Y-Option's Go Go Go Awards - Week 2
Our distinct take on college football weekly awards and as always, seen through the lens of the West Coast
Week 2 is now complete and college football on the West Coast is rolling. The current Pac-12 is 4-0, the only undefeated conference in the country, while the former Pac-12 is a combined 21-2.
Time to give out our weekly awards here at Y-Option, with a very distinct West Coast flavor to them… Y-Option’s Go Go Go Awards presented by 76.
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:
“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 2 winners…
“My 5-Star QB” - Washington State’s John Mateer
Coming out of high school as a 3-star recruit and the 119th ranked QB in the Class of 2022 according to the 247 Composite, John Mateer has more touchdown passes this season than the four QBs from his class that were dubbed 5-star recruits.
But in Saturday night’s 37-16 win over Texas Tech, Mateer did most of his damage with his legs. The redshirt sophomore racked up 197 yards on the ground, the most ever by a Washington State QB in a game and the first Cougar signal caller to rush for 100+ in a game since Timm Rosenbach had 105 against Oregon in 1987.
The only FBS QB to run for over 130 yards in a game this season, the Little Elm, Texas native also had 115 pass yards and a score through the air against the team from his home state. Mateer threw for a career-high 352 yards and 5 touchdowns in the season-opening win over Portland State.
“Go Go Gone” - Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty
After being edged out for this award by Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan in Week 1, the Boise State running back just continued to put up big numbers in Week 2. While the Broncos dreams of dropping a Top 10 team in Eugene were dashed on the game’s final play, Ashton Jeanty put on a show with 192 yards on 25 carries and 3 touchdowns. The junior added 8 receiving yards on 2 catches to give him 200+ all-purpose yards for the 6th time in his career.
Jeanty had a 70-yard score to tie the game at 27-27 early in the 4th quarter for his 3rd run of 70+ yards this season and he’s the only player in FBS with multiple plays of 70+ yards.
The 2023 Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year currently leads the FBS in rushing yards (459), rush TD (9) and is the only player with at least 25 carries to have over 10 yards per carry (10.2 on 45 attempts). His rushing totals from the 2 games this season each rank among the Top 7 among all FBS players including the 267-yard performance in Week 1 that sits atop the 2024 leaderboard.
“That Dude!” - Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo
A finalist for the Paul Hornung Award last season, Cam Skattebo is used to doing a lot of different things to help the Sun Devils win. But in Saturday night’s 30-23 win over Mississippi State (ASU’s first ever win over an SEC team), he did one thing EXTREMELY well - run the ball.
The senior running back put 262 rush yards, a career-high and the 2nd most in Sun Devil history (topped only by Eno Benjamin’s 312 in 2018 against Oregon State). It’s the 2nd most rushing yards by anyone this season (see Jeanty above) and his 33 carries are the most by an FBS player in 2024 and most by a ASU back since Eno had 34 (twice, once in 2019 and once in 2018).
Perhaps most impressive is how Skattebo racked up these yards. 93 of them came in the 4th quarter including his game-high 39 on the final carry to seal the victory. The Sacramento State transfer had 12 runs of 10+ yards and all of those but that final rush were between 10-17 yards. To put into context, his 12 runs of 10+ yards in that game are more than any other player has total for the season.
“Headset Hero” - Cal’s Justin Wilcox
While we’re still getting used to Cal being in the ACC, but the one thing that has been familiar with a Justin Wilcox-coached team is going on the road to beat a Power 5 non-conference opponent
2017: 35-30 win at North Carolina
2018: 21-18 win at BYU
2019: 28-20 win at Ole Miss
And now you can add Saturday’s 21-14 win over Auburn on The Plains. The Bears defense forced 5 turnovers and turned them into 14 points and turned Jordan-Hare Stadium into “Bear Territory”. Nohl Williams had 2 of the defense’s 4 interceptions and Lu-Magia Hearns sealed the deal with a pick in the final minute.
Since 2007, Cal is now 4-1 against the SEC with the only loss coming last season at home to Auburn.