Y-Option's Go Go Go Awards - Week 11

Our distinct take on college football weekly awards and as always, seen through the lens of the West Coast

Nov 11, 2024

If Week 11 on the West Coast was a movie, it would be the Usual Suspects. The biggest stars all did what you’ve come to expect. John Mateer had 5 touchdowns. Ashton Jeanty ran for over 200 yards. Dillon Gabriel broke NCAA records. Shedeur Sanders & Travis Hunter put up big numbers in another Buffs win. On a team level it was less of what was expected in the preseason but more of the same of what we’ve seen the last month. Oregon and BYU continued their undefeated runs, Boise State remained perfect in conference play, while Colorado and Arizona State stayed in the thick of the Big 12 race. Washington State and UCLA also kept their win streaks alive.

A reminder on what these awards are: they will honor the top players and coaches of the week through the eyes of the West Coast. The 4 honors we will give out every week to coaches and players that pump passion into every play and just keep GO GO GO-ing:

“My 5-Star QB” - whether or not you were a 5-star recruit out of high school, you played like one this weekend.
“Go Go Gone” - the most explosive player of the week. Think big chunk plays as explosives and turnovers are the biggest predictor of wins and losses.
“That Dude!” - player who made an impact on either side of the ball. Not always about your numbers on the stat sheet.
“Headset Hero” - either a head coach or assistant coach who had their team ready and/or made the right in-game adjustments

Here are our Week 11 winners as we keep you in the know and on the GO GO GO!

“My 5-Star QB” - Washington State QB John Mateer

The first 3-time winner of this award of course must go to the 119th ranked QB in the Class of 2022. Saturday night in the 49-28 win over Utah State, John Mateer threw for 4 touchdowns and ran for another as Washington State improved to 8-1. It was the 4th time this season that Mateer has been responsible for 5 or more touchdowns, becoming the first FBS QB to do it 4 times this season.

Mateer split his touchdowns evenly with 2 passing scores in the first half, one in each quarter, and 2 more in the second half - both in the 4th quarter. The redshirt sophomore picked up his lone rushing TD, a 1-yard score, in the 3rd quarter to give him 4 straight games with a touchdown on the ground. The Cougs’ signal caller has 11 rushing scores this season, tying him with the school’s single season record by a QB.

Mateer had 179 passing yards, just the 3rd time this season he was under 200 yards in a game but had 4 or more passing touchdowns for the 3rd time this season. The Little Elm, Texas native did have 55 yards rushing, the 5th time this season he’s rushed for 50+ yards, and his 630 yards on the season is the most ever by a WSU QB.

“Go Go Gone” - Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty

For the 4th time this season but 1st time in over a month, the Boise State star wins our Go Go Gone Award. In Saturday’s 28-21 win over Nevada, Ashton Jeanty ran for 209 yards on 34 attempts and 3 touchdowns. It was the 4th time this season topping 200 yards and 5th time he’s run for at least 3 scores.

Jeanty showed off his explosive speed once again with 6 runs for at least 10 yards with 2 of those runs going for at least 30 yards. The junior has 38 rushes this season that have gone for 10+ yards, 2nd most in FBS this season and his 13 carries of 30+ yards leads the country. Those 13 runs of 30+ yards are tied for the 2nd most in FBS over the last 5 seasons, 1 behind Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon who had 14 last season.

Standing on the verge of a 2,000 yard season, Jeanty leads the country with 1,734 rushing yards and 23 rushing touchdowns. His rushing total this season is the 2nd most in school history, needing just 89 yards to tie Jay Ajayi’s record of 1,823 from 2014. He needs 5 more rushing touchdowns to tie Ajayi’s record of 28 from that same season.

“That Dude!” - Oregon DE Jordan Burch

In early October, Oregon sent a message with a 31-10 win over Michigan State and Jordan Burch was one of the primary messengers, registering a career-high 2.5 sacks as they stomped out the Spartans. But the next week, he suffered an injury in practice forcing him to miss the next 3 games, including the Game of the Year against #2 Ohio State.

After returning in last week’s win over Michigan in the Big House, Burch showed just how valuable and versatile player he can be Saturday against Maryland. In the 2nd quarter with the Ducks up 7-3, Maryland had moved the ball into Oregon territory and had a 3rd & 6 from 39 yard line. But Burch coming around the end, completely blew up the Terps’ left tackle to get the strip sack on QB Billy Edwards Jr. from the blind side and then he watched Brandon Johnson scoop up the fumble and return it 62 yards for the score.

Then in the 3rd quarter with Oregon up 21-10, the Ducks found themselves a bit stagnated and in 4th & 3 from their own 21 yard line. Lined up in punt formation but instead of the snap going to punter Ross James it went direct to Burch as one of the upbacks. The 6’6”, 295 pound senior took it to the outside and then turned on the jets including a little juke near midfield that added close to 15 yards to his first ever collegiate rushing attempt. The 36-yard run actually made him the Ducks 2nd leading rusher on the evening.

“Headset Hero” - UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster

In a preseason media poll this summer, UCLA was picked to finish 15th out of 18 teams as their welcome to the Big Ten. And while it has not been a true Cinderella Story in Westwood this season, the Bruins find themselves exactly in the middle of the conference standings, tied with Washington and Michigan - the 2 teams who played for the National Championship just 10 months ago. After opening the season with a win at Hawai’i, UCLA dropped 5 straight games. But after Friday night’s win over Iowa, the Bruins now have won 3 straight and a bowl game still remains a possibility.

The 20-17 win over the Hawkeyes, a team that was already bowl eligible, was arguably the most complete performance from DeShaun Foster’s Bruins. UCLA topped 400 yards for the 2nd time this season thanks to a season-high 211 rush yards (the previous high this season was 139, a number they topped in all but 3 games last year). TJ Harden had 125 yards on the ground, the first Bruin to top 100 yards this season with new offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy.

Perhaps more impressive was the defensive performance under coordinator Ikaika Malloe. After the Hawkeyes had turned a pair of interceptions into a 10-0 lead in the 1st quarter, the Bruins D put on the clamps only allowing 1 more score the rest of the game. Facing an Iowa offense that had the 10th best rushing offense in the country at over 222 yards per game, the Bruins allowed just 80 yards rushing with likely All-American running back Kaleb Johnson getting just 49 yards on 18 carries. UCLA scored 10 points off 3 Iowa turnovers and improved to 4-1 this season in games where they did not lose the turnover margin. Carson Schwesinger continued to be the star of the Bruins defense with a pair of interceptions, the first 2 of his career.