Matt Martinez Oregon State suffered its poorest season in Mike Riley’s nine years
as head coach. The Beavers can point with optimism, however, to freshman quarterback Sean Mannion. He passed for more yards in 2011 than any other Beavers’ quarterback not named Derek An- derson. Wide receivers James Rodgers and Markus Wheaton gave Mannion a pair of outstanding pass catchers. Under fourth-year coach Paul Wulff, Washington State showed
marked improvement over its teams of the past several seasons. Injuries forced the team to start three different players at quarter- back, but young players such as wide receiver Marquess Wilson and running back Rickey Galvin emerged as stars. The Cougars began the year with three victories in four games, and, late in the year, they dealt Arizona State’s South Division hopes a severe blow with a 37–27 upset. In between, though, Washington State faltered. That left Stanford and Oregon to battle for supremacy in the North. First-year coach
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David Shaw’s Cardinal averaged 48.2 points per game while bulldoz- ing its fi rst nine opponents. Stanford didn’t even trail in any of its fi rst seven victories. The Ducks, meanwhile, stumbled in a turnover- plagued defeat in its opener against LSU, then reeled off nine victo- ries in which they averaged 49.1 points per game. Oregon won the showdown with the Cardinal 53–30. Two weeks
later, head coach Chip Kelly’s Ducks offi cially clinched the North by beating Oregon State 49–21 in the Civil War. In the South Division, the road to the Championship Game was
fi lled with a lot more twists and turns. The race was complicated by USC’s ineligibility for the Conference championship. At fi rst, that didn’t appear to matter when Arizona State threatened to run away with the division. Head coach Dennis Erickson’s Sun Devils throttled USC 43–22 in week four and soon took control of the division. They had a chance to all but wrap up the title offi cially when they played at UCLA in week nine, but Rick
University of Utah Athletics
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