Empty the Call Sheet (Oct. 13)

Yogi's weekly Sunday newsletter written each week on the plane home from his game*

“Anybody got a heart rate monitor?”

That was Oregon head coach Dan Lanning’s opening sentence of his postgame press conference and with Week 7 in the books, it’s safe to assume that college football delivered once again.

In a week where there was hype in Eugene, dialogue around travel from coast-to-coast heated up and a Saturday that began in Iowa City (with a 9 a.m. Pacific start) and ended around midnight Pacific with Boise State in Honolulu, college football through the lens of the West Coast had it all. Plus, the national pregame shows all were hosted out West with ESPN in Eugene, FOX in Provo and CBS at the Coliseum.

This Sunday, thankfully, I’m writing today’s newsletter from my home in Los Angeles with a tall latte after calling an incredible Minnesota/UCLA game in the Big Ten Network’s prime-time window.

Sunset at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night

Speaking of last night's game, there was an epic sunset over the San Gabriel Mountains. As our BTN crew gushed over the scene in Pasadena, I took a moment and paused, realizing that we were perched at the 50-yard line in the most majestic setting in this sport and getting paid for it. Grateful would be the understatement of the weekend.

With that, a few teams made statements, a few have questions to answer and at mid-season, it’s time to rank my top 5 QBs on the West Coast. So here we go, a recap from Sea Level in Venice Beach from Week 7.

Statements:

• Dan Lanning’s DNA traits showed up. I can recall a few days after Oregon hired Dan Lanning. Their athletic director & I spoke and Rob Mullens said a line he has since repeated to countless others, “Dan has such a unique ability to connect with players.” That was evident upon arrival in Eugene and was even more clear back in 2012 when Lanning and I first met during his time as a graduate assistant at Arizona State. He was easy to talk to, driven to succeed and overall was just a great dude. As he rose through the ranks, his philosophy began to take shape and as he led team meetings with the Ducks, he shared the core DNA traits his program would be about. Connection, Growth, Toughness and Sacrifice. All of those were on a grand stage last night. Amid a back and forth game, this Oregon team had to stay connected. During a challenging opening two weeks amid criticism, this team had to grow. In the trenches against Chip Kelly and Ryan Day’s offense, they had to be tough. And time and time again, it was clear this team was unselfish with downfield blocks, sacrificing personal stats for the team's gain. When it comes to the game, this one was an instant classic and could have gone either way. After watching it once, I had one prevailing thought: let’s all hope we see it again. I’d pencil it in for the B1G Championship as these two clearly look like the top 2 teams in this new-look league.

  

  Dan Lanning following win over #2 Ohio State (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

• PSU breaks the trend! Coming into yesterday, teams in the B1G that had traveled 2+ time zones were 1-8 (with Washington becoming a 9th loss earlier in the day) and as the game unfolded it looked like that stat was going to continue to grow in the loss column. Not so fast my friends, as Tyler Warren did his best Dalton Kincaid impersonation and was dominant with 17 receptions, 224 yards and 1 TD. Nittany Lions QB and former Elite 11 finalist Drew Allar found his top target early and often. A lot was made about clock management at the end of the game for USC. Watching in real time, I felt the Trojans were clearly playing for overtime or a FG rather than a touchdown. They had 3 timeouts and allowed the clock to continue to burn under a minute, all the way down to :14 with a 3rd & 7 situation. A rare Miller Moss miss on that 3rd down was intercepted, which led to OT. If that pass is completed the Trojans have a chance to win the game on a FG and the clock management of Lincoln Riley is being praised. It’s a game of inches and seconds and for the Trojans, they have been a few inches short and needed a few more seconds on the clock in their 3 losses (by a combined 13 points). As Coach Riley said after, “It’s a gut punch, no doubt about it.” He’s right. It was and the Trojans head back east this weekend at Maryland. Expect his team to pick themselves up and go on a little run in what I’ll continue to call a “Foundational Year” at USC as they rebuild this storied program.

• Epic finish at the Rose Bowl. The Bruins played their most complete game of the season, but it still wasn’t enough. P.J. Fleck’s Minnesota team navigated the highs and lows of the game with a steadier hand and went on a game-winning drive late into the night. While no one is a fan of moral victories, I will say that UCLA has grown in every game this season. The defensive game plan from DeShaun Foster’s team was impressive, but when the Bruins needed one more stop the Golden Gophers made the play, checking the ball down to an open Darius Taylor to put Minnesota in front with 27 seconds left, leaving UCLA winless in the Big Ten. Our crew will be on the call for the Bruins’ game at Rutgers this Saturday on FS1 so more on that matchup later this week on the Y-Option podcast.

• I’m a Sun Devil! I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for the nostalgic and love the pomp and pageantry of college football. So give me a crowd rushing the field every weekend. That was the scene in Tempe and I can only imagine what Mill Avenue was like Friday night and knowing that place, Saturday night too. Kenny Dillingham’s team didn’t get lucky in their win over #16 Utah, they looked like the better team. I’m not privy to who the voters were in the Big 12 preseason poll, but they do not look great right now. Those voters picked ASU to finish 16th in the league this year, which is last in the new-look Big 12. They just knocked off the team who the same voters chose to win the league. Dillingham’s squad is playing with phenomenal effort, and they look like such a connected group on the field. Not a surprise with Dillingham coming from that initial Dan Lanning staff at Oregon and those 2 are the 2 youngest head coaches in the Power 4 conferences. And Cam Skattebo, is there a more enjoyable player to watch compete week in and week out?! Not for me. 

  

  Cam Skattebo on 1 of his 2 TD runs vs. Utah (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)

Questions:

• So what’s up with Utah? It was heartbreaking to watch Cam Rising not at his best Friday night. It was even harder to watch one of the top defensive tackles in the nation, Junior Tafuna, get choked up in the postgame press conference.

  The Utes must find ways to score touchdowns in the Red Zone and I think they will. I still wouldn’t be surprised to see them win the Big 12 in what is still a wide-open league. They play BYU and Iowa State at home and those two teams sit at the top of the Big 12 right now (alongside Texas Tech) at 3-0 in conference play. As a fan, I’ll be pulling for Rising and Utah, as I know how much he has poured into his craft after missing last year due to injury. As an analyst, it was clear that he hasn’t looked like the 2021 version of himself. In addition, the Utes are missing more tackles than ever before, something uncommon to a Kyle Whittingham team. 

• Can Cal win a close one? In a matchup I would have never predicted back in the early 2000s when playing at Pitt, the Cal Bears came into Pittsburgh for a conference game and left with another brutal loss. My Panthers improved to 6-0, their best mark since 1982! Justin Wilcox’s team continues to lose close games, as all of their losses this year are by a combined 8 points. That’s been a theme for the Bears, as they are 5-15 in one-score games since the start of the 2021 season.

• How’s the CFP shaping up out West? With Boise State and Heisman front-runner Austin Jeanty winning at Hawaii while he put up his 3rd 200+ yard game of the season, Boise State is in position to earn 1 of the 5 conference champion auto-bids if they can win the Mountain West (currently tied with UNLV and San Diego State, all 2-0 in conference play). They face Oregon State in their finale, which could have a huge impact on Washington State, should the Cougs can run the table in the back half of the season.

  The Ducks are in pole position in the Big Ten, currently tied with Penn State & Indiana at 3-0 in conference play. In the Big-12, BYU, Iowa State and Texas Tech are all 3-0 with ASU and Colorado in the conversation with just 1 conference loss each. Multiple-loss teams will make the CFP this year but how many outside of the SEC and Big Ten is the question. More on that this week on the Y-Option podcast.

• Is Travis Hunter ok? The most dynamic player in college football left the Buffs game before halftime last night in a loss to Kansas State. Let’s hope his shoulder injury is not too serious as he is must-see TV each weekend in CFB. Especially this Saturday in Tucson, as Hunter vs Tetairoa McMillan is the matchup of the season at CB/WR.

  

  Tetairoa McMillan Saturday at BYU (Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)

• What’s going on in Tucson? We’ve been getting a lot of questions about Year 1 with Brent Brennan. This team has not converted Red Zone trips into touchdowns at the rate needed to win the Big 12 and they are turning the ball over far too much as Noah Fifita has almost as many interceptions the last 2 weeks (5) as he did all of last season (6). After beating Utah on the road, it felt like the Wildcats would go on a run but have lost 2 straight - granted both to teams currently atop the conference standings. Losing Jacob Manu on the 4th play from scrimmage Saturday due to a targeting penalty didn’t help either. The Big 12 is a league full of random logos and on any given Saturday anyone can beat anyone. Back-to-back home games for Arizona is exactly what they need. 

• What’s happening in college football? This season is flying by and if you miss a day you could miss major changes to the landscape of this rapidly changing sport. This past week the transfer portal window changed, shrinking from 45 days to 30, with a 20-day window from December 9-28 and a 10-day stretch from April 16-25. I was hoping the spring portal window would be eliminated, but I understand why it wasn't, with the changes in roster sizes having to be at 105 next fall. Basically the player who gets cut, or released from teams in spring football will now have a window to land somewhere. Of course there will be dramatic unintended consequences with this window still being a part of the game. Let’s hope it’s no longer a part of the sport in 2026. Also, the NCAA Division I Council announced last week that it would eliminate the national letter of intent (NLI) program, you know the ole fax machine that began in 1964 where players signed a piece of paper and would be bound to go to that school. There was drama, storylines and hours upon hours of content. Now what? 

My Top 5 QBs Through the Lens of the West

1. Dillon Gabriel, Oregon. He was a Heisman favorite to start the season and he looked the part Saturday night and in my eyes, all season. If I had to send in a ballot today, he’d be on it.

2. Shedeur Sanders, Colorado. The Buffs can win out, or lose out. Either way, they go as Sanders goes and he’s been spinning it and making high-percentage decisions all season (completing over 80% of his passes the last 2 weeks).

3. Miller Moss, USC. His late game interception against Penn State was in stark contrast to his season thus far. He will bounce back.

4. John Mateer, Washington State. A true dual-threat QB he has proven to put this team on his back each weekend. The Cougs can win out and Mateer will have to be at his best to do that.

5. Will Rogers, Washington. He’s been relatively consistent all season but his margin for error is small as UW must win in the margins if they want to get back in the win column. A bye this week and the Huskies need to play their best ball at Indiana in two weeks.

Much love and many thanks for the support of Y-Option, as without your subscription none of this is possible.

Yogi