Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 2: Here's your host, that Zebo. Welcome to the latest edition
if We Get Off My Pilon college football podcast, part
of the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network. This
is your host, Matt Zemk, reviewing week two in western
college football in the United States. That's what we do
on our College Gridiron Coast to Coast special editions of
Get Off My Pilon. So as we dive into the
week that was in the West, plenty to talk about.
And I think that the headline story in Western college football.
What's going on with the Oregon Ducks. Now, they did win,
they did beat Boise State, and you'd much rather win
than lose. And it's early in the year and there
is time to get things fixed, there's time to make
course corrections. But Oregon isn't looking nearly as good, nearly
as strong as most of us figured, I include myself there.
You know, Dylan Gabriel has been around the block. He's
been a winner at UCF, won ten games at Oklahoma
last season. You know, I figured that stepping into this
Oregon offense, it would be a comfortable fit. It has
not been a comfortable fit. The stats look good, but
Oregon's offense, you know, scored just twenty four points against
Idaho and the final score of this Boise State win
thirty seven thirty four. But fourteen of Oregon's thirty seven
points were on long kick returns. Special teams is what
bailed out the Ducks. Definitely not their offense. So Oregon,
Oregon's offense has yet to score more than twenty four points,
played two games at home, one against Idaho and the
other against Boise State, and State does not seem to
have a very good defense. And here's a hilarious part
for anyone who follows both USC and Oregon very closely.
Boise State gave up forty five points in Week one
to Georgia Southern. Who's Georgia Southern coached by Clay Helton.
Clay Helton, the guy who ran USC into the ground.
His team, his offense was able to score forty five
against Boise State. Oregon's offense, not the whole team. The
offense scored twenty three, roughly half of what Clay Helton
did against Boise State, so that should raise some alarm bells,
and the reality that Oregon's offense did not significantly improve
from the Idaho game in Week one to the Boise
State game in Week two like that is concerning and
if you're an Oregon fan, you definitely need to see real,
substantial improvement in the next few weeks because, as we know,
October twelve, the big bad bucket Ohio State, they come
to town, they come to Eugene in Austin Stadium October twelfth,
so that is roughly a month away. Oregon needs to
make a lot of improvements in a month because right now,
if you're to compare Oregon against Ohio State, it's not close.
It is not close at all. Ohio State defense. If
Hoio State and Oregans did play right now in the
middle of September, Ohio State would lap Oregon by a
considerable margin. And Jim Knowle's Ohio State defense, you would
figure would be able to feast on an Oregon offensive
line that has allowed a lot of sacks. Last year Boonix,
the pocket was kept cleaning for the Ducks, and of
course the offensive line isn't performing, but it's also the
offensive line and the quarterback doing Gabriel. They're not on
the same page. Communication has not been great, So the
larger offensive apparatus in Eugene just not functioning well right now.
Oregon and Dan Lanning have a lot to work on
as we move forward with this season. So Oregon is
a story not because the season's a disaster, but certainly
because the level of performance isn't even remotely close to
what was expected heading in this season. And that that
leads into this larger overall theme, and that is that
for two weeks, if you're if you are going to
identify the two best teams in the Big Ten, it's
Ohio State and USC. USC so far one of the
two best teams pitching a shutout against Utah State. And
yes it's a cupkick game, but if you're shutting out someone,
you're definitely playing well. On defense. Danton Lynn, new USC
defensive coordinator, and all the other defensive assistants, Matt ense
the linebacker coach, Eric Henderson, the defensive interior, defensive line coach,
Sean Neua, the defensive ends coach, Doug Belk in the secondary,
and analyst Taylor Mays they're all doing a great job,
and so you know, USC looking the part through two weeks.
Now there's plenty for USC to clean up. And you know,
next week we're going to talk more about the USC
Michigan game. But through two weeks, USC looks like a
pretty solid team. And when you also consider that Iowa
lost to Iowa State, and you know, Michigan getting getting
drilled by Texas and Penn State struggled at home against
Bowling Green, winning by only seven points, it's pretty clear
US he is the second best team in the Big Ten.
But of course it's just through two weeks. It's so early.
USC needs to stack some wins for that kind of
thing to mean something. So like being the best team
after two weeks, you don't get a medal for that,
you don't get a prize, you don't get a playoff spot.
So it's early, not going to attach too much significance
to it, but it is pretty clear that if you
were to evaluate the Big Ten after two weeks, USC
would be top two alongside Ohio State. Elsewhere in the West,
Washington defense looks really strong, but of course just Weaber
State and just Eastern Michigan through two weeks and then
in week three, what do we have? What do we have?
We have PAC twelve rivalries without the official PAC twelve reality.
You know, these aren't going to be packed twelve conference games.
But Apple Cup and the Civil War Washington Washington State,
Oregon Oregon State coming up in week three. Wow, what
a scene it's going to be in both places because
of course, these when the PAC twelve existed, these rivalries
would be at the end of the season. It would
be the final crowning moment of the season for both teams.
You know, usually the rivalry games get played at the end,
but now under this new format, this new structure, these
rivalry games are non conference games, and so they're played
in the middle of September. So what a scene it's
going to be in Corvalis for Oregon Oregon State, and
in Paulman for the Apple Cup Washington Washington State. And
you know, Washington State just hammered Texas Tech and looks
extremely good. Jake Dickard has that team playing great football
out of the gate. So that is a very very
tough assignment for Washington this early into the season. And
then with Oregon State, you know, Oregon State's offense doesn't
look especially good, but that defense under coach Trent Bray.
Trent Bray formerly Jonathan Smith's defensive coordinator with the Beavers.
He stayed on to be head coach in Corvallis instead
of following Jonathan Smith to East Lansing and Michigan State.
Trent Bray has his team playing great defense. Absolutely smothered
San Diego State in a shutout. So, you know, we've
given the problems that Oregon's had on offense, you would
think that the Oregon State has a chance to play
really good defense. But the question is can Oregon State score?
Can Oregon State do enough on offense to be able
to win that game? That's gonna be the question mark.
That's that's where you got to doubt Oregon State's ability
to win. Is that offense gonna be able to do
enough against a good Oregon defense to win that game
in the State of Oregon in Week three, so like
those two former Pac twelve rivalries now non conference rivalries.
That sounds so weird to say that, but two really
big highlights on the schedule in the West in Week three.
We're gonna learn a lot about both Washington and Oregon
in Big Ten. We're also going to learn about you know,
Washington State and Oregon State, the two pack as it were,
So we're Gon We're gonna get a real education about
the Pacific Northwest schools. In Week three of the college
football season, elsewhere in the West, another prominent story from
Week two, justin Wilcox and the Cal Golden Bears go
down to the Alabama Planes. They go into Jordenhare Stadium
and they put the SmackDown on Auburn. Final score will
tell you that it's twenty one to fourteen, so seven
points one score. It felt a lot more decisive than that.
Cal controlled that game after Auburn's first drive touchdown. Cal
dominated both sides of the ball. A year ago, this
game was an ugly slot fest and Peyton Thorn, the
Auburn quarterback one year ago in Berkeley, like he couldn't
tie his shoelaces. Auburn scored over seventy points in its
Week one game this year. Now it was against an
FCS cupcake. But nevertheless, like if you're hanging over seventy
against an FCS team, that would seem to indicate, oh, okay,
you know what you're doing this time? You're better, You're
in rhythm, you know, Hugh Freeze's offensive system at Auburn,
and Hugh Freeze doubled down on peyton Thorne, believing that
another year of teaching and giving him better wide receivers,
you know, KeAndre Lambert Smith. The transfer from Penn State
was supposed to represent a huge upgrade for Auburn's receiving
for so, another year of experience for peyton Thorn within
the Hugh Freeze offense, getting better receivers, you know, upgrading
the quality of the roster. It was supposed to translate
into a much better performance against Cal compared to a
year ago. Did not happen. Did not happen at all.
Auburn did not come even close to any kind of
meaningful improvement over the standard, uh, a very low standard
it's set a year ago. So Justin Wilcox has basically
out coached, out maneuvered Hugh Freese back to back years.
And he's done it home at home, and now he's
done it on the road in Auburn. And the ACC, yes,
Cal and the ACC. I know it's going to take
getting used to, but the ACC and CAL getting a
road win over the SEC and Justin Wilcox who you know.
Let let's not be revisionist here. He hasn't done a
great job at CAL. He's done a decent job. It
hasn't been a smooth ride. And there were times when
it seemed that his career did need to be over,
or his tenure rather at CAL needed to be over
and the Blowen Bears needed to start fresh. But he's
rescued himself, you know, like he has his team playing
really good defense. Uh and so CAL gets a huge
win and a and a narrative changing win. And let's
see how competitive Cal can be in the ACC. You know,
with Florida State completely crumbling, not just it's it's not
a stumble. This is a crumble for Mike Norvel and
dj Uyangalow right out of the gate. Let's see what
Cal can do. Let's see if Cal can go to
the top tier of the ACC. You know, North Carolina
State got blown out by Tennessee Wolfpack. Don't look really good.
I mean, you know, so Clemson crushed Appalachian State. Clemson
might actually be the class of the ACC. You know,
we saw Georgia Tech lose to Syracuse. So so you know,
the Georgia Tech Florida State result now looks different. I
know we're talking about the ACC and that's not really
the West. But I'm working this into the COL conversation
with all the other teams that are stumbling and losing
in the in the ACC, teams that figured to have
at one time or another a chance to go to
the ACC Championship game, with other teams getting picked off.
Who knows what the ceiling is for COL in the
Atlantic Coast common So that is a very fascinating and
very unexpected plot point in the a SEC. After week
two of the season. Justin Wilcox, uh, you know, reviving
his tenure at Cal, which you know he looked stuck
a few years ago, seemed to be out of ideas.
You know, Cal lost at Colorado. This was before Neon Dion.
Cal really went into a ditch for a while there.
But the Golden Bears are back trending upward. It's impressive
that Justin Wilcox has been able to rescue himself the
way that he has. Also, well, you know, these we're
keeping track of all the programs that were in the
PAC twelve a year ago and now are in other conferences.
So let's go to the Big twelve. Utah Caim Rising
gets hurt again. It happened again, gets injured against Baylor.
Utah was absolutely putting it to Baylor, led by over
twenty points, but then cam Rising gets hurt and Utah
was basically hanging on. Utah wins by eleven. It could
have been an even smaller final margin for the Utes.
Like they they do not have a really good backup
alternative for cam Rising. So the next few weeks are
going to be difficult for the youths. They're Big twelve
title push now very much in jeopardy. Can they survive
what might be two to three weeks potentially without cam Rising?
It seems pretty certain that cam Rising's going to miss
at least two games, if not three. Can Utah get
through these next three weeks without cam Rising? That becomes
a very central Big twelve question as we move along
with the season. Colorado again, Deion Sanders not worth the
time like that. That is a second rate, or one
could even say third rate program. I expected Nebraska to
hammer Coloradle. It's exactly what happened. Like he is not
a serious football coach. He wants the publicity. He is
a revenue machine. But in terms of like knowing how
to put together a winning football program at the Power
four level, he is out of his depth. He is
in over his head. It's gonna be fascinating to see
how much patience the Colorad administration has for Deon Sanders.
You can sell merch, you can sell tickets, but you
can only sell so much when you're not winning games
on the field. So when is the air gonna fully
come out of the balloon in Boulder? And how's the
administration going to handle that situation with Dion Sanders. Arizona,
the Wildcats give up a ton of points to New
Mexico in Week one. In Week two, they struggled to
score against Northern Arizona of the FCS. Now, was this
just a letdown? Was this just a case of guys,
you know, not having a ton of intensity or energy.
Maybe looking ahead? You know, Arizona does have a Kansas
State game UH to deal with UH, and that might
have been on their minds that the NAU game was
a look ahead game, a trap game that certainly could
be in play. But you know, Arizona has not yet
played a complete game, and it was at home both
times in This Kansas State game is a road game.
It's a road trip. You wonder how prepared the Wildcats
are for that trip to the little apple in the
in America's bread basket. It's there's there are plenty of
reasons for Arizona to be concerned looking into the teeth
of the schedule. So a lot to fix for first
year coach Brent Brennan as he takes over for Jed Fish.
And now we come to one more of the Pac
twelve refugees in another conference, the Arizona State Sun Devils.
Now Kenny Dillingham, And I'm gonna admit I didn't think
that him going to Oregon with Bo Nix. I didn't
think that was gonna work out, but it did. Kenny
Dillingham proved me wrong. Kenny Dillingham goes to Arizona State
to get the head coaching job. I didn't, you know,
I was skeptical of that, but I was aware that.
You know, Kenny Dillingham did a really good job under
Dan Lanning for that one season in Eugene, and you know,
last year ASU struggled, but it wasn't Dillionam's fault. That
team was crushed by injuries, especially on the offensive line.
But now with a healthier offensive line, ASU ran the
ball right down Mississippi State's throat in Week two. ASU
wasn't throwing the ball a whole lot, it was just
running the ball, and so a healthy offensive line is
working wonders for the Sun Devils. Now they've been at
home their first two games. When they go on the road,
it's gonna be interesting to see if as you can
carry that same level of form, that same level of
crispness on offense, you know, into road situations and into
the Big Twelve. So plenty of tests await this team.
But through two weeks, Arizona State has been very impressive
and you're just absolutely shredding Mississippi State in the game
that was never particularly close. Very high marks for the
Sun Devils and Kenny Dillingham, so that that's been one
of the big positive surprises from the Pac twelve refugees
scattered into these other conferences. That's definitely one of the
bigger stories in Western college football through two weeks of
the season. Outside the Power for there is a very
big story developing in Las Vegas. UNLV looks like a juggernaut.
UNLV absolutely took apart Houston on the road. Houston at
you probably know this. If you don't, just let's make sure.
Houston now coached by Willie Fritz, the guy who led
Tulane to a Cotton Bowl win over USC, led Toulane
to a conference championship. I mean, Willie Fritz turned Tulane
into a big hitter. If you can turn Tulane into
a big hitter, you are an elite football coach. So
UNLV goes up against Willie Fritz and Houston week one, lopside,
a game UNLV dominated, start to finish, wins by twenty,
and then we see Hughes play Oklahoma on even terms
for four quarters sixteen to twelve. The final for Oklahoma,
Houston's defense standing up to Oklahoma's offense for four full
quarters on the road in Norman in the Sooners Ballpark.
So obviously, Willie Fritz and Houston you have a tough team,
not necessarily a good team, but certainly a tough and
gritty and competitive team. But UNLV handled that Houston team
very easily. And then UNLV hangs over seventy points against
an FCS cupcake in Week two. UNLV right now looks
like the best group of five team on the board.
Barry Odom doing an amazing job. And keep in mind
that Jade and Mayava, who's the quarterback UNLV last year.
You know, I'm here at Trojans Wire covering USC football.
Jay and Miava scored a touchdown for USC on Saturday
night against Utah State. Jade Mayava is one very talented
guy and he transfers out the UNLV program. You're thinking
there might be a downgrade, some regression at the quarterback
spot for UNLV, doesn't look like it at all. I mean,
this team looks very strong. It's early, but like UNLV
is authoritatively beating its opponents and so relative to the
quality of competition, a few teams have really hit the
mark more in each of their first two games than UNLV.
You know, with some SEC big ten teams like Ohio State,
all right, they drilled two cupcakes that that was just
what was expected. UNLV, what it's done, UNLV has been
better than expected. I don't think anyone can really debate
that like UNLV is overshooting the mark. UNLV is going
far higher than what was expected of this team. Can
the Rebels keep it up? Can they keep it up.
If they do, this is the group of five favorite.
We could see Vegas in the playoff. Forget about the
playoff being in Vegas. We could have Vegas in the playoff.
How's that for a plot twist? One more story we
have to cover from Western college football. There was a
game at air Force Colorado Springs this past Saturday. The
winning coach was Ken New Montalolo, but he wasn't coaching Navy.
You know, he got fired for Davy. No, Ken Neo Montalolo.
You might know, he's now coaching the San Jose State Spartan.
So they go into Colorado Springs and beat air Force.
How satisfying did that win have to feel for Ken
New Montalolo. You know, as the coach of Navy, he's
beaten air Force on the road before. He's been in
all those Commander in Chief Trophy games. So now he
gets another crack at air Force in the Mountain West
Conference with San Jose State in a completely different context.
And you know San Jose State, just in case you're curious, No,
they don't run the Navy triple option. They run a
different offense, and so not just is it a credit
to Ken New Montalolo he beats Air Force with a
different team, but he beat Air Force with a different
style of play. So it speaks to it. It speaks
to his coaching versatility. It speaks to how well he adapts,
how well he adjusts. I mean this is this is
one of the great coaches in Navy history. And now
he gets another chance on the opposite coast of the country.
He really made it count against Air Force. So wow.
Lots of fascinating, rich, compelling, intriguing stories in Western college
football through Week two, and these storylines will get to blossom,
they get to turn in all sorts of different directions.
It's gonna be a fun year in the West in
college football, even without the Pac twelve existing. As we
follow these various teams in these various different circumstances, how
are they going to handle living in these different worlds?
So Apple Cup, Civil War, Pacific Northwest is going to
be the center of the Western college football universe in
Week three, and then when we get past Week three,
then we're looking ahead to Week four with USC at
Michigan the obvious show piece, centerpiece of Week four. That's
what we're going to be talking about next week on
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This is matt zemic. Thank you very much for listening.