Conference Review: PAC 12

TheFFGhost

kessler

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With college football in full swing, we’ll be bringing you a review of the “Big Five” conferences each and every week. These recaps will feature sections for “Premier Conference Performer,” “Rising Players,” “Falling Players,” and a special Freshman spotlight. These weekly reviews will keep you up-to-date on all the happenings in devy leagues and allow you to keep tabs on future dynasty league assets. By the time the NFL Draft rolls around, you won’t see too many strangers.

Premier Conference Performer

Cody Kessler, QB USC
19 completions for 319 yards and seven touchdowns

Kessler just went unconscious against Colorado, there just isn’t any other way to put it. On Saturday, Kessler did what no other USC quarterback in history had done and threw for an incredible seven touchdowns. Put another way, one out of every three passes that Kessler threw was a touchdown. Furthermore, each of his passes went for an average of 17 yards per completion. Kessler had a “Flacco-esqe” performance with four of his touchdowns coming in the first quarter and the fifth coming later in the first half. While I’ve been critical of his performances in the past, he looked like the real deal this week and everything he touched seem to turn to gold.

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Rising

Devontae Booker, RB Utah
32 rushes for 229 yards and three touchdowns

Booker just seems to be getting better and better as the season goes on. Against Oregon State, Booker had his most rushing yards of the season, his most rushing touchdowns and the second most carries. Part of his total is artificially high due to the game going to two overtimes during which he gained 48 of his yards and two of his touchdowns. Nonetheless his remaining 181 rushing yards and touchdown helped keep Utah in a heavily contested conference game. His offensive production accounted for 72% of all of Utah’s offensive output as Utah simply could not find a way to pass the ball. The Utes only accumulated 62 passing yards all game and simply would not have maintained their Top 25 ranking if not for Booker’s gutsy performance.

Brett Hundley, QB UCLA
31 completions for 330 yards and two touchdowns, 17 rushes for 94 yards and one touchdown

Hundley did it all on Saturday versus Cal, he passed, he rushed, he scored and he won. Hundley truly took his team on his shoulders in a pivotal PAC 12 matchup that had serious bowl implications. Hundley was able to move the ball effectively no matter what he did, not only passing for well over 300 yards but he was also the team’s (and the game’s) leading rusher amassing another 94 yards and a touchdown. Hundley seemed incredibly driven to win and drove his team down the field last in the fourth quarter for a field goal, which ultimately proved the difference-maker for UCLA’s 36-34 win. With this Win UCLA keeps their bowl hopes alive and are still technically in the race for the PAC 12 South title.

Falling

Utah’s Quarterbacks
Nine completions for 62 yards

I tried to think of a way to soften this but I just can’t, Utah’s passing “attack” is just epically horrible. Between Travis Wilson and Kendal Thompson the two managed only nine completions for 62 yards, all game. You read that right, no in just one drive or even one quarter, no, that stat line was for the entire game! This follows a 12 completion for 100 yards performance the two put up against UCLA. What’s truly unfortunate about this is they have very good receivers, namely in Dres Anderson, and their inability to put even an average game together is hurting the futures of their teammates. At first I pinned the blame on the poor performances on the Utah receivers but it is becoming extremely clear that the quarterback position for the Utes is a huge problem and that it is a miracle this team is currently 5-1 behind these two. If they don’t step up very soon they will see their fortunes reverse for the remainder of the season.

Lavon Coleman, RB Washington
12 rushes for 28 yards

Now to be fair, Coleman hasn’t exactly been setting the college football world on fire thus far this season, but his game against Oregon officially set a new low for Washington’s top rusher. Coleman got a third of all of Washington’s carries but only managed to gain a measly 28 yards on the day. This effort amounted to a lowly 2.3 yards per carry, the worst of his season thus far. The freshman running back has been depended on for much of the season to produce but has seen his production steadily decrease week over week despite maintaining roughly comparable attempts per game. Washington’s inability to get a rushing attack going definitely hurt their game plan against Oregon and made them one dimensional for much of the game and ultimately lead to their loss. Coleman simply must turn around his season if Washington has any hopes of going to, much less winning, a bowl game.

Freshman Spotlight

Royce Freeman, RB Oregon
29 rushes for 169 yards and four touchdowns, two receptions for four yards

Royce Freeman looked like a pro-ready in his performance against the Huskies, despite only being a freshman. In his dominating performance he had amassed 81 of his rushing yards and three of his touchdowns by halftime. By the time the second half rolled around Freeman was just being fed the ball to help run out the clock but he made the best of it with an additional 88 yards and another touchdown. With Freeman’s four touchdowns he is now the fifth ranked touchdown scorer among all running backs this season. It appears as if Oregon has a great running back to build on for the next few years. I’d be picking him up in any devy leagues I’m in if you can add college players during the season.

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