Y-Option's Go Go Go Awards - Week 13
The Best of the West. Our distinct take on college football weekly awards and as always, seen through the lens of the West Coast
Week 13 was one of the craziest Saturdays in recent memory with 7 of the CFP Top 25 going down, as narratives across the country continued to evolve throughout the day. With Army and Indiana losing, #1 Oregon is now the only unbeaten team in the country. Arizona State moved to the front of the line in the Big 12 and is part of 9 teams still in the hunt for that conference championship game, including Colorado and BYU. 2 of the great longtime rivalry games on the West Coast lived up to the billing as Cal edged Stanford and USC topped UCLA. And what is likely to become more of a rivalry as the Pac-12 continues to reshape, Oregon State upset Washington State.
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.
More interesting choices for the Go Go Go awards. Sure enjoy reading them each week.
So the Beavs take on Boise State for a bowl opportunity. Two weeks ago, I would have said “no chance.” Today, I’m feeling like they may pull it out. Coach Bray has his guys believing.
At the same time Jeanty is nothing short of amazing.
Congrats to Oregon State. I was at the game rooting for Wazzu, but happy for the Beavers. I don’t understand the total collapse of Wazzu’s defense and back half of the season in general. Heads need to roll on that side of the ball. Go Cougs!