Pac 10 Power Poll and Week 12 Review

The big news of this week was obviously USC’s beat down of Notre Dame. Pete Carroll clearly out-coached Weis and Notre Dame just couldn’t get it done in the red-zone. USC now is just 60 minutes away from playing OSU for the BCS Championship. Much kudos to Pete Carroll who I have criticized rightfully in the past for some questionable in game decisions but since the OSU wake-up call USC has played very smart ball. Not sure that they have the experience to beat Ohio State yet but next year this team should be the surefire #1 to start the season. In other news Arizona State beat Arizona in a game that was aided by the knocking out of Willy Tuitama on a cheap shot. Arizona clearly can’t win over anyone outside of Stanford without their QB and there has to be worries now that he has suffered 3 concussions in less than a year. As reward for beating his in-state rival Dirk Koetter was let go off his duties though will receive a nice buyout and should be seen sometime soon as an OC somewhere around the country. Oregon and Oregon State was a classic game that clearly came down to which team had the better kicker. Give the Beavs credit for taking advantage of every mistake Oregon made. Also give credit to Bellotti for giving Brady Leaf a shot, he played a smarter game than Dixon would have and the Ducks overall showed great improvement over their last three performances in Corvallis.

1. USC (1) – Have had no problem in rolling through their “gauntlet” of a schedule since the Stanford game. Now all that stands between them and the BCS championship game is a feisty but ultimately lacking in playmakers UCLA team.
2. Cal (2) – Likely Holiday Bowl bound the BCS has yet to release them from consideration for a Rose Bowl bid. They shouldn’t have much problems with Stanford this week but I wonder how much motivation they have left for the Holiday Bowl.
3. UCLA (3) – The win over ASU two weeks ago looks better now that the Devils beat the Cats. UCLA will need to play the best game of the Karl Dorrell era to beat the Trojans. I have a feeling UCLA loses to USC but find them-selves spending Christmas in Hawaii.
4. OSU (4) – Did just enough to beat Oregon, many thanks due to the lack of mistakes by the offense and the leg of Alexis Serna. On the other hand what in the world was Mike Riley doing throwing the ball late in the 4^th quarter with the big lead? They now face the mother off all “trap” games in Hawaii before the Sun Bowl becons.
5. ASU (7) – The Territorial Cup is usually won by the underdog, this year was no exception but still the Devils fired Dirk Koetter. I’d expect to see them in the Insight Bowl, as for coaching candidates Norm Chow would be killer there.
6. UA (5) – Huge letdown for the Cats to lose to ASU at home but the Tuitama injury didn’t help at all. However the Arizona defense was clueless for the first 20 minutes of this game and allowed ASU to get 3 early TD’s. Now UA will play the waiting game to see if they can make it to a bowl. The likely Candidate I would say is the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco.
7. UO (6) – To call the 2006 Oregon season a disappointment is probably an understatement. The Ducks played a very inspired second half against Oregon State which was surprising considering the lack of second half efforts over much of the season. The Ducks have 7 wins and the Las Vegas Bowl has gone on record as saying they don’t want a 6-6 team so I would wager the Ducks end up in Las Vegas.
8. UW (8) – Nothing new to add from last week, the Huskies season is still over and eyes are on hoops.
9. WSU (9) – The Cougars have 6 wins but I don’t see them getting a bowl invite.
10. Stanford (10) – The stadium should be full for the Big Game. The biggest question that remains is whether Saturday’s game will be the final one of the Walt Harris era.