He has played tackle and defensive end and rated as a 2-star on 247. He’s also an excellent student who has a 32 ACT, 1390 SAT and a 4.0 GPA.

The first one kicks off at 4 pm PT on ESPN2 when the Temple Owls visit the Cincinnati Bearcats. This game features two bad teams in an AAC matchup that probably just isn’t worth watching. After all, neither team is above .500 at this point in the season, even though a win by Temple would move them to 5-5 overall and 3-3 in the AAC.

Once that game is done, ESPN2 will feature a game between the BYU Cougars and the UNLV Rebels. This one is another one worth skipping. In part, that’s because BYU is just 2-8 so far this year. On the other hand, UNLV continues to make progress under Tony Sanchez. The Rebels are 4-5 so far this year and 3-3 in the Mountain West. That’s 1-1/2 games behind Fresno State in the Mountain West’s Western Division.

But, compared to the third game tonight, this one doesn’t compare.

The third game kicks off on Fox Sports 1 at 7:30 pm PT and it features a pair of Pac-12 North foes in the #9 Washington Huskies and the Stanford Cardinal. And, this game could go along way towards deciding what team wins the Pac-12 North, especially if Washington wins. On the other hand, if Stanford wins, it will create a three-way tie in the North between Stanford, Washington, and the Washington State Cougars.

So, while you’re waiting for tonight’s UCLA Basketball game to start in Shanghai, it would definitely be worth checking this game out.

Go Bruins!

What's the mood around the Washington fan base right now as UW faces three tough games to end the season?

Players and coaches have to take the “one game at a time” approach or else they get ahead of themselves and can lose focus on the only thing that matters: the next game. As fans, we can do whatever the hell we want, and folks are looking at these last three games plus a potential Pac-12 Championship game as a chance to prove that the team is worthy of a playoff selection. You always have those fans who want to lecture everyone that we should only be concerned with our upcoming opponent, and we have to remind those people that they are not in fact part of the actual team.

Since losing to ASU, all UW has done is beat down on a pair of pretty bad teams. Both Oregon and UCLA possess some talented players, but they are not complete football teams. There has been some fear all year long that the Husky offense is not good enough to beat really good teams, and that concern still lingers.

How does this UW team compare to last year's excellent squad?

The offense is clearly not as good without explosive WR John Ross. Add to that season-ending injuries to three of Jake Browning’s favorite receiving targets, and the weapons in the passing game are far less dangerous than in 2016. The offensive line has been good but not great, which was the case a year ago as well.

The defense should have suffered a dropoff after three members of the secondary moved on to the NFL, then both starting corners were injured (one out for the year, one has been out since the beginning of Pac-12 play and is not back yet). But the defense is actually better than a season ago, at least from a statistical standpoint.

Overall I’d say this team is not quite as good as the one from last year, but these next few games should give us a clearer indication.

On offense, everybody knows Jake Browning's name, but who else should Stanford fans pay attention to Friday?

Washington has three excellent tailbacks in Myles Gaskin, Lavon Coleman, and true freshman speedster Salvon Ahmed. Gaskin is the slippery jump-cut back, Coleman the one-cut downhill guy, and Ahmed is —well— fast, and is getting more and more focus in the offensive scheme as Washington searches for someone other than Dante Pettis to make explosive plays.

Pettis is the clear #1 target for Browning. That was the case entering the season, and is even more so now with the injuries to UW’s receiving corps. Look for blocking TEs Will Dissly and Drew Sample to step up in the receiving game, based on nothing other than the fact that they have helmets and uniforms and are not injured.

What are the strengths of the defense and how do they match up against Bryce Love in particular?

Washington’s defensive strength starts with their two defensive tackles, Vita Vea and Greg Gaines. These guys are really hard to block, even with two guys. The inside linebacking corps was a clear strength entering the season, but something strange has happened there. Pre-season All-American Azeem Victor fell so far on the depth chart that they have actually moved him to a defensive end/OLB position. The emergence of Ben Burr-Kirven, Brandon Wellington & DJ Beavers has not only added depth to the position, but has actually strengthened it. I’m not trying to say that all of these guys are playing ABOVE All-American level, but they are playing very, very well. I can’t help but think that Victor is not 100% right; be it health or something else.

Washington didn’t sell out against the run versus an Oregon team that clearly was not a threat to pass the football. I would expect the same philosophy against Stanford. Bryce Love doesn’t need much of a crease, so I don’t think any defense can completely shut him down. Great players make great plays.

What happened against Arizona State? Do you think the Sun Devils' formula for an upset one that Stanford can repeat, or was it fluky?

Bear with me because I have been asked this question every week since that game, and I’m trying to not just recycle the same answer.

Ever have one of those days when you stub your toe going into the bathroom first thing in the morning? Then you go to make coffee and realize it’s gone and all you have left is some freeze-dried Folgers under the sink. After that you check your phone to find out your primary email address has 20 new spam messages. Finally, you are running late for work and when you get to your car the windshield is covered in ice…

That’s the kind of night UW had in Tempe.

I absolutely do not want to take anything away from Arizona State because they played a solid game that night. Their offense put together a really nice opening drive, then managed to avoid any major mistakes the rest of the night. Defensively, an ASU defense under Todd Graham that lives and dies by the blitz decided to show lots of blitz but bring virtually none.

Scheme can only do so much, however, and it was the way that the Sun Devils’ front seven got the better the UW offensive line that was the key. They were dropping seven into coverage and rushing just four guys, but those four were getting to Jake Browning. Browning was clearly confused by the lack of blitzes, and when he saw everyone covered, ended up holding the ball until the defense either sacked him or flushed him from the pocket.

UW still had plenty of chances to win that game, but it almost felt like it was not meant to be:

· Zero explosive plays from the offense

· A punt blocked deep in UW territory

· Two missed field goals (both under 30 yards).

Stanford is a better team than ASU from what I have seen, so an upset is certainly there for the taking.

Finally, what's your prediction for the game?

This one is not going to be easy.

The revenge factor from last year only goes so far; it certainly didn’t prove to be enough for Oregon. Stanford has always been a disciplined football team under David Shaw, and lack of discipline is something that Chris Petersen teams absolutely feast on. UW cannot count of the Cardinal to make a ton of mistakes, and with a back like Bryce Love, six points is always just a missed tackle away.

UW has allowed teams to score on their opening drive consistently this season, and if that continues it might be enough to give KJ Costello some confidence. I don’t expect Costello to make a ton of plays, but if he is able to make a few and avoid huge mistakes, this will be a grind.

Overall, I feel UW has the advantage on both interior lines, and that is where football is generally won or lost.

UW 23, Stanford 13

The odds of it happening on that drive were long—another fine Cardinal punt had pinned Falk’s Cougars on their own six-yard line, 94 yards from what was required to keep WSU’s Pac-12 title hopes alive.

Falk came into the game at the tail end of a wretched string that saw his grandfather pass away, followed by perhaps the lowest moment of his decorated WSU career: A benching at Arizona. It’s hard to know how grief will affect a person, but perhaps being just days removed from losing an important figure in his life wasn’t enough time to be fully into football.

On this day, however, Falk was looking more like his old self after a pair of second-quarter touchdown drives.

The newly christened all-time Pac-12 passing leader wouldn’t start this drive with his arm. Instead, against a Stanford front expecting a pass, he handed it to dynamic running back James Williams. The sophomore found a big hole, and danced his way to the 18-yard line. Suddenly the task felt a little less daunting for the Cougars out of the shadow of their own end zone.

“I know he’s with me out there,” Falk said of his grandfather. “I was joking at his funeral that he already had a seat in the stadium, ready for the game. I felt him with me the whole time.”

This situation looked remarkably similar to Stanford’s last trip to Pullman. In that game, WSU took the ball with 14:14 to play in the fourth quarter, down 27-22 after largely outplaying the Cardinal for much of the day. That drive ended in a touchdown, giving the Cougs the lead. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a lead that would last and Falk was forced to engineer another comeback, one that ultimately came short as a potential game-winning field goal from Erik Powell hooked wide right as time expired.

The stakes were similar that day too, as WSU also needed that game to keep up in the Pac-12 North.

3^rd-and-14

While the drive started with a bang, it nearly ended just as quickly. Following the Williams first down, Falk was brought to the turf for a four-yard loss. The quarterback found himself under pressure again on the next play, heaving the ball out of bounds to avoid another sack.

Suddenly, the Cougars needed 14 yards from their own 14, or they’d be punting back to Stanford for the third consecutive time. With 10:55 to go, that wouldn’t necessarily spell doom, but at some point, the Cougars needed to score.

For an Air Raid offense, 14 yards isn’t a death sentence. A team that throws the ball as much as WSU can find its way around many a third-and-long. However, in tough weather conditions amid a season where first downs hadn’t seemed to come as easily through the air, one might have felt a little less confident in the Cougars converting.

Falk took the snap needing a little extra time for his preferred route to develop downfield. He found it by sliding just a step to his left. That opened up a throwing lane, but it also put him in a difficult position to make a strong throw.

No matter: Falk slung it over the middle into the waiting arms of a sliding Tay Martin for 17 yards. Drive extended. Hope renewed.

“He might have a record,” said WSU head coach Mike Leach, when asked about Falk’s history of comebacks. “He’s been involved with probably more comeback drives than maybe anybody in the history of the Pac-12.”

Leach may be speaking in hyberbole—he’s been known to do that a time or two before—but Falk certainly has engineered a set of comebacks that will live forever in Cougar lore.

It began at Rutgers in 2015, when he took the Cougs down the field for a game-winning score with only seconds to play; then it happened again just weeks later at Oregon when Falk brought WSU back from a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit, tying the game on a TD pass at the end of regulation in a game that the Cougs would eventually win in overtime; then it happened again at UCLA when Falk connected with Gabe Marks for a 21-yard TD at the end of a 75-yard drive that spanned just 66 seconds to beat the Bruins.

While most of the Coug wins in 2016 were of a more comfortable nature, Falk and crew did need a 21-point comeback to beat Oregon State in Corvallis—which also required a fourth-quarter go-ahead TD.

There’s a pattern there: None of those legendary comebacks came at Martin Stadium. Sure, there had been game-winning drives, such as earlier this season against USC, but none when the Cougs were trailing in the fourth quarter at home (with the aforementioned Stanford game coming oh-so-close).

Who Needs Third Downs Anymore?

When an Air Raid drive hits its stride, it’s a beautiful thing to witness. After converting that 3^rd-and-14, the Cougars hit another gear. Williams cut back against the grain to pick up nine yards. A quick pass to Tavares Martin, Jr. netted another first down. Another screen out to Tay Martin picked up eight, Williams grabbed three more and WSU had set up shop in Stanford territory with new set of downs. The Cougs were rolling.

First down runs had netted big gains on this drive, but never forget: This is the Air Raid. With 8:10 to play at the Stanford 47, Falk and WSU smelled blood. (Or sap?)

Falk stood alone in the backfield while running back Jamal Morrow split out to the slot, creating a five-receiver set. Falk took the snap in rhythm, needing just a half step to gather himself before throwing a perfect strike to Morrow over the middle. The do-it-all senior split the Cardinal defense right up the gut, and he pushed the ball all the way down to the 26-yard line.

It was Morrow again on the next play, taking a Falk swing pass for 15 yards down the sideline. WSU was on the Stanford 11, having used five different players to pick up first downs on the drive.

“Everyone made huge plays at the right time,” said Falk. “I think it was just a real gutsy performance by everyone. I mean I could name off everyone down the line who made a big play in that game. So, it’s just everybody doing their job and that’s how football should be.”

Falk’s first touchdown pass at Martin Stadium is a nice piece of trivia, and while it came fittingly in the fourth quarter, the needle on the pressure gauge was just a little to the left. His first TD actually came against Portland State in 2014.

Falk checked in late in the fourth quarter of a blowout, and on his second pass found a wide-open Dom Williams for 84 yards and a score. That play still stands as the longest pass in Falk’s WSU career. The largest chunk of the Pac-12’s all-time passing leader’s yardage came on just his second throw.

There were 61 more touchdown passes for Falk in Martin Stadium between that seemingly meaningless score against Portland State during his freshman season and this highly meaningful drive against Stanford on his Senior Day.

One More Martin Stadium TD

Color commentators often like to go on and on about how the Air Raid should struggle when it gets close to the goal line. The windows become tighter as there is less ground for the defense to cover, and a team reliant on the passing game will struggle to get those last yards. Facing first down from the 11-yard line, the Cougs found a way to not just open up a window, but burst through the wall like the Kool-Aid man.

Falk dropped back and coyly surveyed the field—three of the four wide receivers in the formation had dashed toward the end zone, and much of Stanford’s defense followed, forgetting to cover that all-important fourth man. Jamire Calvin flashed in front of Falk, with nary a Cardinal defender within eight yards. Falk hit the freshman in stride on the left hash, and he coasted to a go-ahead and eventually game-winning WSU touchdown with 6:56 to play.

On his Senior Day, following his worst week at WSU both on the field and off, Falk’s 63rd and final Martin Stadium touchdown was his most meaningful, and added one more memorable drive to his long list of heroics at WSU. That’s enough to make even the typically stoic Falk let his guard down.

“I mean it’s the last time you get to play in Martin Stadium and the way that we won it against a great opponent in Stanford, you know a lot of emotions came together when it was all said and done,” said Falk. “I didn’t really think about them during the game.

“Once we were able to get the win, I allowed myself to think about some stuff like that and people that have helped me along my path. Coach Mastro and Coach Mele, people like that and all my teammates and the seniors. You know it got pretty emotional, heck I might get emotional right now. It’s just been a great ride, we gotta finish it right.”

However, the good news is that WSU gets to play Stanford and UW in two of the last three games. Therefore if the Cougs take care of business against the Cardinal at home this Saturday and at subsequent road games against Utah and UW, they will the Pac-12 North. They will hold all the head to head tiebreakers and it won’t matter what Stanford or Washington do in their other games. This would of course lead WSU to the Pac-12 championship and a likely rematch against USC. The Cougars are probably out of the playoff hunt at this point, but the Fiesta Bowl would be a nice consolation prize.

This scenario is of course more unlikely than not, but hey it’s nice to have something to dream on that isn’t totally out of the question.

Football

Pac-12 picks: Up north and down south, there’s plenty on the line this weekend | The Spokesman-Review
Theo Lawson makes his picks for Week 9 of the Pac-12 football season.

Washington State’s Mike Leach on the great candy corn debate: ‘I think it’s just awful’ | The Spokesman-Review
There’s a reason that seasonal treats are only seasonal, Mike Leach believes, and when it comes to candy corn, the Washington State coach thinks the popular Halloween confection belongs in the same category as mint juleps and fruitcake.

The Colorado Buffaloes junior cornerback has been rising up draft boards and he’s now projected as a first round pick by Pro Football Focus. PFF, which uses a blend of advanced stats and experience scouting to measure draft prospects, has Oliver going 22nd overall to the Cleveland Browns in their 2018 mock draft.

On Oliver, PFF writes:

There is still work to be done on the defensive side of the ball in Cleveland and Oliver’s size and athleticism will be coveted at draft time. He has excellent balls skills, leading to 21 pass breakups on only 134 career targets and he’s only allowed 44.8 percent of his targets to be completed in his two-plus years of action.

In this mock draft, Oliver is the 3rd highest defensive back. He’s behind only Florida State safety Derwin James (2nd) and Alabama cornerback Minkah Fitzpatrick (17th). Cornerbacks Joshua Jackson of Iowa (24th) and Denzel Ward of Ohio State (32nd) both show up at the end of the mock.

Rumor has it that Oliver is ranked 21st on Mel Kiper’s Big Board, but I’m not boujee enough to verify.

As you may recall from a Ralphie Report preseason article titled “Isaiah Oliver will be a star in 2017,” Oliver is an athletic freak with great size at the position, and he’s able to leverage his physical traits with polished skill and a high football IQ. Thanks to his elite coverage ability and his ball skills, opposing quarterbacks have practically avoided throwing to Oliver’s half of the field.

You can see why NFL teams are paying attention to him in this video, where he shuts down Colorado State receiver Michael Gallup, who’s projected to be drafted 21st overall in the NFL Draft:

[embedded content]

Let’s not forget to include what could be Oliver’s signature play:

As incredible as Oliver is, the Buffs just need him to get healthy from an injury he suffered against Washington State. He’s expected to be 100% against Arizona State and Colorado needs him to play like a first round prospect if they’re going to clinch bowl eligibility in a tough environment on Saturday night.

“It’s not on the list of the things that I worry about on a regular basis,” he said.

But...

“Exposure is good for all programs, particularly if you think it’s going to be good exposure,” he continued.

Indeed, and the newly-ranked Arizona Wildcats are already reaping the benefits of being in the national spotlight.

Arizona has won four straight behind the electrifying quarterback play of Khalil Tate, becoming must-watch TV, and high school recruits are taking notice.

Rodriguez said there has been an “uptick” in Arizona’s recruiting during UA’s four-game winning streak.

“From guys answering their phones quicker to texting us,” he said. “Certainly there’s guys in Southern California that know Khalil Tate. That’s helped a little bit, but we had some outstanding guys here this past weekend.”

Arizona has landed several 2018 recruits lately (I urge you to go to our recruiting section for all the updates), now sitting with 16 commits in its class, which is ranked 63rd nationally.

It’s not a super impressive class, but that could certainly change if the Wildcats keep winning.

“I don’t know how many we’re going to sign, but we’re going to have a lot more interest all of a sudden,” Rodriguez said. “It was going well anyway. We thought recruiting well last year and that’s showing up a little bit, and we think it’s going well this year, too."

The UA even added its first 2019 commit recently, and a good one at that: four-star athlete Casey Kline.

Whether or not that can directly be attributed to Arizona’s recent success — and the exposure that comes along with it — is unclear, but it should only help the Wildcats moving forward.

Follow Ryan Kelapire on Twitter at @RKelapire

But the last time the Sun Devils beat a top-5 ranked opponent: Sept. 21, 1996 against No. 1 Nebraska.

On Saturday, the No. 5 Washington Huskies (6-0, 2-0 Pac-12) venture into Sun Devil Stadium equipped with a sound defense, veteran coach and most notably, talented quarterback Jake Browning.

“He’s a winner,” ASU head coach Todd Graham said. “He’s a championship quarterback, and as far as I’m concerned, he sets the standard in our league because you prove it on the football field every week.”

Browning, who is 25-8 overall as a starter, is 18-2 since the start of his sophomore season. From 2015 to 2016, Browning nearly tripled his touchdown total from 16 to 43 and almost doubled his team’s wins, from 7 to 12. He put the Huskies in the College Football Playoff last season, proving himself closer to a “championship quarterback.”

But what is most mind boggling is Browning’s efficiency. He won’t try to outpass teams.

His 244.3 passing yards per game rank seventh in the conference, and light years behind Pac-12 leading UCLA QB Josh Rosen who averages 427 passing yards per game. Even ASU QB Manny Wilkins is a major leap ahead, averaging 290.4 passing yards per performance.

But again, it isn’t about how much he throws it. In 2016, Browning had the 10th best quarterback rating in the country (81.3). His 2017 QBR (79) is 13th best in the nation and No. 1 among all current starting Pac-12 quarterbacks. He’s completed 123 of 173 pass attempts this season with a 70.5 percent completion rate, which is good for a Pac-12 best besides Luke Falk.

“Really solid decision maker. Extends plays a lot better than what you think he does. There’s a lot of guys who get a lot more attention, but he just wins football games,” Graham said. “Doesn’t require a lot of credit for it. That’s what I like about him. I really like his demeanor and his personality. You can tell he’s a high character kid.”

What has protected and complimented Browning’s Huskies to championship contending play are the men directly in front of him and sometimes beside of behind him. The offensive line has propelled the Huskies into a so far undefeated season.

Washington has given up just six sacks all season. The Sun Devils on the other hand, gave up seven sacks in a game alone against New Mexico State.

Defensively, Arizona State failed to record a single sack against Stanford, doing very little damage to the offensive line, and making easy leg room for Stanford running back Bryce Love, who had a career day with 301 yards on the ground.

Compared to Arizona State’s 647 rushing yards, the Huskies have attained over 1,000 yards on the season thanks not only to leading rusher Myles Gaskin (559 yards, eight touchdowns), but an extra push from its offensive line.

“They’re offensive line is very good. Very physical,” Graham said. “You gotta stop the run. I mean Gaskin is a really good back. Coleman is a really good back as well. I think where they’ve really matured is the offensive line.”

Going into Saturday’s matchup, Graham is well aware of the state of the Sun Devils. At 2-3, he admitted his team got off to a “slower start” than he’d like, but see’s the end of the season far more important than the beginning.

“Where everybody thinks everybody is in week one, it’s not. It’s where you are as you progress through the season. Where you are in November and you know how you’re team develops,” Graham said. “I think we played our best game against Oregon. We did some good things against Stanford. We didn’t tackle enough to win that game and they were the better team. But I feel confident in where we’re at.”

Assistant Cory Hall was named the interim coach replacing Andersen, who led OSU to a 7-23 overall record since taking over at the start of the 2015 season. Hall has been with the Beavers program since 2016 as a defensive back coach with stints at Weber State, Wisconsin, Clovis North HS (Fresno, CA) and Washington State going back to 2006.

The Colorado Buffaloes hit the road to face Oregon State this weekend (2 p.m. MT/ TV: Pac-12 Network). CU is looking to make it three straight wins over the Beavers after dominating last year’s game at Folsom Field, 47-6. The 41-point win is the largest margin of victory for the Buffs over a conference opponent in the past decade.

Coach Andersen needs to re-evaluate his approach to the game. Go back to the very beginning and challenge every assumption he’s made going back from the off-season until now. It is pretty clear that the assumptions and the approach he has been working with are failing him.

Malcom Gladwell, the famed economist and and author, wrote a book about underdogs titled David and Goliath. One anecdote that Gladwell used to describe how underdogs can be successful is a story about a girls basketball team in the Bay Area. The savvy coach, recognized that his team wasn’t the tallest or most skilled, so he implemented an incessant and harassing full court press. This hid the fact that other teams should have been far superior due to better talent and years more of experience and practice. This brand of basketball wasn’t traditional or pretty, but the team overachieved and won a bunch of games they shouldn’t have.

There is no question that Oregon State struggles to attract blue chip recruits. The state as a whole shares this burden. The Portland Trail Blazers are notorious for failing to land big-name free agents, and that’s the big city. The schmucks (Oregon) found a way to differentiate themselves through the use of Nike’s branding team - but even the schmucks had to alter their approach at times in order to stay relevant. For all his quirks, former Coach Chip Kelly often changed his team’s playing style and went against the status quo. Going for it on fourth down? Commentators loved to call Coach Kelly an idiot if it failed, but there is a bunch of data that supports the aggressive approach of going for it. It was different, exciting to watch, and ultimately (to my dismay) successful for the schmucks.

For all the lack of perceived talent on this Oregon State team, it simply is not an excuse for the uninspired play that fans have had to endure. Coach Andersen has many players that would be starters on other PAC-12 teams. The question then essentially becomes, “so why do we suck so bad?”

Coach McGiven stated earlier this week that the schemes are more-or-less okay, it’s a matter of missed assignments.

In other words, maintaining the mentality that after a million, “if we had only made the block”-esqe assessments, there is a deeper root issue that needs to be addressed: how about implementing a game plan and calling plays that are more forgiving of a missed assignment?

The spread offense developed largely at schools that struggled to have the strongest and most powerful teams. Instead of struggling to beat the big-dog teams with the best talent and athletes, the spread offense changed the approach to create different angles and spaces that might provide better opportunity to a disadvantaged team. In other words, the spread originated as an attempt at changing the playing field and being more forgiving to less talented teams.

Let’s be clear, I’m not advocating for Coach Andersen to roll out a new offense on Saturday. I am simply pointing out the obvious that drastic changes are needed to level the playing field. Same goes for the defense. I don’t expect Coach Clune to change to a 4-3 against WSU - especially given their Air Raid offense - but I am looking for a drastic change in defensive calls. A tweak here or there is not enough. Through three games, the Beavers have zero sacks and Oregon State ranks 128th out of 130 teams nationally in scoring defense. Maybe it’s time to re-think the three man rush and call safety blitzes every other down.

Coach Andersen needs to take a step back and realize that minor tweaks will not placate a fan base that may have already given up on the season. People are looking for dramatic change in all aspects of the game. How the offense is run (like actually running Ryan Nall more than seven times), to how the defense runs (like running after the opposing QB for a sack rather than running after opposing players headed to the end zone). I’d be happy to lose to Washington State if the Beaver offense tries to run the ball with their plethora of talented running backs 80% of the time (serving the dual purpose of putting the ball in the hands of our most talented position group as well as potentially shortening the duration our defense has to stay on the field). I also wouldn’t be opposed to shorter, quick passes being executed.

I like Coach Andersen as a person and a leader of the Oregon State football team. That being said, I’ve been disappointed with his ability to execute game plans, make in-game adjustments, and get the most out of his players. There’s still time to turn things around this season. It starts with accepting that this team is more than just a few plays away from being successful. Big fundamental changes are needed. The worst that can happen is that we lose in a different way.

1) Rosen Watch has officially begun. So far, the junior quarterback hasn’t disappointed, compiling 820 passing yards and nine touchdowns across two games.

If he continues this torrid stretch, he will easily surpass Brett Hundley’s record for most passing yards in a season. The now-Green Bay Packers quarterback accrued 3,740 yards in 2012 to set the record.

Rosen, should he average 410 yards per game like he has, would set the record Nov. 11 against Arizona State. Sure, he’s not likely to garner that many yards every game, but he doesn’t have to. All he has to do is average about 293 yards per game for the rest of the regular season to capture the record.

If he does so, it would truly be a special year for projected first-round draft pick.

2) While the aerial attack has always been dangerous with Rosen in the pocket, the running game has been nearly nonexistent for much of the past two seasons. But after the Bruins accumulated 132 yards on the ground last week against Hawai’i, they could rush for more than 100 yards in back-to-back games for the first time in more than a year.

Junior Bolu Olorunfunmi and sophomore Jordan Starks were the only players to receive carries in both games thanks the absences of Nate Starks and Soso Jamabo. But Nate Starks is back and Jamabo could return, though his status is still up in the air.

Memphis’ run defense acts as more of a sieve than a brick wall, allowing opponents to exploit holes frequently throughout games. The Tigers allowed 100 rushing yards or more in 11 of their 13 games last year.

They surrendered 200.1 rushing yards per game last season, ranking 85th in the nation. Thus, while Rosen will be slinging tons of passes, the Bruins could have a chance to make their running game respectable again.

3) Memphis coach Mike Norvell isn’t new to the Pac-12 scene. Prior to joining the Tigers, he was the offensive coordinator at Arizona State, shredding defenses apart, as we mentioned Wednesday.

In three of his four years in Arizona, his teams ranked in the top 20 in points per game – from 2012-2014 – with 38.4, 39.7 and 36.4, respectively. In his first year at the helm for Memphis, his team averaged 38.8 points, boasting yet another daunting offense.

Not only that, but each time he’s faced off against the Bruins, his offense compiled hundreds of yards.

The Tigers averaged 304.4 total yards per game, ranking 15th in the country, so UCLA’s defense will probably need to step up on the road this weekend after a lackluster showing against Hawai’i.

4) Senior linebacker Kenny Young is undergoing a concussion protocol after being on the bad end of an egregious hit by Hawai’i tight end Metuisela ‘Unga, so he will likely be out against Memphis.

Young spoke out at Pac-12 Media Day about the danger of concussions. Sadly, he’s become a victim now.

Fellow linebacker Josh Woods will be on the sidelines for at least one half thanks to a targeting penalty last weekend. This leaves the linebacker position pretty shallow against an above-average running team.

Linebackers Brandon Burton, Krys Barnes, Leni Toailoa and Lokeni Toailoa should all earn more playing time due to the absences.

5) We discussed how good Memphis’ offense is, briefly mentioning wide receiver Anthony Miller. But just how good is he?

News flash, he’s really good.

The Memphis native broke essentially every one of the team’s single-season receiving records last year. And the previous record holder for catches and yards in a season has some pedigree – former NFL star receiver Isaac Bruce.

Miller’s line last season: 95 catches, 1,434 yards, 14 touchdowns. He also had 15 receptions in one game against Houston, which set another school record.

The Tigers’ offense focuses primarily on the ground, but Miller is obviously someone to keep an eye on for the Bruins’ defensive coordinator Tom Bradley.

6) UCLA owns a 7-7 record against teams currently in the American Athletic Conference dating back to 1937 – yes, you read that correctly. Most of the bouts were against Houston and SMU, although it matched up against Temple and Memphis once apiece as well.

The one time the Bruins took on the Tigers was in 2014, when Brett Hundley and Paxton Lynch squared off in an offensive shootout. UCLA claimed the victory 42-35 at the Rose Bowl thanks to a Thomas Duarte touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Bruins’ defense kept the Tigers off the board for the remaining 10-and-a-half minutes of the game.

Paul Perkins pitched in 98 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Hundley finished with 422 total yards, three passing touchdowns and an interception. Lynch amassed 332 total yards with both a rushing and passing touchdown.

7) Extra Point! - this will tend to be a quirky or random fact about either UCLA or their opponent.

Coach Jim Mora is pretty good in whatever turns out to be his team’s third game of the season. As a head coach, both in college and the NFL, he’s posted a 7-1 record in those games. And that one loss didn’t come since he’s been in Westwood.

So if you’re a believer in superstitions, then UCLA has a good chance of coming out on top against Memphis.

Hilinski certainly seemed to command the offense better Saturday, finishing 25-for-33 with 240 yards passing, three touchdowns and a pick. Falk struggled mightily, going 24-for-34 for 193 yards, 59 coming on a pass to Renard Bell near the end of the first half.

So there was at least some question as to who would be under center against the Oregon State Beavers this Saturday. Head coach Mike Leach put an end to any speculation early in the week.

Falk has struggled not just this year, but stretching back to the final three games of 2016 as well. The good news is the Oregon State Beavers are likely just what the doctor ordered for Falk to get himself right mentally and physically. Here’s his career line against the Beavs:

126 for 157, 1,293 yards, 16 touchdowns, 2 interceptions

That’s ... quite good. OSU is a team Falk has feasted on and he’ll need to do it again this Saturday if for no other reason than to get a little confidence back in himself.

But, to me, the most interesting information in that article was the interactive chart that was included. The chart ranks every team in the FBS by what CougCenter calls their #NeverKick percentage. That’s the percentage of fourth downs where a team goes for the first down, rather than attemping a field goal or punting. In Washington State’s case, they were ranked #1 in the nation in 2014 with a #NeverKick percentage of almost 38%. The Cougs were 3rd in 2015 with a 34.5% #NeverKick percentage and 5th last season with a 33.3% percentage.

So, where does UCLA rank? Well, take a look for yourself. Just change the team to UCLA. Or compare the Bruins to the rest of the Pac-12 or teams from other conferences.

Of course, I analyzed the raw data as well.

Basically, the way this breaks down is that, four out of every six fourth downs, you can expect Jim Mora to punt the football, one out of every five fourth downs, you can expect a field goal attempt and, a little less than one of every six, you can expect him to go for it.

Last season was the worst of the Mora era and it’s somewhat understandable. When you can’t count on the offense to gain anything on the ground, you can’t possibly expect a coach to show any faith in his offense players and that was definitely the case last season as the Bruins only went for it on fourth down a little more than 10% of the time.

But, the year before, it wasn’t much better at just 12.87%.

The entire Mora era has been generally bad when it comes to aggressive football. Mora’s best “Never Kick” percentage was in his first season when it was just over 18%. That ranked 70th out of 123 FBS teams in 2012, while Mora’s worst was last season when the team was 124th of 128 FBS teams.

So, the question becomes what will Jim do this season? Will he be more less conservative this season knowing that his job may be on the line if he doesn’t win? Will he show a renewed faith in his offense to get the job done by going for it more on fourth down? Or, maybe more likely, will he show faith in his new offensive coordinator by letting Jedd Fisch make the call?

If the latter is the case, it might behoove us to know what Jedd Fisch’s tendencies are. So, let’s look at the college programs that Fisch has been associated with.

Generally speaking, Fisch’s teams have tended to go for it more than Mora’s teams. Fisch’s teams have broken the 20% mark on fourth down twice in his last five college football seasons including last year at Michigan and, over five seasons, Fisch’s teams go for it a little more than 18% of the time. That’s about equal to Mora’s high-water mark.

So, if Mora suddenly starts going for it a lot more often on fourth down, I would be inclined to chalk that up to either Fisch’s influence or Mora being desperate to save his job. After all, Rick Neuheisel saw a spike in his fourth down conversion attempts in his final year, but, at the same time, that continued his trend of going for it on fourth down more often every year. Mora has had the opposite trend.

But I’m willing to guess that, if Mora finishes this season going for it less than 15% of the time, UCLA will be looking for new head coach at the end of this season.

And, since AP writer Ralph Russo is convinced that former Oregon coach Chip Kelly will be hired by the Bruins, let’s look at Kelly’s fourth down tendencies to compare him against Mora.

Wow. Kelly looks the anti-Mora when it comes to fourth down. This may account for why Oregon football under Kelly was so explosive. Of course, at the same time, it might also have something to do with the fact that, with the exception of Kelly’s first year, the Ducks faced fourth down less than 100 times per season.

If that’s the key, then maybe Fisch does have the answers for UCLA since four of his five college teams have faced fewer than 100 fourth downs. Whereas, by comparison, only one of Mora’s five Bruin teams has faced fewer than 100 fourth downs in a season.

There are two other interesting stats that stick out to me here.

The first is the number of times teams are punting on fourth down and the second is the percentage of the time teams are punting on fourth down. Kelly’s Oregon teams never punted more than 62 times in a season and they never punted on more than 60% of their fourth down while Fisch’s last four college football teams haven’t punted more than 55 times in a season and they haven’t punted more than 61% of the time either.

Three of Mora’s teams have punted more than 70 times in a season. The 2015 team punted 64 times and only the 2013 team, at 55, punted less than 60 times all year. All of Mora’s Bruin teams have all punted at least 62.5% of the time on fourth down.

So, when the Bruins’ season starts next Sunday, we’ll finally get to see the new UCLA offense in action and we’ll be able to get a good idea right away as to the kind of season it’s going to be.

Some of the keys offensively should be punting fewer than 5 times, punting on fewer than 60% of fourth downs and keeping the number of fourth downs to 8 or less. If the Bruins can’t execute on any of these, it will be a long season and Kelly may want to email his resume to Dan Guerrero.

Go Bruins!!!

First off, credit the Colorado State Rams for an phenomenal performance in their beautiful brand-new stadium. The Rams were the better team yesterday, and they are going to be a dominant force in the Mountain West this season. Credit the Rams Defense for taking away the Beaver running game in the 2nd half and pressuring Beaver QB Jake Luton into making key mistakes. Head Coach Mike Bobo has done a great job in Fort Collins. He coached an excellent game against the Beavers, and he has his squad prepared for great things in 2017. It will be interesting to see how his team will do against Colorado, on the road against top-ranked Alabama, and against Boise State.

On the other hand, it’s back to the drawing board for Oregon State. Sure, Colorado State looked impressive yesterday, but there is no excuse for Oregon State to get pushed around the way they did against Colorado State. Head Coach Gary Andersen said it best when he described the Beaver performance as, “embarrassing.” Yes, the high altitude was a factor, and the field conditions were hot (117 Degrees Fahrenheit on the field!), but it didn’t seem to bother Colorado State as much. The Beavers still have a ways to go to learn how to fight through adversity. Although, yesterday was mostly miserable for Beaver Nation there were some bright spots. The passing game for the most part looked much improved, and the Beavers were an impressive 10-16 on 3rd Down. Here are some things we learned from the Beavers’s loss in Fort Collins.

It seems the Passing Game has Improved

Jake Luton looks like he could eventually be the real deal at the Quarterback position for the Beavers. Despite his three interceptions, Luton was 27-47 with 3 TDs and threw for 307 yds. WR Jordan Villamin had a nice day with 7 catches for 77 yds. TE Noah Togiai had an impressive day with 7 catches for 67 yds. and 1 TD (Should have been 2, but Beavers were robbed on an obvious TD on instant replay). Although, the passing game looked much improved, there were plays that Jake Luton and the Beaver Coaching staff will look at on tape and wonder what could have been. The Beavers had open receivers, but missed them thanks to Colorado State’s pressure and not being able to connect on the deep balls. Although, it wasn’t the day the Beaver Offense wanted in the passing game, the potential is definitely there.

The Defense Needs Tons of Improvement:

On Colorado State’s first possession the Beaver Defense looked fast and aggressive. They did an impressive job holding the Rams to a field goal in the first half after Trevon Bradford’s fumble. Other than that, the rest of the game was a train-wreck. We don’t need to relive all the details but the Front 7 was consistently pushed around and could not get to QB Nick Stevens. In addition, tackling was also an issue. The major key was that the Beavers were not able to get Colorado State off the field, which caused the Beavers to wear down. The Rams were 8-14 on 3rd Down Conversions. In addition, the Beaver Defense looked lost, and they frequently missed assignments.

5 Turnovers, Ugh!

All 5 turnovers proved to be disastrous. Especially Luton’s pick 6 he threw when the Beavs only trailed by 7. Luton overthrew a wide open Isaiah Hodgins and the ball was tipped and returned for a Colorado State Touchdown. Also, another crucial turnover was Trevon Bradford’s fumble when the Beavers led 17-14. It happened at a crucial time where the Beavers may have had an opportunity to drive down and take a double digit lead. The Turnovers majorly shifted momentum into Colorado States favor and prevented lots of points on the Scoreboard for the Beavers. You’ve gotta bet Coach Andersen will address ball control this week as the Beavers prepare for the home opener vs. Portland State.

Final Thoughts

It was a nightmare day at the office for the Beavers, one they and the rest of Beaver Nation would like to quickly forget. Personally, I believe this Beaver team is better than they looked against Colorado State. The talent is there, it just comes down to the execution of the game plan and making plays. Credit Colorado State for getting the Beavers off their A-game. Gary Andersen is known as a fighter, and he will not let this team give up. It is a process to turn around a losing football program, which it was just two seasons ago (2015) that the Beavers went win-less in Pac-12 play. These players will run through a wall for Coach Andersen, and I would have to bet they will not quit on him. Getting to a bowl game is still the ultimate goal for this team. The Beavers need to regroup, get healthy, and refocus as they prepare for a Portland State team that put up a great fight at BYU.

Umu, a 6’4, 300-lbs. defensive end from Littleton, was suspended indefintely for a violation of team rules. The Buffs’ defensive depth has taken a hit with the indefinite suspension to defensive back Anthony Julmisse and the dismissal of linebacker N.J. Falo, but because the nature of Umu’s suspension isn’t anything to do with legal issues, his suspension will be short.

Umu will miss the Rocky Mountain Showdown, which is unfortunate considering his history with Colorado State. He originally committed to the Rams out of high school, but once head coach Jim McElwain left CSU for Florida, Umu switched his commitment to Colorado. Umu never wanted to be at CSU — it was his first significant scholarship offer and he was waiting for a better offer — so he jumped at the opportunity to be a Buffalo.

After winning the Dan Stavely Award for most improve defensive lineman, Umu was challenging for a starting position as a 3-4 defensive end, but now the Buffs will have to look elsewhere for a short while. Expect Leo Jackson, Timothy Coleman and Jase Franke to see the majority of snaps at that position.