Best of the Week: Luton dominates, Shaw shines and big you-know-what Chip should reconsider fourth-down strategy
The Hotline’s honor roll for Week Five …
(Note: We recapped key storylines from the weekend in Saturday Night Five.)
Offensive player of the week: Oregon State quarterback Jake Luton
We gave serious consideration to Arizona’s Khalil Tate, who threw for 404 yards in a victory at Colorado (in the same stadium where, two years ago, he rushed for 327 yards).
But Luton was close to flawless in the Rose Bowl, completing 18-of-26 passes for 285 yards, with five touchdowns and no interceptions. (Tate tossed one pick in Folsom Field.)
Luton made all the plays in OSU’s first conference victory in 49 weeks and its largest victory margin in a conference game since late in the 2016 season (25 points/Arizona).
And he ending the evening with a 19-yard touchdown run that gave the Beavers their winning margin.
Defensive player of the week: Stanford cornerback Paulson Adebo.
Cal turned in a stellar team performance in holding Oregon to 17 points in Autzen Stadium (and only 10 points through three quarters).
But our lean is Adebo, who had four pass break-ups to lead a Cardinal defense that completely, and surprisingly, smothered Washington.
The Huskies didn’t crack 300 total yards and were miserable on third down, in part because of Adebo.
Special teams player of the week: Colorado kicker James Stefanou.
A relatively quiet weekend on the special teams front across the conference, but Stefanou stood out with three field goals.
He converted from 20, 37 and 39 yards and added three PATs for a 12-point afternoon.
Or 40 percent of Colorado’s total.
Coach of the week: Stanford’s David Shaw.
A 17-point home underdog, the Cardinal dominated Washington in every aspect despite a load of injuries and a second-string quarterback.
Shaw’s game-plan was well-crafted. More importantly, Stanford was in the proper frame of mind — more physical and more aggressive than Washington.
It knocked the Huskies on their heels on the opening drive and never backed off.
Team of the week: Arizona
The Wildcats won their first conference road game in two years against a team other than Oregon State.
They trailed on five different occasions in Boulder, never flinched, and made the big plays on both sides of scrimmage in the final 10 minutes.
Also: one penalty for five yards.
The Wildcats host Washington this week with a chance at 5-1 before back-to-back trips to USC and Stanford.
Coaching blunder of the week: Chip Kelly
Trailing 7-0 on their first possessions, the Bruins went for it on fourth-and-one from their own 34.
Considering the time, score, state of his team and level of personnel — he doesn’t have Oregon’s talent, circa 2012 — the decision seemed reckless.
Tailback Joshua Kelly was stuffed for a five-yard loss. Oregon State took over at the 29 and scored five players later to take a 14-0 lead.
The Bruins played from far behind the rest of the game.
We’re not sure of the calculus Kelly uses for his fourth-down decisions, but it’s worth reconsidering.
The Bruins rank 13th in the country in fourth-down attempts but 102nd in fourth-down conversion percentage.
Even the Hotline knows that math doesn’t work.
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