Saturday Night Five: Drama in Washington, blowouts elsewhere, ‘Pac-2’ trouble ahead, Cal’s rookie QB and more

Instant reaction to weekend developments on the field Late starts lopsided games A stacked lineup of night games along the West Coast on the first fully-loaded Saturday was devoid of drama except in the Pacific Northwest Washington State needed a late field goal to secure a - supremacy over Idaho and avoid what would have been a sour start to coach Jimmy Rogers tenure Across the state Washington used a dominant fourth quarter to put away Colorado State - and partially justify the optimism accompanying Jedd Fisch s second season on Montlake A quick check of the numbers suggests the competition should not have been close after halftime The Huskies essentially doubled CSU s yardage total converted -of- third downs and averaged yards per rush but the margin was only midway through the fourth quarter Then tailback Jonah Coleman barreled into the end zone he had yards in total and the Huskies were able to exhale All in all the evening unfolded ideally for UW A somewhat ugly win over the Mountain West in Week does far more to accelerate improvement than a blowout win over an FCS band And there were several of those folks Oregon USC and Brigham Young offered a triple-whammy of wipeouts defeating Montana State Missouri State and Portland State by a combined points of - Arizona and Arizona State won by multiple touchdowns at home over Hawaii and NAU respectively The former aired on TNT which has joined the Big s broadcast lineup this season The latter was shown on ESPN at least for part of the event The feed crashed in the second half forcing ASU athletic director Graham Rossini to issue an apology on social media Utah and Cal won by multiple touchdowns on the road in Pac- legacy games over UCLA and Oregon State respectively The Utes were sharp with a new offense and new quarterback and the same old punishing play at the line of scrimmage The Bears led throughout in Corvallis thanks to a rookie quarterback We ll have more on Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele in a moment First let s address the Beavers Problems for the Pac- Truly let s address the Beavers and the Cougars because it could very well be a long slog for the Pac- holdovers in their final year before the conference reforms Washington State managed just yards against Idaho and failed to meet our low expectations for the start of the Jimmy Rogers era So much is stacked against the Cougars this season after they lost Jake Dickert and John Mateer But the refresh clearly is more comprehensive than even we imagined The Cougars rushed for three yards against an FCS opponent on attempts no less that itself has a new coaching staff Meanwhile the Beavers were thoroughly outclassed in the first encounter of Trent Bray s second season A minimal more performances like that and we re not sure there will be a Year for Bray Oregon State trailed - midway through the first quarter Bray looked angry and frustrated all meeting and new quarterback Maalik Murphy the source of so much hope in Corvallis was no better than any of his immediate predecessors It was a deeply disappointing performance compared to what was expected If Oregon State doesn t make major strides promptly the door into the postseason will slam shut before October arrives Hot Seat status check Bray isn t the only second-year coach in charge of his alma mater with plenty to prove this season UCLA s DeShaun Foster is riding shotgun And the Bruins looked as bad as the Beavers did in their - loss to Utah in the Rose Bowl The Hotline has seen nothing from Bray or Foster through two off-seasons and games to suggest either is capable of changing the current trajectory Frankly they look overmatched On the other hand three coaches who entered the season under elevated pressure delivered impressive performances Lincoln Riley and USC walloped Missouri State - the highest-scoring encounter for the Trojans since Justin Wilcox and Cal thumped Oregon State - a huge conquest for the Bears to make their bowl math work Brent Brennan and Arizona drubbed Hawaii - a number more impressive than it appears While it was the first match of Brennan s second season the Rainbow Warriors beat Stanford in Week and had in theory worked through all the glitches that accompany season openers But Arizona was far more efficient Saturday night forcing five turnovers and committing none The lopsided victories guarantee nothing for Brennan Wilcox or Riley as they address critical seasons But if you re envisioning scenarios in which each coach secures his job for the paths imagined supposedly match the performances that played out Saturday QB watch The Hotline watched all or parts of games over the unit of hours Saturday with our attention focused on the new quarterbacks across the land from Ohio State s Julian Sayin and Texas Arch Manning to Washington s Demond Williams Jr and WSU s Jaxon Potter The majority impressive new quarterback relative to our expectations Cal s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele the freshman who signed with Oregon last winter was on the Ducks Rose Bowl roster then transferred to Cal in early January Related Articles Mailbag Utah USC UW and OSU as sleepers for plus QBs to watch West Coast recruiting The wonky calendar the Lyons Watch and a focus on underclassmen Cal football Boosters chancellor brighten revenue picture as Bears enter season College football Week picks Texas Clemson Notre Dame will cover Big football CFP fate could be sealed by Week after SEC Big games Sagapolutele is a -foot- lefty who completed -of- passes for three touchdowns and no interceptions and looked like a future star He delivered the ball on time and on target in tight windows where only Cal s receivers could reach it He displayed touch when touch was required and threw with juice when juice was needed We knew Sagapolutele was talented and the greater part fundamental recruit of the Wilcox era But he was better than expected far better than expected and just might be the missing piece that pushes Cal into the eight- or nine-win realm Conference hierarchy The biggest winner from a stellar series of matchups across the country Nobody We ll call the Power Four quest for supremacy a tentative draw through Week pending the outcome of intriguing games Sunday and Monday Here are the records of the ACC Big Ten Big and SEC against each other ACC - with Florida State s win over Alabama as the headliner Big - with Utah s blowout at UCLA as the lone success Big Ten - with Ohio State s takedown of Texas atop the list SEC - with LSU s win at Clemson somewhat offsetting the losses by Texas and Alabama We ll take a deeper dive into the power conference pecking order after the holiday weekend schedule is complete and then each week through the first month of the season Success in the inter-conference duels isn t merely about bragging rights on social media It will impact the College Football Playoff selection process Send suggestions comments and tips confidentiality guaranteed to wilnerhotline bayareanewsgroup com or call - - Follow me on the social media platform X WilnerHotline