing, but had a pick 6 in the first half and beat the Rebels by a touchdown. That's now 5 pick-6's.

South Carolina - Clowney sat himself down for this game, much to the shock of his coaches and now I am starting to wonder who the bigger diva is? Manziel or Clowney. He should have went pro if all he has to offer this year is a circus act. The Gamecocks lack a killer instinct and somehow let Kentucky back into the game late, but still managed to pull out the win.

Oklahoma played "grown-man" football with TCU and came away with a victory. TCU had 43 rushing yards and Oklahoma had 203.

Nebraska - There was a quarterback in the Nebraska/Illinois game that was 8/13 for 135 yards and 2 touchdowns and it was neither Taylor Martinez or Scheehaase. It was Tommy Armstrong Jr and the Cornhuskers pulled off a second straight victory. How about those Blackshirts? They gave up 177 yards passing and 195 rushing. Nebraska lost the time of possession battle and had 8 penalties for 71 yards. That's what it takes to win in the Big 10.

Florida State - I WAS looking forward to watching my recording of this game... Winston 23/32 for 393 yards and 5 touchdowns. Reality is such an ugly place for teams like Maryland. 63-0 Seminoles.

Florida - The Gators gave up the most rush yards to any one team today as the Hogs ran wild for over 100 yards. But the Gators somehow threw the ball for 240 (gearing up for LSU) and forced 2 turnovers. And yes, one of those turnovers was a pick 6 by Purifoy. (That's 6 pick-6's.) I have not had the pleasure of watching this game all the way through yet, but I have heard that the officiating was bad and slightly slanted to the Gators, however when you look at the numbers the Hogs had 8 penalties for 57 yards and the Gators had 8 for 84 yards. The most important numbers though, were 30 and 10, as in 30 points for Florida and 10 points for Arkansas.

Oregon scored 29 points in the FIRST QUARTER and Mariota had 7 touchdowns. This is getting boring, when does he score 10?

Clemson only scored 21 points in the first quarter and won.

Texas Tech - Why not Texas Tech?

Alabama put up 181 yards rushing, allowed .7 yards a rush, and McCarron completed 15 of 16 passes for 4 touchdowns. Just when we thought the Tide had rolled out....

And for how the rest of my teams on my watch-list did:

Rutgers won, setting up the game of the year against Louisville on Thursday. Yay.

North Carolina - Sooo much for the Tar Heels making some noise. They turned it over 3 times and let Va Tech rack up 293 passing yards and the victory.

Vanderbilt - Got blown out by Missouri. Did anyone else forget Missouri was in the SEC? Or that Missouri still played football??

Oklahoma State forced 5 turnovers and still almost lost at home to Kansas State. Just cancel the rest of the B12 season and have Texas Tech play Oklahoma for the championship.

So how did my predictions do this week? I'm glad you asked. I was 9-2 with only Washington and Arizona State failing to live up to the hype. That makes me 22-7 for the year for a 76% win percentage.

For those of you who do not know I actually predicted all Top 10 Teams correctly in the Coaches' Poll last week. THAT won't happen again, but I'll give it a try:
1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Ohio State
4. Clemson
5. Stanford
6. Florida State
7. Georgia
8. Louisville
9. Texas A&M
10. Oklahoma

Now for the REAL top 10, here's how I would rank them in my power rankings:
1. Oregon
2. Alabama
3. Clemson
4. Florida State
5. Stanford
6. Oklahoma
7. Louisville
8. Ohio State
9. Georgia
10. Texas A&M

Thanks for reading!!! As always, all comments are welcome. You can follow me by just following the blog, or on twitter @simplyNCAAF or on facebook.
And now that my internet is working again, Part 3 of "Whatever Happened to Defense in the SEC?" will be up Sunday night! Stay tuned.