A reminder on what these awards are: they will honor the top players and coaches from the 2024 season through the eyes of the West Coast. The 4 honors we will give out, just like we did every week of the regular season, go 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 season.

• “Go Go Gone” - the most explosive player of the season. 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 winners for the 2024 season as we keep you in the know and on the GO GO GO!

“My 5-Star QB” - Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel

In the summer of 2018, a young 2-star recruit from Hawaii committed to Army before signing with UCF that fall as coaches around the country took notice. Fast forward to 2025 and Dillon Gabriel is now a Big Ten Champion who has played in more career games and thrown more career TD passes than any QB in FBS history.

A 2-time “My 5-Star QB” winner in the regular season, Gabriel’s lone season in Eugene after transferring from Oklahoma was a roaring success. The 6th year senior led the Ducks to a conference championship in their first season in the Big Ten and a first round bye in the College Football Playoff, going 13-1 with their lone loss to eventual national champion Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.

The Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year finished 3rd in the Heisman voting to become the 5th Oregon player to be a finalist for the award and 3rd Ducks QB, joining Bo Nix from last year and his idol Marcus Mariota who won it in 2014. Gabriel finished in the Top 10 nationally in passing yards (3,857, 10th), pass TD (30, T-8th), completion percentage (72.9, 3rd) and passer rating (164.9, 7th).

“Go Go Gone” - Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty

The 2024 season for Ashton Jeanty began in a meeting room at the Bellagio Casino and Resort. A media day for one - as across town the Mountain West Conference media days were at a casino with a 21-and-over policy and the 20-year-old running back unable to participate. But by the end of the season, Jeanty was a household name to college football fans across the country.

The winner of both the Maxwell Award (top player) and Doak Walker Award (top running back), Jeanty lead the nation in rushing yards with 2,601 which is the 2nd most in CFB history and just 27 yards from matching Barry Sanders single-season record. He rushed for at least 100 yards in all 14 games, topping 200 yards in 6 of them. The junior finished 2nd in the Heisman balloting, appearing on 95% of the total ballots, leading the Broncos to a Mountain West Championship and their 1st appearance in the CFP.

But the “Go Go Gone Award” goes to the most explosive player and Jeanty was clearly that as he won this weekly award 6 times this season. 25 runs of 20+ yards led the country. 12 runs of 50+ yards were more than double any player this year and the most since Stanford’s Bryce Love had 13 in 2017. 5 runs of 70+ yards were again more than double any player this year and the most since Arizona’s Khalil Tate also had 5 in 2017.

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“That Dude!” - Colorado CB/WR Travis Hunter

When you win the Heisman Trophy for your elite play on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball, its hard to not choose Colorado’s Travis Hunter for the 2024 “That Dude!” Award. The Buffs megastar became just the 2nd player ever to win the Heisman while playing significant snaps on both sides of the ball, joining Michigan’s Charles Woodson from 1997, while also becoming the 1st player in the 135 years of the Walter Camp All-American Team to be named 1st team on both offense and defense.

Hunter led a Colorado turnaround, from 4-8 and last in the Pac-12 in 2023 to 9-4 and tied for 1st in their first season rejoining the Big 12. A 3-time winner of the weekly “That Dude!” Award, Hunter racked up 15 receiving touchdowns (T-2nd in FBS & a school record) with 96 catches for 1,258 yards (both Top 3 in Colorado history). On defense, he added 36 tackles, 4 interceptions, 11 pass breakups, and a game-winning forced fumble in an overtime win over Baylor. The 7th unanimous All-American in Colorado history, also hit the books as the 2024 Academic All-American of the Year.

The amount of hardware he took home this season was incredible. Hunter became the 1st player to win both the Biletnikoff Award (top receiver) and Bednarik Award (top defensive player). The junior also claimed the AP Player of the Year, Walter Camp Player of the Year, Sporting News Player of the Year, Lott IMPACT Award (defense) and of course became the first player to win consecutive Paul Hornung Awards (most versatile).

“Headset Hero” - Arizona State Head Coach Kenny Dillingham

The impact of Kenny Dillingham in Tempe is tough to truly quantify but we’ll try with this stat. The Sun Devils won 11 games in 2024, almost double of what they had won the previous 2 seasons combined (3-9 in both 2022 & 2023). Picked last in the Big 12’s preseason media poll, Arizona State won the conference championship and made the College Football Playoff while putting the rest of the country on notice that the “sleeping giant” was now fully awake.

It took awhile for the college football world to take notice of Dillingham’s team as they didn’t enter the AP Poll until mid-November when they were 8-2 and that same week debuted in the CFP rankings at #21. But a 6-game win streak culminated with a 45-19 blowout victory of Iowa State in the Big 12 Championship Game to send ASU to their first ever CFP along with a first round bye.

Dillingham’s spirit fed into his players and especially into All-American Cam Skattebo who finished 5th in the Heisman voting, the best performance by a Sun Devil since Jake Plummer in 1996. In just his 2nd season coaching his hometown team, Dillingham was named Big 12 Coach of the Year as well as a finalist for multiple national Coach of the Year awards.

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 14 winners as we keep you in the know and on the GO GO GO!

“My 5-Star QB” - Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders

With any other name, the buzz around the #26 rated quarterback in the Class of 2021 would be fairly low, especially for one that decided to go to an FCS university out of high school. But the Sanders name brings expectations and notoriety and with the highest NIL valuation in college football, Shedeur Sanders has been in the spotlight since Day 1. And while his first season in Boulder had more statistics than wins, Year 2 with the Buffs has been something that will forever make him a Colorado legend.

Black Friday was truly a dark day for Oklahoma State’s defense having to go against Sanders and the Buffs. The senior (on Senior Day no less) was 34-41 with 438 pass yards and 5 scores through the air. It was the 2nd time this season and 4th time in his career he’s eclipsed 400 yards and tied his career high in passing touchdowns (the 4th time he’s done it and 2nd in a Buffs uniform). The 82.9 completion percentage is his 3rd highest in a game since moving to Boulder.

While the tiebreakers left Colorado out of the Big 12 Championship Game, the 9-3 Buffs will have a solid bowl game in their future which their head coach (aka Shedeur’s dad) has made it known that #2 will be playing in the postseason. Sanders will have a chance to extend the school’s single-season passing record that he broke this weekend (that he also broke in 2023). The 2024 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm winner already has the Colorado single-season record for completions and passing touchdowns and is on pace to break his own records from last year in completion percentage and QB rating. He needs just 1 TD pass to tie the school’s career record of 63 held by Cody Hawkins & Steven Montez.

“Go Go Gone” - Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty

Its one of the all-time great seasons by a college football running back. And not just because he is now a 6-time winner of the “Go Go Gone” Award. Friday against future conference rival Oregon State, the Boise State superstar put on yet another epic performance to lead his team to a 34-18 win over the Beavers to end the regular season with 10 straight wins.

Ashton Jeanty logged a career-high 37 carries for 226 yards and a score, his 9th straight game with at least 1 rushing touchdown. It was Jeanty’s 7th career game with 200+ rushing yards to tie a Mountain West Conference record and the 5th time doing it this season. He also racked up the explosive runs with 7 runs of 10+ yards including a 60-yard scamper. Jeanty now has 9 runs of 60+ yards this season, the most by an FBS player since at least 2016 and more than double any player this season.

Jeanty heads into the Mountain West Conference Championship Game (in a rematch of the 2023 game with UNLV) with 2,288 rushing yards this season, the 5th most in college football history and most since Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon in 2014. His 29 rushing touchdowns is tied for the school record and 9th most in college football history. Meanwhile, his 312 rush attempts this season don’t even register in the Top 100 all-time.

“That Dude!” - Colorado CB/WR Travis Hunter

The current betting favorite for this year’s Heisman also calls Colorado home. And now Travis Hunter matches Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo as a 3-time “That Dude!” winner this season.

Friday morning, Hunter racked up 10 catches for 116 yards and 3 scores on offense with an interception and 2 PBU on defense, proving to be a the most unique player in college football this season:

• 1st FBS player with 3 touchdowns and an interception in the same game since at least 1996

• 1st FBS player with multiple games with multiple touchdowns and an interception in the same game since at least 1996. Of the 4 times it has happened in that span, Hunter has 2 of them.

• Tied school record with 3 receiving touchdowns in a game, done 6 times previously in school history including Hunter in Week 1 vs. North Dakota State. And is the only player in CU history to do it multiple times.

• Extended his school record with a 7th game this season with 100+ receiving yards this season, while his 10 career games with 100+ yards is 3rd in Buffs’ history.

• 14 receiving touchdowns this season, breaking the Colorado record of 12 set by Nelson Spruce in 2014.

• Becomes 2nd player in CU history with 90+ catches, trailing only Spruce’s record of 106, also in 2014.

On the season, Hunter ranks in the Top 10 in all the receiving categories: 5th in receptions (94), 5th in receiving yards (1,152) and 2nd in touchdowns (14). He’s tied for 15th in the country with 4 interceptions and his 11 PBU’s are tied for 11th.

“Headset Hero” - Oregon head coach Dan Lanning

The only remaining unbeaten in college football continued their dominance in their first season in the Big Ten Conference by beating a familiar foe. The Ducks beat their rival Huskies by 28 points, their largest margin of victory over Washington since 2012, to reach 12-0 for the 2nd time in program history. At the same time, it gave Dan Lanning his 1st win over Washington after going 0-3 against them the last 2 seasons.

It was a fairly dominant performance for the Ducks, outscoring their rivals in all 4 quarters and nearly doubling them in total yards (458-244). The defense showed off their patented aggression, tying the school record with 10 sacks while racking up 16 TFL, the most by an Oregon squad since at least the 2006 season, as they held UW to a season-low 43 rush yards. The 49 points matched their season high, ironically against their other rivals, Oregon State, back in September. The Ducks finished their home season 7-0 for the 2nd year in a row, 7th time in program history and have won 15 straight overall at Autzen Stadium.

Oregon will now head to Indianapolis for their first ever Big Ten Championship Game where they will meet Penn State for the first time since the Rose Bowl following the 1994 season. With a win, the Ducks would be guaranteed a bye in the first round of the expanded College Football Playoff. Dillon Gabriel will also have the opportunity to break the FBS career record for starts as a quarterback of 63, set last season by then Oregon QB Bo Nix.

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 13 winners as we keep you in the know and on the GO GO GO!

“My 5-Star QB” - Cal QB Fernando Mendoza

“I’m gonna remember going 98 yards with my boys”

Down 21-10 at the start of the 4th quarter, Fernando Mendoza may not have seemed to be the likeliest winner of this week’s award. But the 2-Star recruit out of high school according the 247 Composite put a show in the 4th quarter to keep The Axe in Berkeley for the 4th straight year.

Cal’s 1st drive of the 4th quarter started at their own 29-yard line with 13:58 remaining. Mendoza lead the Bears on an 11-play, 71-yard drive that culminated with a 30-yard score from Mendoza to cut the lead to 5 (the 2-point conversion was incomplete). Stanford followed that by driving in to Bears’ territory but stalled out and forced to punt. Cardinal punter Aidan Flintoft was able to pin Cal at their 2-yard line with 7:45 remaining. Mendoza then marched the Bears on an 11-play, 98-yard drive that once again ended with Brady, this time a 22-yard touchdown that along with the 2-point conversion gave Cal a 24-21 victory in the 127th edition of the Big Game.

Mendoza went went 6-7 for 64 yards on that final drive and in fact, 156 of his 299 passing yards in the game came in the 4th quarter. The Miami native also topped 3,000 passing yards for the 1st time in his career, becoming the 7th QB in school history to reach that milestone. And for good measure, Mendoza added a 50-yard run in the 2nd quarter which is the longest run by a Bears QB since at least 1996.

“Go Go Gone” - Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty

With 3 of their last 5 wins coming by 7 points or less, there might be the impression that Boise State star Ashton Jeanty is slowing down. But “slow” is not really in his vocabulary. In a 17-13 win at Wyoming on Saturday, the junior ran for 169 yards on just 19 attempts (thanks to getting banged up in the 3rd quarter) with a touchdown. He also topped 2,000 yards for the season, becoming the first player in school history to do it and first FBS payer to reach that milestone since 2019.

A now 5-time winner of this award, Jeanty continued to show his explosive side with a 61-yard TD run in the 1st quarter. It was his 7th touchdown of 60+ yards this season and 8th overall run of 60+ yards this season, the most by any FBS player since at least 2016. It was also his 10th run of 50+ yards this season, tied for the most by an FBS player since 2018 (Memphis’ Darrell Henderson) and in this game had 5 runs of 15+ yards.

Jeanty actually left the game early in the 3rd quarter, limping to the sideline after getting banged up after a tackle. He returned in the 4th quarter and ran for 15 yards on his first carry after returning. In fact, he ran 4 times for 53 yards on that drive to get up Boise’s go-ahead and eventual game-winning touchdown with 5:02 remaining. Jeanty has rushed for at least 127 yards in every game this season and now leads the country in rushing yards (2,062), rushing TD (27), rush YPG (187.5), total TD (28) and total points scored (168).

“That Dude!” - Arizona State RB Cam Skattebo

No less impressive this week was the star running back from Arizona State, who is now a 3-time winner of the That Dude! award. In what turned out to be one of the wildest games of a bonkers Saturday in college football, #21 Arizona State upset #14 BYU 28-23 to go 6-0 at home for their first perfect slate at Sun Devil Stadium since 2004.

Cam Skattebo was the best player on the field, racking up 147 rush yards on 28 attempts with a career-high 3 touchdowns, all of them coming in the first half. Skattebo gave the Devils a 7-0 lead on the opening drive after punching one in from 3 yards out. After BYU picked off ASU on their 2nd possession, Kenny Dillingham’s squad reached the end zone on their next 2 drives. Skattebo had a 4-yard run to make it 14-0 before a 23-yard score by the senior (with an impromptu autograph sesssion) gave ASU a 21-0 lead right before the half. Points were tougher to find in the 2nd half, but Skattebo still had 51 yards on the ground after halftime.

Skattebo is now 2nd in the country (behind Jeanty) with 168.1 all-purpose yards per game as he’s the only player in the country with over 1,000 yards rushing and 450 yards receiving. The 2023 Paul Hornung Award finalist is 10th in the country in rush yards with 1,221 which also happens to be the 10th most in ASU single-season history.

“Headset Hero” - Oregon State head coach Trent Bray

Entering the game with a roster decimated by injuries and riding a 5-game losing streak, not many were picking Oregon State to win the unofficial Pac-12 Championship Game against Washington State. But Trent Bray’s team swatted away the non-believers has his Beavers upset the Cougars 41-38, thanks to a season-long 55-yard field goal by Everett Hayes with 20 seconds remaining.

Oregon State set a season-high with the 41 points while their 484 total yards and 314 pass yards were their most in over a month. The game featured 7 lead changes with the Beavers scoring the games final 10 points in the last 2:45 of the the game. Ben Gulbranson, who missed last week’s loss at Air Force with a concussion, completed his first 11 pass attempts and had 294 pass yards with 2 scores through the air and another on the ground. The game-winning FG was setup by a fumble recovery from cornerback Jaden Robinson, one of the team’s leaders who missed 4 games in the middle of the season.

The Beavers now must win their season finale at Boise State to become bowl eligible. Oregon State is 1-3 all-time in Boise with the only win coming back in 1989. The Broncos have won the last 3 meetings including the last matchup in 2010 when the #3 team in the country led by Chris Petersen beat the Beavs 37-24.

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 12 winners as we keep you in the know and on the GO GO GO!

“My 5-Star QB” - New Mexico QB Devon Dampier

It was a game where 2 quarterbacks went back and forth making play after play and luckily for the Lobos, their QB made the final big play of the game. A former 3-star recruit and #88 quarterback in the Class of 2023, New Mexico’s Devon Dampier continued to prove himself against competition from bigger conferences as he led his team to a 38-35 win over #18 Washington State, the school’s first win over a ranked opponent since 2003.

The sophomore from Scottsdale’s Saguaro High School, where he played for current Arizona State tight ends coach Jason Mohns, did damage against the Cougars with both his arm and his legs. Dampier ran for 193 yards and 3 scores including the game-winning 1-yard TD run with 21 seconds left. He added 174 yards passing and 42-yard TD pass in the 2nd quarter.

While the only other official visit Dampier took out of high school was to Yale, he has proven this season to belong in big time college football. In Week 2 against Arizona, Dampier had 260 pass yards and 3 passing TD with 130 rushing yards and 2 scores against the Wildcats becoming 1 of just 2 FBS QB this season to have 3 pass TD, 2 rush TD and 100+ rush yards in the same game. Since 2014, he’s just 1 of 13 FBS QBs to have over 2,500 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing in the same season joining Heisman winners Lamar Jackson, Jayden Daniels and Kyler Murray. His 16 rushing TD this season are tied for 8th most in FBS and only behind Army’s Bryson Daily & Alabama’s Jalen Milroe amongst QBs.

“Go Go Gone” - Stanford WR Emmett Mosley V

A 3-star recruit from Southern California, Emmett Mosley V showed flashes in spring ball as an early enrollee true freshman this year. But injuries kept Mosley off the field at the start of the season, not making his season debut until Week 4 at Clemson where he grabbed 7 passes for 48 yards and a touchdown. Those numbers still stood as his career highs as #22 Louisville headed The Farm this weekend, but he topped all 3 in the battle of Cardinal vs. Cardinals.

Mosley re-wrote the Stanford freshman record book with 13 catches and 3 receiving touchdowns, while his 168 receiving yards are the 3rd most ever by a Cardinal true freshman in a game - trailing only Mark Harris (189 in 1993) and Richard Sherman (177 in 2006). The 13 catches are the most by any true freshman in FBS this season, the 3 receiving TD tied with 2 others for the most and the 168 yards are the 3rd most by a true freshman nationally this season.

Perhaps most important was the timing of his scores. After Louisville went up 35-21 with just under 10 minutes to go, Mosley scored 2 of his 3 touchdowns in the final 7 minutes to tie the game. In fact, his final touchdown came on a 4th & 1 with 48 seconds left. Backup quarterback Justin Lamson faked the handoff and then hit Mosley across the middle for a diving 25-yard TD. The Cardinal would then kick a game-winning 52-yard field goal as time expired to snap a 16-game losing streak against ranked opponents and a 12-game home losing streak to FBS opponents.

“That Dude!” - Colorado CB/WR Travis Hunter

As someone who could win this award pretty much every week he suits up, Colorado’s do-everything CB/WR Travis Hunter put up an absolute highlight reel in Saturday’s 49-24 win over Pac-12/Big 12 rival Utah.

As a receiver, Hunter had 5 receptions for 55 yards, highlighted by a circus catch late in the 2nd quarter. On 4th & 8 from the Utah 34, Shedeur Sanders had pressure up the middle and lofted one up to the 10-yard line where Hunter elevated and high-pointed a catch over 2 Utah defenders. The next play, Colorado punched it in the end zone for a 21-6 lead.

As a defender, Hunter made 3 tackles and was in the right place at the right time to catch a deflection for his 3rd interception of the season. He followed that play with a statement, striking the Heisman pose.

And for the first this season, as a runner. Late in the 4th quarter, Colorado ran a reverse with Hunter - a play that looked possibly designed for Hunter to throw a TD to Shedeur Sanders. But Sanders and 2 Utes guarding him and 4 more defenders cut off Hunter’s path to the sideline. So the junior reversed his field, turned on the jets, and dove into the end zone from the 3-yard line. The first rushing touchdown of his career.

Hunter finished the day playing 132 snaps, all 67 snaps on defense and all 65 snaps on offense.

“Headset Hero” - Arizona State Head Coach Kenny Dillingham

From being picked last in the Big 12 preseason media poll to now being a game out of 1st place in the conference race, its hard to find a better story in college football this season than Arizona State. Kenny Dillingham has his Sun Devils 8-2 for the first time since 2013.

ASU pulled off the upset of #16 Kansas State in Manhattan thanks to a hot start. The Sun Devils led 21-0 nothing and scored the game’s first 24 points on their way to a 24-14 victory. They handed Kansas State their first home loss of the season (had been 4-0) and its Arizona State’s first road win over a ranked team since 2021 at UCLA.

The stars of the Sun Devil offense did their part. Quarterback Sam Leavitt had 275 pass yards and his 3rd straight game with 3 pass TD and 0 interceptions. Receiver Jordan Tyson set new career highs with 12 receptions and 176 yards and had his 3rd multi-TD game of his career. And last but not least, do-everything running back Cam Skattebo had 73 yards on the ground and 44 yards receiving for his 6th straight game with 100+ total yards.

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.

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 10 winners as we keep you in the know and on the GO GO GO!

“My 5-Star QB” - UCLA QB Ethan Garbers

A 2nd straight road game (with a bye week in between) and a 2nd straight UCLA victory makes Ethan Garbers a 2-time winner of the “My 5-Star QB” award. Garbers led the Bruins to a 27-20 victory at Nebraska, giving DeShaun Foster’s squad back-to-back road wins for the first time since 2022. UCLA is actually 3-2 on the road this season while still searching for their first win at the Rose Bowl in 2024.

Garbers was extremely efficient through the air on Saturday, completing 17-of-25 passes for 219 yards and 2 scores. His 8.76 yards per attempt were his second highest of the season, trailing only his previous game (10.08 ypa) at Rutgers. Over his last 2 games, the redshirt senior has completed 49-of-63 passes (77.8%) for 602 yards with 6 TD and 0 INT. Compare that to his first 5 games this season when he completed 60.1% of his passses with 4 TD and 9 INT.

The former 4-star recruit from Newport Beach also did it with his legs. Garbers led the team in rushing for the 2nd straight week, racking up 56 yards on 6 attempts including a career-long 57 yard scamper. The Bruins racked up a season-high 139 rushing yards, their first time breaking 100 yards this season after doing it in 11 of 13 games last season.

“Go Go Gone” - Oregon WR Traeshon Holden

The high point of the Ducks season so far is their thrilling 32-31 win over then #2 Ohio State on October 12th. Unfortunately for Traeshon Holden, the memory of him in that game will be of him being ejected for spitting on Ohio State defensive back Davison Igbinosun. Holden penned an apology after the game but the Ducks sat him out of their next game at Purdue.

The former Alabama transfer returned for the Illinois game with 2 receptions for 7 yards but it was apparent early on Saturday he would be needed for more after Tez Johnson left the game during Oregon’s first series at Michigan. Johnson appeared to land on his shoulder after going out of bounds on a reception and only returned to the sidelines in street clothes with his right arm apparently in a sling. Holden took the opportunity and ran with it… literally.

A former 4-star recruit in the Class of 2020 out of Narbonne in Southern California, Holden matched his career-high with 6 catches while nearly doubling his previous career high with 149 receiving yards. While none of them reached the end zone, Holden had 3 catches of 35+ yards (38, 44, 47) and all 3 of them led directly to Oregon touchdowns.

After the game, his quarterback Dillon Gabriel praised his teammate for how far he’s come the last few weeks. "The way he's practiced, even these past two weeks, it's different, and I respect him for it," Gabriel said. "I'm extremely proud of him, I told him that, but got a bunch of belief in him as a player and a person... You just look a guy that week, and then you look at him now, he's worked his butt off to get to this point."

“That Dude!” - Arizona State RB Cam Skattebo

Perhaps no player in college football describes what the “That Dude!” award is all about more than Cam Skattebo. That’s probably why the Sun Devil running back becomes the first to win this award twice this season.

Its not just that he put up 274 yards from scrimmage (153 rush, 121 receiving) in Saturday’s 42-21 win at Oklahoma State. Its about how he does it with a flair for the dramatic. Think 2nd quarter of a 7-7 game and the Sun Devils facing 4th and 1 at the 50-yard line. After striking out on two 4th down attempts in the loss to Cincinnati, Kenny Dillingham and Marcus Arroyo didn’t get gun shy on the call. Skattebo slipped out of the backfield where Sam Leavitt found him wide open just past the line of scrimmage and the senior won the footrace to the end zone for a 50-yards score.

The list of Skattebo accolades from this game is long, here’s a sampling:

• Only Sun Devil to have 150+ rush yards and 100+ receiving yards in the game since at least 1996

• 1 of 2 Sun Devils since at least 1996 to have 100+ yards rush and 100+ yards receiving in the same game since Demario Richard in 2015 vs. New Mexico (151 receiving, 104 rushing)

• Only FBS player this season to have 150+ rush yards and 100+ receiving yards in the same game. Just the 5th time its happened since 2020, 3 times last year (Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon, Missouri’s Cody Schrader, & Memphis’ Blake Watson)

• Only Sun Devil since at least 1996 to have multiple games of 250+ scrimmage yards, not just in the same season but period

• 1 of 2 FBS players to have multiple games this season with 250+ scrimmage yards along with Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty

Skattbo also topped 1,000 rush yards on the season in the game and his 1,001 rush yards are 7th most in FBS this season while his 11 rush TD is tied for 14th most. His 404 receiving yards are 2nd most by an FBS running back this season while his 1,405 scrimmage yards are 4th most in FBS.

“Headset Hero” - Oregon head coach Dan Lanning

While the Michigan team they beat on Saturday does not really resemble the incumbent National Champion Wolverines, what the Ducks did on Saturday is no less impressive. Oregon pummeled Michigan to the tune of a 38-17 beatdown, befitting of the now unanimous #1 team in the land. Dan Lanning’s squad is the first road team to win by 21+ points in the Big House since 2020 (Wisconsin, 49-11)

Now 9-0 for just the 3rd time in program history, Oregon outgained Michigan 470-270 which is the most yards racked up by a visiting team at the Big House since Ohio State in 2019. Michigan was only able to muster up 111 yards in the 1st half and punted on 4 of their first 5 possessions with the lone score in that stretch coming after a muffed punt return. The Ducks have put up 400+ total yards in 8 of their 9 games this season and now have scored 30+ points in 8 straight games.

On the season, the Ducks rank in the Top 25 in both scoring offense (23rd, 35.3 PPG) and scoring defense (10th, 15.8 PPG) while also being ranked in the Top 10 in passing efficiency both on offense (7th, 169.15) and defense (8th, 107.79). Oregon’s final 3 games of the regular season are against Maryland, at Wisconsin and finishing up at home with rival Washington.

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 9 winners as we keep you in the know and on the GO GO GO!

“My 5-Star QB” - Cal QB Fernando Mendoza

In the fall of 2021, Cal had their 4-Star QB recruit flip his commitment to UCLA, leaving a hole in their recruiting class. Bill Musgrave, then the Bears offensive coordinator, got a tip from a friend who was mentoring a little-known QB in Miami, the #134 quarterback in the Class of 2022 named Fernando Mendoza who was committed to Yale. After an informal throwing session turned into a scholarship offer, Mendoza flipped from the Ivy League to the Pac-12 the day before signing day.

The Saturday against Oregon State, in his 17th game and 16th start for Cal, the redshirt sophomore had the best statistical game of his career. A career-high 364 passing yards with 299 of them coming in the 1st half. Completed a career-high 75% of his passes (27-36) with 10.11 yards per attempt, the 2nd highest of his career. And threw for 2 scores without an interception while also adding his first ever receiving touchdown - receiving a lateral from Jaivian Thomas after Thomas caught a pass from Mendoza.

Mendoza’s efforts also helped Cal snap a heartbreaking losing streak that saw the Bears lose 4 straight games by a combined 9 points in their first 4 conference games in the ACC. And they did it by beating Oregon State in a non-conference game, the first time they’ve faced each other while not in the same conference since 1960 (Cal was part of the AAWU while OSU was independent).

“Go Go Gone” - USC WR Makai Lemon

A top 50 recruit in the Class of 2023 out of nearby Los Alamitos, Makai Lemon was destined to be a big playmaker for his hometown Trojans. As a true freshman last season he saw limited action but flashed promise and connection with Miller Moss in the bowl game victory over Louisville, with 2 catches for 75 yards.

The 2024 season had gotten off to a slow start with just 7 catches through USC’s first 5 games. But he set career highs in back-to-back games, first with 6 catches for 73 yards against Penn State and then grabbing 8 balls at Maryland for 89 yards.

Lemon saved his most explosive performance though for Friday Night Lights at the Coliseum, in a game broadcast on FOX following one of the most dramatic games in World Series, taking place just a few miles away at Chavez Ravine. The fireworks started in the 1st quarter with the Trojans already up 7-3, Lemon, in his first game as the team’s primary kick returner, grabbed a kickoff at the goal line and returned it 80 yards, setting up one of Woody Marks’ 3 rushing TD. Then in the 3rd quarter after Rutgers closed the lead to 8, Lemon caught a crossing route off of play-action and weaved back and forth across the field for another 70 yards to set up a Miller Moss touchdown run. 2 drives later, it Lemon again, this time grabbing a pass across the middle and outracing the defense to the end zone for a 40-yard score to put the Scarlett Knights away and snap a 3-game losing streak.

The sophomore finished the game with 4 catches for a new career-high 134 yards with a score and another 122 yards on 3 kickoff returns.

“That Dude!” - Washington State DL Ansel Din-Mbuh

Washington State is 7-1 for the first time since 2018 and the offense led by quarterback John Mateer is rightfully getting a lions share of the attention. But Saturday night, the defense played a huge role in the Cougars comeback victory over San Diego State. The D racked up a season-high 8 TFL and 4 sacks, the most for Jake Dickert’s squad since they had 5 sacks against Colorado last season including 4 of Shedeur Sanders.

Sophomore Ansel Din-Mbuh led the way with a career-high 3 sacks and 4 TFL. Din-Mbuh, who picked up his first 1.5 sacks of his career just the week prior against Hawai’i, got it started in the 1st quarter when he dropped SDSU quarterback Danny O’Neil for a 7-yard loss. Then in the 2nd quarter, with Javance Tupou’ata-Johnson now in at QB, Din-Mbuh picked up his 2nd sack with a 6-yard loss on a drive that ended with a turnover on downs. His final sack came in the 3rd quatter, a 1-yard loss with O’Neil back in the game. Din-Mbuh became the 1st Cougar with 3 sacks in a game since 2022.

“Headset Hero” - BYU Head Coach Kalani Sitake

In the illustrious history of BYU football, the Cougars have started a season 8-0 five times. Kalani Sitake can now say he was the head coach of 2 of those 5 squads, matching his start from the 2020 season, a team that finished 11-1. In fact, Sitake joins legendary BYU coach LaVell Edwards as the only head coaches in program history to have multiple 8-0 starts.

The Cougars picked up a 37-24 win at UCF on Saturday to improve to 5-0 in Big 12 play in a game where the 3-4 Knights were actually 2.5 point favorites. BYU jumped out to a 17-0 lead early in the 2nd quarter and were up 34-10 entering the 4th before UCF scored 2 touchdowns to make the final result seem closer than the game actually was. Sitake’s squad put up 480 total yards, their 2nd highest output of the season and most against an FBS team this season. Meanwhile the defense held the Knights to 379 yards, UCF’s 2nd lowest output of the season. BYU also possessed the ball for over 40 minutes (40:28), their highest TOP since 2015 at UCLA.

BYU has scored 34 or more points in 6 straight games, the first time they’ve done that since 1996. And now ranked 9th in the AP Top 25, the Cougars will get this weekend off before facing their in-state rival Utah, who will also be coming off a bye, in their first meeting as conference foes since 2010 when both were in the Mountain West Conference. Sitake is just 1-4 against his mentor Kyle Whittingham in the rivalry but did win the last meeting in 2021 in Provo.

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 8 winners as we keep you in the know and on the GO GO GO!

“My 5-Star QB” - UCLA QB Ethan Garbers

It took their furthest trip east of the season, but UCLA picked up their first conference win as a member of the Big Ten conference. And look no further than a career-day by their 5th year senior quarterback Ethan Garbers. A 4-star recruit in the Class of 2020 who originally signed with Washington out of Corona Del Mar HS in Newport Beach transferred to UCLA following his freshman season and Saturday was his best game in a Bruins uniform.

In the 35-32 win at Rutgers, Garbers set career highs in completions (32), completion percentage (84.2), pass yards (383) and pass touchdowns (4) with 1 TD pass in each quarter. He was actually responsible for all 5 of UCLA’s touchdowns, adding a 49-yard TD run in the 2nd quarter.

The passing yards and pass TD were both the most since Garbers’ predecessor at UCLA in Dorian Thompson Robinson. DTR threw 4 scores in the 2022 win over then #11 Utah and you have to go back to 2019 to find more passing yards, when DTR put up 507 at then #19 Washington State. Thompson-Robinson actually made his 2024 debut for the Cleveland Browns on Sunday after starter Deshaun Watson was injured, with 82 yards passing and another 44 on the ground before leaving the game with a finger injury.

“Go Go Gone” - Washington State QB John Mateer

When it comes to explosive plays, few quarterbacks in the country can do it through the air and on the ground like Washington State’s John Mateer. And those dual threat skills were on full display in Saturday’s 42-10 win over Hawai’i.

The redshirt sophomore put on a clinic going 23-27 for 295 yards in the air with 3 passing touchdowns while adding 34 yards on the ground with another 2 scores. It’s the 10th time this season that an FBS QB has thrown for at least 3 scores and rushed for at least 2 more in the same game and the only WSU quarterback to do it since at least 1996.

Mateer had 2 runs of 10+ yards on Saturday, including a 14-yard TD keeper, to give him 24 runs of 10+ yards on the season which is tied for 9th most in FBS and 3rd among QBs. The Cougar quarterback also had 5 completions of 20+ yards in that game with 3 of them going for 30+ yards. Mateer has 18 completions of 30+ yards on the season, tied for the 2nd most in FBS with Georgia’s Carson Beck.

“That Dude!” - Oregon OLB Matayo Uiagalelei

Coming off the huge win over Ohio State in Eugene, it would have been human nature to have some sort of letdown when Oregon visited Purdue on Friday night. However the Ducks dominated on both sides of the ball in a 35-0 win over the Boilermakers.

The defensive effort is even more pronounced as they did it for the 2nd straight week without star Jordan Burch. But with former Top 50 recruit Matayo Uiagalelei leading the way, Oregon got their first road shutout since 1992 at Oregon State and the defense held Purdue to just 93 yards passing.

Uiagalelei had 2 TFL and a sack in the win, his 3rd straight game with a sack. The sophomore now has 5.5 sacks on the season, tying him for 12th most in FBS as the Ducks are now 7-0 for the first time since 2013.

“Headset Hero” - Colorado head coach Deion Sanders

On December 3, 2022 Colorado AD Rick George introduced their new head coach and the “Coach Prime” era was launched in Boulder. While the 2023 season for the Buffs saw more success in marketing and TV ratings than wins on the field, the foundation was being laid.

2024 brought higher expectations and plenty of skepticism but so far this season, Deion Sanders team has answered the bell with a 5-2 record and 3-1 in Big 12 play. Saturday saw the Buffs dismantle an Arizona team that also had lofty goals this season but suffered a 34-7 beatdown on Homecoming. And they did it with Heisman candidate Travis Hunter sitting out the 2nd half to rest his sore shoulder.

The Buffs are 3-1 on the road this season with all 3 road wins by at least 19 points. Its the first time Colorado has pulled in 3 road wins in a season since their Pac-12 South Champion 2016 season and 3 straight road wins in the same season for the first time since 1996. While an offense with Shedeur Sanders will always be elite, the defense (under new DC Robert Livingston) has improved drastically allowing a season-low 245 total yards to the Wildcats, forcing 3 turnovers and registering a season-high 7 sacks.

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 7 winners as we keep you in the know and on the GO GO GO!

“My 5-Star QB” - Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel

For the 2nd time this season, the Oregon signal caller earns the “My 5-Star QB” award. After taking home the honor following Week 3’s win over Oregon State in Corvallis, Dillon Gabriel had a masterful performance in Saturday’s 32-31 win over then #2 Ohio State.

The Oklahoma transfer in his first year with the Ducks, Gabriel completed 23 of 34 passes (67.6%) with 341 pass yards and 2 pass TD while adding 32 yards on the ground on 4 carries with another score. The 27-yard TD run came early in the 4th quarter to give Oregon a 29-28 lead. Gabriel reached 300 yards passing in game for the 2nd time this season, 25th of his career and 1st ever against an AP Top 10 opponent.

The lefty now sits in the Top 10 in FBS this season in completion percentage (76.1%, 2nd), passing yards per game (298.3, 9th) and passing yards (1,790, 10th). Gabriel has multiple TD passes in every game this season and a rushing TD in 4 of the 6 games. A 69-yard strike to Evan Stewart in the 2nd quarter which set up a Stewart TD, was his 6th pass of 50+ yards this season which is tied with Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart for the most in FBS in 2024.

The former 3-star recruit who originally committed to Army before signing with UCF out of high school, Gabriel moved into 3rd place in NCAA history on Saturday with 16,655 career passing yards while also sitting in the Top 3 in passing touchdowns (3rd), total touchdowns (2nd) and total yards (2nd)

“Go Go Gone” - Arizona State RB Cameron Skattebo

In Week 2, the Sun Devil running back earned our “That Dude!” award and now becomes the first player to win 2 different Go Go Go Awards. Arizona State once again leaned on Cameron Skattebo in Friday night’s win over #16 Utah and he again delivered with 158 yards and 2 scores on the ground.

While the senior running had broken some longer runs this season, the majority of them were in the 10-19 yard range. Friday in Tempe, he busted out his first 2 runs of 40+ yards of the season and came through in the clutch. Late in the 3rd quarter, Skattebo broke a few tackles, regained his balance and then sprinted down the sideline for a 50-yard score to put ASU back in the lead 20-16. 2 possessions later and with the lead cut to 20-19, the Sacramento State transfer went to work again. After an athletic, twisting reception for a 21-yard gain on 3rd & 6 brought the Sun Devils just past midfield, Skattebo finished the drive with a run up the middle, through traffic, for a 47-yard TD.

Skattebo ranks 5th nationally in both rushing yards (773) and rushing yards per game (128.8) while his 170.5 All-Purpose yards per game is 3rd best in FBS. He has rushed for at least 150 yards in back-to-back games and 3 times on the season while topping 150 total yards in 4 of the last 5 games.

“That Dude!” - Arizona State Caleb McCullough

Part of the 2020 Sun Devil recruiting class, McCullough is in his 5th season with the Sun Devils. Last year, the former 3-star recruit out of Oxnard, California saw his first extensive playing time including 3 starts. The addition of linebackers Keyshaun Elliott, Zyrus Fiaseu, and Jordan Crook through the transfer portal this offseason put McCullough once again in a reserve role. But with Elliott (“the quarterback of the defense”) missing the first half against Utah due to a targeting penalty the previous game, McCullough was back with the starters and shined in his opportunity.

The redshirt senior led the Sun Devils with a career-high 12 tackles, his first career game with 10+ tackles, while adding in 1.5 TFL and a pair of key interceptions. McCullough is the first Sun Devil with 2 or more interceptions in a game since Darien Butler in 2021 against Southern Utah and first to do it in a conference game since Jack Jones against Arizona in 2019.

The first interception came in the 2nd quarter with ASU holding a 14-6 lead but Utah driving and in the Red Zone. McCullough picked off Cam Rising with a leaping grab at the 9-yard line to kill the drive and ASU managed to hold a 14-9 lead at the half. McCullough’s second interception came on the Utes final drive. Protecting a 27-19 lead, he stepped in front of a Rising pass near midfield and the Sun Devils were able to run out the clock, improving to 5-1 on the season.

“Headset Hero” - Oregon head coach Dan Lanning

It was the first ever Top 5 matchup at Autzen Stadium with #2 Ohio State visiting #3 Oregon, and the game lived up to the hype. The final 7 scoring plays, going back to the 2nd quarter, all saw the lead change hands. But in the end, the Ducks pulled it out, matching their highest ever win over a ranked opponent (#2 Florida State in the 2014 CFP Semifinals) and the first ever Top 5 win in Dan Lanning’s career.

The game saw plenty of Lanning’s trademark aggressiveness with a successful onside kick in the 2nd quarter following a Dillon Gabriel to Evan Stewart touchdown. This came after two unsuccessful 2-point conversion attempts on the Ducks first pair of touchdowns. Oregon went for it on 4th down twice in the 3rd quarter. The first, on 4th and 1 near midfield, when Gabriel faked a handoff and found a wide-open Terrance Ferguson for a 32-yard gain. Later on that drive, they tried again on 4th and goal from the 2, but the pass fell incomplete.

Oregon now sits atop the Big Ten standings in a 3-way tie with Indiana and Penn State, all at 3-0 in conference play. The Ducks are now 6-0 for the first time since 2013 and the 9th time in program history and moved up to #2 in this week’s AP Top 25.

With that, it’s 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 fueled 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 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 6 winners as we keep you in the know and on the GO GO GO!

“My 5-Star QB” - Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt

A 4-star recruit in the Class of 2023 out of West Linn HS in Oregon, a school well known for former Pac-12 athletes like Cade McNown (UCLA), Elijah Molden (Washington), Jaydon Grant (Oregon State) and Peyton Pritchard (Oregon), Sam Leavitt played 4 games as a true freshman at Michigan State last season before the decision was made to redshirt him to preserve his eligibility. Once the coaching change came in East Lansing in December, Leavitt hit the portal and decided his future was in Tempe with Kenny Dillingham and Arizona State. Their relationship dates back several years, as Leavitt’s first offer out of high school was from Florida State in the summer of 2021 when Dillingham was the Seminoles’ offensive coordinator.

After winning the battle for the starting QB spot in camp, Leavitt has steadily led the Sun Devil offense all season. While Saturday night did not show a ton of passing yards for the redshirt freshman (157 yards), he threw a career-high 4 touchdown passes including the game-winner with 16 seconds left to knock off Kansas 35-31. Leavitt, who had 3 pass TD on the season entering Saturday, becomes the first Sun Devil to throw 4 scores in a game since 2019. Joey Yellen, in his ASU debut and filling in for the injured Jayden Daniels, threw 4 TD against USC that season which wound up being the only 4 he threw in a Sun Devil uniform as he transferred to Pitt after the season.

Arizona State is coming off a 3-9 record in 2023 and were picked last in this summer’s Big 12 preseason media poll. But they’re now 4-1 in Kenny Dillingham’s 2nd season and are 3-0 in games decided by 7 points or less.

“Go Go Gone” - Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty

Unafraid of sounding like a broken record, for the 3rd time in 6 weeks, our “Go Go Gone” award goes to Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty. In fact, broken records will likely be a theme for Jeanty all season long.

In Saturday’s matchup with Utah State, the junior racked up 186 rushing yards (tied for the most of the week with ASU’s Cam Skattebo) and 3 rushing TD (tied for the 2nd most in FBS last week) and even more impressively did it all in the 1st half of a 62-30 victory. It’s the 4th time in 5 games this season that Jeanty has found the end zone at least 3 times and the 186 yards are actually his 2nd LOWEST total of the season.

Jeanty had a 63-yard TD run on Boise’s 1st play from scrimmage on Saturday and then added a 75-yard score early in the 2nd quarter. That gives the Boise State back 8 runs of 50+ yards so far this season, the only player in FBS with more than 3. The last player to have more than 7 for an entire season was Memphis’ Darrell Henderson with 10 in 2018.

The 2023 Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year has become the first player in FBS this season to top 1,000 yards and leads FBS in All-Purpose yards per game (210.0), rush YPG (206.2), rushing yards (1,031), rush yards per carry (10.9), and rush TD (16). Those 16 scores are more than he finished with last season (14) in 12 games.

“That Dude!” - Oregon DE Jordan Burch

On Friday night, Oregon wore uniforms - with some creative help from Dan Lanning, his wife Sauphia, and their 3 boys - designed to show support for those who have battled cancer. The Ducks, in turn, showed an inspired performance for a 31-10 win over Michigan State in Jonathan Smith’s return to the state of Oregon.

In his 2nd season for the Ducks after transferring from South Carolina, Jordan Burch had probably his best game in an Oregon uniform as the defense completely dominated the Spartans. Burch registered a career-high 2.5 sacks, including 1.5 of them coming on back-to-back plays late in the 2nd quarter. The senior also recovered a fumble in the end zone on MSU’s opening drive after Spartans QB Aidan Chiles fumbled at the goal line, his 3rd career fumble recovery.

As a whole, the Oregon defense did not allow a point until nearly halfway through the 4th quarter. The Ducks had a season-high 5 sacks in that game and held Michigan State to 2-11 on 3rd downs. The defense will be counted on again this week as #2 Ohio State and their high-powered offense comes to Eugene in one of the most anticipated games of the season.

“Headset Hero” - Washington Head Coach Jedd Fisch

Saturday in Seattle it was Michigan and Washington, the 2 teams that faced off in Houston in January for the CFP title, in a rematch of these schools but this time as conference foes. Both schools had new head coaches and plenty of roster turnover on each side but it was still a huge matchup with Michigan ranked in the Top 10.

In his first season at Washington, Jedd Fisch had seen his team lose twice in the first 5 games thanks to penalties, poor 3rd down execution, and struggles on special teams. But in both losses, Washington had outgained their opponent and in fact against Rutgers dramatically so (521-299). Signs of a team on the verge of breaking through.

And break through they did. Washington committed at least 6 penalties in each of the first 5 games, but the Huskies had just 2 penalties for 20 yards against the Wolverines. After missing 3 field goals in the loss to Rutgers, Grady Gross missed both attempts in the 1st half on Saturday. But Fisch stood by his kicker and Gross made 2 field goals in the 4th quarter as the Huskies transformed a Michigan 17-14 lead entering the final frame into a 27-17 “upset” win. The defense, who’s been a real strength this season, held the Wolverines to just 287 total yards which is the 5th time in 6 games the Husky D has held their opponent under 300 yards.

This is the first Top 10 win for Fisch (a one-time Michigan assistant) as the Washington head coach and second of his career (2022 with Arizona at #9 UCLA). The Huskies are now 5-1 against Top 10 teams since the start of last season with the lone loss to Michigan in January. Its also Washington’s first win as an unranked team against a Top 10 opponent since 2009 against then #3 USC.

With that, it’s 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 fueled 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 5 winners…

“My 5-Star QB” - UNLV QB Hajj-Malik Williams

From the ongoing realignment saga to their starting QB leaving the program over NIL disputes, UNLV was heavily in the news last week and not for its first 3-0 start since 1984. But with Matthew Sluka gone, in stepped Hajj-Malik Williams as the new starting quarterback in Sin City.

A Zero-Star prospect out of Hapeville Charter School in Atlanta (part of the same class of Georgia QBs as 5-stars Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields), Williams went to U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School for a year before signing with FCS level Campbell. After 5 seasons with the Camels, racking up over 8,000 pass yards and and another 1,600 on the ground, he arrived in Las Vegas in time for spring camp. Williams got his first run with the Rebels, coming off the bench in Week 2, with 88 rush yards on 10 attempts without throwing a pass.

Thrust into the spotlight this weekend, Williams put on quite a show in his first UNLV start and doing it against a conference rival they hadn’t beat since 2017.

• 13 of 16 through the air for 182 yards and 3 scores

• 12 carries for 119 yards and another score - 14th QB in UNLV history to rush for 100+ yards in a game

• 3rd FBS QB this season to have 3 pass TD and 100+ rush yards in the same game (New Mexico’s Devin Dampier at Arizona & Washington State’s John Mateer vs San Jose State)

• A 59-14 thumping of Fresno State that helped them secure their first ever ranking in the AP poll (#25). The 59 points are UNLV’s most ever in regulation in a conference game.

“Go Go Gone” - Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty

For the 2nd time in this young season, Boise State’s back has set the tempo as our Go Go Gone winner. Ashton Jeanty has been hands down the best running back in the country this season and looks like he could be running his way towards the Heisman ceremony in New York City come December.

Saturday night against their future conference rival, Jeanty put up yet another incredible performance to lead the Broncos past Washington State 45-24. A season-high 26 carries for 259 yards with 4 touchdowns and 1 Heisman pose. He now owns the top rushing performance in FBS this season (267 yards in Week 1 at Georgia Southern) and 3rd best (Saturday vs. Wazzu) and is the only player with multiple games of 200+ rush yards. And after putting up 6 touchdowns in that season opener, Jeanty is the only FBS player with 2 games of 4+ TD this season.

The 2023 Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year now leads the country in rushing yards, all-purpose yards, rushing TD, rush yards per carry, points scored and total touchdowns. In historical terms, comparing it against 1988 Heisman winner Barry Sanders record-breaking season, through 4 games Jeanty has the advantage in rushing yards (845 to 813) on 13 fewer carries (95 to 82) while both had 13 rushing TD.

Saturday night, on Boise State’s 5th play from scrimmage, Jeanty broke 4 tackles on his way to a 64-yard TD run. The Bronco back bookended that with a 59-yard TD run in the 4th quarter. Jeanty has 6 runs of 50+ yards this season, twice as many as any other FBS player this season, and matches the most by any FBS player in a season over the last 5 seasons. Oklahoma State’s Chuba Hubbard in 2019 was the last FBS player to have more than 6 runs of 50+ yards in a season. In fact, no other FBS team this season has more than 4 runs of 50+ yards.

“That Dude!” - Arizona QB Noah Fifita

This award has always been about more than just the stat sheet and Fifita’s performance in Saturday’s upset of #10 Utah definitely stands above just his final stats.

The redshirt sophomore’s numbers look just fine in the boxscore: 19-31, 197 pass yards, 2 pass TD, 1 INT. In fact, Fifita completed 13 of his first 14 passes in the game and the Wildcats held a 16-3 lead entering the 4th quarter. But he threw an interception on the 1st snap of the 4th quarter which the Utes turned into a 6-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a Issac Wilson to Caleb Lohner 20-yard score to cut the lead to 6 and give new life to the crowd at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

But like the veteran he is, Fifita followed it up with an 8-play, 87-yard drive for the upset clinching score. The drive got off to a rough start when a holding penalty on the kickoff erased a 46-yard return and backed the Wildcats up to their own 13-yard line. After picking up a 1st down on a short completion to tight end Keyan Burnett, Arizona found themselves in 3rd and 11 at their own 25-yard line. Fifita picked up the 1st down and more, finding a Devin Hyatt streaking across the middle on a perfectly placed deep ball for a 41-yard gain and just the 3rd catch in Hyatt’s young career. 3 plays later, again in a 3rd and 11 hole, Fifita again came up with the perfect throw. Rolling out of the pocket, the Arizona signal caller threw an absolute dime across his body while on the run, hitting Burnett in stride in the back of the end zone for a 35-yard score. The first career touchdown for Fifita’s high school teammate.

For the first time in his career, Fifita beat a Top 10 team and not just any team. Noah watched the Utes growing up as 2 of his uncles played for Utah. And he did it with heavy heart as he honored his QB Coach, Lyle Moevao, who’s mother passed away this week and Fifita had “4 Sheila” written on his wristband.

“Headset Hero” - USC Defensive Coordinator D’Anton Lynn

Much was made this offseason when USC head coach Lincoln Riley looked across town to help fix his defense, bringing in D’Anton Lynn from UCLA has his new defensive coordinator. And with good reason, in just one season with the Bruins he turned a defense that was 87th in the country in 2022 to one that finished 11th in the regular season in 2023.

So far the results have paid off. After a hard-nosed season opener against LSU, the Trojans shutout Utah State in Week 2 - USC’s 1st shutout since the 2011 season finale against UCLA. Last week, Lynn’s unit held Michigan to just 32 yards passing for the game and 102 total yards in the 2nd half (63 of them coming on the Kalel Mullings run) and were perhaps one missed tackle away from knocking off the Wolverines in the Big House.

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Saturday in their Big Ten home debut, USC again got off to a slow start against Wisconsin, trailing 21-10 at halftime. But the defense absolutely took over in the 2nd half as the Trojans outscored the Badgers 28-0. Wisconsin could only muster up 82 total yards in the 2nd half, while going 1-6 on 3rd downs. The Badgers 6 possessions in the 2nd half ended with 3 punts, 2 turnover on downs and an interception that Mason Cobb returned 55-yards for the score.

With that, it’s 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 fueled 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 4 winners…

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

Our first repeat winner of the season of course goes to the guy who we noted in Week 2 as “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”. Thanks to another gutsy performance from John Mateer, Washington State is off to back-to-back 4-0 starts for the first time in more than a century.

In a 2 OT win over San Jose State, Mateer threw for a career-high 390 pass yards with 4 TDs through the air. The redshirt sophomore also ran for 111 yards, his 2nd 100+ yard game this season, with a rushing TD. In fact, Mateer is the only FBS player this season and the 1st Pac-12 player since UCLA’s Dorian Thompson-Robinson in 2020 to have 300+ pass yards and 100+ rush yards in the same game (also the 1st in school history).

While the guy he backed up last year is now the Heisman favorite in Miami, Mateer outdueled another former Wazzu QB, Emmett Brown, who threw for 375 yards and 4 scores of his own for the Spartans in the loss. Mateer now has at least 1 passing TD and 1 rushing TD in each of the 4 games this season.

“Go Go Gone” - BYU’s Parker Kingston

Parker Kingston only touched the ball once on Saturday night’s upset win over #13 Kansas State but it will likely go down as the play of the year for BYU in 2024. With the Cougars already up 24-6 in the 3rd quarter, Kingston lined up for a punt return after the BYU defense forced a 3-and-out. After initially muffing the punt reception right in front of the 20-yard line, the redshirt sophomore (who’s grandmother ran track at BYU) scooped up the ball while running back to the 10-yard line and continued back to nearly the goal line before turning up the opposite sideline and sprinting 90 yards for the score. ESPN tracked 137 total yards run by Kingston on the return.

The return was the first punt return for touchdown by a BYU player since 2013 and tied for the 3rd longest in school history (longest since at least 1996). After Keelan Marion ran back a kickoff 100 yards the previous week at Wyoming, this marks the first time since 2011 that BYU has a punt return and kickoff return TD in the same season.

Kingston’s return capped off a run of 31 unanswered points by BYU as the Cougars improved to 4-0 for the 3rd time under Kalani Sitake.

“That Dude!” - Utah’s Micah Bernard

In Utah’s first ever Rose Bowl appearance in January 2022, defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley needed help with an injury-depleted secondary. Micah Bernard, who had not played both sides of the ball since high school, wound starting that game at cornerback. Bernard recorded a team-high 10 tackles that day while also running the ball 3 times for 31 yards and grabbing 2 passes for 15 yards including an athletic 12-yard TD catch in the 1st quarter. The next season, after a 2nd Rose Bowl loss, Bernard hit the transfer portal before deciding to stay in Salt Lake. Following an injury-plagued 2023 where he only saw action in the first and last games of the season, that decision to return is finally starting to pay dividends.

The 6th year senior set career highs with both 25 carries and 182 yard on the ground as the Utes went into Stillwater to knock off #14 Oklahoma State 22-19 in the first ever meeting of 2 coaching legends in Kyle Whittingham & Mike Gundy. Bernard had the biggest highlight of the game with a 62-yard run in the 3rd quarter that setup a field goal and a 4-yard run on 3rd & 3 with under a minute to go to extinguish the flame of the Cowboys late comeback.

The analytics also spoke volumes in this game as according to PFF College, Bernard had 142 yards AFTER contact (the most in FBS this week) while also forcing 10 missed tackles (tied for the most). 119 of his 182 yards came in the 2nd half, giving him his 3rd straight game with 100+ yards and the 5th time in his career, completely outshining preseason Heisman candidate Ollie Gordon whom the Utes defense held to 42 yards on 11 carries.

“Headset Hero” - Stanford’s Troy Taylor

For their first ever ACC Conference game, Stanford traveled nearly 3,000 miles to the Carrier Dome where Syracuse was nearly a double-digit underdog. After a close loss at home to TCU in the season-opener and then a win over Cal Poly, the experts thought the Cardinal weren’t any better than the 3-9 team they had been each of the last 3 years. Especially not against a Syracuse team that had gotten off to a 2-0 start under new head coach Fran Brown, including an upset of then #23 Georgia Tech the previous week behind 4 TD passes by Ohio State transfer QB Kyle McCord.

But Troy Taylor’s squad started quickly with 9-play, 78-yard drive on their 2nd possession with an unbelievable one-handed TD grab by Elic Ayomanor, reminiscent of another #13 that plays on Sundays. By early 2nd quarter, the Cardinal held a 10-0 lead. After Syracuse dominated the 3rd quarter (but not the scoreboard), a McCord TD run closed the gap to 20-17 entering the final 15 minutes. McCord then drove the ‘Cuse for a go-ahead TD with 3:13 left which seemed to foretell a long plane ride back home to the Bay Area.

Down 24-23, Troy Taylor’s squad took over at their own 25-yard line before slowly matriculating down the field with a few intermediate passes to get into Syracuse territory. But a holding penalty pushed the Cardinal back on their own side of the field, putting a chance of victory in doubt. But on 4th and 9 from the Syracuse 45-yard line, Ashton Daniels once again found Elic Ayomanor with a back-shoulder throw to set up Emmet Kenney’s GW 39-yard field goal as the clock hit :00.

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 fueled 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 3 winners…

“My 5-Star QB” - Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel

Oregon came into the 2024 season with huge expectations and ranked #3 in the AP preseason poll. While Dan Lanning’s team won each of their first 2 games, the margin of victory in those games left some questions around the Ducks. Against their in-state rivals, Dillon Gabriel helped to quiet many critics in a dominant win over the Beavers in his first taste of Corvallis.

The former 3-star recruit who originally committed to Army before signing with UCF out of high school, Gabriel had a masterful first half - completing all 10 of pass attempts for 114 yards and a score while adding a 54-yard TD run. The Ducks pulled away in the 2nd half, outscoring the Beavers 27-0 in a 49-14 victory. The Hawaiian native finished 20-of-24 for 291 yards and 2 scores with 64 yards on the ground and a TD.

The 6th-year senior leads the Big Ten in both passing yards per game (304.7) and total offense (313.4). And one year after Bo Nix set the FBS record for completion percentage in a season at 77.4%, through 3 games Gabriel sits at an FBS leading 84.0% thanks in part to completing his first 15 passes on Saturday.

“Go Go Gone” - San Jose State’s Nick Nash

Just 2 days after former Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo was hired at San Jose State, Nick Nash put his name in the transfer portal. But roughly 24 hours later, Nash pulled his name out of the portal and decided to return for his 6th season with the Spartans. That decision appears to be paying off, leading San Jose State to a 3-0 start.

Saturday against Kennesaw State, the 2023 All-Mountain West 2nd team selection hauled in 17 receptions, the most ever by a SJSU receiver in a regular season game. He racked up 225 of former Washington State QB Emmett Brown’s 355 passing yards and 3 of Brown’s 4 TD passes. And the Irvine, California native was really on the Go Go Go with 5 catches of 20+ yards.

Nash started his career as a QB at San Jose State, spending 3 seasons behind center before converting to WR in 2022. Now, he leads the country in receptions (34), receiving yards (485), and receiving TD (6). Nash even reverted to his QB roots in Week 1, with a TD pass on a trick play.

“That Dude!” - Colorado’s Travis Hunter

“That dude is a video game” is a phrase that gets thrown around often but its not only fitting for Travis Hunter due to his talents but also thanks to his status as the actual cover of the new EA Sports College Football 25.

Saturday night, the intense rivalry between Colorado & Colorado State continued in front of the largest crowd in CSU history. And Hunter put on a show for the 40,099 in attendance…

• Matched his career-high with 13 receptions

• 100 receiving yards for the 4th straight game

• 2 receiving TD, 4th career game with multiple receiving TD

• interception late in the 3rd quarter, setting up the Buffs final TD

According to ESPN Stats & Info, Hunter became the first FBS player to have 100+ receiving yards, multiple receiving TD, and an interception on defense since Kansas State’s Kevin Lockett in 1996.

Nationally this season, the junior is in the Top 10 in receptions (30, 2nd), receiving touchdowns (5, T-2nd) and receiving yards (342, 7th). All while playing nearly every snap on both sides of the ball.

“Headset Hero” - Washington State’s Jake Dickert

A rivalry that began 124 years ago and traditionally played as the final game of the regular season took on a much different look 2024. For the first time in history, the Apple Cup was played in September and this time it paired one team from the Pac-12 (Washington State) and one from the Big Ten (Washington). Realignment nearly ended this rivalry, but a 5-year deal was signed in November 2023 with this year’s installment at Lumen Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks.

All the drama of the last 13 months off the field, created a tense environment on it and Jake Dickert’s squad met the moment. After a back and forth 1st half where the teams combined for nearly 500 yards, the 2nd half became a defensive struggle with only 13 points scored and none of them in the 4th quarter.

The game was decided fittingly by the Cougar defense, the same side of the ball that Dickert was the coordinator of before earning the job at the end of the 2021 season. Wazzu’s defense came with a goal-line stop on 4th and 1 from the 1-yard line with just over a minute left, stringing out Washington’s speed option play for a 2-yard loss. The Cougars with their first Apple Cup victory since 2021 (the game that dropped the “interim” from Dickert’s title) and just the 2nd WSU win in the last 11 meetings.

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.

Introducing…. Y-Option’s Go Go Go Awards presented by 76.

So what exactly are these awards? 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

So our Week 1 winners are…..

“My 5-Star QB” - USC’s Miller Moss

Growing up, it was Miller Moss’s dream to play QB at USC and in 2021 the 4-star recruit out of Bishop Alemany HS made it a reality. As a true freshman that year, Moss sat behind both Kedon Slovis and Jaxson Dart but still saw action in 2 games. Then Caleb Williams transferred from Oklahoma to USC and Moss sat behind the 2022 Heisman winner for 2 seasons but always ready for his opportunity as he explained to us this summer at the Elite 11.

Moss got his first career start in December’s Holiday Bowl after Williams declared for the draft. All he did in that game was set the Trojans’ record for touchdown passes in a bowl game (6) against Louisville. But there were still critics unsure of what Moss was capable of and this Sunday night in Las Vegas, the redshirt junior put those questions to bed.

Facing #13 LSU in Allegiant Stadium, Moss put on a Vegas worthy show by completing 27-of-36 for 378 yards and a score. His 28-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Kobi Lane gave the Trojans a 20-17 lead with just under 6 minutes to go in the game. Then after LSU tied the game with a field goal with 1:47 left, Moss led the team on an 8-play, 75-yard drive that culminated with a Woody Marks 13-yard GW TD run with 8 seconds to go. The USC signal-caller was 5-of-6 for 49 yards on that final drive.

“Go Go Gone” - Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan

A pair of 60+ yard receiving touchdowns will usually put you right at the top of this list every week. But for the Arizona wide receiver, that was just the tip of the iceberg that sunk New Mexico to give Brent Brennan a win in his first game as the Wildcats head coach.

McMillan racked up a school-record 304 receiving yards, breaking the mark set by Jeremy McDaniel in 1996, and was just 10 yards shy of the Big 12 record. His 4 receiving touchdowns tied the school record which was set just last season by his former teammate Jacob Cowing.

The junior got things underway on Arizona’s first drive of the game with a 69-yard grab from his high school teammate Noah Fifita. McMillan got the Wildcats in the end zone on their second drive, on a 17-yard reception, before dropping a 78-yard score in the 2nd quarter. T-Mac’s final score came with a 40-yard dash to the end zone in the 3rd quarter.

“That Dude!” - Utah’s Cam Rising

In 2021 & 2022, Cam Rising led Utah to back-to-back Pac-12 championships and a pair of trips to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl. But in that loss to Penn State, Rising left the game in the 3rd quarter. While the injury was known to be serious, missing the entire 2023 season was unexpected.

“Bad Moon Rising” made his triumphant return to the Utes lineup last Thursday in a 49-0 win over Southern Utah. The senior finished up his night by halftime but still threw a career-high 5 touchdowns on just 10-of-15 passing for 254 yards. He becomes the first Utah QB to throw 5 scores in a game since Travis Wilson in 2014.

Rising’s return was not alone as one his favorite targets also suited up for the first time in over a year as tight end Brant Kuithe caught a career-best 3 of those touchdowns.

“Headset Hero” - Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham

At Big 12 Media Day this year, the media picked the Sun Devils to finish 16th, aka last in the conference. And while they’ve yet to play a conference game, their first game as a Big 12 school definitely left an impression.

While they were favored by a touchdown, Kenny Dillingham’s squad busted out a 48-7 win in the opener over a Wyoming team that won 9 games in 2023. ASU only allowed points in the closing seconds of the game as the Cowboys avoided the shutout.

Brian Ward’s defense forced 3 turnovers and returned 2 of them for touchdowns, ASU’s first game with multiple defensive scores since 2015. The Sun Devils limited Wyoming to 118 total yards overall while the Cowboys didn’t advance past their own 41-yard line in the first half.

Meanwhile new offensive coordinator, Marcus Arroyo, trusted a fellow newbie at quarterback in Michigan State transfer Sam Leavitt. Leavitt threw for 258 yards and a pair of scores while a balanced rushing attack picked up 241 yards on the ground.