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's Zebon. Welcome to last edition of
Get Off My Pilon College football podcast. This is your host,
Matt Zemeck. So our show is once again this edition
of Get Off My Pilon brought to you by College
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Here on Get Off My Pylon we looked, of course
at college football in the Western United States, and so
it's another week that means there's more realignment news, but
you know, we're gonna keep it a little shorter this
time because the big news is Gonzaga going to the
PAC twelve. That's not a football story. That is that
is a basketball story. So the PAC twelve branding itself
rebranding itself, I should say, as a basketball conference. So
not a whole lot to say in terms of football.
The PAC twelve does need another full member to get
to eight for college football playoff eligibility, so we'll see
what the PAC twelve's next move there is. It seems
hard to think that, you know, Memphis or the other
AAC schools Tulane, South Florida, Texas, San Antonio are going
to reconsider now that Gonzaga is there because they're you know,
they're thinking football now. Memphis, m Memphis being a basketball
school as well as a football school, might reconsider. But
I don't think you're going to get like a cluster.
But maybe the PAC twelve can make Memphis reconsider. I
think that's really the extent of the state of play
and where we're at. So enough about realignment. Didn't have
to do a whole lot on realignment this week because
it doesn't really have a football emphasis anymore in the
Pac twelve. So in terms of what happened on the
field in Week five in the Western United States, you know,
we've been talking about the Pac twelve teams that are
no longer in that conference and that are now in
the Big Ten, also the Big Twelve. We've been doing
that the past few weeks. But let's go with the
Mountain West. Let's look elsewhere, because we haven't been tending
to the Mountain West a whole lot. Those teams deserve
some attention. Both UNLV and Boise State in particular, they
are both in the thick of the hunt for that
Group of five championship and a spot in the College
Football Playoffs, both with very impressive wins. In Week five.
What UNLV did you know? LV blew out Fresno State.
Fresno State is supposed to have a decent team. You know,
he crushes Fresno State. Dominated the game from start to finish.
And what's really unique about this game is that you
had the whole Matthew Sluka nil catastrophe. You know, a
quarterback who was playing well for an unbeaten team, he
abruptly quits because he did not feel that he was
getting the nil compensation that he expected that he was
entitled to. And I'm not judging anybody, you know, I'm
not judging UNLV, not judging SLUCA, but obviously there was
a misunderstanding. We've seen this elsewhere. It's gonna happen again
as well. But it seemed to be a significant blow
to Barry Odom's UNLV team, so at least not against
Presno State. No V just mows down the Bulldogs looked
every bit as good as it did before Sluca's decision,
So obviously the team rallied around the coach and they
are still capable of playing some really good ball, So
Barry Odom keeps the train rolling, at least for another week.
We'll see if the Sluca situation catches up with UNOV,
but it sure didn't look like it like. It's not
as though UNOLV won a shaky, close, sloppy game and
the team clearly regressed without Sluca. It seemed as though
the same high standard was there and might have been
might even have been slightly better. We'll see what UNMLV
does this week hosting Syracuse. That's a very interesting game
with Kyle McCord former Ohio State quarterback coming up against
UNLV like that is a highly intriguing game. And who
would have thought UNOV Syracuse being that interesting in football?
You think of Jim Beheim and Jerry Arcanian, like that
would have been an amazing nineteen eighty nine Elite eight game.
But no, it's a it's actually a really interesting football
game this weekend. UNLV Syracuse. What a world. Let's turned
to Boise State Ashton gent. If you want to identify
the best running back in college football at the end
of September, that's the guy, Ashton Genty. He runs for
over two hundred and fifty yards against Washington State, and
Boise State looked excellent. And you know, I didn't talk
about this game last week, and get off my pylon.
I should have. But my thought process on this Boise
State Wazoo game was that, you know, Washington State had
that you know, very tense, very narrow, very fortunate, fifty
four fifty two double overtime win over San Jose State
the week before, and a lot of people might have
downgraded Washington State because of that. I was not one
of those people. I thought, Okay, that game was on
a Friday, night, So short week after the Apple Cup,
all right, Washington State was not in a good place,
a good position to play really well against San Jose State.
That was one of those get through it games for
Washington State. I wasn't expecting a good performance because that
team was physically and mentally drained after winning the Apple
Cup against Washington has a short week of prep. Wasn't
expecting anything from Washington State other than a win. Like
I was not expecting Washington State to win big, was
not expecting Washington State to look impressive. So I didn't
really put a lot of stock in Washington State not
playing well against Santose State. So I thought Washington State
getting you know, an extra day to prepare for Boise State.
You know, so if the San Jose State game was
a short week for Washington State playing on a Friday,
when Washington State had a longer week of preparation for
Boise State, and I thought Washington State would be ready,
the spread was roughly a touchdown in favor of Boise State.
I thought Washington State was going to cover flat lee
Ron and Boise State played a great game. And let's
keep this in mind, Ashton Gent isn't just dominating pretty
much every game he plays and putting himself squarely into
the Heisman conversation. That's one part of the Boise State story.
But let's remember this as well with Boise State first
year head coach Spaniard Danielson. And you know, he was
an interim at the end of last season, but this
is his first full season in charge in Boise. He
had to make a tough call at the quarterback spot.
And I'm the editor of the Trojans Wire blog covering
USC football and USC women's basketball under the USA Today,
Gannett Banner. And you know, so I'm I got to
see Malachi Nelson at USC five star quarterback. You know,
the top prospect. Lincoln Riley won him. Lincoln Riley got him.
You know, Malachi Nelson was supposed to be the real deal. Now,
in Malachi Nelson's defense, he's been injured, all right, He
had some medical procedures. It's been a tough road for him.
It's not as though he is failing so much. As
you know, injuries have affected him. But there was a
real camp battle for quarterback between Malachi Nelson and Maddox Madson,
and Danielson had to make the call, and he made
the call for Madson turned out to be the right call.
That Boise State offense, that Boise State team is humming.
Let's remember they almost beat Oregon in Eugene. They lost
thirty seven thirty four on a walk off field goal
last play in the game, and they would have won
if they had not allowed two very long kick returns
to the Ducks. Bois he stayed allowed just twenty three
points to the Oregon offense. Boise State allowed fourteen points
to the Oregon special teams, only twenty three to the
Oregon offense in Autson Stadium in Eugene at night. So
that's a that's a good, very good Boise State team
delivering lots of very impressive results. Look awesome against Washington State.
That was an eye opening performance. So UNLV and Boise
State both making some pretty loud statements from the Mountain
West in the Group of five conversation. That is definitely
part of the story in western college football in the
United States. All right, let's now get to you know,
the former Pac twelve teams now in the Big Ten
and the Big twelve. So one of the obvious big
stories was Arizona at Utah and Utah, of course without
cam Rising, but Utah, without cam Rising was able to
go into Stillwater beat Mike Gundy and Oklahoma State the
week before. So you think they come home to host
an Arizona team which got sand blasted by Kansas State.
Arizona just got absolutely thumped by KSU in Manhattan, the
Little Apple. It was just an absolute no contest in
the second half for Arizona. Kansas State the vastly superior team.
But now, you know, going to Salt Lake City, Arizona
was able to turn things around. And I think most
people were definitely thinking that Utah was going to be
able to win that game even without cam Rising, given
what the Utes were able to do in Stillwater against
Oklahoma State, and thinking that, you know, hey, Arizona got
just overwhelmed by Kansas State, so certainly Utah in Salt
Lake City at night was going to be handled, going
to be able to handle the Wildcats. Did not work
out that way. Arizona's defense, which had been shaky against
New Mexico against Kansas State, was able to dominate, and
an offense, which you know has been inconsistent, was able
to make timely plays. So Arizona definitely raised its game
at Utah, and it is funny. It's funny for anyone
in the Pac twelve that Utah's first Big twelve loss
comes against, of course, another Pac twelve team that accompanied
the youths in the move from the Pac twelve to
the Big twelve. It wasn't one of the old guard
Big twelve schools that gave Utah's first loss. It's Arizona.
So now that Big twelve race becomes a lot more cluttered,
a lot more complicated. And another complication is that Colorado
was able to shock UCF in Orlando. And I know
Jason Powers is going to have more on the nights
in his Florida Football Insiders podcast, part of the College
gre Down Coast to Coast podcast network. But just from
the Colorado side, I don't think anyone saw this coming.
I know I did. I'm a Colorado skeptic, but hey,
forty eight to twenty one in Orlando, that speaks for itself.
Travis Hunter with a typically dynamic two way performance. I'm
more surprised that Coloradle held UCF to twenty one than
I am that Coloradle scored forty eight. I know Colorado,
you know, on its best date can put up video
game numbers, but the fact that the defense held its
own and didn't get into a video game on its side,
that it was able to contain UCF's offense, that's the
more impressive part. Can Colorado be a halfway decent defensive team?
If so, then the offense can certainly win games. But
it's going to be interesting to see if that Colorado
defense can maintain the level of consistency it has displayed. Obviously,
Coloradle also won, you know, in an overtime escape against
Baylor the week before, Baylor not playing Hail Mary defense.
But Colorado's kind of riding the wave right now. And
credit to Dion, you know, he certainly had Klorale ready
to play against UCF. Let's see if Coloradole can sustain this,
because you know, Coloradle has gotten off to good starts before.
Colorado has had good Septembers before. But what happens in
October and November that's going to take the fuller measure
of Colorado this season. Arizona State was off, but here's
an interesting little plot point for Arizona State's next game.
It's a home game against Kansas, and normally right Arizona
State games start at night, late at night in Temp
the value of the sun. Usually it's a seven thirty
local time kickoff. Television has arranged it that Arizona State's
going to play at five pm local time. That's eight Eastern,
but it's five pm local time in TEMP. This Saturday.
The heat in Phoenix and I'm here, I'm here in Phoenix.
The heat is not letting up. It's been there's been
record heat this week, and I mean we expect it
to be one hundred degrees in the first week of October.
That's not remarkable. That's not noteworthy in any way for
a Phoenician. But it's been one hundred and thirteen. It's
been one hundred and fifteen. It was one hundred and
fifteen on Saturday, September twenty eighth. I'd never recall it
being that hot that late in the year in Phoenix,
and then one hundred and thirteen on the first day
of October. On Tuesday, it is expected to be around
one hundred and nine one hundred and ten at five
pm at kickoff time for Arizona State versus Kansas on Saturday,
So that could definitely be an issue for the Jayhawks.
You might not be ready for that kind of extreme weather.
And one final note about this game. If Arizona State
is smart, Arizona State will not wear its dark maroon
home jerseys. It will wear white, and it will force
Kansas to wear either red or blue. One would think
that if ASU wears white, which again would be smart,
because white, you know, does not absorb heat, it deflects
it a little bit, Kansas would probably have to wear red,
not the darker blue, but red. But we'll see if
Arizona State smart enough to where its white road jerseys
at home. You know, we've seen this in the NFL,
like in in early September, Like the New York Giants
would wear white road jerseys for a home game against
the Dallas Cowboys, and you know Dallas usually wears white
at home. Dallas is you know, in that regard, Dallas
is kind of an exception in the NFL. And then
it wears white at home. Most teams wear the dark
jerseys at home, but Dallas wears white at home. The
Giants would make sure that Dallas had to wear dark
jerseys on the road for an early September game when
it was still hot, so that the Cowboys would have
to absorb a little more heat. It'll be interesting to
see if Arizona State does wear its white road jerseys
to make Kansas where the darker, more heat absorbent jerseys
for a game that could have a one degree temperature
at kickoff time. And I'm still mystified that that game
is starting at five, not seven thirty or eight. Let's
see if the Sundown will use that to their advantage
against Kansas. All right, moving on to the West Coast
teams in the Big Ten, So Oregon had its way
with UCLA like there's absolutely nothing noteworthy there. UCLA and
Purdue are the two worst teams in the Big Ten.
That seems pretty clear. And you have UCLA hosting Minnesota
in a couple of weeks. If the only way that
game draws a half decent crowd is that it's mostly Minnesota,
we'll see how many Minnesotans transplants or otherwise make the
journey to Pasadena for that game. But U CILM Purdue
pretty obviously, maybe Northwestern, we'll wait and see. But U
Cilium Purdue clearly appear to be the two worst teams
in the Big Ten right now, looking very ugly for
Deshaun Foster and the Bruins this season Oregon, I mean,
we didn't learn really anything. I mean, Oregon was supposed
to be easy late, comfortably, and it did. The Ducks
host Michigan State this upcoming Friday. That's going to be
notable because, hey, remember Michigan State's coach is Jonathan Smith,
who's been coaching against Oregon the past several years with
Oregon State. So now Jonathan Smith goes against the Ducks
as the coach of a Big Ten team from East Lansing,
Michigan State coming to Eugene on a Friday night. We'll
see if Jonathan Smith has any surprises, but Oregon is
a twenty four point favorite expected to absolutely steamroll Michigan
State on Friday night on national television. Was speaking of
Friday Night on national television. Washington Plays played Rutgers last
Friday Night on national television, and I can't ever remember
seeing a college football box score with this combination of statistics.
Washington with over five hundred total yards against Rutgers, Rutgers
with two nine, so over a two hundred yard difference,
and one of the teams had over five hundred yards.
Not only did Washington have over five hundred yards, it
did not have a turnover. Washington lost twenty one eighteen. Man.
That that is hard to do to have over five
hundred yards, no turnovers and lose the game. And Washington
scored just eighteen points. You have over five hundred yards,
you score only eighteen points. So what happened? Well, Washington
missed a couple of field goals and Washington was two
of twelve on third downs. I mean, how does that happen?
You get over five hundred yards and yet you're two
of twelve on third downs and you score only eighteen points.
That is crazy. It is absolutely beyond belief. But it happened,
and Rutgers gets the big win over Washington and Jed
Fish has an offense that is not finishing drives? How
did Washington lose the Apple Cup to Washington State couldn't
finish drives? You know, got stuff that the goal line
to end that game? Scored only nineteen points. I mean,
it's like the same bad movie over and over again
for that Washington offense. Next stuff for Washington Michigan and
alex Orgy and that non passing game for the Wolverine.
So that figures to be a slugfest. It figures to
be another day for defense when Michigan goes to Seattle,
but obviously a game that Washington badly needs and Michigan,
of course, if it wants any shot at the college
football playoff, Wolverines need to win that game to avoid
picking up their second loss of the season. So that's
gonna be a very interesting matchup. But Washington really, you know,
to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in that
Rutgers game again one of the truly most ridiculous, absurd
box scores and combinations of numbers that you've ever seen
in a college football game. That leaves USC. We're going
to hit on USC last, because I've been hitting on
USC first obviously since I follow USC. Really a very
simple game against Wisconsin. USC commits three turnovers in the
first half, couldn't tie it, shoelaces. The Trojans clean everything up,
They got their stuff together in the second half. They
beat Wisconsin thirty eight to twenty one thanks to a
twenty eight nothing shutout in the second half. USC has
both a problem and a blessing. The blessing USC is
dominating second halves. Coaching staff is making great halftime adjustments,
but the problem is USC is playing bad thirty minutes
in the first halves of games. USC fell behind by
eleven to both Michigan fourteen to three and Wisconsin twenty
one to ten. That's not sustainable. Yeah, us, he keeps
digging itself into a ditch, It's going to catch up
with the Trojans. I mean it did bite them against Michigan.
You know, they rallied, took the lead, but you know
it was just a one score lead and like one
mistackle on a sixty three yard Michigan run sank them.
So USC needs to be able to play a complete
sixty minutes Right now, USC is a thirty minute football
team to challenge for the Trojans and Lincoln Riley is
to become a sixty minute team. This week USC is
at Minnesota Tropreans should be able to handle that, but
one week later ten stayed on October twelve. If USC
plays a thirty minute game and not a sixty minute game,
it will lose to Penn State. On October twelve. The
Trojans college football playoff hopes will pretty much be dashed,
not one hundred percent, but like they will basically have
no margin for air of the second half of the season.
And with their depth issues, especially now that they've lost
Bear Alexander to the transfer portal, you know they can't
afford any significant losses on their defensive line or else
it's going to get worse for them. So USC in
a precarious position needing to become a sixty minute team.
That is what the Trojans need to do, all right, folks.
So you know, college football fans, the season is gosh,
we're in October already. I mean, the time is just
already flying by. But that still means that most of
the season is still in front of us. Still have
about sixty percent two thirds of the season left to go,
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mobile app. So that's another edition of Get Off my
Pilon covering western college football in the United States. For
College Gridron Coast to Coast. Follow College Gridiron Coast to
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is Matt Zemic. Thanks for listening. Catch up with you
next week.