Our instant reaction to five weekend developments, with bonus items …
1. Dillingham, Devils deliver
Here, there, everywhere — one close game followed another across the region and throughout the weekend.
Colorado survived North Dakota State on Thursday night. UCLA needed a late rally to beat Hawaii. Oregon led Idaho by three points midway through the fourth quarter before pulling away. Cal struggled for a half. So did Oregon State. And Washington.
But not Arizona State.
Remember the Sun Devils? Kenny Dillingham’s program won three games last year, was picked last in the Big 12 preseason media poll and took the field Saturday night with as many questions as answers. Or so it seemed.
But over three flawless hours, the Sun Devils took control early and walloped Wyoming 48-7.
Given the expectations, the circumstances and the opponent, it was one of the most impressive performances we witnessed over three days of tracking every former, current and (possibly) future Pac-12 team.
The Hotline watched all or parts of two dozen games over 72 hours. Few teams made and impression as strong as the Sun Devils.
Yes, Utah looked good. As did Washington State. But they faced FCS opponents, whereas ASU was matched against a mid-level Mountain West program.
Week One is made for overreactions, and we aren’t buying the Sun Devils. Not yet.
But if their weekly efficiency is merely 75 percent of what we witnessed Saturday night, the year-over-year improvement in Tempe will be substantial.
Enough to climb into the middle third of the Big 12? Perhaps.
Enough to generate more momentum and relevance than the beleaguered program has experienced in years? Definitely.
2. Debut reviews
In late July, first-year UCLA coach DeShaun Foster was universally panned for his introductory remarks at Big Ten football media days. (“I’m sure you guys don’t know too much about UCLA, our football program, but we’re in L.A.”)
Here at the Hotline, we viewed Foster’s turn at the podium through a wider lens: Was the program as poorly prepared for life in the Big Ten as the head coach was for that specific situation? Welp …
UCLA narrowly avoided what would have been an embarrassing loss, scoring the final nine points to edge lowly Hawaii 16-13.
For most of the game, the Bruins were utterly inept on offense as veteran quarterback Ethan Garbers played like a rookie and the running game, so effective under Chip Kelly, was missing in action.
They were extremely fortunate, however. Had the bumbling Rainbow Warriors been merely mediocre, they would have won the game handily.
Two other coaching debuts caught our attention:
— Washington thumped Weber State 35-3 in Jedd Fisch’s opener. The defense was stout throughout while the offense needed time to find its footing. Tailback Jonah Coleman, who followed Fisch from Tucson, rushed for 127 yards and will have to lead the attack until quarterback Will Rogers (from Mississippi State) settles in with the new playbook and revamped offensive line.
— Fisch’s former team, Arizona, took a different path to victory. The Wildcats had no trouble scoring but struggled defensively in a 61-39 victory over New Mexico. The Lobos gained 471 yards, averaged 5.6 yards per rush and converted 47 percent of their third- and fourth-down opportunities.
3. Domination in Pullman
The afternoon could not have gone much better for the Pac-12 schools as they embarked on an epic season.
The CW telecasts were first rate in every regard, from the production value, which came courtesy of the Pac-12 Enterprises, to the on-air crews, who knew the teams and the issues.
Washington State was impressive in decimating Portland State 70-30. Quarterback John Mateer looked comfortable as a dual-threat playmaker (407 total yards, six touchdowns), the receivers made big plays and freshman tailback Wayshawn Parker averaged 12 yards per carry.
The Cougars retained their coaching staff and many key members of the depth chart through the tumultuous offseason, and that continuity was evident.
For this week, at least, they looked like a Power Four team in every regard but one: The crowd in Martin Stadium was notably sparse (based on the aerial views provided by The CW’s broadcast).
The announced crowd in 33,000-seat Martin Stadium was a mere 20,089, and it looked much worse.
4. Slow start in Corvallis
The reverse was true in Corvallis, where the atmosphere was equal to the occasion, especially given that students aren’t yet on campus. But the Beavers were not sharp early against Idaho State, a second-tier FCS program, and led by just eight points at halftime.
The Hotline has been deeply skeptical about OSU’s prospects this season, largely because there are so many new pieces. And the performance seemed to confirm our suspicions.
That said, the Beavers were vastly more efficient in the second half as their running game eventually overpowered the Bengals.
Even without Damien Martinez, who transferred to Miami, the Beavers rushed for 362 yards as two tailbacks, Jam Griffin and Anthony Hankerson, surpassed the 150-yard mark.
5. The brilliant bookends
The two best players in the western half of the country opened and closed the weekend with sensational performances.
On Thursday night, Colorado’s Travis Hunter showed why he’s the most unique player in the FBS with another two-way masterpiece: He caught three touchdown passes as a receiver and made three tackles as a cornerback in CU’s victory over North Dakota State.
On Saturday night, Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan reminded everyone why he’s the best receiver in the West with 10 catches for 304 yards and four touchdowns.
Hunter and McMillan were so good, they overshadowed stellar showings by their quarterbacks, Shedeur Sanders and Noah Fifita, respectively, who aren’t half-bad themselves.
Bonus items
— Why so many close games on the first full week of the regular season? Without breaking down film of every play, the Hotline can do little more than guess. And here’s our guess: The transfer portal.
Teams in the power conferences are heavily reliant on the transfer portal and, as a result, lack continuity to a much greater degree than they did three or four years ago. Meanwhile, many FCS teams retain the majority of their veterans and possess better cohesion.
— Which conference won the weekend?
It certainly wasn’t the ACC. Clemson’s blowout loss to Georgia, combined with Florida State’s loss to Georgia tech in Week Zero, heaps doubt on the quality of play at the top of the ACC.
And it wasn’t the Big 12, not with West Virginia’s decisive loss (at home) to Penn State and Houston’s implosion against UNLV.
The winner is either the SEC or the Big Ten (shocking!), but let’s reserve final judgment until the conclusion of the USC-LSU showdown Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas.
— Best performance you probably didn’t see: Boise State tailback Ashton Jeanty rushed for 267 yards and six touchdowns in a victory over Georgia Southern.
It was no fluke. Jeanty gained 1,400 yards last year and is one of the top tailbacks in the country. He had plenty of Power Four options last winter but declined to enter the transfer portal.
— Worst performance you probably did see: Oregon’s offensive line was astonishingly unimpressive against an opponent (Idaho) it should have dominated.
The Ducks averaged 2.9 yards per rush, allowed three sacks and experienced frequent breakdowns.
“They did a good job of stopping our interior run game,” coach Dan Lanning said of Idaho, “and we struggled at times to get the ball to the perimeter and be able to move it down the field … And they did a good job generating some pressure. So we have to evaluate some of those looks.”
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