Checking out college football on the West Coast. This is Get Off My Pilon,
a look at the PAC twelve and more, part of the College Gridiron
Coast to Coast podcast network. Here's your host, that Zimmi. Welcome to
the latest edition is Get Off My Pilon college football podcast. This is your
host, Matt Zenam. Part of the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network.
And as you know, Get Off My Pylon covers college football in the
Western United States. So playing to talk about as we end the month of
October and we head into November, and in the PAC twelve, Washington is
the only unbeaten team in conference play. But if you have to size up
the PAC twelve and you look at who's playing the best football consistently week to
week and which team is probably at this point most likely to be the PAC
twelve champion with a shot at the College Football Playoff, it's not Washington.
It's Oregon Washington. And Folks, if you followed the PAC twelve for any
appreciable length of time, you know that when Washington goes to the farm in
Palo alto play Stamford, weird things happen. And even when Washington is really
good and Stanford isn't very good. As was the case this year, Washington
had a really, really tough time. If Stanford catches a fourth and two
pass and the receiver was all alone, the Cardinal would have converted a first
down. They had a chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter.
That game was a dog fight for Washington did not play well for a second
straight week against a really bad team. You know, Washington struggled against Arizona
State the week before, as we chronicled here on Get off My Pylon.
So the Huskies played that big boy game against Oregon, arguably the game of
the year in college football, Like, have you seen another game be as
impressive as washing Oregon was? I mean, you know, Florida State Clemson
was interesting, but Clemson just kept making mistakes, which has been the theme
of the year under Davos Swiney. You know, we've seen Ohio State and
Order Dame go down to the wire, but Oregon and Washington certainly brought a
lot more skill and excitement to the table. Definitely better quarterback play. So
Oregon Washington might still be the game of the year. And yet after that
game, Washington with two straight clunkers, you know, against Arizona State.
That was the hangover from the Oregon game. Very understandable that Washington dragged through
that one. But I was expecting Washington to be much sharper this week and
it didn't happen. But maybe the Huskies were looking ahead to USC. Maybe
maybe that was it. So they had the Oregon hangover and then they had
the USC look ahead. Maybe that's it. But when a team plays two
straight struggle bus games, and you know, if you had Washington playing a
half decent opponent these past two weeks, a team you know better than Arizona
State and Stanford, let's say Ucla. If Washington had been playing Ucla or
Utah or Arizona these past two weeks, probably would have lost given the way
the Huskies played. But they played the very bottom of the Pac twelve,
and so they were able to get through these two games, and they're still
unbeaten. Oregon, though, is the more consistent team. Oregon goes into
Salt Lake City and puts a thumping on Utah and Bryson Barnes, Bryson Barnes,
the walk on the pig farmer, you know all about him. You
know, that's the guy USC made into you know, Vince Young Michael Vick
on that late twenty six yard scramble when the Utes beat the Trojans. USC
made Bryson Barnes look real good. Oregon put a stop to that. Oregon
was able to defend Bryson Barnes. Oregon was able to put Utah's offense in
its place. Oregon was able to take full advantage of the fact that Utah
really doesn't have a particularly good offense without Cam Rising, without tight end Brant
Qweefey. Like, that's what a mature team, a really good team,
a team with PAC twelve title aspirations, does to an undermanned Utah offense.
This is not any criticism of Kyle Witningham at all. You know, he
knew that going up against elite teams without Cam Rising, he was asking for
trouble. The difference is Oregon actually has a mature team. USC does not.
Oregon really does look like the class of the PAC twelve. And you
know, if we arrive at a scenario where Oregon and Washington have a rematch
in Las Vegas on Friday, December first, in the PAC twelve Championship game,
I mean that game definitely tilts Oregon right because it's not going to be
in Seattle. So the first game was in Seattle and Washington had to scratch
and claw for a very narrow, very uncomfortable win. Oregon have Washington on
the ropes a few times in that game, but that was in Seattle.
You have to think, right now, at least one month out from the
PAC twelve title game, if Oregon does get a second crack at Washington in
Las Vegas, probably gonna end up better for the duckstan for the hustle snow
guarantees. But I think if you're an Oregon fan, you'd like that,
Like, we get a rematch, but it's not on Washington's home turf.
We get a second chance. It's gonna go better for us. We're gonna
be better on fourth down, We're gonna be better in some of these high
leverage situations. It's just gonna be easier for us to get up for that
game. Because we lost the first time, we're hungry to win second time.
So right now, if you told me, you know, Matt,
you know it's gonna be Oregon Washington in the PAC twelve Championship game, I'd
say Oregon definitely has the upper hand even though Washington is unbeaten. So it's
a fascinating plot point as we consider the Pac twelve. Oregon is not first
in the standings, but certainly looks like the best team at the moment.
Let's segue into the Heisman Trophy conversation, because Michael Pennix was better against Stanford,
but still it's only Stanford. But he had that horrible game against Arizona
State. But meanwhile, Bo Nicks, he just keeps humming along. He
didn't do too much against Washington State. The week before that game was or
all about Oregon's ground game. Oregon just mashed Washington State into fine powder in
the second half. But this past weekend you saw a little bit more about
Bo Knicks striding into Rice Eckles Stadium, and you know, so Oregon shut
down Utah's pop gun offense like that was expected. You know, a good,
a good competent team doesn't let Bryce and Barnes have a big day.
That was expected. But the the worry for Oregon really was that they'd go
in to Salt Lake City and their offense would get overpowered by a very good
Utah defense. Kyle Winningham coordinator Morgan's galley. They always field a good defen
in Salt Lake City. Maybe Bonix was going to have a struggle bus game,
kind of like what Michael Pennix ad against Arizona State. Nope, Bonex
goes into Salt Lake City, Oregon fully in control, start to finish.
Boonix definitely elevated his Heisman chances. Is he the leader? I don't know,
but like you can make an argument. I think the lack of clarity
is itself a commentary that it's right there for Bonix to win. It's right
there for him to claim. If Oregon is a steamroller the next several weeks
and wins the Pac twelve and makes the College Football Playoff, odds are looking
pretty good under that scenario for bow Knicks to win the Heisman Trophy. And
you know, full disclosure, I was a Bonix critic. I was a
fierce Bonix critic. Saw him plenty of times at Auburn. Thought that when
he came to the Ducks that that meant that Oregon was going to be playing
for second third place in the Pac twelve. Really hasn't turned out that way.
Oregon's looked great with bo Nix. He's been terrific, He's been outstanding.
He has shut me up. And I have to give Bo Nicks full
credit. He is bodacious right now, as that Heisman Trophy publicity Banner said,
and he and the Ducks have everything to play for entering the month of
November. Elsewhere in the Pac twelve, this was a pretty staggering moment and
one of the more interesting games of the weekend, and it figured to be
interesting. Wasn't going to generate the Banner headlines, but it was certainly going
to be a revealing moment in terms of how good really are these teams in
actuality. Oregon State at Arizona. Oregon State got a lot of preseason publicity,
legitimately, so Jonathan Smith is a really good coach. The Beavers were
viewed as like the dangerous floater, the team that might be able to get
into the mix and bust up a potential USC Oregon or Washington USC PAC twelve
championship game. Maybe Oregon State could sneak in there with an upset or two
and make some noise. So Oregon State had the preseason publicity came into this
game against Arizona was only one loss in the conference, but Arizona played Washington
really tough, lost by only seven, played USC tough, lost in triple
overtime, easily could have beaten the Trojans in Los Angeles, but with Noah
Fafita taking over for the injured Jaden Dolora, Arizona's fortunes and Arizona's ceiling have
become very different from what we expected preseason, Like this Fifita Delora situation at
quarterback, with you know, the the day one starter turning out to be
not very good and the backup turning out to be this revelation who makes his
team so much better. It's a lot like the USC Clay Heilton team in
twenty sixteen that he Clay Helton had MaTx Brown starting against Alabama. Nick Saban
stayed with Brown for a few more weeks, us he picked up a few
more losses, and then comes Sam Donald, the backup into the lineup about
a month into the season, and then us he takes off, goes to
the Rose Bowl, wins the Rose Bowl. A lot of parallels can be
made between the Max Brown Sam Donald dynamic in twenty sixteen at USC and this
situation in Tucson with Noah Fafita becoming this dynamic quarterback who has dramatically raised Arizona's
ceiling as a football program, as a football team, Arizona being Oregon State
shows that the Wildcats are for real. But we have to deal with the
plot point of Jonathan Smith a really good coach. Like everyone thinks Jonathan Smith
is a really good coach, No one thinks he isn't all right, everyone
respects what Jonathan Smith has done in Corvallis, you know, not some a
powerhouse program, not a program with a storied, decades long college football history
behind it, not an ultimate recruiting hotbed for ballast. Is a very out
of the way place. I've been there on many a greyhound bus ride from
Phoenix to Seattle, you know, living in the West all my life like
that. That's not where you build superpowers. It's not where you build college
football giants. But Jonathan Smith, you know, he won ten games Oregon
State last year, came back with a lot this year. The Beavers were
definitely in the mix in the Pac twelve this season. So like, this
is a good coach, he knows what he's doing generally, but not Saturday
night, just before halftime, Oregon State near the Arizona twenty yard line kicking
a field goal and what was a ten ten tie and just the easiest thing
in the world, Like this is not even something you think about. Of
course, with just a handful of seconds left in the half, you're setting
up for a field goal, like, no, you're not faking this,
are you? You'd never fake it, you know, a fake field goal
or any fake kick. You do that assuming that once you get the first
down on the fake then you have time left to then continue your drive,
to continue your possession. You don't fake a field goal on the final play
of a half or a game. That's just not done, and it's not
done to the point of this is not even a discussion. This is not
even a debate. So we all are wondering what went on for Jonathan Smith,
what happened between his two ears, and what happened between Jonathan Smith and
his assistant coaches when this fake field goal was hatched at the very end of
a half. Oregon State got the first down on that fake field goal,
but it was the last play of the half. There any time left.
There was never going to be any time left, unless you know, if
Oregon State got a first down and was tackled in bounds as opposed to going
all the way and getting a touchdown. Of course, so if you're going
to fake that field goal, not that it ever should have been up for
debate, never should have been even considered, but let's just play along with
this here. If you are going to fake a field goal on the final
play of the half, or a play which reasonably could be the final play
of the half, you have to score a touchdown to make that fake worthwhile,
in which case this needs to be a pass fake, not a run
fake, because your kicker is obviously not the fastest guy on the team.
You need to be throwing that ball in the end zone where you know the
receiver is catching the ball at the goal line pretty much, and you can
get a direct touchdown to call a run fake instead of a pass fake.
With that little time left in the first half, Oregon State just hand runs
away three points like organ State just donates Jedfish, Noah Fafita and Arizona three
points. Well, you can all guess what the final margin of victory was
in this game. Arizona wins by three points. Jonathan Smith with the coaching
blunder of the Pac twelve season, and so you know, Arizona's for real.
Arizona stood up to Oregon State. This was a big boy football game.
It was a tough, physical game. Arizona State shoved around Oregon State
in the trenches late, and Oregon State has stamped its identity on We're gonna
be the tougher team. We have good line play, We're gonna lean on
you, We're gonna wear you down. Nope, Nope, nope. Arizona
was the tougher team up front in the fourth quarter. It has been spectacular
to see Arizona so quickly transform its identity under Jedfish. But of course,
if Jaden Delora is there playing, none of this probably would be happening.
Noah f Elfita has with his leadership, with his toughness, he has shown
a lot of those guys in the locker room what's possible. He has led
by example, and he's been the freshman who has totally transformed the face and
the vibe of Arizona football. Boy. If Arizona had just not stumbled and
stepped on a rake late in that USC game, the Wildcats would be right
in the mix for the PAC twelve Championship, So a lot to talk about
heading out of that Oregon State Arizona game in Tucson. Our show is brought
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with ticket smarter So. On the other side of our main PAC twelve review
from the past weekend, we now look ahead to you know What's What's next
and the feature game on November fourth in the PAC twelve, it's Washington at
US Seed. It's gonna be abced primetime game, definitely gonna be in the
spotlight. But it's gonna be in the spotlight because this is Washington's pursuit of
the College Football Playoff. USC is a very secondary story in this game.
The Trojans are not in the heart of the Pac twelve race. I mean,
they're not out, they're not eliminated, but they are definitely the secondary
player here. Like they couldn't beat Utah and Bryce and Barnes and then Oregon
comes and beats Utah by twenty nine in Salt Lake City tells you about the
gap between USC and Oregon. So like, even if even if USC does
win this game, Tropans will be a clear underdog against Oregon the week after.
And if USC can't win both of these games against Washington, Oregon,
Trojans will have at least two losses in the Pac twelve. That's gonna put
them on the periphery of the race. It is fundamentally a Washington and Oregon
chase, and with Oregon State losing, Oregon State has two losses. This
is all about the Huskies and the Ducks right now. The other teams are
going to need help. Utah obviously picked up its second loss, so the
youths are really on the ropes in the Pac twelve as well. It's all
about the Huskies. And the Ducks. It's all about whether the Huskies or
the Ducks can become the Pac twelve's first college football playoff team since twenty sixteen
when Washington got there, went to the Peach Bowl against Atlanta in Atlanta against
Alabama and Nick Saban. But of course there is the backstory at USC of
wins. Alex Gridche is going to be fired as defensive coordinator, and will
strength coach Benny Wiley be fired as well? Will Lincoln Riley clean house or
will he try to justify to new athletic director Jennifer Cohen, who, by
the way, was the athletic director at Washington when the Huskies made the playoff
in twenty sixteen. Very interesting dynamic there. It will Lincoln Riley if he
if us he somehow upsets Washington this game. Will Lincoln Riley use that upset
if it happens. I don't think it will. But if it happens,
will Lincoln Riley use that to say? You know what, Jennifer Cohen,
my boss, my athletic director, I actually think that we can we can
figure this thing out with Alex Grinch still aboard. Uh is that going to
happen? USC fans definitely would not like that, And so it's a really
intriguing question. I think. I think it's a question that deserves to be
asked, and it deserves to be wrestled with a little bit. Is it
better for USC football win this game against Washington? Uh, knowing that you
know you're probably gonna lose against Oregon and Eugenie and Austen stay him the week
A week later, is it better for USC football to win this game against
Washington to show that you know, Lincoln Riley still got it, Hayley Williams
still got it, that you can still summon up the magic and and play
a big boy game against an elite team Like There's certainly value in that,
for sure, But would it be more valuable for USC and Lincoln Riley in
the long run? Not talking about short term like beating Washington is the short
term value add But in the long run, would it be better for USC
if Washington comes into the colisseum and puts a SmackDown on the Trojans, meaning
that there would be no escape for alex Bridge. There would be no way
Lincoln Riley could possibly rationalize keeping alex Gridnch on his staff. Is that what
USC needs. You could make an argument that that would be better for the
program in the long run, not the short term, but in the long
run than winning this game against Washington. Regardless of where you stand on that
question, it's going to be very interesting to see how both of these teams
approach this game. Because Washington, as we mentioned, two straight clunkers.
USC's basically played clunker for all months. Now. Will these teams play well
at the same time? Will these teams play up to their capabilities? I
mean, I really don't see this as a highly tactical game in the sense
that they've been They've been bad the past two weeks. Now. Washington was
really good through the Oregon game, but Washington's been bad the last two weeks.
Is Washington to clean up its act, or is Washington to play another
bad game. If Washington does play against USC the way it's been playing in
the past two weeks, the way it showed up against, or rather it
didn't show up against Arizona State and Stanford, USC can beat them like that.
Is USC's hope that Washington will continue to play at the level it showed
against ASU and Stanford. Washington plays well US, he has no chance.
But if you if Washington continues to ride the struggle bus, then then USC
has an opening in this game. And as for the Trojans, after a
month of bad football, is this team gonna finally show what it's capable of?
Is this team finally going to play near its potential? Is Caleb Williams
finally going to have that amazing, sensational, dynamic game akin to what he
had against Order Dame last year or against some of the other teams US he
played last year against against Arizona, against Stanford, when he was just putting
on a show. He was lighting everyone up. He looked like the best
player on the field by miles. We haven't seen that version of Caleb Williams
very much since early September against US. He's cupcake opponents. It's Caleb Williams
finally going to look like the Heisman Trophy level quarterback because we have not seen
that guy very much over the past several weeks. It's really about the heart
that these teams bring to the field. Are they gonna play with heart,
They're gonna play with passion, They're gonna play with precision and accountability and toughness
and focus, it's been missing the past two weeks for both both teams.
It's been missing the past month for USC. It's just how are these teams
going to handle this kind of stage, this kind of moment. UH That's
really what I'm most interested in. You know, it might seem pretty cliche,
it might seem devoid of, you know, deeply substantive analysis, But
sometimes the games aren't about the x's and os. Sometimes it's about what's what's
inside these guys, what's inside these nineteen twenty twenty one year olds who play
on these big stages under enormous pressure. UH. USC has been rattled by
pressure for most of the season. Washington has felt pressure the last few weeks,
being a target after winning the Oregon game in vaulting to the forefront of
the playoff conversation of the National Championship conversation, does Washington get back to just
focusing on playing well and can it block out the playoff noise and distractions?
And can USC block out the misery of this season and find a way to
regroup before it's too late. It's going to be a fascinating Washington USC game
on Saturday. The other game really worth paying attention to Uh. It's definitely
not California Oregon that's going to be a romp for the Ducks. It's not
gonna be Arizona State, Utah at it with a new local time kickoff,
Ucla at Arizona. We just saw Arizona handle Oregon State, a team,
you know, with a very physical identity. UCLA has a very physical identity
this year under Tip Kelly, the defense has been a lot better. But
one other thing about this UCLA defense, you know, it looks like a
good competent defense, But we have to say about UCLA's defense. Hasn't played
usc hasn't played Oregon, hasn't played Washington. That defense might be good,
but you know it did get smoked by Oregon State. And so this UCLA
defense going into Tucson against Noah Ffita and A and an Arizona team that's extremely
confident and is playing really well, UCLA is definitely going to be tested.
Uh. And so if UCLA passes this test, then we get to elevate
UCLA in the larger workings of the Pac twelve. Then we get to see,
or I should say, then we get to say that, hey,
this UCLA defense really does look improved. The Bruins do look like the real
deal, or at least a team which which can continue to be a factor
uh into the month of November. When they get the shot at USC on
November eighteen, you know what, will you UCLA be expected to win that
game. If UCLA is going to be favored against USC in a couple of
weeks, it needs to win this game in Tucson in order to merit that
benefit of the doubt, in order to merit that level of trust. So
UCLA at Arizona will also be very fascinating. In the PAC twelve, haven't
talked a lot about the Mountain West. So you know, the umbrella of
this program is Western college football. Haven't seen fit to say too much about
the Mountain West because the PAC twelve has been so interesting. Also because this
is the last year that we're going to have Pac twelve football. Next year
this podcast is going to be covering the Mountain West by all appearances, or
at least that's that's the likelihood. So we've been focusing on the Pac twelve.
But let's let's duck in a note about the Mountain West. So air
Force has has a stational season under Troy Calhoun Falcons are unbeaten. They're very
much in the group of five New Year's Six Bowl conversation. You know,
they've been special, and so air Force looking clearly like a team that's going
to be in the Mountain West Championship game. Who's going to play the Falcons?
Though? This past weekend we got one major plot point. UNLV and
Fresno State, both with one loss in the Mountain West Conference. They met
and UNLV was dominating this game, up seventeen to seven in the third quarter,
but fumbles a punt in its own red zone and that completely flipped the
game. Fresno State goes on a big run twenty four unanswered points in the
third quarter to take a thirty one seventeen lead. The Bulldogs hang on to
beat the Rebels, and so they now move up in the pecking order.
UNLV moves down. Coming up next Boise State at Fresno State, both with
one loss in the Mountain West. Winner of this game is probably going to
be air Force's opponent in the Mountain West Championship Game. It's not a lot,
but certainly the winner definitely takes the clear inside track to face air Force.
And what could be a very compelling Mountain West Conference championship game with air
Force trying to get the Group of Five championship and a New Year's Six Bowl
bed, which would be a very special achievement for Troy Calhoun up in Coloridle
Springs. So some very exciting developments in the Mountain West Conference as we head
into the month of November. There's a lot to love, there's a lot
to look for in the world of western college football. That's what we cover
here on the Get Off My Pylon College Football podcast, part of the College
Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network. And remember our friends at ticketsmarter dot com,
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Mathasdamic thanking you for listening to the latest edition of the Get Off My Pylon
College Football podcast. We'll see you next time.