Check it out college football on the West Coast. This is Get Off My
Pylon, a look at the PAC twelve and more, part of the College
Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network. Here's your host, Matt zemon Welcome to
the latest edition of the Get Off My Pylon college football podcast, part of
the College Gridiron Coast Coast to Coast podcast network. This is your host,
Matt Zemik. College Gridiron Coast to Coast features podcasts from the Big Twelve the
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and Ohio State. For example, Yards and Stripes has Army Navy not too
far away now Yards and Stripes looking at the service academies. Check out all
of the great college Gridiron Coast to Coast podcasts on our network. Get Off
My Pilon looks at college football on the West and so we're getting down to
the nitty gritty PAC twelve in Mountain West and let's hit the big topics and
of course the really big story. Washington Oregon State, Big time game.
It was not played well, but it certainly was close. It certainly was
dramatic, and when the smoke cleared, and when the rain cleared in Corvallis,
Washington stayed unbeaten. And it's a continuation of a theme not just for
the Huskies but for throughout college football in the various conferences that the top teams
are not dominating, they don't look great, but they're winning, they're not
losing, they're avoiding the land mines, they're avoiding the trip and the tricks.
Washington certainly didn't look great. The Huskies were once again there for the
taking. But you know, we've been saying this for several weeks now,
and I certainly thought Oregon State was gonna win and Oregon State was not good
enough, and Washington really managed to buckle up on defense and keep Oregon State
at bay. The Beers seem to control the ball for nearly the whole second
half, but they scored only ten points. And so even though Washington got
shut out in the second half and scored only twenty two points for the game,
it was enough to win. And that's what matters. And people are
going to have a very familiar debate between the eye test and the resume,
and you know, looking at the eye test, Washington doesn't blow you away,
but the resume the actual results. Washington's results are better than anyone else's
in the country. They have the win over Oregon, they have the win
over Utah, they have the win now over Oregon State. On the road,
they have a road win at USC and US he's not very good,
but like us, he's still a seven and five team. Like, that's
not a bad win, it's just isn't a great win. But Washington since
win at Arizona keeps looking better and better and better. So like, the
Huskies have the best collection of results in the country, but they're not gonna
blow you away with the eye test. And it's that familiar debate that we
have every season in college football. You know, well, what would Washington
be favored on a neutral field against Georgia. Of course not, no way,
it would never happen. Georgia would rightly be installed as a solid Vegas
favorite over Washington at least a touchdown, maybe nine points, maybe ten.
But do you rank teams based on Vegas odds and what you predict would happen,
or do you value the results and the quality of competition that you play
and beat every week? And Washington has that quality. Washington in a deep
Pac twelve has the better collection of results. You know, this was a
down year for Tennessee. Tennessee's not very good this year, Kentucky not very
good this season, Florida not very good, LSU not very good, not
terrible. But you know, the Tigers are an okay team, They're not
not especially good team. And we certainly thought that LSU would win ten or
eleven games this season. Hasn't happened now. Of course, if Georgia beats
Alabama in the SEC Championship game, like that would be a real high end
win because Alabama has turned the corner under Nick Saban, looking like Alabama's gonna
finish the regular season eleven and one. So if Georgia beats Alabama, then
we can revisit the conversation. But right now, right now, Washington certainly
has the best collection of results. You could also put Ohio State into that
conversation with the wins over Notre Dame and and also Penn State, But of
course Notre Dame was not nearly as good this year as many people anticipated,
so the value of that win also has to be put in context. There
are certain limitations surrounding that particular result, so Washington, you know, has
not looked extremely impressive. The Huskies keep playing at like a B C plus
level where they're vulnerable. They're there for the taking, but no one can
take them down. And it's something that we've seen with Florida State. It's
something that we've seen with Georgia, you know, which struggled against Missouri and
Auburn and a few other opponents. But no one's been able to find the
secret sauce to be able to outplay these top teams for sixty whole minutes and
make the handful of plays that are going to make the difference. The top
teams are managing to survive each and every week. You know, Ohio State,
file State has not been dominant. I mean that game again, Ohio
State played against Penn State. If a Penn State scoop and score is not
nullified by a holding penalty in the secondary, Penn State wins that game in
Columbus, Ohio State scored only twenty. You know, Michigan's offense was not
very good against Penn State. Michigan didn't throw a pass in the final two
and a half quarters of that game in Happy Valley, and the Michigan offense
was very limited, but Penn State offense couldn't do a darn thing. Michigan
wins there, So you know, the Wolverines are also part of this dynamic
where even if their offense is struggling, they're able to shut down the opposing
offenses that they're going up against. I mean, Big Ten offenses throughout the
conference have been poor this season, so lots of unbeaten teams that haven't looked
dynamic, haven't looked elite. I don't think there's a single great team in
college football. Georgia fans are going to say, hey, we were back
to back national champions and we've looked great in recent weeks. Well, Georgia
did look great in recent weeks, but over the course of the full season.
You know, that Missouri game was extremely close the whole way, and
the South Carolina game was a question midway through the third quarter, and Georgia
and Auburn were tied late in that game in Jordenhare Stadium earlier in the season.
This Georgia team is significantly weaker than twenty twenty two. Now that that
doesn't mean that Georgia isn't the best team in the country, because I'd say
the Bulldogs are. You know, Georgia should be considered like the team,
the team to beat, and you have to beat the best in order to
be the best. It's like Georgia looks like the best team in the eye
test, but certainly not as convincing as last season. So relative to this
year's field, Georgia is the best. But that doesn't mean Georgia is just
as good as it was last year. No, this is clearly a weaker
Georgia team. Twenty twenty two Georgia with Stetson Bennett and that particular collection of
talent handles twenty twenty three Georgia quite easily in my mind. But we're not
playing the twenty twenty two season. We're playing twenty twenty three. So Georgia
looks like the best team, but there are no great teams, and Washington
is one of a few unbeaten teams that just keeps finding ways to win each
week. Let's dig into that Oregon State game a little more. One of
the big stories coming out of this game in Corvallis is that, you know
dj Uyangalawa, He's had a solid year overall at with Oregon State, and
you know, the Oregon States lost to Washington State earlier in the season.
That wasn't Uyangalaway's fault. Oregon State scored thirty five points in that game.
That that was a game in which Oregon State had a rare off day on
defense, and so Uyangalawa generally did his for most of the season, but
this was a spotlight game. This was a statement game against Washington would Uyangalaala,
who came to Clemson, you know, in pursuit of national championships,
being the successor taking the torch from Trevor Lawrence. You know, he certainly
envisioned national championships in his career at Clemson. That was the bar being set
for him. I mean, when you go to a program such as Clemson,
when you go play for Dabos Swiney, you're playing for national championships.
And so after the failures of the past few years, Uyangile transfers to Oregon
State. And we talked about this in the off season, and we talked
about it early in the season as well here on the Get Off My Pylon
College Football podcast with Jonathan Smith, head coach at Oregon State, would he
be able to turn DJ uyangala into not just a decent quarterback he did that,
but a great quarterback, quarterback who could reach the next level, a
quarterback who could really transform everything for Oregon State. Could he lead this program
to the top of the PAC twelve and you know, author a story which
would make huge national headlines. Would Jonathan Smith's big gamble on dj uyangala A
become one of the great turning points in Oregon State football history? Would it
reshape this PAC twelve season? Well, we got our verdict, We got
our answer very clearly in this game against Washington. It was a loud and
resounding no that uyangalale A did not play anywhere close to the level he or
Jonathan Smith hoped for. And it was really bizarre to see late in the
game in the fourth quarter twenty twenty, Oregon State just needed a field goal
to win. The Beavers had a chance to be very methodical in terms of
how they move the ball down the field. Didn't have to take big chances
in the passing game like they should have been working the tight ends in the
middle third of the field. They should have been checking down to running backs
going for five yard six yard patterns like those passes should have been there.
That's what Oregon State and Jonathan Smith and the offensive brain trust should have been
pursuing. But instead you saw uyangli Lay chucking the ball down the field left
sideline, right sideline. Oregon State was throwing the ball twenty thirty yards down
the field. Like, that's not dj Uyanglay's game, it's not his style
of play. It's also not the way Oregon State generally plays offense. It's
not the way Oregon State usually structures its passing game. And so it was
really very weird. And Jonathan Smith for all the ways in which he has
made Oregon State a legitimate factor in the PAC twelve and in the world of
Coast football, I mean, there's no question that he's made a great difference
at Oregon State. This is a nine win program generally, Like that is
an amazing achievement in Corvallis, with the resources you have there, with you
know, being such an out of the way place in the country. To
turn Oregon State into a nine win program, that's an exceptional piece of coaching.
And so John Smith certainly has established himself as one of the better coaches
in the United States. But if that having been said, Jonathan Smith has
struggled this year. Jonathan Smith has really missed the mark a number of times.
We recall a few weeks ago that inexplicable fake field goal at the end
of the first half against Arizona, you know, faking a field goal when
there was no time left. You know, if you're faking a field goal
and there's at the very end of a half, you don't have time for
another play after that fake. Now, normally, when you fake a kick,
there's time after the fake, So if you get a first down in
the red zone, well then you have time to then get a touchdown on
your subsequent series of downs, continuing the possession. But when you fake a
field goal at the end of a half, you don't have You getting the
first down doesn't matter because the half's over. You don't have a series of
downs. So Jonathan Smith with that blunder which dearly cost Oregon State against Arizona.
He now follows that up with this really inexplicable deep passing game late in
a two point game against Washington, a game in which Oregon State and Washington
both committed lots of mistakes in the rain. They neither team could hold onto
the ball. Oregon State with a bad snap leads to a safety, which
becomes the final margin of victory, a two point game for Washington. So
credit the Huskies in their defense for standing up to Oregon State in the trenches.
That's where Washington won this game most centrally, but also Oregon State let
Washington off the hook to a certain degree. Jonathan Smith and Oregon State and
djangole A not bringing their best, not the best coaching, not the best
quarterback play, not the best passing game. So once again, top team
in the country doesn't play its best, but the challenger could not take advantage.
It's a theme in the Pac twelve. It's also a theme across the
country with what we're seeing in the Big Ten, what we're seeing with Florida
State, what we're seeing with Georgia. It's a pervasive reality this college football
season. We're brought to you at the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network
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in the game with ticket smarter, so elsewhere in the Pac twelve. Now
USC gets drummed by UCLA, and you know, it's really not anything new
that you know, USC is a soft team, and UCLA through USC around
the coliseum like a dirty old rag. And we're waiting on USC's defensive coordinator
search. But the other thing about USC will strength coach Benny Wiley also be
fired. And a lot of people at USC, I'm certainly one of them,
think, you know, USC needs to make a move on its strength
coach. It's not just an Alex Grinch problem. It's also what Benny wants
problem. That USC offensive line was hammered by UCLA much as it was hammered
by Notre Dame a month ago. The US he is a soft team,
not just on defense but also on offense. So we're going to see just
how many changes USC makes. It can't just be defensive coordinator for Lincoln Riley.
No official word yet if chip Kelly has been retained by UCLA, but
all signs are pointing that way that that chip Kelly's probably saved his job for
one more year because he managed to beat USC, and beat USC badly,
so that is worth keeping an eye on at UCLA, and you know,
Oregon crushes Arizona State, so that so Oregon Oregon State on Friday in Eugene
in Auntin Stadium. The Ducks have the home field. If Oregon wins that
game, Oregon and Washington are going to have that much anticipated rematch in the
PAC twelve Championship game on Friday, December first in Las Vegas. And if
Oregon loses, Oregon State is able to knock off Oregon the Arizona Wildcats,
they could beat the Oregon the Arizona State sun Devils in the Territorial Cup,
the rivalry down here in Arizona where I Am Arizona could still make its way
into the PAC twelve Championship game. Wouldn't that be an amazing story for Arizona
to get to the PAC twelve title game, something no one had any remotely
anticipated before the season began. So that would be something the other PAC twelve
note. It's going to be a big twelve note next year in twenty twenty
four. But ham Rising has announced he's coming back to Utah for twenty twenty
four. That would certainly seem to make Utah the favorite preseason favorite for the
twenty twenty four Big Twelve Championship. Very decent chance you could have a Utah
Arizona twenty twenty four Big twelve title game with Texas and Oklahoma relocating to the
SEC next year. Obviously we'll get a chance to talk about that in the
off season. But had to duck in that word about cam Rising, the
other stories in the Western United States football, the Mountain West, and what
a shaker we had in Fresno this past weekend. Fresno State was eight and
two, New Mexico was three and seven. Yet New Mexico looked like the
eight and two team and Fresno looked like the three and seventeen. You know,
there was nothing fancy about New Mexico winning. New Mexico was just tossing
the ball, toss sweeps, just hammering the ball on the ground at Fresno
time after time after time in the second half, and was getting eight nine
yards a chunk, eight nine yards a play, just rearing back and pounding
the snot out of Fresno State up front and mixing in a few occasional passes,
but mostly New Mexico just clobbered Fresno State upfront. This was a This
was just an old school physical domination. This was just you know, pounding
an opponent into submission. There was not any subtlety. It wasn't about being
more clever. It wasn't a beat having about having more finesse or the better
trick plays or wrinkles or exotics. New Mexico just beat Fresno State into submission,
a really stunning result, and so it gives Fresno State a third conference
loss. And you couple that with UNLV going into Colorado Springs trailing twenty four
to seven and then rallying to beat Air Force thirty one to twenty seven.
Air Force drove down to the UNLV ten yard line late in the game with
a backup quarterback who was more like the designated passer. Well Troy Calhoun,
the head coach of Air Force, seeing his offense throw the ball to get
into scoring range. He then goes back to his running for voterback and he
runs the ball a couple times. UNLV stuffs those runs and the passing quarterback
didn't come back into the game until it was fourth down. Air Force tries
one pass. It's no good. Troy Calhoun really misplayed his cards down there.
Late and UNLV makes the successful seventeen point rally on the road, and
so Barry Otamate and UNLV they are in line to play in the Mountain West
Conference championship game, and you have Boise State and air Force scrambling for that
second position. San Jose State not completely out of it. What a wild
turn of events. It seemed like Fresno State and air Force entering the second
weekend of November like it was clear cut that those teams were going to play
for the Mountain West title, and then they both imployed. Fresno State and
air Force both losing multiple conference games over the past last few weeks. What
an absolutely shocking turn of events in the Mountain West with UNLV playing for a
Mountain West title, an absolute shocker in the world of Mountain West football.
Barry odem pretty much locking up Mountain West Coach of the Year for twenty twenty
three. What a wild time that we live in, especially with the Mountain
West, so Washington and Oregon they're almost there. Oregon needs to beat Oregon
State to create that monster rematch, and of course, if we get that
monster rematch, we get Michael Pennix and bo Nicks probably for the Heisman Trophy.
I know a lot of people think Jayden Daniels of LSU should be should
win the award. Li'm on record as saying he wasn't good enough against Jordan
Travis and Florida State. He wasn't good enough against Jaylen Milroe and Alabama.
The Heisman should involve numbers, but it can't us to be about the numbers.
Michael Pennox and Bo Nicks have set a higher standard with their teams and
the most important games of the season. I think it's still an open competition,
and Nicks versus Pennix Friday, December first, that could be the game
which decides the twenty twenty three Heisman Trophy. So this is Matt Zenak.
Thank you for listening to another edition of the Get Off My Pylon College Football
podcast, part of the College Greater on Coast to Coast podcast network, brought
to you by ticketsmarter dot com and the ticket Smarter mobile app. LWOS ten
for ten dollars off an order of one hundred dollars or more, LWOS twenty
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the game with ticket Smarter, Happy, Thanksgiving for me, Thanks for listening
to another edition of the Get Off My Pylon College Football podcast.