SEATTLE — As hundreds of Washington fans stormed the sphere Saturday night, Michigan players headed to the showers, to the bus, to the airport and to a flight home that will take them back to campus at sunrise.
The Huskies' 27-17 victory was a deep reminder of the past – in style and substance it might have been a Don James over Bo Schembechler Rose Bowl victory within the mid-Nineteen Eighties – but in addition signaled a surreal present, one among realignment the conference was framed.
Where the Wolverines traveled, to SeaTac Airport after which over the Rocky Mountains, the Huskies will soon follow.
Next week they play Iowa – at 9 a.m. Pacific time.
Welcome to the brand new Big Ten, Huskies. And gluttons. And Bruins, Spartans, Badgers and everybody else.
After weeks of non-conference matches played on home fields, the league season is in full swing. This also applies to overland journeys. You won’t ever guess how these results play out.
Teams that travel to at the least two time zones for conference games are 1-8 thus far, and the lone win — Indiana over UCLA within the Rose Bowl — comes with a big caveat: The Hoosiers were coming off a Friday home game against Western Illinois. (They had an additional day to organize and eat a cupcake.)
The eight losing teams that traveled multiple time zones are USC (at Michigan and Minnesota), Michigan State (at Oregon), Washington (at Rutgers), Northwestern (at Washington), UCLA (at Penn State), Wisconsin (at USC) . and Michigan (in Washington).
The list of losses includes several next-level logistical hurdles: Washington and Michigan State had long trips (for Friday games) briefly weeks, while UCLA faced Penn State in its huge loss at 9 a.m. Pacific time on Saturday – the identical start time because the Huskies will compete in Iowa next weekend.
To be clear, there’s more to the above losses than simply travel taxation. But it's clear that the impact of logged air miles and time zones crossed adds to the timeless challenges that come from encounters, injuries and mistakes.
We must also note that of the eight away teams that crossed the Rockies and lost, only USC emerged victorious (at each Michigan and Minnesota).
However, the sad trend continues even when the betting line is taken under consideration:
Six of the eight losing teams did not cover the spread – a failure rate (75 percent) that’s higher than expected (roughly 50 percent) given the probability inherent in sports betting.
And the 2 losing teams that covered the spread, Michigan State and UCLA, each lost by forfeit.
While the sample size (nine games) can’t be considered tiny, it’s definitely not robust at this point within the season.
Fortunately, more evidence can be available next weekend. In addition to Washington's date in Iowa City, Penn State visits USC, Ohio State travels to Oregon and Minnesota travels to UCLA.
We will proceed to observe Big Ten results as long trips are involved.
Four more thoughts on the developments in week 6…
1. The celebration at Husky Stadium on Saturday night was comprehensible considering the opponent and the recent history between the teams – namely Michigan's victory within the national championship game earlier this yr.
But folks, the Wolverines (4-2) aren't excellent.
They needed a late comeback to beat USC (at home), survived a scare against Minnesota (at home) – due to a botched call from the officials – and were knocked out by Texas (at home).
This was Michigan's away game.
Perhaps the move to quarterback Jack Tuttle, a seventh-grader whose profession began at Utah in 2018, will spark an offensive resurgence.
But come December, we’d look back on this result as nothing greater than a hard-fought win over a 7-5 team. Michigan faces tough challenges against Oregon (home), Indiana (road) and Ohio State (road).
However, the Huskies only committed two penalties, which is a big improvement from previous games. If the disciplined play continues, they need to win at the least two of their final six games and advance to the postseason.
2. Oregon State needed a game-winning field goal in the ultimate seconds and two time beyond regulation periods to carry off Colorado State, however the 39-31 win was well worth the effort each in the current and in the long run.
It was absolutely obligatory to the Beavers' bowl math.
At 4-1, they need two wins of their last seven games to qualify for the postseason. But within the rough back half of the schedule are dates with Cal, Boise State and Washington State.
For the long road ahead, they’ll thank quarterback Gevani McCoy and tailback Anthony Hankerson, who combined for 204 yards on the bottom and five rushing touchdowns against Colorado State.
However, the defense wasn't nearly as productive. The Rams, who averaged 18.5 points and 328.5 yards per game, scored 31 and 439 against the Beavers.
With some of school football's best playmakers waiting during their long term – the list includes Boise State quarterback Ashton Jeanty and Washington State quarterback John Mateer – the Beavers had higher bolster their defense.
3. It was an 18-hour day for Cal football. The first 17 were ideal; The last one was a nightmare.
The ESPN production “College GameDay” couldn’t have gone higher; Marshawn Lynch's performance was exactly what we expected. and the Cal crowd easily cleared the “GameDay” bar at 6 a.m.
The Bears' rollicking day continued as Stanford, UCLA and USC – the three teams Cal fans despise – all either busted or lost in agony.
And on Saturday night, the Bears dominated eighth-seeded Miami for 50 minutes and looked like ACC title contenders.
Then there was an entire collapse.
The Bears lost their focus and urgency and allowed the Hurricanes to rally from a 20-point deficit early within the fourth quarter and let Berkeley escape with a 39-38 victory.
The Canes won the sport as often as Cal lost it, most notably with a large defensive breakdown that allowed Miami to finish a 77-yard catch-and-run from quarterback Cam Ward to receiver Xavier Restrepo with 90 seconds left.
For Cal, the challenge is evident: Don't let a crushing loss turn into two losses due to a poor performance next weekend in Pittsburgh.
4. The best individual story of the season continued on one other dominant Saturday.
Boise State tailback Ashton Jeanty added 186 yards and three touchdowns to his absurd season in a shocking win over Utah State.
Jeanty has averaged 206.2 yards in five games and is within sight of what has long been considered unbreakable: Barry Sanders' legendary record of two,628 yards in a single season.
Playing for Boise State and within the Mountain West, Jeanty has a narrow path to the Heisman Trophy.
But if he surpasses Sanders' hallowed mark, the calculus changes.
image credit : www.mercurynews.com