Dynasty Scouts Conference Review: Pac-12 and Around the Nation

Mike Valverde

Here at Dynasty Scouts, we’ll always do our best to keep you informed about the latest happenings in college football. We watch all of the games so you don’t have to. Here’s some of what we noticed this past weekend.

PAC-12

Premier Conference Performer

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Jake Browning QB, Washington (Sophomore) vs. Oregon

22/28 passes, 304 yards, six touchdowns, zero interceptions; Six carries, 21 yards, two touchdowns

Jake Browning has been on a roll all season as he has improved greatly since his freshman season. He connected on 78 percent of his passes for 304 yards and six touchdowns. He didn’t stop there either as he carried the rock six times for 21-yards and another two scores.

“Everybody is going to talk about the yards and touchdowns, but I was just doing my job, going through my reads,” Browning said. “I don’t think there was anything outside of what I was supposed to do.”

On the season, the quarterback has led Washington to the fifth-ranked team in the nation while throwing for 1418 yards 23 touchdowns and just two interceptions. He is 23rd in yards thrown but is first in the nation in touchdowns just ahead of Davis Webb of Cal.

Washington will now play Oregon State at home and then Utah.

Rising Players

Luke Falk QB, Washington State (Junior) vs. Stanford

30/41 passes, 357 yards, four touchdowns, zero interceptions.

Luke Falk had a solid day against Stanford as he led Washington State to a 42-16 victory. His accuracy was right on point as he completed 73.2 percent of his passes for 357 yards and four touchdowns. Falk connected with Tavares Martin Jr. twice in the first half and then connected with Gabe Marks and River Cracraft in the second half.

On the season, Falk has passed for 1852 yards 16 touchdowns and just four interceptions. He is third in the Pac-12 in yards, scores, and passer rating. In the nation he is seventh in touchdowns and ninth in yards.

Wahington State will now play UCLA at home then Arizona State on the road as they continue to try to keep their three-game winning streak alive and their 2-0 record perfect in conference.

Ryan Knall RB, Oregon State (Sophomore) vs. California

14 carries, 221 yards, three touchdowns.

We have come to expect that the California Golden Bears have one of the worst defenses in the nation. They are last (128th) in trying to stop the opposing team’s run in total yards, and second to last in yards per game (283.8). Therefore Ryan Knall rushing for 221 yards on 14 carries is not all that surprising. However that doesn’t take away that he did achieve it and averaged 15.8 per carry and scored three times. He also had a long of 80-yards.

Knall passed his amount of yards in this game (221) he had in his first four weeks (211) and equaled his touchdown output with three. Oregon State now has a brutal couple of weeks. They will be facing Utah, Washington, Stanford, and UCLA. They will have somewhat of a break against Washington State after they face the Huskies.

Dante Pettis WR, Washington (Senior) vs. Oregon

Eight catches, 134 yards, two touchdowns.

Dante Pettis and John Ross are both getting national attention. Ross is leading Washington in receptions, yards, and touchdowns, but Pettis is not far behind and climbed a little closer last week as he caught eight passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns.

His two touchdowns came in the third quarter. His first was a 28-yard reception and then followed that up with a 10-yarder to put the score at 56-14. On the season, Pettis has 23 receptions for 345 yards and six touchdowns.

Wahington will continue to keep the undefeated record going as they will now play Oregon State and then Utah.

Falling Players

Davis Webb QB, California (Senior) vs. Oregon State

23/44 for 113 yards, zero touchdowns, one interception.

Davis Webb has been putting up monster stats all season. Then came Washington and everything fell apart. He was just a tad over 50 percent of his passes and could only muster 113 yards with zero touchdowns and one interception.

The Bears scored 44 points against Oregon State, yet none of them were from the senior quarterback, marking the first time he did not throw a touchdown this season. He did score once with his legs, so at least he wasn’t completely inept in his performance. Webb and Cal will try to bounce back against Oregon in two weeks and then USC.

Christian McCaffrey RB, Stanford (Junior) vs. Washington State

Eight carries, 35 yards, zero touchdowns; One catch, five yards, zero touchdowns.

I don’t think you can hold much against Christian McCaffrey in his game against Washington State. He was injured, but what is scary is that his eight carries only netted him 35-yards. It is unknown if he will return this week, but the stud running back has struggled in his last two weeks, which could be a reflection of his injury.

Nation

Premier Conference Performer

Ryan Higgins QB, Louisiana Tech (Senior) vs. Western Kentucky

33/45 passing, 454 yards, five touchdowns.

Ryan Higgins was nearly perfect all game against Western Kentucky. He completed 33 of 45 passes (73 percent) for 454 yards and five touchdowns. These totals led Louisiana Tech to a 55-53 victory. Louisiana Tech (5-5, 2-1 Conference USA) led 49-24 in the middle of the third quarter, before Western Kentucky mounted their comeback.

Higgins first connected with Carlos Henderson for a 22-yard touchdown then Jared Craft for five yards, then another to Henderson for 37-yards at the end of the first quarter. Then with two minutes in the second quarter the Higgins and Henderson connection worked again this time for 63-yards. Midway through the third quarter Higgins found Craft for a two-yard score and a 49-24 lead.

The senior quarterback has had a solid season thus far. Higgins has 1869 yards with 17 touchdowns and two interceptions on the season. He also is eighth in the nation in yards and sixth in the nation in scores.

Louisiana Tech has won two straight and has a 3-3 overall record. They will face Massachusetts and Florida International in the next two weeks.

Rising Players

Nick Holley QB, Kent State (Junior) vs. Buffalo

7/13 passing, 89 yards, zero touchdowns; 24 carries, 324 yards, four touchdowns.

Nick Holley didn’t do much on the passing end as a quarterback, it was his running that got him here. He did moderately well connecting on a little over half his passes for 89 yards and didn’t turn the ball over. But, the run game shined as he carried the rock 24 times for 324 yards and four touchdowns. His four touchdowns led Kent State to a 44-24 victory over Buffalo.

The Kent State Blue Flashes built a 20-3 halftime lead on Holley’s 67-yard touchdown run then he added a 3-yard touchdown run in the third, then scoring runs of 2 and 43 yards in the fourth quarter. On the season Holley has 374 yards passing with two touchdowns, as well as 388 rushing yards and five touchdowns.

The Blue Flashes will now face Miami (Ohio) and Ohio in their next two games.

Jeffrey Wilson RB, North Texas (Junior) vs. Marshall

26 carries, 188 yards, two touchdowns.

Jeffrey Wilson was nearly unstoppable against Marshall. The Thundering Herd has a horrible defense and that goes for the run game (81st). Marshall gives up 193.8 yards per game on the ground, and Wilson showed why. His 188-yards on 26 carries was sixth in the nation last week and he also added two touchdowns. Wilson took a 72-yard run to the house for his biggest gain on the day as North Texas went on to win 38-21.

Wilson finished sixth in yards last week for the nation and is 21st overall this season in yards and tied for third in touchdowns. His season totals are 93 carries for 564 yards and nine touchdowns.

North Texas is now 3-3 and 2-1 in the conference. They will play Army and Texas-San Antonio in their next two games.

Cedrick Wilson WR, Boise State (Junior) vs. New Mexico

Nine catches, 167 yards, three touchdowns.

Cedrick Wilson put on a nice show for Bosie State Broncos against the New Mexico Lobos. The Broncos sailed away with victory 49-21. Thomas Sperbeck is usually the benefactor of the Brett Rypien touchdowns, but Wilson made his way through that blockade.

Wilson scored his first on a seven-yard score, then followed that up with a 53-yarder at the end of the first quarter. His last came with just over six minutes remaining in the second quarter and put Boise State up 35-7.

The junior wide receiver now has 23 receptions for 432 yards and five touchdowns. Wilson has scored in three-of-five games played and has gone over 100 yards receiving twice this season. He is second on the team in receptions, yards, and tied for first in touchdowns.

The Broncos will try to remain undefeated as they have two home games coming up in back-to-back weeks. They will face off against the Colorado State Rams and then the BYU Cougars. They will also try to preserve their #15 ranked status.

Falling Players

Philip Nelson QB, East Carolina (Senior) vs. South Florida

12/23 passes, 88 yards, zero touchdowns.

A difficult day in the pocket for Philip Nelson and the East Carolina Pirates. The senior quarterback could only complete 52 percent of his passes for 88 yards and no touchdowns against the South Florida Bulls. It also didn’t help that East Carolina has now lost their last four games after winning their first two to start the season.

Maybe, it has to do with Nelson, after all, he has only thrown for six touchdowns in his last five games after throwing for five in week one against the Western Carolina Catamounts. Perhaps it’s his four interceptions in his last five games, when he didn’t throw one against the Catamounts. Maybe he is just good against week one opponents? Whatever the case maybe, Nelson has not gotten the job done.

On the season he has 1184 yards passing with 11 touchdowns and four interceptions.

Keion Davis RB, Marshall (Sophomore) vs. North Texas

14 rushes, 33 yards, zero touchdowns.

Keion Davis must have forgotten to take a nap because the North Texas Mean Green stacked a wall against the sophomore, a Donald Trump sized wall. The Marshall Thundering Herd are not the most talented team in the running department. For the most part they like quarterback Chase Litton to take control of the game.

Davis is averaging 4.1 yards per carry, but could only pick up 2.4 yards against North Texas. When you see that his long was of 13-yards, then it gets even worse for Davis. In other words, his 13 other carries went for just 20 yards or horrendous 0.65 yards per tote.

On the season the running back has 62 carries for 253 yards and two touchdowns. North Texas will try to rebound as they have lost four straight after beating Morgan State 62-0. They will now go head-to-head against Florida Atlantic and Southern Mississippi.

Equanimeous St. Brown WR, Notre Dame (Sophomore) vs. NC State

Three catches, 30 yards, zero touchdowns

The sophomore receiver has been solid all season until running into the NC State Wolfpack defense. The Wolfpack has been solid on that defensive end this season. They are 15th in points allowed and 19th in the nation against the pass.

It turned out to be a battle as NC State won 10-3 and held St. Brown to only three catches for 30-yards and zero touchdowns. Notre Dame is falling apart. They have lost three of four including losses to Duke and NC State. They haven’t beaten anyone of significance either. Wins against Syracuse and Nevada.

On the season, St. Brown has 28 receptions for 571 yards and six touchdowns. They will now face a Stanford team who have also fallen off the map, going from the #5 ranked team in the nation to unranked after their loss last week. After Stanford the #16 Miami Hurricanes will be visiting the Golden Dome.

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mike valverde
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