Oct. 18, 2012
First name off the top of your head for Pac-12 midseason player of the year: go.
Matt Barkley? The stats just aren't there, and USC has been a bit of a disappointment thus far. DeAnthony Thomas? Similarly unspectacular numbers, although he's more about doing "wow" things than producing big numbers.
CBS Sports has another suggestion: Matt Scott. In the midseason college football awards that were handed out this week, Scott was recognized as the conference's midseason player of the year in his first year as the starting quarterback.
And the numbers certainly back up that selection: The Arizona senior is averaging 349.8 passing yards a game with 13 touchdowns and six interceptions (to go along with 222 rushing yards and two more scores) for an offense that's averaging 37 points and a remarkable 551.3 yards a contest. While the Wildcats have lost three straight, it'd be unreasonable to pin any of that skid on Scott; UA has played four ranked teams in the last five games and in those four games has averaged 35.5 points, with the last two losses coming by scores of 38-35 and 54-48. And against Stanford last week, Scott set the school and Pac-12 record for both attempts and completions, going 45 of 68 for a career-high 491 yards.
Scott wasn't the only UA player recognized for an impressive first-half, as running back Ka'Deem Carey was named a second-team All-American. Carey, also in his first year as the full-time starter after averaging about eight carries a game last year as a freshman, is 19th in the country at 111.9 rushing yards per game (at an impressive 5.32 yards a carry) and has scored 10 touchdowns. Twice this season he has scored three touchdowns in a game -- in the win over Oklahoma State and in last week's loss to Stanford -- and he has added 21 catches for 220 receiving yards and a score. With the 10 touchdowns, Carey leads the Pac-12 and is ninth in the country in scoring.
While Carey was UA's only representative on the All-America teams, the Pac-12 as a whole had seven: Oregon running back Kenjon Barner, USC wideout Marqise Lee and Oregon's Thomas (as a kick returner) on the first team and Oregon State defensive end Scott Crichton, USC defensive end Morgan Breslin, UCLA linebacker Anthony Barr and Oregon State cornerback Jordan Poyer on the second team.
-- Matt Swartz
