Pac 10 Power Poll and Week Four Review

Week four was the first week where all games were played within the conference and the haves appeared to beat up on the have nots. Oregon was dominating except for a very strange fifteen minutes that occurred in the second quarter. Somehow Stanford put up 31 straight points mainly due to fumbles by Ducks going for extra yards. Give Stanford credit for staying in it for awhile but it appears that unlike many previous Bellotti regimes this one responds well in the second half of games. The Beavers has ASU on the ropes before poor QB play did them in. UCLA played much better defense but also lost starting QB Patrick Cowan so if Ben Olson can’t go next week they will have to play in Corvallis with a freshman QB. USC rolled up WSU as expected, not much to say about that one. This week the big game is Oregon versus Cal at Autzen with the boys from ESPN Gameday making their first appearance in Eugene since 2000. Whichever team can force some stops on defense should win this one. Oregon would be wise to punt it away from Desean Jackson every time they punt (which of course may not be very often . . .)

!. USC (1) – Rolling, rolling, rolling. Another week another ABC 5 PM special for USC. This week it will be in Seattle and UW doesn’t have the defense to contain USC’s offense. Husky Stadium will be rocking but it will all be in vain.
2. Oregon (2) – Outside of bad quarter the Ducks rolled Stanford. The good news was that the turnovers were all fumbles all caused by guys trying to make the extra effort. Dixon still hasn’t thrown a pick. The challenge next week will be whether the Oregon d can force a few turnovers. They will score against Cal’s defense. The winner may need 40 points on Saturday.
3. Cal (3) – The offense is top notch but questions remain on defense. The Cal-Oregon game will be the Bears second game on the national stage this year and in effort number one versus Tennessee they delivered in spades.
4. ASU (4) – I didn’t get to see this game as it like the Oregon was not on live TV. ASU from all appearances could have easily lost this game save for the moronic QB play of Sean Canfield. Makes you wonder that if OSU had not attempted a pass in the second half and milked as much clock as possible they could have won. ASU appears to be a solid 4 in this league but hasn’t faced much competition yet. Stanford won’t be the cakewalk it may have appeared so ASU could be on upset special lookout now that they are in the Top 25.
5. UCLA (8) – The Bruins came back strong from the debacle in Salt Lake City. With Cowan and Olson on the mend they may be playing a 3rd stringer in Corvallis next week. UCLA has dominated Oregon State in recent games and as long as the Bruins can force OSU to throw the Bruins will win.
6. UW (5) – Playing a murderers row schedule is likely starting to wear on UW as they faltered down the stretch. Having to play USC will only add to that problem. UW should however be able to put a nice run together late in the season when the schedule eases up.
7. WSU (6) – Clearly outclassed by USC the Cougs will travel down to the desert in a game of coaches on the hot seat. I’d wager the loser of this game will not be a Pac 10 coach next year, but then again we might have to say that about the winner too.
8. OSU (7) – The Beavs would be a Top 15 team if they had good quarterback play, they don’t and now it seems very unlikely that OSU will win more than 3 more games going down the stretch.
9. Stanford (9) – Give them credit for playing with some fire for the first time in who knows how long. Kimble ripped the Ducks up and the defense. They could sneak up on ASU this week.
10. UA (10) - Was putting up 24 points against Cal because the Wildcats found their offense or was it from the bad Cal defense. They host WSU this week in a must win game to have much chance to get to 500 this year.