Gangline Recap: Week 7

Washington Opponent's Record: 43-32

Record this Week: 5-4

Record in Games that Mattered: 4-3

Three teams had byes this week: Portland State, Oregon and Arizona. The week had serious potential to boost the gangline's record since there was only one game that featured two of our opponents playing each other. Unfortunately, Stanford's offense forgot to show up, Utah continues to be less than good, and Colorado was ... well, Colorado. Hey, we still have two undefeated teams on our schedule, and they're both in the state of Oregon.

Games that Mattered

Colorado State (1-6) at San Diego State (4-3)

Colorado State came out punching, and they managed to keep the game close after the first quarter with the game tied at 7-all. Unfortunately for them, the Aztec defense shut them down the rest of the game, until garbage-time when CSU was able to score one more time to get to 14 on the Aztec backups. SDSU forced 3 turnovers, two of which were picks. The Aztecs got a really short field to play with, as both those interceptions put the Aztecs inside CSU's 40 yard line. Ryan Katz went 16-22, 181 yards, 2 touchdowns, and zero interceptions. Final score: Aztecs win 38-14

South Carolina (6-1) at LSU (6-1)

ESPN's recap of this game is substantially longer than their piece on the CSU/SDSU game ... must have been a game between 2 top 10 teams, or something ... I'm just going to throw this out there ... South Carolina's QB Connor Shaw had a 81.8% completion rate when throwing passes over 10 yards in the three games preceding his game against LSU. His completion percentage against LSU for 10+ yard passes was - get this - a magnificent 28.6%. That hurts .... Defensive end Sam Montgomery (you might remember him) had 2 sacks, and his momma saw the whole thing. She's from South Carolina by the way. Carolina got the ball with 1:41 left in the game, down two, but LSU picked off the pass as time expired, sealing it. Final score: LSU wins 23-21

Stanford (4-2) at Notre Dame (6-0)

Stanford must be getting tired. Two weeks in a row the Cardinal has had a game decided in OT. Here's $5 that it'll happen next week in the big game. It was a game of missing offense, and long grass .... Both quarterbacks had similar numbers: Nunes was 12-25 for 125 yards, 0 TDs and 2 interceptions; Golson was 12-24, 184 yards and 1 touchdown. Stanford rushed for 147 yards, Notre Dame rushed for 150. This game should have gone into overtime, by all accounts. Notre Dame scored a TD on its first overtime possession, and Stanford tried to do the same ... but failed. On the goal line, Stepfan Taylor ran the ball up the middle, go figure, and even though he was initially stopped, he kept his legs churning, and actually passed the goal line before his knees hit the ground ... thanks to the pile of linemen underneath him. However the officials had blown the play dead, and the review afterwards was not in Stanford's favor. Final score: Notre Dame wins 20-13

Oregon State (5-0) at BYU (4-3)

Cody Vaz had a decent game. Who is this guy? He hadn't taken a snap in a real game since 2010, and hadn't started a game since high school. He was just supposed to manage the game, right? Just call the plays, throw the ball a few times, and then hand the ball off to Storm Woods, a lot. BYU had a great plan: load up to stop the run and force Vaz to beat you. Wasn't BYU's defense supposed to be amazing, or at least presentable ... especially at LaVell Edwards Stadium? Mr. Vaz completed his first 6 passes for 86 yards, and a touchdown in there somewhere. He also threw this block to spring Marcus Wheaton for a TD to put the Beavers up by 10 with 5:30 to go in the 4th quarter. Oh yeah, and some DB named Jordan Poyer had another interception, a pick 6, just to rub it in the other Cougars' faces. Side note: didn't BYU's uniforms look vaguely like TCU? It must just be me ... Final score: Beavers win 42-24

Arizona State (5-1) at Colorado (1-5)

This was the lowest home-attended crowd of the year for the Buffs, and the attendance has gone down each game. I just want to say that one really good quarter of play can keep a team in a ballgame. This was one of those games. CU forgot to play football for three quarters, but a really good second quarter make the game 20-17 ASU, at the half. After scoring 10 points in the final 24 seconds of the first half, CU had some confidence and momentum. Then this happened on the opening kickoff of the 2nd half ... see ya later momentum. Taylor Kelley threw for 308 yards, 5 TDs and 0 interceptions. The Buffs' season continues to to spiral out of control. I can't wait to go to the UW/CU game in November. Final score: ASU wins 51-17

Utah (2-4) at UCLA (5-2)

Just for the record, the two newest members of the Pac12 have a combined record of 3-9 this year ... just throwing that out there. Utah went to the Rose Bowl looking for redemption ... they got beat up instead. I suppose it was really just unfortunate that the Utes got the Bruins when they were good and angry after last week's loss to the Golden Bears. Brett Hundley continues to show flashes of brilliance. He went 15/21 for 183 yards, 1 TD and 68 yards rushing (plus another TD). Utah's freshman QB Travis Wilson got the start for Utah, his first collegiate start, and passed for 220 yards, but no touchdowns. UCLA had a dominant defensive effort if you look at the scoreboard. Final score: UCLA wins 21-14

The game that didn't Matter

Cal (3-4) at WSU (2-5)

Cal is once again showing its uncanny ability to remain in mediocrity. Now the Golden Bears are on a two game winning streak, and one game away from being a .500 team. Washington State played like a bunch of zombies. In the Cougars first 7 drives they had 4 punts, 2 interceptions, and one field goal. Did I mention that Mike Leach changed QBs in the first quarter? Stat of the game: Zach Maynard had 14 completions ... 11 of them were to Keenan Allen. Final score: Bears win 31-17