Immediate response to weekend developments on the sphere …
1. Late begins, lopsided video games
A stacked lineup of evening video games alongside the West Coast on the primary fully-loaded Saturday was devoid of drama, besides within the Pacific Northwest.
Washington State wanted a late area aim to safe a 13-10 victory over Idaho and keep away from what would have been a bitter begin to coach Jimmy Rogers’ tenure.
Throughout the state, Washington used a dominant fourth quarter to place away Colorado State 38-21 and (partially) justify the optimism accompanying Jedd Fisch’s second season on Montlake.
A fast examine of the numbers suggests the sport mustn’t have been shut after halftime: The Huskies primarily doubled CSU’s yardage whole, transformed 8-of-14 third downs and averaged 5.5 yards per rush; however the margin was solely 10 halfway by the fourth quarter. Then tailback Jonah Coleman barreled into the top zone — he had 177 yards in whole — and the Huskies had been in a position to exhale.
All in all, the night unfolded ideally for UW: A considerably ugly victory over the Mountain West in Week 1 does way more to speed up enchancment than a blowout win over an FCS staff.
And there have been a number of of these, people:
— Oregon, USC and Brigham Younger supplied a triple-whammy of wipeouts, defeating Montana State, Missouri State and Portland State by a mixed rating of 201-26.
— Arizona and Arizona State received by a number of touchdowns at residence over Hawaii and NAU, respectively.
The previous aired on TNT, which has joined the Massive 12’s broadcast lineup this season. The latter was proven on ESPN+, not less than for a part of the sport. The feed crashed within the second half, forcing ASU athletic director Graham Rossini to situation an apology on social media.
— Utah and Cal received by a number of touchdowns on the highway in Pac-12 legacy video games over UCLA and Oregon State, respectively.
The Utes had been sharp with a brand new offense and new quarterback and the identical outdated punishing play on the line of scrimmage. The Bears led all through in Corvallis, because of a rookie quarterback.
We’ll have extra on Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele in a second. First, let’s handle the Beavers.
2. Issues for the ‘Pac-2’
Really, let’s handle the Beavers and the Cougars, as a result of it might very effectively be a protracted slog for the Pac-12 holdovers of their closing 12 months earlier than the convention reforms.
Washington State managed simply 211 yards towards Idaho and failed to satisfy our low expectations for the beginning of the Jimmy Rogers period.
A lot is stacked towards the Cougars this season after they misplaced Jake Dickert and John Mateer. However the refresh clearly is extra complete than even we imagined. The Cougars rushed for 3 yards towards an FCS opponent — on 22 makes an attempt, no much less — that itself has a brand new teaching employees.
In the meantime, the Beavers had been fully outclassed within the first recreation of Trent Bray’s second season. (A number of extra performances like that, and we’re unsure there will likely be a 12 months 3 for Bray.)
Oregon State trailed 14-0 halfway by the primary quarter, Bray regarded indignant and pissed off all recreation and new quarterback Maalik Murphy, the supply of a lot hope in Corvallis, was no higher than any of his instant predecessors.
It was a deeply disappointing efficiency in comparison with what was anticipated. If Oregon State doesn’t make main strides rapidly, the door into the postseason will slam shut earlier than October arrives.
3. Sizzling Seat standing examine
Bray isn’t the one second-year coach in command of his alma mater with a lot to show this season: UCLA’s DeShaun Foster is driving shotgun. And the Bruins regarded as dangerous because the Beavers did of their 43-10 loss to Utah within the Rose Bowl.
The Hotline has seen nothing from Bray or Foster by two off-seasons and 13 video games to counsel both is able to altering the present trajectory. Frankly, they appear overmatched.
Alternatively, three coaches who entered the 2025 season underneath elevated strain delivered spectacular performances.
Lincoln Riley and USC walloped Missouri State 73-13, the highest-scoring recreation for the Trojans since 1930.
Justin Wilcox and Cal thumped Oregon State 34-15, an enormous victory for the Bears to make their bowl math work.
Brent Brennan and Arizona drubbed Hawaii 40-6, a rating extra spectacular than it seems.
Whereas it was the primary recreation of Brennan’s second season, the Rainbow Warriors beat Stanford in Week 0 and had, in principle, labored by all of the glitches that accompany season openers.
However Arizona was way more environment friendly Saturday evening, forcing 5 turnovers and committing none.
The lopsided victories assure nothing for Brennan, Wilcox or Riley as they navigate crucial seasons. However in case you’re envisioning situations by which every coach secures his job for 2026, the paths imagined most likely match the performances that performed out Saturday.
4. QB watch
The Hotline watched all or components of 18 video games over the course of 14 hours Saturday, with our consideration centered on the brand new quarterbacks throughout the land, from Ohio State’s Julian Sayin and Texas’ Arch Manning to Washington’s Demond Williams Jr. and WSU’s Jaxon Potter.
Essentially the most spectacular new quarterback (relative to our expectations)? Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, the freshman who signed with Oregon final winter, was on the Geese’ Rose Bowl roster, then transferred to Cal in early January.
Sagapolutele is a 6-foot-3 lefty who accomplished 20-of-30 passes for 3 touchdowns and no interceptions and regarded like a future star. He delivered the ball on time and on track, in tight home windows the place solely Cal’s receivers might attain it. He displayed contact when contact was required and threw with juice when juice was wanted.
We knew Sagapolutele was gifted and a very powerful recruit of the Wilcox period. However he was higher than anticipated — much better than anticipated — and simply could be the lacking piece that pushes Cal into the eight- or nine-win realm.
5. Convention hierarchy
The largest winner from a stellar sequence of matchups throughout the nation? No one.
We’ll name the Energy 4 quest for supremacy a tentative draw by Week 1, pending the end result of intriguing video games Sunday and Monday.
Listed below are the data of the ACC, Massive Ten, Massive 12 and SEC towards one another:
ACC: 2-2, with Florida State’s win over Alabama because the headliner.
Massive 12: 1-3, with Utah’s blowout at UCLA because the lone victory.
Massive Ten: 2-1, with Ohio State’s takedown of Texas atop the record.
SEC: 3-2, with LSU’s win at Clemson considerably offsetting the losses by Texas and Alabama.
We’ll take a deeper dive into the facility convention pecking order after the vacation weekend schedule is full after which every week by the primary month of the season.
Success within the inter-conference duels isn’t merely about bragging rights on social media. It should affect the School Soccer Playoff choice course of.
