Power Poll Week 11

Cannon Beach Weekend
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No notes just rankings this week:

1. USC (1) - Drops in the BCS despite posting 3 shutout in 4 weeks. Last real shot at a loss is this week but I highly doubt Cal has the horses to win in LA.
2. Cal (4) - Part of the sloppy play can be blamed on whether but if they turn the ball over 4 times versus USC they will get blown out.
3. OSU (3) - A very average team without Moevau at QB. Does their Rose Bowl dream end in Pasadena?
4. UO (2) - Clearly this team can only beat teams with a noticeable talent gap if they stay one-dimensional.
5. UA (5) - This week's game at Pullman means the Cats will be bowl eligible.
6. LSJU (6) - I'd have to scan the history books to see if Stanford has ever beat a conference foe by more than 58. Oregon is likely the best shot at a win need to get to bowl eligibility.
7. UCLA (7) - Seems to have OSU's number a win and they keep their slip bowl chance alive.
8. ASU (8) - Are they team who gives UW its first win? Showed some spunk versus OSU but still on a 6 game losing streak.
9. UW (9) - Bye Bye Ty.
10 WSU (10) - I think they've sewn up the title as worst team in the Pac 10 ever, now have to wonder if they are the worst BCS conference team ever. Rutgers 2001 perhaps?

Pac 10 Power Poll Week Ten

Cristom
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With the loss suffered by Arizona to USC only one Pac 10 team now can state they control their own destiny for the Rose Bowl and that is the Oregon State Beavers who ironically lost the first game of the season to a fellow Pac 10 team. Interestingly enough Oregon State could win the Pac 10 but find themselves barely in the Top 25 as they have three losses. Not surprisingly the Ty Willingham era officially will end at the final gun of the Apple Cup. It will be interesting to see who ends up taking that job. As for Coach Ty I think he will go one of two routes: NFL assistant or taking the next Ivy League/high academic standing (like a Colgate, Holy Cross etc) 1-AA job that comes along. Oregon and Cal had excellent offensive performances in beating free-falling ASU and UCLA while Washington got punked at home by Notre Dame. As for this week you can consider the Cal/Oregon game as a playoff game in a way. The loser is looking at likely maxing out at the Vegas Bowl while the winner stays in the Pac 10 race. With the exception of one meeting Tedford-Bellotti matchups have been typically very close affairs.
1. USC (1) – The defense is the best that Carroll has had at USC in my opinion but the offense is lackluster. They need to hope for someone to knock Penn State off they don’t have the best resume if it comes down to computers and voters versus a won loss SEC or Big 12 team for the BCS title. Cal is the only remaining challenge on the schedule in my opinion.
2. OSU (3) - Didn’t need two weeks to prepare for ASU who they should beat to a pulp in Denny’s first return game to Corvallis.
3. UO (2) – Usually you don’t blow a team out on the road and go down but the more I think about it the more I think Oregon State would beat Oregon on a neutral field right now. The Ducks still aren’t the balanced team they need to be to beat top level Pac 10 teams. Oregon’s best win this year is probably UCLA, that isn’t saying much.
4. Cal (5) – They can’t afford to look past Oregon to USC as the Ducks have had this one circled for awhile. Cal should be able to throw on the Ducks but the game will likely be decided by the matchup between Cal’s secondary and Oregon’s passing game. They should look at tape of what UCLA did to Oregon and make Masoli try to win the game with his feet.
5. UA (4) – Great defensive performance but not enough O. Mike Stoops should be kicked in the junk for punting in USC territory on 4th with 3 minutes left. Give your team a chance to win the game, odder still the drive before in worse field position he went for it!
6. LSJU (6) – The Cardinal have their second straight bye week. Out wait the Cougs are in town.
7. UCLA (7) - Played Cal tough for 3 quarters but much of that was done with mirrors. How many points has Craft surrendered this year with stupid picks?
8. ASU(8) - Not many would have thought Denny Erickson would be working on a 5 game losing streak ever at the college level, it will soon be six.
9. UW(9) - The end of the Willingham era should come as no surprise to anyone. Good luck in South Central fellas.
10. WSU(10) – At this point why waste your freshman QB’s redshirt year?

Pac 10 Power Poll Week Nine

Hopworks Urban Brewery
Originally uploaded by pete4ducks.

This has not been a banner year for the Pac 10 conference as USC is now the only team in the Top 30 of teams getting votes in the coaches poll. Unless Oregon State or Arizona somehow wins out it seems highly unlikely that two Pac 10 teams will make it to the BCS and the conference as a whole is going to have a very hard time getting enough teams even bowl eligible to fill all of its spots. The big winner of the week was probably Arizona, however you could make the argument that Oregon was the big winner by not having to play. The Cats by beating Cal kept themselves alive as one of only two teams (other being Oregon State) that still control their own destiny in terms of the Rose Bowl. Obviously the odds are long for Arizona but along with OSU the possibility still exists. The Cats showed up enough on defense to stymie the Cal Bears and now get to take on USC. Going in to the year I thought that USC’s best chance at a loss was the Arizona game and the possibility of the Cats winning in Tucson this week can’t be overlooked. Financially the conference is hurt if USC losses here because it takes them out of the BCS Championship hunt but for the remaining contenders a USC loss would do a lot to make a Rose Bowl a possibility. USC was dominant against WSU but that means nothing, Oregon and Cal dominated the Cougs too and then were disappointing in their next games. In what has become a yearly trend Oregon State is starting to become a dominant team towards the end of the year and ran their winning streak over UW to 5 games. Who could have imagined in the early 1990’s that the teams from Oregon would go five years without a loss to the once mighty Huskies? Finally Stanford dropped a heartbreaker to UCLA which really hurts their bowl chances. The Cardinal, assuming they beat the Cougs in two weeks would need to win 2 out of 3 from UO, Cal and USC just to get to 6 wins overall, the road to 6 is possible but daunting.
1. USC (1) – Nothing went wrong for USC save for a blocked punt. No Pac 10 team should have a 41-0 lead in a conference road game, USC looked like they were playing a mediocre Big Sky conference team which is probably what WSU is at this point. USC faces its last big hurdle in my opinion when they travel to Tucson this weekend. Win that one and I give them a 50/50 shot of playing in the BCS championship game as the SEC and Big 12 beat each-other up.
2. UO (3) – Won by not playing and gets moved to the 2 spot by default. The Ducks should be better off with Justin Roper in the lineup since he can actually throw the ball down the field. The receivers need to become a factor again for the Ducks both for this year and for recruiting of future receivers.
3. OSU (4) – Did what they were supposed to and that is beat UW on the road. The Beavs face ASU at home in 2 weeks and pending Oregon beats the Devils the Beavs should extend ASU’s string of defeats to 6 games.
4. UA (6) – Nice win for UA over Cal and at 5-2 Arizona looks in good shape for a bowl game with WSU and ASU still on the schedule. Mike Stoops, pending a complete meltdown should do enough to save his job thus year which I think is good news for other programs around the league.
5. Cal (2) - With what has happened with some other Cal teams the last few years you have to wonder if Tedford’s guys will fold their tents again after a tough loss down in Tucson. Getting UCLA at home is nice for Cal because UCLA is a terrible road squad. The qb play was poor at Arizona but the defense was terrible and that could spell trouble down the road with Oregon and UCLA looming on the schedule.
6. Stanford (6) – Very disappointing loss to UCLA for Jim Harbaugh and company that hurts the chances of getting to 6 wins a great deal. Stanford just can’t seem to get over the hump on the road, this seems to show that they are one year away from being a team that should be able to get to a decent (ie Sun or Vegas Bowl).
7. UCLA (8) – at 3 and 4 still has a minute chance of getting to 6 wins but with USC, OSU and Cal still on the schedule that will be a tough task. This is a team that will improve a great deal from this year to next in my opinion.
8. ASU (7) – This is Rudy’s last stand. For some reason Oregon was very generous and moved this game a week back at ASU’s request. ASU needs to find a way to protect Rudy Carpenter who is still gimpy. If he can throw deep early and burn the Ducks (who will be blitzing early to try and rough up Carpenter) ASU has a shot. If not they are looking at 5th straight loss with a almost certain loss next week in Corvallis coming up.
9. UW (9) – Got plastered again at home versus Oregon State but I think that Fouche has a shot to be a decent throwing Qb and that the Dawgs might be better served moving Jake Locker to linebacker or safety. I don’t think he has a NFL future at QB and this may work out best for everyone. That will be the new coaches call however and we don’t know who that will be.
10. WSU (10) – Well when you think things can’t get any lower they do 69-0 being the proof. Thankfully for the Cougs they have a bye this week.

Pac 10 Power Poll Week Eight

Evie and I
Originally uploaded by pete4ducks.

Pac 10 Power Poll Week Eight
Sorry for the lateness this week has been tough, my work computer got infected with a virus on Monday and Evie has been sick with the flu. She is doing much better now which is a good thing since cleaning up vomit and or diarrhea at two in the morning is not my idea of a fun time. Was it really six days ago that the Pac 10 last played games, seems like much longer to me. Last week’s game of the week was surprisingly Stanford/Arizona which probably was an afterthought before the season started with the ASU/USC matchup on tap . With the win Stanford actually controls their own destiny for the Rose Bowl and does get to play USC at home. Stranger things have happened, Stanford is a well coached team who has now won 3 games in conference play and needs only two more wins to get to bowl consideration. The wheels have completely fallen off at Arizona State who is off on this week for a bye while they try to heal up for Oregon in two weeks, they got beat 28-0 at USC who played very flat themselves. Memo to Paul Wolff, don’t throw Mike Riley under the bus for running up the score. I am sorry your team is perhaps the worst the Pac 10 has ever seen but Mike Riley is about as classy and kind a person in sports you would ever run across. Have fun with USC in town this week, you have to wonder if Kevin Lopina is happy to be back from injury or not? The Oregon Ducks have frankly beat no one of any substance this year and that trend continued with the UCLA performance which outside of a great pass and catch TD from Masoli to Harper the passing game for Oregon was non-existent. Both the UO secondary and wide receivers need to learn how to catch the football. Too many dropped balls made the final score of UCLA/Oregon way closer than it should have ever been. This week looks like another set of dud games in the Pac 10.
1. USC (1) – Brought their C game and still won 28-0 versus ASU. The concern I see in USCland however is that Mark Sanchez doesn’t look that healthy to me since Nick Reed rolled up on his knee. Expect to see a lot of backups play major minutes in Pullman this week. No need to even bring Joe McKnight along for the trip.
2. Cal (2) - With Zona’s loss to Stanford this game lost a lot of its luster. The last time Cal played in Zona the Cats ruined Cal’s Rose Bowl shot. Jahvid Best should be back and it will be interesting to see how the QB situation will work for Cal this weekend. The Bears are the only undefeated team in conference play this year joining Stanford as the only schools who still control their own destiny for the Rose Bowl.
3. UO (3) – UCLA gave Masoli the run all night and he took it. Had the Ducks taken better care to actually catch the football and the Ducks could have made the game a laugher. I believe the return of Justin Roper will bring balance back to the Oregon offensive attack.
4. OSU (5) – Destroyed WSU and should destroy UW this weekend. The Beavs really should be 5-1 right now not 3-3. The Beavers have a very favorable schedule down the stretch and if they win out and Stanford losses a game they, not USC would be conference champs.
5. Stanford (7) – Was able to pull off a very important win versus UA and have kept their bowl hopes alive. I like what Harbaugh is doing down on the Farm. Stanford can’t afford a trip up to UCLA because they still have to play USC, Cal and Oregon down the stretch.
6. UA (4) – Just when you thought they might finally step out and be a contender the Cats blow a game they should win on paper. Not Arizona has to play Cal in a game that they must win if they have higher aspirations than the Vegas Bowl.
7. ASU (6) – In the words of Tommy Petty: “Free Fallin”. They have two weeks to get healthy for the Ducks – problem is the Ducks are magnificent after bye weeks and Justin Roper will be back.
8. UCLA (8) – Regretting that onside kick nonsense Neuheisal? UCLA was competitive against Oregon but the game would have gotten hand quickly if Oregon didn’t have hands of stone. UCLA can play spoilers this week to Stanford who has outside of the Washington game not played well on the road.
9. UW (9) – The best 0-5 team in America.
10. WSU (10) – Can it get any worse? Yes as USC is in town.

Pac 10 Power Poll Week Seven

Evie
Originally uploaded by pete4ducks.

Pac 10 Power Poll Week Seven

The anticipated matchup of the week was Oregon-USC but that ended up turning in to mauling where upon USC put up 44 unanswered points. UO has some major concerns one being the lack of a passing game and the inability of the defense to defend against the pass, particularly the play action pass. One wonders if these factors might be related. Oregon has had the most trouble this year against the two teams they played (USC and Boise State) that had the most traditional Pro-style offenses. Perhaps the defense, while practicing against the Oregon offense has adapted to shutting down the spread but can’t handle a good Pro-style set. Makes for an interesting argument, many people in Duck land are calling for Nick Alliotti’s head but again I would be much more surprised to see him not in Eugene next year than I would Chip Kelly. Oregon can still finish 10-2 but I think 8-4 is more likely with the two losses coming to a combination of Cal, Zona and OSU. ASU played Cal a little closer than I would have thought but again the Bears physically beat up on ASU and it looks like Rudy is out for the USC game. Probably a good plan, ASU has no shot at UCLA and will then get a bye week to rest for Oregon with what should be a somewhat healthy Rudy Carpenter. In other games Arizona not shocking destroyed Washington. Too little too late for Stanford who played just well enough to lose to Notre Dame. Oregon State had Utah on the ropes then lost at the end, now the Beavers look like they can go on a 4 game winning streak with the Washington schools, UCLA and ASU on the schedule, they better because with a 1-2 OOC record and the loss to Stanford they would need to finish the Pac 10 schedule 5-3 even to be in the bowl discussion and would need 6-2 to secure a bowl. I won’t even bother discussing the WSU-UCLA game other than I sort of watched it while licking my wounds from the USC/Oregon blowout.\
1. USC (1) –UO played well early but had a series of foolish coaching decisions and bonehead plays on offense and defense that gave the Trojans their mojo back. USC if they can get by the hurdles of Cal and Zona still has a shot at the BCS championship game but clearly needs help with the disappointing play of the Pac 10 in OOC games this year. ASU will present no problem to USC this week at all expect lots of pressure on Danny Sullivan from the USC front seven.
2. Cal (3) – I think Cal stuck the final stake in ASU’s season. The Bears on the other hand have the inside track on the Holiday Bowl with Oregon suffering the USC loss while the Bears will get to play Oregon in Strawberry Canyon. Cal gets a week off to prepare for Arizona and hopefully get their QB situation figured out along with Jahvid Best back in the lineup.
3. UO (2) – It could be argued that Oregon is winning with mirrors. They have yet to beat a quality team this year and struggled with a clearly subpar Purdue team. However UCLA and Slick Rick are back in Eugene this week and UCLA has shown no sign of having an offense on the road this year. If Oregon doesn’t blow UCLA out there is an issue.
4. UA (6) – At Stanford is a huge game for the Cats, win it and they keep themselves in the position of being the team with, based on schedule, with the best chance of dethroning USC as league champs. Arizona has had a very easy schedule so far and the only blemish is the New Mexico loss but they frankly should be 5-0 at this point. Stanford is a tough team and is way more battle tested than Arizona is.
5. OSU (4) – The schedule eases up for the Beavs and that is needed. At 2-3 they can’t afford to drop more than 1 of the next 4 games if they want to be over .500 this year. Erase a few bonehead plays versus Stanford and Utah and the Beavs are 4-1 with only a road loss to a Top 10 team and in control of their own destiny for Pasadena.
6. ASU (5) – In the midst of a now 3 game losing streak the wheels on the bus are falling off for ASU. With USC a bye then Oregon the streak should be five games by months end.
7. LSJU (7) - Play Notre Dame tough but couldn’t pull out a must needed win. Now they need to go 4-2 from here on out to get to secure a bowl game and 3 to be eligible, losing to Arizona would make that all but impossible with Cal, USC and Oregon still on the schedule.
8. UCLA (8) – Not sure what beating WSU shows at this point, will face an Oregon team that is looking to get back in the swing of things and has Justin Roper so the Ducks should be able to throw down the field again.
9. UW (9) - Got mauled by the Cats, the Dawgs get a week off to prepare for Beaver Nation.
10. WSU (10) – Was at least marginally competitive versus UCLA now face a 30 point spread in Corvallis. I’d be surprised if Oregon State has ever been a 30 point favorite in a Pac 10 conference game.