Pac 10 Power Poll and Week Two Review

Well obviously the big story of the week was Oregon steamrolling Michigan in the Big House. Even the biggest Oregon fan wouldn’t have predicted a 39-7 drubbing that frankly could have been a lot worse had the ducks not put on the brakes a bit and had some unlucky breaks in the redzone. Michigan looked slow and confused and I think they will struggle to be bowl eligible. Luckily they get to play Notre Dame next week who I would be shocked gets to 6 wins this year either. The second biggest story of the week has got to be the resilient Washington Huskies led by freshman Jake Locker. The Dawgs ended the nation’s longest winning streak and with TCU losing left Hawaii as the only team with a shot out there of being a BCS Cinderella (and Hawaii was on life support in Ruston). UCLA and Cal had to be a bit disappointed with their play against Mountain West foes while the Beavs need to seriously upgrade their QB play if they have any hope of making a bowl game.

1. USC (1) – They didn’t play and have had two weeks to prepare for a hostile crowd in Lincoln, the Huskers avoided losing the trap game in Winston-Salem (had Riley Skinner played Wake wins) but will have major issues offensively hanging with USC. Nebraska is still a year away from getting back to where they could compete against a USC team at home.
2. Oregon (5) – I’ve been watching Duck football for almost my whole life and never has there been a better offensive half of football by an Oregon team than the first half in Ann Arbor. Michigan looked lost on defense and doesn’t have the game plan or personnel to come back once they get down early. Even though this Michigan team has proved its self to be as huge of a disappointment we’ve seen in recent memory this win for Oregon has to go down among its best road wins ever.
3. Cal (3) – Cal’s defense has some holes, they played a pretty mediocre CSU team and never put them away. This was a classic let down game for the Bears after the big, emotional win over Tennessee. La Tech should score a lot of points against Cal but not nearly as many as Cal will score against the pathetic defense of La Tech. Look for Desean Jackson to put up numbers to try and get up their in the Heisman rankings.
4. UCLA (2) – I really only put them here because they played at home rather than on the road. BYU is a tough team coming off a 2 game winning streak against Pac 10 opponents. UCLA should be able to handle a beat up Utah teak this week. It is hard for me to differentiate much between UCLA, Cal, ASU and Oregon right now.
5. ASU (5) – Got down 14-0 early to CU at home then received nicely to destroy the Buffs. Ryan Torain continues to put up good numbers and Rudy Carpenter looks like he is making better decisions. San Diego State shouldn’t present any issues to ASU this week.
6. UW (7) – The second most impressive win of the week and the best win of the Willingham era in Montlake. Locker now faces what is likely too large of a test when Ohio State comes to town but I wouldn’t completely count the Huskies out. Ohio State is sputtering on offense and managed only 20 points in a home win versus Ohio.
7. WSU (8) – Nice bounce back win for the Cougs in a game they needed to win to have any shot at getting to a bowl game this year and saving Bill Doba’s job. The annual battle with Idaho awaits and the Cougars can’t be over-confident, Idaho played a solid game at USC all things considered and have upgraded their talent a bit over the last two years.
8. OSU (6) – The Beavs were downright awful in Cincinnati, without some massive improvement at QB the Beavs will struggle to get to 500 this year. They should be Idaho State 55-7 or so but that game won’t do much to prepare Canfield and understudies for the Pac 10 schedule.
9. UA (9) – They beat a 1-AA school , can’t say that means much and this week New Mexico invades with perhaps their best team in the last 3 decades. Arizona needs to find some offense and soon or they will lost to New Mexico in a game that would require the Cats to win 5 Pac 10 games to ensure a bowl bid, and Stoops must get that bowl bid to continue his employment.
10. LSJU (10) – If Stanford can’t beat San Jose State with two weeks to prepare then they are hopeless.