Saturday Night Five: USC and Washington tumble, ASU survives and BYU wins the Holy War as Week 8 delivers the drama

Instant reaction to Week developments on the field USC gonna USC If that was in fact USC s final visit to Notre Dame and let s all hope the schools find a way to extend the storied series the Trojans went out in fitting style With a - loss Their seven consecutive defeat in South Bend With a terrible running encounter They averaged just yards per carry With an awful run defense Notre Dame bulldozed for yards It was an entirely predictable performance from a club whose head coach Lincoln Riley has not learned from years of mistakes You don t beat good teams on the road in South Bend or across the Big Ten with second-rate play at the line of scrimmage without being able to run the ball or stop the run in key situations The best example Saturday evening came with USC trailing by points midway through the fourth quarter Facing fourth-and- near midfield a situation that screamed for a brute-force running play between the tackles even a quarterback sneak would have sufficed the Trojans attempted a pass to the perimeter that fell incomplete Any chance to salvage a domination splattered on the turf as well It could not have been more on-brand for Riley or a greater gift for the Irish who dominated the line of scrimmage as they have so often against USC in up-to-date years Notre Dame s preeminence has major consequences for USC - the Big Ten and all the power conferences With a - record and soft finishing schedule the Irish are positioned for a -win season that likely will outcome in another College Football Playoff berth But because Notre Dame competes as an Independent it qualifies as one of seven at-large participants If the Irish are invited only six berths are available for non-champions from the ACC Big Big Ten and SEC Everyone needed the Trojans to win to knock out Notre Dame But as is often the event with Riley s teams they weren t tough enough where it mattered the greater part More road woes for UW USC wasn t the only organization to deliver an on-brand performance Washington did exactly that in its Big Noon date at Michigan The Huskies started well enough against the unranked Wolverines but were not competitive in the second half of a - loss in the Big House It was their sixth Big Ten event in the eastern half of the country since the start of last season They have lost five The only win came a minimal weeks ago at Maryland What s more the Huskies have failed to cover the point spread in all six that s not easy to do folks Washington - has a manageable stretch upcoming and should have no trouble securing a bowl berth But the loss in Ann Arbor effectively extinguishes any chance of competing for a CFP at-large bid The concern is fairly simple to dissect Opposing defenses have loaded the line of scrimmage to contain tailback Jonah Coleman and dare quarterback Demond Williams Jr to win games through the air Against the less-talented opponents Williams has been terrific Washington is averaging points in its five wins Colorado State UC Davis Washington State Maryland and Rutgers In the two losses to Ohio State and Michigan the Huskies have scored points That s total points UW won t face an elite defense until the season finale against Oregon Another ASU thriller The early afternoon broadcast window produced two staples of the season A riveting Big championship and a last-minute thriller involving Arizona State The Sun Devils led undefeated Texas Tech by with roughly four minutes remaining but the Red Raiders ripped off points in a flash to grab a - lead then were one defensive play away from sealing the supremacy But as they have done so often ASU quarterback Sam Leavitt teamed with receiver Jordyn Tyson for a last-minute escape a -yard catch-and-run that gave the Sun Devils possession just outside the Red Zone A subsequent pass interference penalty on Texas Tech set up the Sun Devils winning touchdown win seconds left The - preeminence was the fourth ASU meeting this season decided by four points or less The Devils have won three Baylor TCU and Texas Tech and lost one Mississippi State The Hotline is admittedly skeptical by nature but it s challenging to imagine ASU - will continue winning close games at this rate Too a large number of breaks must fall right And remember When ASU marched through the Big last season only three of its nine games were decided by five points or less The current pace of late escapes can t be maintained right Holy lore Scant outcomes in college football are as predictable as the final margin in the Holy War Regardless of the identity of the victor the bitter rivalry is ridiculously competitive BYU s - success on Saturday marked the th occasion in the past two decades that the battle was decided by a touchdown or less It was also BYU s third consecutive preeminence over Utah a feat the Cougars hadn t accomplished since the early s The Utes had plenty of chances and out-gained BYU by more than yards But they committed two turnovers and penalties while the Cougars had zero and five Also Utes coach Kyle Whittingham eschewed field goals three times in favor of fourth-down attempts and the Utes were stopped each time Whittingham attributed the repeated fourth-down tries to the analytics Those nine points could have come in handy The supremacy left the Cougars - tied for first place in the Big along with Cincinnati And if you predicted that extraordinary pairing would be atop the conference at the midway point consider playing the Powerball lottery Utah s situation isn t hopeless but help is required considering the Utes - have head-to-head losses to two teams BYU and Texas Tech that are ahead of them in the standings The Cougars might not hold their ground the upcoming schedule is unforgiving but the Utes have no margin for error They must run the table to have any shot at securing a spot in the Big title competition Given the modest downfield threat posed by Utah quarterback Devon Dampier and the aerial tournament winning out seems unlikely Rinse wash repeat Although their performances didn t fit neatly into any sort of larger trends UCLA Arizona and Washington State all followed plots that have become familiar in recent days The Bruins won their third consecutive competition under interim coach Tim Skipper turning a -yard drive in the final minute into a game-winning field goal Remarkably UCLA - - is part of a seven-team tie for third place in the Big Ten the same tier occupied by Oregon and USC It won t last however The Bruins visit Indiana next weekend then venture to Ohio State in November And they finish with Washington and USC Related Articles Mailbag Coaching candidates for Oregon State UCLA and Stanford Recruiting roundup Holy War invite list and ASU s guests from Texas How the timing of the Pac- s poaching penalty lawsuit could impact the Mountain West College football picks Washington beats Michigan USC covers at Notre Dame How to save USC-Notre Dame from Big Ten realignment amid Netflix offer Skipper has done stellar work stabilizing the plan But a bowl berth remains unlikely Arizona absorbed another gut-punch loss One week after losing at home to BYU in overtime the Wildcats were beaten by a walk-off field goal in Houston The - loss was highly entertaining and largely rooted in mistakes The Wildcats couldn t stop Houston s running tournament yards and were called for an inexcusable sideline interference penalty during a critical stretch They also were on the wrong end of two massive officiating gaffes one of which should prompt a populace explanation from the Big office in our view The failure to call an illegal motion penalty on Houston on the game-winning drive when a running back was clearly moving forward at the time of the snap The lack of a penalty left Fox rules analyst Mike Pereira dumbfounded The bottom line Coach Brent Brennan and his staff must make optimum use of the bye week before the Wildcats - head to Boulder Their path into the postseason is becoming increasingly narrow The Hotline did not think Washington State could muster another momentous effort not playing in the eastern half of the country against a Power Four opponent for the second consecutive week But the Cougars pushed Virginia to the limit in a - loss that followed a three-point defeat at Mississippi Yep Washington State s two best performances of the season came in the majority unlikely of circumstances The Cougars - lost both by a combined count of - But if they replicate the effort especially on defense the Cougars should secure three more wins and a bowl berth That s not the outcome we expected from WSU Send suggestions comments and tips confidentiality guaranteed to wilnerhotline bayareanewsgroup com or call - - Follow me on the social media platform X WilnerHotline