The big story of the week was no doubt Cal’s ending of the Mountain West’s domination over the Pac 10 by beating Colorado State in Berkeley. Oh whoops, I guess there was a big event that occurred in Corvallis last Thursday that needs to be mentioned first. Kudos to the Oregon State Beavers for making the winning streak over USC in games played in the state of Oregon to 3. This means that USC has not beaten an Oregon school in the post Leinart/Bush era on the road and that has to be a bit disturbing to Pete Carroll who has other than that only dropped two other games in that time frame both in Los Angeles. Oregon State did something which I haven’t seen any team do since the 2001 Vegas Bowl and Utah and that is dominate USC completely on both sides of the line for an entire half. OSU was physical and played it straight up with USC and it proved to be the correct game plan. When it looked like USC was going to come out in the 3rd and dominate the Beavers didn’t panic and kept getting first down to extend drives even if it didn’t mean scoring points. This was key because it killed clock and kept their defense fresh. Now what does this all mean, well # 1 USC is not the dominant squad we imagine they would be and a bit of the luster is coming off of Pete Carroll but with the losses sustained in the SEC last weekend I think USC still has a punchers shot to make the BCS championship game if the dominoes fall their way. Second it opens up the Rose Bowl chances for just about everyone except the Washington schools and UCLA, beat USC and win out and you’ll go to the Rose Bowl. This makes the season a bit more interesting for teams like Oregon and the Cal/ASU winner, while Arizona, due to the fact that of the legit contenders without a conference loss left, are the only to get USC on their home field. This means they might have the best shot at being the first non-USC squad to represent the Pac 10 in the Rose Bowl since the 2002 Cougs if they can survive the rest of their schedule with only one additional loss. In other new Washington missed their likely best chance at a win until the Apple Cup with a home loss to Stanford and to add insult to injury the loss of Jake Locker for up to 8 weeks. Ryan Fouch actually showed some better promise as to throwing the ball than Locker but with time to adjust game plans I’d expect to see UW opponents drop a lot of players back in to coverage and try to force UW to beat them on the ground which will not be successful. The Willingham era is over in all but the official sense. He will likely coach out the rest of the year but resign after the Apple Cup. UCLA did score some points in the home loss to Fresno but the Bulldogs are a terrible defensive team, luckily they get to play WSU this week. Cal and Oregon had dominant performances against bad opponents, the only newsworthy item of those two games was the injury to Jahvid Best who now looks to miss the ASU game this week.
1. USC (1) – Typically you lose at #1 and you drop but I can’t see this happening this week due to the lack of strength among the other contenders. The gap is smaller but on a neutral field I still like USC way more than any other team in the conference. USC will be angry and wants to take it out on Oregon. USC is very much alive in the national championship race, and Oregon, with a win here could become in the discussion as well.
2. UO (2) – Total domination by Oregon, it makes them really have to look back at the cheap shot that knocked out Jeremiah Masoli against Boise State and wonder what if. The Ducks now have no margin of error from here on out. They can’t spend half the game with the wheels spinning like what occurred with Purdue and Boise State to have any chance to pull off the win.
3. Cal (3)- Cal was able end the Pac 10’s losing streak to Mountain West teams and seems to have recovered from the debacle at Maryland. The Bears can all but stick a fork in ASU with a win this week but won’t have Jahvid Best so expect more of an aerial assault from Cal
4. OSU (6) – The Beavs beat a number one team for the first team since 1967 which quite the accomplishment but they can’t rest on their laurels as they are venturing in to a hornet’s nest in Salt Lake City. The Beavs have to be seriously regretting the Stanford loss as they would be in all effects two games up on USC in the battle for the Pac 10 championship.
5. ASU (4) – ASU is in the middle of a gauntlet schedule that could very likely lead to season killing 5 game losing streak. The last time Rudy Carpenter played in Berkeley he was physically beat up by the Bears D-Line. Expect lots of pressure and a Devil loss.
6. UA (5) – Arizona hosts Washington and should quietly wait in the weeds with an easier early part of the schedule in league play before they host Cal and USC later in the month.
7. LSJU (7) – Got a road win in Seattle now must go to Notre Dame. Stanford could win this one which would do the nation a favor and eliminate any chance of Notre Dame stealing a BCS bid.
8. UCLA (9)- The question is whether the offense is back or whether it was just a poor Fresno defense that allowed UCLA yards and points. I’d aim with the poor defense by FSU. UCLA can’t afford a slip up to WSU at home.
9. UW (8) – Jake Locker is effectively out for the year not sure how much more this team can take.
10. WSU (10) - WSU could be a first division team, in the Big Sky.
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