Pac 10 Power Poll and Week Six Review

Many folks including myself argued that Michigan being defeated by Appalachian State was one of the biggest upsets in the history of sports but if you examine the disparity in Sagarin ratings Stanford beating USC was a much bigger upset. I believe in the history of this poll USC has spent only one week not ranked #1 but that will be changing now. USC needs to recover with three very challenging road games still on the slate. I’ve never thought Pete Carroll was the greatest game coach and in the games that USC has lost in the last 4 years they have been undone by some arrogant choices by the coaching staff and players. USC had no reason to be throwing late with the personnel they have on the defensive side of the ball on the drive that was ended by John David Booty throwing an interception that led to the final Stanford touchdown. Had they ran and punted Stanford would have only won the game with a hail-mary as the Trees would have lacked the time to get down the field to score the winning points. In other news Oregon State re-grouped nicely to defeat Arizona who played more like Arizona we have come to know than the one who grilled Washington State’s porous defense. Oregon State had a good enough defense to win 9 games this season and even compete for a Pac 10 title for horrific special teams play, quarterback play and injuries have crushed this squad. Washington State played the relatively untested ASU pretty tough but they lack a kicker with a strong enough leg to have much chance of hitting a field goal past 35 yards and this fact help undo them. Finally UCLA had the unfortunate problem of losing Ben Olson to a knee injury, UCLA’s walk-on QB had no chance and Notre Dame got some plays on defense to shock the Bruin faithful. Until UCLA gets Patrick Cowan or Ben Olson back at QB they will have problems beating any Pac 10 school.


1. Cal (2) – For Cal’s sake they have to hope that Nate Longshore can play. They should be able to beat Oregon State on special teams play alone but to beat ASU and USC they will need their QB back and healthy.
2. UO (3) – The question that faces is Oregon is whether they will recover from a hard loss like the 2001 and 2005 Ducks did or whether they will fade away like the 2002, 2003 and 2006 versions did. I think the Ducks should be able to score big points against Wazzu’s soft pass defense.
3. ASU (4) – Not that impressive against WSU but they did win and the previous week beat Stanford 41-3. The face a Washington team that is rested but whose stellar QB Jake Locker is getting schemed much better by opposing defenses. ASU will soon face a three game stretch of Cal, USC and Oregon and they will need to not make the mental mistakes that have plagued many Dennis Erickson teams in the past.
4. USC (1) – USC losing to Stanford was shocking, they went from controlling their own destiny in the BCS to facing the strong possibility of having to win out to even win the Pac 10 title. Pete Carroll will need to rally the troops and stop the bickering between John David Booty and the receivers.
5. Stanford (10) – Jim Harbaugh has instilled his players with confidence, that was something that was completely lacking under the regimes of Teevens and Harris. Stanford now hosts a highly disappointing TCU squad at home in front of what I have to assume may be more fans than Stanford usually has.
6. UW (6) – The Huskies hopefully used their bye week to heal up and figure out how to get their running backs more involved in their offense. They will face a tough task playing in Tempe where the Devils have been untouchable this year.
7. OSU (8) – The Beavs put together their best performance of the year in beating Ariozna. They face a huge task in Cal next week. I’d recommend Alex Serna punts every ball out of bounds to avoid Desean Jackson.
8. UA (7) – Well the offense returned back to what it had been most of this year and you really have to wonder how the Arizona defense could allow over 30 points to a Sean Canfield led squad. Playing an incredibly irate USC team will not add to the dismal chance of Mike Stoops retaining employment in Tucson.
9. WSU (9) – The Cougs played by far the best game they have played in the Pac 1o this year but came up short. The homecoming for Alex Brink could be pretty ugly in Eugene, sadly the Eugene kid will never get to experience playing in a bowl game.
10. UCLA (10) – As long as Bethel-Thomson is playing QB the Bruins cannot win a game in the Pac 10. Ben Olson appears to be out for 4 weeks and the status of Patrick is up in the air. They are quite lucky to have a bye week.