Pac 10 Power Poll & Week Two Review

Another week that saw some more Pac 10 teams getting roughed up on national TV providing more cannon fodder for the dreaded East Coast Media Bias argument. Well here are the positives, USC moves up to #2 in the country without playing a game, ensuring that provided they win out this year they will be playing the BCS championship in all likelihood provided the schedule gods don’t do them in. Winning all those games will be easier said than done especially with Notre Dame looking to actually be the good team many thought they would be based on the thrashing of Penn State. More positives were the Huskies showing a pulse by playing tough in Norman despite the loss as well as Cal and Oregon beating quality opponents. On the downside of-course were the performances of Arizona, Oregon State and Stanford who were either trashed on national TV (we are looking at you Beavers and Wildcats) or pulling a traditional el-foldo to your local rival that makes their season every few years by knocking you off in a game where you look down on them (Stanford this is you, the third time in the past 6 years they have lost to SJSU and let us not forget the whole UC-Davis fiasco of last year). This week the Pac 10 has a great opportunity to show the world that the Big 12 is in fact the little twelve. I predict that Oregon, USC, ASU and WSU will dispatch Oklahoma, Nebraska, CU and Baylor which should push the Pac 10 ahead of the Big 12 in terms of non-conference SOS (this likely won’t be the case when the year is over because of the 9 game Pac 10 schedule and the two additional teams the Big 12 has).

The poll:

1. USC (1) – Great week for USC, Texas gets dispatched by Ohio State and the Trojans roll in to the 2 spot in the coaches poll while having a week off to prepare for the test of Nebraska who rolled up on Nicholls State. Nebraska is improving in the west coast offense but to win in the Coliseum is too much too ask for a young team going through such a sea-change in offensive systems.
2. UO (2) - Great teams win tough games on the road that they are supposed to win. The Ducks avoided the WAC flu that took down Oregon State and Stanford and won a tough, hard-hitting game played in the hornets nest called Fresno. Kudos to Mike Bellotti and his special teams coach for having the stones to call that fake field goal option that sealed the win. Oregon lost Jackie Bates for likely the regular season to a broken leg. I don’t think his loss will hurt much against run-oriented Oklahoma but the loss will sting against the Pac 10 foes. Oregon could be having a very special season but the stakes and difficulty goes up this week. A healthy Jonathan Stewart is a must.
3. ASU (6) - Our big gainer this week, they played very well offensively against Nevada, certainly the best game any of the 4 teams playing WAC foes. Colorado is reeling right now and ASU should be able to give them a death blow as to having any chances at pulling out a winning season in Dan Hawkins first year. Hawkins by the way was the chap who replaced Dirk Koetter at Boise State. ASU faces Cal in two weeks which in a sense will likely be a Rose Bowl elimination game.
4. Cal (4) – Though their defense struggled early in the end Cal pummeled a quality Big 10 opponent in a national televised game. With a virtual bye week this week (well as long as Cal doesn’t pull a New Mexico) with Portland State in town the Bears have two weeks to prepare for the aerial attack of Arizona State which should prove to be a very entertaining match-up of former Oregon offensive coordinators turned Pac 10 head coaches.
5. UCLA (3) – Didn’t see a lick of this game but based on the score I expected more from UCLA in facing a team coming off a 1-10 season in Rice. In UCLA’s defense Rice runs a form of the triple-option that UCLA has likely not faced in many years and it makes a hard transition to prepare in one week. They get a bye week to prepare for the improved Huskies in Seattle. To compete for the Pac 10 title they can’t afford losses to teams like Washington.
6. WSU (8) – Rebounded from their licking by Auburn to whack Dennis Erickson’s Vandals who had played quite well the week before in their visit to East Lansing. The Cougars obviously can put up points and yards via the air, they need to be careful to not look past Baylor who has improved. A win here keeps the possibility for a bowl alive for the Cougars who should be able to win 4 Pac 10 games.
7. UW (10) – Washington showed a great deal of character by hanging with Oklahoma for more than a half. In the end the Huskies just don’t have the guys on the lines to beat a team like Oklahoma. They face an interesting match-up with Fresno State this week. Fresno will look to run the ball with Dwayne Wright and they did with some success against Oregon. In the end I think Fresno will win this game but the Huskies are certainly improved from last year.
8. OSU (5) - After getting spotted a 14-0 lead the Beavs basically repeated their performance of their last trip to Boise and after a dumb interception led to a Bronco touchdown the Beavs basically gave up. In a twist of irong Dennis Erickson will be coming to town. Due to the fact that a vast majority of Beaver fans likely want Dennis Erickson to be coaching the Beavers next year you wonder if some are secretly hoping for a loss by the Beavs to that other team from the Potato State. This looks like a very long year in Corvallis and the Matt Moore should be ending soon.
9. UA (7) – Hey Herbstreit nice call on Tuitama being a Top 5 QB. Arizona got run in Baton Rogue in a game that I thought they should be able to keep with in 14 points. Good thing for Stoops that he pulled out that win against BYU, with Stephen F. Austin coming to town the Cats have a virtual bye week before they take on USC in two weeks. I think Stoops seat is getting a bit warm.
10. Stanford (10) – Again Stanford overlooked a local rival that can make their year by beating them. I give credit to Stanford for continuing to play San Jose State but I believe this is the third time they have lost to San Jose State since 1999. Preparing for Navy will be a tough game for the Trees. Due to the fact that they must play at Notre Dame this year the Navy game is a must win if they hope to have any chance at sniffing a bowl.