Pac 10 Power Poll Week Ten

Cristom
Originally uploaded by pete4ducks.

With the loss suffered by Arizona to USC only one Pac 10 team now can state they control their own destiny for the Rose Bowl and that is the Oregon State Beavers who ironically lost the first game of the season to a fellow Pac 10 team. Interestingly enough Oregon State could win the Pac 10 but find themselves barely in the Top 25 as they have three losses. Not surprisingly the Ty Willingham era officially will end at the final gun of the Apple Cup. It will be interesting to see who ends up taking that job. As for Coach Ty I think he will go one of two routes: NFL assistant or taking the next Ivy League/high academic standing (like a Colgate, Holy Cross etc) 1-AA job that comes along. Oregon and Cal had excellent offensive performances in beating free-falling ASU and UCLA while Washington got punked at home by Notre Dame. As for this week you can consider the Cal/Oregon game as a playoff game in a way. The loser is looking at likely maxing out at the Vegas Bowl while the winner stays in the Pac 10 race. With the exception of one meeting Tedford-Bellotti matchups have been typically very close affairs.
1. USC (1) – The defense is the best that Carroll has had at USC in my opinion but the offense is lackluster. They need to hope for someone to knock Penn State off they don’t have the best resume if it comes down to computers and voters versus a won loss SEC or Big 12 team for the BCS title. Cal is the only remaining challenge on the schedule in my opinion.
2. OSU (3) - Didn’t need two weeks to prepare for ASU who they should beat to a pulp in Denny’s first return game to Corvallis.
3. UO (2) – Usually you don’t blow a team out on the road and go down but the more I think about it the more I think Oregon State would beat Oregon on a neutral field right now. The Ducks still aren’t the balanced team they need to be to beat top level Pac 10 teams. Oregon’s best win this year is probably UCLA, that isn’t saying much.
4. Cal (5) – They can’t afford to look past Oregon to USC as the Ducks have had this one circled for awhile. Cal should be able to throw on the Ducks but the game will likely be decided by the matchup between Cal’s secondary and Oregon’s passing game. They should look at tape of what UCLA did to Oregon and make Masoli try to win the game with his feet.
5. UA (4) – Great defensive performance but not enough O. Mike Stoops should be kicked in the junk for punting in USC territory on 4th with 3 minutes left. Give your team a chance to win the game, odder still the drive before in worse field position he went for it!
6. LSJU (6) – The Cardinal have their second straight bye week. Out wait the Cougs are in town.
7. UCLA (7) - Played Cal tough for 3 quarters but much of that was done with mirrors. How many points has Craft surrendered this year with stupid picks?
8. ASU(8) - Not many would have thought Denny Erickson would be working on a 5 game losing streak ever at the college level, it will soon be six.
9. UW(9) - The end of the Willingham era should come as no surprise to anyone. Good luck in South Central fellas.
10. WSU(10) – At this point why waste your freshman QB’s redshirt year?