Pac 10 Power Poll and Week Two Review

USC once again played a powerhouse BCS conference power and once again vanquished said foe. The Trojans were outplayed for most of this game and I still wonder about their ability to sweep all of their Pac 10 road games as well as Notre Dame this year. There are major roadblocks upcoming starting in Seattle a place that has been an after-thought for just about anyone not from the bottom reaches of the WAC over the last few years. The Washington game is a perfect example of the type of game that USC struggles where they overlook the opponent (Stanford 07, OSU in 06 and 08, UCLA in 06) so even though USC should on paper dominate this game could be a good matchup. The drama of the Sarkisian/Holt regime playing their old boss in Pete Carroll could prove interesting. Cal, Washington and Arizona all played Big Sky teams (you should have stayed their Idaho and you know it) and not much noteworthy to be taking form those scores outside of UW breaking the streak and Arizona only coming up with 34 points versus a FCS opponent. I have yet to see the Cats play so hard to judge them at this point but they should not be only scoring 34 versus State Directional College nor should they be surrendering 17. Going in to Iowa City without Rob Gronkowski could prove difficult. Both Oregon and Oregon State squeezed out wins versus teams they should probably have beaten by more points. The Ducks have to be happy with the job of the defense to make big plays as it saved the offense’s bacon by putting up two scores. The Oregon offense finally showed a pulse in the 4th quarter but for the Ducks to even hope about going to a bowl this year they need to put together more drives. Third down has been atrocious on both sides of the ball and the time of possession numbers put up by the offense are pathetic. The Ducks use of the no-huddle is doing the defense no favors whatsoever and isn’t fooling anyone on the opposite side of the ball. The playbook will need to be opened up for the Ducks to defeat Utah. The Beavs may have looking past UNLV or maybe had too good of a time in Vegas but with the win all is forgiving. They will face a very high scoring team in Cincinnati who is the first ranked BCS conference opponent to travel to Corvallis in who knows how long. The BearCats killed the Beavs in 07 so revenge will be on the mind. Does OSU have the horses to match Cinci’s high scoring attack? Jaquizz is dinged up again and probably can’t shoulder a huge loud so Riley is going to have to get creative. ASU should roll ULM but they have to face Georgia in two weeks. UCLA pulled a major surprise in going to Knoxville and beating Tennessee who was obviously looking past the Bruins to their matchup versus the Gators. Major problems in seeding the Bruins in my poll this week. Kevin Prince got hurt and is now out 3-4 weeks so that means that Kevin Craft is the likely starter. Even thought they are playing the putrid Kansas State Wildcats a Kevin Craft led team doesn’t inspire much confidence in me. UCLA should face a tough next month or so. Stanford went east played early and lost a game they were ahead 14-0 in to Wake Forest. Will this game cost them that bowl bid for the first time since 01. Perhaps, if they also lose to Notre Dame they’d have to win 4 more Pac 10 games just to get to 6 and they’ve already played and beat the Cougs. I don’t want to waste more than a sentence talking about the Cougs so I won’t.
1. USC (1) – Got outplayed for 59 minutes in the Horseshoe yet still won. Why is that? Well Jim Tressell continues his play not to lose strategy which against a team like USC works basically never. Aaron Corp looks to take the reins now as super-frosh Matt Barkely has a bum shoulder. Husky Stadium will be loud and if they can play like they did on defense versus LSU and stop the turnovers on offense well the Dawgs have a shot. USC gets WSU next week so I don’t think they will look past the Huskies, the visit to Berkeley looms large though.
2. Cal (2) – Scrimmaged against Eastern Washington. Now the Bears need to avoid what they did the last two years and that is losing a game east of the Rockies. The Bears have adjusted practice schedules to try and get the body clocks on Central Time. Minnesota has recruited well the last 2 years so they have some good young athletes and now play in a swanky new on campus stadium. The Gophs will be fired up for this game and if the Bears look past them to the Oregon game they could stumble.
3. Really Big Drop off here – Until further notice I have booted the Cougs out of the Pac 10 and until someone proves they deserve it I am leaving the 3 spot empty. Had UCLA not lost Kevin Prince to injury I would put them here but since they did well I will keep this spot warm for one of the teams below who can prove they belong with a nice win versus a ranked opponent.
4. OSU (3) – UNLV is not a very good team but seem to always give teams a tough fight at night in Vegas just to lose (well except to you ASU . . .) Cincinnati is a very fast team on both sides of the ball. The winner of this game will probably be in the 40. I question whether OSU has the firepower to match the Bearcats point for point but the Bearcats also don’t have any experience playing on the West Coast. Big game for Pac 10 pride.
5. UW (5) – The streak is over! Yes it was Idaho but a win is a win when your last win was in November of 2007. The Huskies now go from playing on the of 3 worst FBS teams to one of the 3 best FBS teams. The Husky fans, coaches and players are up for this one but it could prove too much too fast. Sarkisian has them on the right path but Carroll won’t let his boys look past the Dawgs. Unless all Aaron Corp can see is purple the Trojans take this one.
6. UO (6) - The Ducks probably stole the Purdue win but give credit to the ball hawking defense. I am encouraged by the running game finding some late traction but the Ducks need to be improved greatly to beat Utah. Utah has looked quite un-impressive and is untested in it’s tour de crap de WAC (do they play Idaho and New Mexico State this year too?) but they do have all 5 starters back on the oline, a great front 7 and have won 16 straight games. Utah always plays Oregon tough but luckily for the Ducks this one is in Autzen and BSU is the only non-BCS team to beat the Ducks in Autzen since the Rich Brooks era,
7. ASU (7) – Didn’t play last week and off to Georgia in two weeks this week not much to say as I have yet to see this squad on TV but they should roll ULM.
8. UA (8) – Again unimpressive scoring numbers. Grigsby put up 200+ yards but that was against NAU. Iowa surely has a better d than the Lumberjacks and won’t overlook the Cats like they did with NIU. However a win here and the Cats look to be in great shape to go to back to back bowl games.
9. UCLA (9) – Purely based on injuries and suspensions for the KSU game. UCLA pulled a huge win in Knoxville and is a very solid defensive team as usual but if they have to revert to Craft at QB should be in a world of hurt in the short term. Thankfully they aren’t travelling to Provo this weekend.
10. LSJU (4) – Big drop yes , really hard to pick team 3-9 at this point and someone had to be last and with the Cougs booted from the poll someone had to be forced down a spot unfairly. Can’t look past SJSU, it has happened way too many times in the past.