Morning Wrap: Mariota Leads Oregon to Rout Over Oregon State

((ht: foxsports.com))

Marcus Mariota would be a humungous star if he played on the east coast. He's a pretty big college football star in his own right, but he plays out west, so a lot of people don't get to see him

They don't know what they are missing.

Mariota threw for 367 yards and 4 TD's and chipped in with 2 running TD's, leading the University of Oregon to a 47-19 rivalry week win over arch-rival Oregon State.

The Ducks jumped out to a 30-3 halftime lead and never looked back.

Two freshmen also stood out for Oregon, playing on State's home turf in Corvallis. Freshman RB Royce Freeman ran for 135 yards and fellow rookie Charles Nelson caught 2 TD passes as the Ducks moved to 11-1 overall, 8-1 in the Pac 12.

Oregon moves on to a date with Arizona in the Pac 12 Championship game next week, the winner likely will get a berth in the inaugural College Football playoff.

Your highlights from ESPN.com:

Arizona Bears Down On The Territorial Cup & Wins Pac 12 South

All the chips fell for the Arizona Wildcats today.

UCLA was upset at home by Stanford 31-10.

Nobody in Arizona Stadium knew that because Wildcat head coach Rich Rodriguez ordered that the score of that game not be shown on the stadium scoreboard.

All the focus was on Arizona State.

Then today at Arizona Stadium the Wildcats defeated arch rival Arizona State 42-35 to claim the Pac 12 South title.




“I didn’t know if this would happen in year three." Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez said.  "But I knew it could happen, otherwise I wouldn’t have come here."




Did you hear what Rich Rod said?  He told the players in the locker room the Wildcats may have three games left to play.

Rodriguez believes Arizona has an outside chance of breaking into the College Football Playoff.

But first thing's first.

Here we are, we’re where we want to be, playing for a Pac‐12 Championship."Rodriguez said. "Our goal every year is to win the Pac‐12 South and then win the Pac‐12 Championship. We don't talk about much after that because we don't know.”

Arizona State could never figure out Nick Wilson who was the top Cat on the field.  Wilson rushed for 178 yards and three touchdowns to lead the way to the Pac 12 Championship game for Arizona.

#6 Sun Devils Go Down 35-27 At Oregon State

The curtain has fallen in Corvalis for Arizona State's College Football Playoff chances as Oregon State defeated the Sun Devils 35-27.

The 12th man was present at Reser Stadium and that fans made life difficult for the Sun Devils.

“The crowd was awesome, the atmosphere was great." Oregon State head coach Mike Riley said. "It’s great to see us just cut loose and play football. It was hard, it was good, I really appreciate how our team responded.”

One of those Oregon State players that cut loose was Beaver QB Sean Mannion who figured out ASU's defense with a pair of second half touchdown passes. Mannion ended the game throwing for 251 yards.

"It was a great team victory just the way we won it against a great opponent." Mannion said.  "ASU is as tough as anybody we have to tip our hats to them. iI think every aspect of the game came up, the run game was outstanding."

Oregon State sealed the upset when linebacker Michael Doctor picked off a Tyler Kelly pass late in the fourth quarterback and returned it 33 yards for a touchdown that sent the Beaver fans into a frenzy.

 "We knew we didn't have anything to lose,"  Doctor said.

Arizona State falls to 8-2 overall, 5-2 in conference but it's CFB playoff hopes are pretty much dead.

Oregon State is now 5-5 overall and needs one more win to go to a bowl game.

Field Goal Fest Goes To The Sun Devils 19-16 Over Utes

The kickers were the star of the show at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona Saturday night.

Utah's Andy Phillips was good from 50, 36 and 44 yards in regulation time

Arizona State's Zane Gonzalez was good from 20, 45 and 30 yards in regulation time but missed a 50 yarder in the second quarter.

With the game going into overtime and both offenses having an off night the game would come down to the kickers.

Utah received the ball first in the OT period and this is when Andy Phillips picked the wrong time to miss a field goal.

Phillips' kick sailed wide left.

When Zane Gonzalez had a chance to nail the game winner in overtime he did.  His 36 yard field goal split the uprights and the Sun Devils were winners over the Utes 19-16.


"Zane is a big time kicker"  Arizona State head coach Todd Graham said.

“We were extremely confident."  Arizona State defensive back Jordan Simone said. "He's the best kicker in the country. We believe that and he believes that, and he proved that tonight."

While Gonzalez was celebrating his good fortune he was also looking toward the other locker room and feeling for Andy Phillips.

"Andy Phillips is a great kicker." Gonzalez said.  "I don’t know if any of you know about him, but tremendous respect to that guy. He’s a great kicker. I just hope he doesn’t be too hard on himself tonight.”

"No one is harder on themselves than I am on myself for not putting the ball through the uprights." Utah kicker Andy Phillips said.

Southern California Survives In Tucson 28-26, Missed Last - Second Field Goal Dooms Wildcats

Southern California had a 21-6 lead mid-way through the third quarter.  Then the game was wild.

Arizona's Jared Baker would not be denied the end zone all three of his touchdowns in the second half.

Baker's third touchdown with just over a minute left in the fourth quarter had the Wildcats trailing by two.


Then Arizona recovered the on side kick.

Wildcat kicker Casey Skowron had a chance to win the game with a 36 yard field goal.  It was wide right.


"God’s got a plan, and we’re not exactly sure what his plan is for us yet but he is testing our will, leadership and character."  USC head coach Steve Sarkisian said.  "I couldn't be more proud of our team, just to continue to fight."

"Losing on the last play is not easy. "Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez said.  "We just didn't make a play at the end to win it."

Southern California should give it's game ball to running back Javorius Allen who rushed for 205 yards and three touchdowns.

Allen's third touchdown, a one yard run late in the third quarter to give the Trojans a 28-13 lead proved to be the game winner.

Arizona quarterback Anu Solomon put up some big numbers.  Soloman attempted 72 passes vs Southern California, completed 43 of his throws for 395 yards and a touchdown.

"Anu Solomon competed well."  Rodriguez said.  "Everyone says he struggles and doesn't make every play, but we put a lot on the guy. He didn't make all the big plays in the first half, but for a redshirt freshman playing in a big arena, Solomon has accounted for himself pretty well."

In A Day Of CFB Upsets #8 UCLA Gets Stunned By Utah

In a week of college football upsets that began out West Thursday night in Eugene, Oregon it ends
down the West Coast in Pasadena, California.

"We said, ‘Hey, have you seen what’s going on last Thursday with Arizona and Oregon, and the upsets that were taking place?’" Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "We have a chance to be right in that same conversation. Our players knew it. They knew that there were upsets going on.”

The Utah Utes came to the Rose Bowl and thanks to an Andy Phillips 29 yard field goal with 34 seconds left shocked UCLA 30-28 capping off a week where the college football spun out of control.


“I’m proud of our players and our coaches." Whittingham said.  "That was a gutsy performance. It was a tough, hard-fought win."

"Obviously, this is a disappointing loss." UCLA head coach Jim Mora said.  "My hat is off to Utah. They played a great game and beat us. We all take responsibility for that loss."

UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns.

In a close game Utah was able to put together the final scoring drive late in the fourth quarter.

Behind the rushing of Kendal Thompson and Devontae Booker the Utes were able to put together a 10 play 63 yard drive that took just under four minutes to set up game winning kick by Phillips.




"I’m trying to put our guys in position to win." Whittingham said.  "It’s a great job by our players. I can’t say enough about them."

“And Andy Phillips, I mean, what more can you say about him? He’s got ice water in his veins."  Whittingham said.

Hail Mary Pass A Game Winner For Arizona

Arizona was down 28-6 at halftime to California at home.

Rich Rodriquez must of had a hell of a halftime speech.

“There wasn’t any panic at halftime,” Rodriguez said. “We’re in shape. I told the guys before the game that we were going to have to play for 60 minutes.”

Arizona outscored California 43-27 in the second half and that would have been a story however the way the game ended trumped all of that.

With the Wildcats down 43-45 on the games final play Anu Soloman, who threw for a school record 520 yards, threw the Hail Mary and Austin Hill caught it to win the game for Arizona 49-45.


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"Anu (Solomon) threw a great ball and I'm just happy I was able to make the
catch." Hill said.  "The whole time I was hoping that I wouldn't get bumped into or anyone land on top of me so I could secure the catch. It means a lot to me that I was able to secure the catch."

"Winning on a Hail Mary is so improbable." Arizona head coach Rich Rodriquez said.  "At first you are exhilarated and then you're thinking ‘how did that just happen?’ I'm so happy for Austin Hill who is a senior that bounced back. You're happy for Anu Solomon) who was off tonight, but kept battling and executed the last play. I'm happy for   the people who stayed and watched the game. It's a good day to be an Arizona Wildcat."

"We’re sorry we didn’t find a way to win the ball game tonight, but I told them it won’t ever happen again." California quarterback Sonny Dykes said.  "It is part of growing up, and getting a program turned around.”

Oh, by the way, it might have taken a Hail Mary, but Rich Rod is 4-0 at Arizona. Michigan isn't 4-0.
— Pete Fiutak (@PeteFiutak) September 21, 2014

USC Couldn't Figure Out Tyler Murphy, Boston College Wins 37-31

Murphy's law was in full display Saturday night at Boston College,

Eagle quarterback Tyler Murphy rushed for 191 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown in B.C.'s 37-31 win over USC.



"Tyler Murphy played like a big time player here tonight." Boston College head coach Steve Addazio said.

"It means a lot to me." Murphy said.  "It’s pretty easy on my part because I have guys who want to work and sacrifice for each other."

Those guys Murphy's referring to is Boston College's offensive line which dominated Southern California's defense allowing the Eagles to rush for 452 yards.

“Running the ball has always been our identity." Boston College center Andy Gallick said.   "We always take pride in it, whether it’s working or not, we always try to get back to it. Getting ready for this weekend, we realized what kind of defensive front we were going against and the fronts USC had, the high caliber talent they have and we took it upon ourselves to show how good of an offensive line we can be. I think that tonight we showed that our rushing game speaks for itself.”

"The goal, obviously, of being Pac-12 champs is very alive for us," USC head coach Steve Sarkisian said. "I thought we came out playing well, and for whatever reason I thought we lost it. I've got to figure that out."

USC AD Pat Haden Fined $25K for Sideline Incident

((ht: cbssports.com))

So maybe someone will act against USC Athletic Director Pat Haden after he inexplicably showed up on the sideline of the USC/Stanford game Saturday and began arguing with the referees.

The incident was apparently prompted by his coach Steve Sarkasian who had Haden "texted" to come down to the field. Which is to say the least a bit odd.

Monday afternoon, Pac-12 Commisioner Larry Scott announced Haden (USC) will be fined $25K for the issue. Haden also "voluntarily" banned himself from the sidelines for at least 2-games.

Huh?

Anyway, all parties say this will have no impact on Haden's standing with the CFB Playoff committee nor should it. We, for now will have to buy the story given that Haden was responding to his coach's request. And the coach says he shouldn't have done it.

But it begs the question: Why would you (Sarkasian) need an AD to fight a fight that you picked and should fight yourself?

Just wondering'...

Washington Huskies Barely Hang On In Chris Petersen's Coaching Debut

It was a struggle but the Washington Huskies prevailed barely over Hawaii 17-16 in Chris Petersen's head coaching debut at U-Dub.


Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL
“Our guys played hard." Petersen said. "I think there were some good individual plays. Certainly as a team we didn’t play nearly like I think we can play. I think it’s going to be a big wake up call. It’s just hard to win games against anybody.”

The Rainbow Warriors jumped on the Dawgs for 10 unanswered points before Washington's offense began to wake up when John Ross scored on the ground for 20 yards in the first quarter and catching a pass from quarterback Jeff Lindquist for 91 yards.

Washington took a 17-10 lead at halftime and then didn't score again.

Hawaii added a pair of field goals but the rally feel short.

“I just feel like our whole team played too tight." Petersen said.  "We got off to a bad start and we were playing not to lose. At times, our defense would get into a rhythm, do some good things and our offense wouldn’t do anything. It started to snowball a little bit.”

“We had our chances, both offensively and defensively."  Hawaii head coach Norm Chow said.  "We need to get better, and we need to be a better football club.”