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.

Pac 10 Power Poll and Week One Review

Oregon had very high hopes going in to their matchup versus Boise State but saw their dreams shattered by an embarrassing offensive performance on the blue turf. The post-game meltdown of LaGarette Blount will be forever remembered as lore in college football perhaps as much as the famous punch that ended the career of Woody Hayes. Chip Kelly’s legacy as a coach may well be defined by how he gets his team to respond to the horrible performance both on and off the field. Blount, I believe, was a divisive force in the locker room but now that he is gone the entire team will either come together and play at the level they are capable of or they could see the season tailspin in to a year ala 2004 where the Ducks find themselves in the unusual position of being outside of the bowl picture. Playing Purdue is probably the best thing for Oregon right now but they are also not a team that they Ducks can automatically beat ala a Portland State. If the Ducks can’t beat Purdue (Autzen Stadium at night, long travel, body clocks thinking the game starts at 10:15) the Ducks will be lucky to beat anyone on the schedule outside of Washington State. If they can regain their mojo on offense versus Purdue the Ducks should be able to get things back on track and finish towards the top of the Pac 10. In the other notable game Washington showed they may have a pulse again in their performance versus LSU. Jake Locker was fairly effective as a drop back passer and Polk gave them a real running threat for the first time in well I can’t remember. The Dawgs have lost 15 straight games but that streak will end this weekend versus the putrid Vandals of Idaho. Stanford looks to be improved but it is tough to gauge anyone when they play WSU but a league road win is still a league road win. Cal, USC, ASU and OSU all rolled up on sub-standard competition but I was particularly impressed by Cal’s demolishing of a Maryland team that beat the Golden Bears last year. Let’s see how the Bears respond to playing Oregon but if they keep it up I think this Cal team has a legit shot to end the USC Pac 10 championship streak. UCLA and Arizona both got wins which is positive but they were not overly impressive. The Cats defense did a good job holding high flying CMU to 6 points but to only score 19 at home versus a MAC team could be some warning signs that Matt Scott could struggle a bit this year to match what Tuitama gave them.
1. USC – USC started out a bit slow versus San Jose State but then ended up putting 56 on the Spartans. Ohio State in Columbus is a much different experience and Matt Barkley may not have as much confidence as he showed in game 1. The Buckeyes played like dung versus Navy but may well have been looking past the Midshipmen to the Trojans. Pryor is a great athlete at QB and the Trojans have suffered a few losses over the years to duel threat quarterbacks in Vince Young and Dennis Dixon. I think USC will squeak out a win versus Ohio State but would by no means be surprised to see Ohio State pull the mild upset.
2. Cal – Dominant performance versus Maryland but this was also to be expected. An ACC team traveling west to play at night against a high powered offense that wants revenge is a recipe for disaster. Cal has a scrimmage versus EWU this weekend so the main key is to avoid injuries.
3. OSU – Not much can be gleaned from the performance versus PSU outside of the fact that Jaquiz Rodgers seems to be on the mend. The Beavs can’t afford a slip up to UNLV but it is a dangerous game for them. The Pac 10 was mauled by the Mountain West last year and that trend needs to be reversed.
4. LSJU – Jim Harbaugh has set the bar high for his Trees and they got a much valued road W in league play. Ofcourse it was against Big Sky front runner Washington State but hey a win is a win. Stanford travels all the way to Winston-Salem this weekend to play Wake Forest. Tough place to play and the travel will be tough but a very important game for Stanford to win if they wish to go to a bowl game for the first time since 2001.
5. UW – Husky Stadium was rocking, UW had some swagger and they gave LSU a battle though the final score was padded by a TD by Washington on the last play of the game. The streak should end versus Idaho if it doesn’t there is something ghastly wrong still with the Huskies. USC awaits the week after as the Trojans continue their tour of loud opposing stadiums to play road games in but I don’t we will get a real gauge as to how much Washington has improved until they face Stanford on the road on 9/26.
6. UO – Not much more needs to be said. The Ducks need to regain focus and need to remember that it is not about your name or how you look but how you play if you want to be a champion. Masoli needs to learn how to check down if he wants to remain a starter and the defense can’t be made to play another 40+ minute game.
7. UA – Solid defensive performance versus a high flying offense means that Stoops defense may be one of the better in the conference. The Cats do have to be concerned about only putting up 19 but they get to scrimmage NAU this weekend before they go out to face an Iowa team that should have lost to FCS member Northern Iowa.
8. ASU – Not a team I have much confidence in and playing Idaho State who is the worst team in the Big Sky means nothing as they have a bye this week the Devils get an incomplete grade from me.
9. UCLA – San Diego State is a terrible team and UCLA got the W versus them but now they have to go to Knoxville to face a revenge minded and seemingly rejuvenated Volunteer team with a freshman QB at the helm. Not a good sign for Kevin Prince or the Bruins who can hopefully rally the next week for Kansas State in Pasadena.
10. WSU – The Cougars played decently against Hawaii last year and this is a winnable game for them as well as next week’s battle versus SMU. If the Cougs can’t pull either of these out they are looking at 0-12 in the face unless they pull another Apple Cup miracle.

Power Poll Week Five

Well the PAC 10 is now down to one undefeated team and for the 7th time in the last 9 games Oregon had it’s starting quarterback injured. This time Jeremiah Masoli was speared on a late hit that really should have led to an ejection but didn’t. For some reason Oregon stubbornly kept running the ball with Chris Harper when everyone in the entire stadium except for Chip Kelly seemed to know that a run was coming every play. Finally in the third quarter Oregon put in Darron Thomas who led the Ducks to 3 touchdowns via the air but it was just not enough. The Ducks have to look back and kick themselves and the loss just added to the fuel of it being USC and the Seven Dwarves. In the AP no Pac 10team is ranked outside of #1 USC. In other news Stanford got a win versus Bay Area rival San Jose State which should have been no surprise. Give Harbaugh credit for not overlooking this rival who has beat the Trees a fair amount of times over the last decade. UCLA was pretty much throttled on their home field by Arizona making it seem even more and more that the Bruins win over Tennessee was a complete fluke. The Bruins have 2 and 10 or 3 and 9 written all over them while Arizona got a big road win it its quest to finally make a bowl game again and maybe save Mike Stoops job. Arizona State showed that the Pac 10 outside of USC in not anywhere near the level of the SEC this year, the Devils weren’t really in this game from the get go and can now mark down 2008 as a likely lost season. Finally the Washington State Cougars found a team they could actually beat, too bad that said team is a mediocre Big Sky team and the Vikings at the same time knocked out the Cougars top two quarterbacks. Gary Rodgers it appears has now played his last game and the Cougs have won their last game unless they catch UW or UCLA on a really flat effort day.
1. USC (1) – Should roll tonight in Corvallis, the only thing that might derail a BCS Championship appearance by USC is having undefeated BIG 12 and SEC teams jump ahead of USC in the final coaches poll then the numbers would be very close and a ton of controversy were occur. This in the end may end up being Carroll’s best squad ever. He’s shown he can recover from the many losses of assistant coaches over the last 5 years that have used USC as a springboard to other jobs.
2. UO (2) – I’d rank them lower if I could, not sure there is much difference between Cal and Oregon right now but even though the Ducks lost they were playing with their 4th and 5th string true freshman quarterbacks most of the game. I’d imagine any team in the country might have struggled with BSU with the same scenario
3. Cal (3)- Cal has a chance to end the Mountain West’s five game advantage against the Pac 10. Absolutely a game Cal cannot drop after a bye week.
4. ASU (4)- The Devils were overmatched versus Georgia and now get a week off before going to Strawberry Canyon in a key game for the Devils to have any shot at the Holiday Bowl. With a game at USC the week after that before hosting Oregon, ASU could find itself with a 5 game losing streak that would likely mean the end of the Carpenter era.
5. UA (6)- Arizona is probably one more road win away from all but locking up a bowl appearance. They get two weeks to prepare for Washington at home.
6. OSU (5)- Oregon State is likely going to be 1-5 after the next two Thursday games. No criticism for losing to USC but I think they over scheduled themselves with having to play Penn State and Utah on the road in the same year. Boo on the fans for not even selling out Bean Dip for USC on national tv. If it weren’t for Duck fans buying up seats the crowd would be even less for this one. Here’s a clue, you’ve known for 8 months the game would be on Thursday, take a half or full day off from work and then all of Friday and make it to the game Beaver County.
7. LSJU (7)- Did what they needed to do and that is beat San Jose State. They have likely their best shot at a Pac 10 road win this week in Seattle, a win is completely needed to keep the bowl hope alive.
8. UW (8)- The Dawgs are the only winless team in the conference and have to be still smarting from the whooping that the Sooners laid on them. Willingham is dead man walking and has been for over a year but a loss here and the walking papers may come Saturday night.
9. UCLA (9) – Have frankly played dreadful offensive football for all but 1 quarter this season. Slick Rick and Nor Chow will need to wait to 2009 to get this baby back on track. Look for Fresno to come in to the Rose Bowl with a ton of fans of rough up a Pac 10 team further negating the value of the conference in the eyes of the nation’s fans and media.
10. WSU (10) – In the battle of 3rd string quarterbacks Washington State is overmatched big time against Oregon. Look for the Ducks to go over 350 yards rushing in a contest that will be decided by the mid second quarter.

Pac 10 Season Review

Due to some life issues I haven’t been able to update my blog for some weeks, and those weeks turned out to be some of the most shocking, and as an Oregon fan depressing, in my time of viewing college football which dates back to the early 1980's. When I last posted the Oregon Ducks were riding high as #2 in the country and Dennis Dixon was the clear front runner for the Heisman. Now Oregon has lost 3 in a row, were knocked out of the top 25, shut out for the first time since 1985 and became the first home team to lose the Civil War since 1993! To think that I was actually worried about finding a flight and hotel to New Orleans seems almost comical now. When I look back on 2007 and all that happened I will always remember how close that Oregon came. For the first time in their history I think they can argue that had Dennis Dixon not been hurt (and the injuries to Brian Paysinger, Cameron Colvin, Jeremiah Johnson and Brady Leaf were all very painful to the Oregon cause as well) Oregon had the best team in the country. Everything changed on that dropped touchdown by Derrick Jones for Oregon. I believe the players, especially Dennis Dixon have shown an immense amount of heart, this coming from a program that has been criticized for lacking heart since the departure of Jeff Tedford and Joey Harrington. In other news the Rose Bowl, by choosing Illinois over say a Georgia team, caused the ASU Sun Devils to not be invited to a BCS game. The Pac 10 had looked like a lock for 2 BCS bids and then ended up finding themselves with only one. The Trojans should eviscerate Illinois while ASU faces a fairly subpar Texas game in the Holiday Bowl in a game I would not be surprised to see ASU come out quite flat in. The last three weeks has seen the announcement that two of the Pac 10 coaches will not be returning next season in Bill Doba and Karl Dorrell. Neither of these are shocks while in news that may have seemed surprising 6 weeks ago Ty Willingham and Mike Stoops will be back with Washington and Arizona next season. All that awaits this year is bowl season and you could make the argument that every school that qualified for a bowl has to be a bit disappointed at where they ended up.

Awards:
Offensive POY: Dennis Dixon ,Oregon
Defensive POY: Sedrick Ellis, USC
Coach of the Year: Dennis Erickson, ASU
Freshman of the Year: Jahvid Best, Cal
Coaching hot seat rakings
1. Bill Doba – already fired
2. Karl Dorrell – already fired
3. Ty Willingham – Needs to go to a bowl in 2008
4. Mike Stoops – Ditto, with a senior QB no excuse not to
5. Mike Bellotti – Will not leave unless it is on his terms or if he did something to anger Knight, has lost a lot of the fan base over poor clock management, the Dixon injury and stupid comments in the press
6. Mike Riley – Back to back great years but the fans will always prefer Erickson
7. Jeff Tedford – I could only see him leaving on his own terms but losing 6 of 7 to end the year and losing to Stanford is just plain bad
8. Jim Harbaugh – He did something that no other team has accomplished since the 02 WSU Cougars, beat Cal and USC in the same season
9. Dennis Erickson – Riding high in Tempe we shall see how long he lasts there
10. Pete Carroll – The only thing that will make him leave is an amazing NFL offer or the Reggie Bush scandal blowing up big time

Bowl predictions

USC over Illinois
Texas over ASU
South Florida over Oregon
BYU over UCLA
Oregon State over Maryland
Air Force over Cal
LSU over Ohio State

I will get my first chance to see Oregon play live in basketball in 2 years tomorrow as I will be at the Pape Jam at the Rose Garden tomorrow.

Pac 10 Power Poll and Week Nine Review

The unit that the media wasn’t talking about, the Oregon defense, was the star of the show in the Oregon/USC battle at Autzen Stadium. For those that watched the game you could tell that Oregon beating USC was not a fluke, for all of the future NFL talent on the Trojan side of the ball the Ducks were and are the better team. USC now finds itself at a crossroads that they haven’t seen since 2002. Pete Carroll chained the culture at USC but the question remains of whether he can get his team to rally or whether USC will split apart at the seams when the going has gotten tough which was the downfall of Paul Hackett. Realistically the Trojans, pending a complete collapse by Oregon are playing for a BCS at large bid at best at and with a very tough slate of upcoming games things won’t be easy. USC is now only 6-4 in its last 10 Pac 10 games and of those wins only two of those were against teams with winning records. Just like Miami, Nebraska and Florida State before them USC has seen their reign over a conference end. All four schools raised the bar in their conference won, national championships and completely dominated conference opponents over a multi-year stretch only to be undone by having to face everyone’s best shot every week and probably getting just a bit too comfortable in their environs to put in all the work that is needed to win championships. The schools I listed above all not returned to championship form the question begs if USC can reverse that and whether Pete Carroll sticks around to see it. Oregon it seems has now returned itself to the position they were in 2001, playing very meaningful games in November. In other news ASU drove a final steak in to the Cal Bears who have now experienced the first three game losing streak by a Jeff Tedford coached team since he was a coordinator at Fresno State. ASU now travels, along with College Gameday, to the third “game of the year” at Autzen Stadium this season. Kudos to the WSU Cougars who beat an undefeated in Pac 10 play UCLA squad in Pullman. UCLA was playing on borrowed time and the Cougs are a better team than their record shows. Will it save Bill Doba, not bloody likely but it was nice to see Doba and Brink get a quality home win in their final season. Oregon State put them-selves in to position to make a bowl game and someway, somehow Mike Stoops lives to see another day with an amazing comeback win in Seattle to send the Dawgs to their sixth straight loss.

1. UO (1) – I predicted that Oregon would win this game only if they scored 32 points or more, turned out I was wrong. The Ducks picked a great day to have their defense play an A++ game. Autzen has never been louder and the Ducks are the talk of the nation. With a much higher SOS than LSU you wonder how long the Ducks will be held behind the Bayou Bengals in the human portion of the BCS poll. LSU at best will face a 2 loss team in the SEC Championship game. Of course all of this is mute if Oregon and LSU can’t win out. Game of the Year Number 3 at Autzen comes next week and it is full of great story lines. I predict the Ducks win by 10 and Dennis Erickson goes to 0-5 in Autzen Stadium.
2. ASU (2) – ASU got down early but put on another spectacular second half performance in putting a final nail in Cal’s once storybook season. Cal was clearly jinxed by its fans chanting “Were #1” after seeing the LSU-Kentucky score. The Sun Devils face their first true road test of the year in the most hostile of environments now.
3. USC (3) – I can’t question Carroll’s decision to start Matt Sanchez, had John David Kosar started he would have been sacked 7 times by the speedy Oregon defense. Sanchez forced a few throws and it cost him. What I can question Carroll for is the slow hitting play call on the 4th and 1 on his first drive, not using enough of Joe McKnight in general and his calling a timeout with 8 seconds left in the game. For those with long memories Carroll in 2003 at Autzen Stadium called the Oregon staff classless for not pulling their starters when USC put in their backups and in turn Oregon pulled within 11 at the end of the game. Well considering the Ducks were still at the time in contention for a Pac 10 title and receiving votes in the Top 25 why would they not keep trying to win. Where does it say in the rule books that a team that is being beaten badly should stop trying to not show up the team that is beating them. Typical Trojan arrogance. Where that rant from Pete Carroll came from I have no idea but it proved all I need to know about Mr F You. He seems to think his team deserves special consideration and is just allowed to do things no one else can. Too bad your false reality is over jerk. Have fun in El Paso you classless piece of dung.
4. OSU (5) – The Beavs top notch front seven shut down another teams running game and in the process put themselves in great position to ensure a bowl game this year. Mike Riley is silently waiting in the wings for what could be the Civil War of all Civil Wars. Beating USC without Yvensen Bernard in the Coliseum seems all but impossible but I can’t discount the mental state of Trojans right now. A Beaver win is a possibility though highly unlikely. I bet that the Trojans have 30 no shows after all the jumping off the bandwagon occurs by USC “fans”.
5. UCLA (4) – Putrid performance on the Palouse which was aided by yet again more injuries to the UCLA offense. Had this team been healthy all year they might be undefeated right now. At 5-3 with a road game at Arizona, and match-ups versus ASU, Oregon and USC still on the horizon winning 7 games and ensuring a bowl game doesn’t look so hot in Westwood right now. Karl Dorrell needs 7 wins to stay as coach I think.
6. Cal (6) – Cal’s collapse is very reminiscent of the 2002 Oregon Ducks. Look out below but thankfully for them they play the Cougars at home and they should be able to win by 30 to at least for a week stop the bleeding.
7. UA (9) – How bad is Washington’s defense to allow Wily Tuitama to go for over 500 yards passing? Mike Stoops is like Michael Myers you think you have seen the end of him and he just keeps coming back. They now get a very winnable game versus UCLA at home. Arizona can’t win more than 6 games this year but they will have an effect on who wins the Pac 10 since they play the three remaining squads with one conference losses to end the season.
8. Stanford (7) – Did absolutely nothing in Corvallis last weekend but get good news in that they get to play the conference’s worst defense (Washington) in a game that should be a shootout.
9. WSU (10) – The Cougs got a Pac 10 win and ruined the prefect conference record of UCLA as was predicted in this column. The winning streak will end at 1 as they will be cannon fodder for a Cal team that needs to awake from their nightmarish October.
10. UW (8) – I like coach Willingham I want to see him stay at Washington to get a chance to see what Jake Locker can do for him over the next three years however I think that the guy will have major problems surviving this season. Could Jim Mora Jr be the Husky coach next season? This may be the worst defense ever seen in Washington football history.

Pac 10 Power Poll and Week Eight Review

The week’s top story has to be the return of a viable quarterback to the UCLA Bruins and how this lead to Cal going from thinking they were the #1 team in the nation to being 3 games (considering that UCLA would own the tie-breaker due to their win over Cal) behind UCLA for the race for the Rose Bowl. Cal is all but dead in the water unless they can win out, get some luck and have UCLA only win 2 or less games this year. Cal could easily find themselves playing in the Fort Worth or Vegas Bowl which has to be one of the larger falls from grace we have seen nationally in the last few years. Amazingly, UCLA, who has suffered embarrassing losses to winless teams, is atop the Pac 10 with a 4-0 conference record. If Patrick Cowan can stay healthy they can beat anyone in the conference, with Bethel-Thompson at QB they can’t beat anyone. The Dawgs must be yearning for the days of Steve Emtman after surrendering over 450 yards rushing to Oregon. If you went back in time and told a Husky fan in 1991 that an Oregon Duck team lead by a running back from the State of Washington would lead an attack that set the Oregon school rushing record on Husky Stadium soil they would likely have you committed. Times do change, 1991 seems like ancient history, no internet, no cell phones or DVD or spread shotgun spread offenses for that matter . In other new Stanford won their second road game of the conference schedule but still hasn’t beaten anyone outside of San Jose State on their own field. Finally it appears that USC has gotten past their injury issues after wood-shedding Notre Dame in South Bend and now will face Oregon in the first match-up between two Top 10 (coaches poll not BCS) teams in the history of Autzen Stadium.

1. UO (1) – The bad news first, Oregon had some breakdowns in coverage that allowed Jake Locker to show he can throw the ball down the field and keep pace with the Ducks for 3 quarters. The good news is that Oregon ran for 456 yards, completely dominated the line of scrimmage offensively in a matter that has not been seen in Eugene in well forever. Had Oregon been able to play USC two weeks ago I think they would have beaten the Trojans by 14, but now that USC has had time to heal the game will be much closer and I would make the Trojans a small favorite. Oregon won’t be able to run laterally well against the speed that the Trojans posses so they will need to play smash-mouth football and win it between the tackles. Dennis Dixon obviously must avoid the picks and the Ducks can’t afford to let Stefon Johnson or Joe McKnight break long runs. Should be an epic, glad to have a seat for it!
2. ASU (2) – ASU was on bye week, which is a good thing because they will finally start to play some real teams. We well find out now if ASU is a true contender or whether they were beating up on creampuffs since they face Cal, Oregon, UCLA and USC in the next month. The Devils could go from being #4 in the BCS to out of the Top 25 in a short amount of time. Cal is sputtering but has never lost 3 games in a row under Jeff Tedford, this should be the second best game of the day but could get widely ignored with the national and conference attention on the game in Eugene.
3. USC (4) – Getting healthy at the right time. My opinion is that Matt Sanchez gives them a better chance at winning against Oregon than John David Booty. The o-line and defense are as healthy as they have been this year so Oregon could be in for a rude awakening.
4. UCLA (9) - I had UCLA 9th last week because the injury status of Patrick Cowan was up in the air, now that they have a functional quarterback again they are fully capable of being the Top 10 team that they have the personnel to be. They face a reeling WSU team but I would consider this one to be on major upset watch, especially with the Cougars having two weeks to prepare.
5. OSU (5) – On bye week last week after the big win in Berkeley. The Beavs got bad news with the loss of Tavika Thompson by decree from the NCAA. The reason for his eligibility being revoked is not yet known but we should stay on the lookout for further news. The Beavs should be able to end Stanford’s two game conference winning streak as the Cardinal shouldn’t be over looked anymore by anyone.
6. Cal (3) – This is where Cal shows whether they can rally and play themselves back in to the top of the Pac 10 and compete for a possible BCS at large bid or whether the wheels fall completely off. They no longer control their own destiny for the Rose Bowl but still will have a major effect on who ends up playing in it. They are more tested than ASU but need to do a better job running the ball to keep teams from teeing off on Nate Longshore (no speedster to begin with) who has the mobility of Bernie Kosar right now.
7. Stanford (7) – The Trees won another Pac 10 road game and certainly deserve much credit for that but unless they can stretch that streak to 3 games I don’t see them getting bowl eligible this season. Stanford under Jim Harbaugh is playing much smarter and once they increase their talent pool should be able to compete for a lower tier bowl every year as long as Harbaugh is in the fold. His enthusiasm is changing the culture in Palo Alto which will be a good thing with the gem of a stadium they have.
8. UW (8) – The Huskies played very hard for 3+ quarters but as has been typical in their now 5 game losing streak the Dawgs don’t have the conditioning or talent to stay with good teams for 60 minutes. Jake Locker broke out the long ball with some great success versus Oregon but the run defense is beyond atrocious. I couldn’t think of a better team for them to play right now than Arizona however and the Dawgs could further drive a steak in to the chances of Mike Stoops remaining at Arizona.
9. UA (6) – Losing to Stanford at home is always a huge letdown. Will they be the team that end Washington’s long losing streak? The decimated Husky front seven should be pretty vulnerable to a steady diet of runs.
10. WSU (10) - Just playing for pride now, but still have a very dangerous offense at home at least. They have a great shot at beating UCLA.

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.

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.

Pac Power Poll and Week 1 Review

Overall a pretty solid day for the Pac 10 with only Arizona really being a disappointment by taking a loss to the Mid-Major BYU team but I can’t really call that result much of an upset. Cal’s impressive win over Tennessee was of-course overshadowed by what has to go down as one of sports biggest upsets ever in Michigan losing to Appalachian State.

1. USC (1) – I watched part of their game against Idaho, you’d probably expect more points for the offense but nothing should be a red flag here. It was a bit scary for them to see Brian Cushing taken off on a cart but it appears as if his ankle is just a sprain and he shouldn’t miss any games. USC has a bye week to prepare for the road test at Nebraska and mend up Cushing. I am assuming Carroll didn’t show much of his hand for Idaho and kept a tight reign on the offense. Those who took the under and Idaho with the points got a nice parlay.
2. UCLA (2) – No problems at all in their visit to the Farm. Beating Stanford is not really much to get to excited about compared to Cal beating Tennessee however UCLA didn’t do anything wrong so I can’t justify knocking them down behind Cal yet. A game at home against BYU should be a bit tougher as the Cougars shut down Arizona.
3. Cal (3) – Looked like they had all the explosiveness we’d expect from I would say could be the nation’s best triad of offensive players in Longshore, Forsett, and Jackson. Cal shouldn’t have too much trouble with Colorado State on the road because they just don’t have the speed to handle the bears. Of course going in to Fort Collins is never easy but this CSU team is not the one of the late 90’s that was the cream of the Mountain West for a bit.
4. ASU (5) – Didn’t see a lick of the game versus San Jose State but looks like Ryan Torrain had a very solid game with 123 yards on only 17 carries with 3 Tds. You probably can’t judge too much based on a home game versus San Jose State but the Spartans were a bowl team last year and have made some strides under Dick Tomey. The challenge should rise a bit next week with CU in town but I’d expect that the Sun Devils will throw in a lot of blitzing to try and confuse true frosh Cody Hawkins and the Buffs.
5. UO (4) – The good for Oregon was the rushing numbers and Dennis Dixon finding his short passing game in the second half along with much improved kicking and coverage on special teams. The Oregon secondary played fairly well save for some missed tackles. The bad news is that Oregon’s front seven was walked all over the field by a C-USA team with a QB playing his first game and the Ducks still lack the ability to complete anything other than short routes. Defensive coordinators should be stacking the box against Oregon and using press coverage to dare Dixon to beat them deep. Michigan losing to Appalachian State did nothing good for Oregon. The Ducks will face a bunch of embarrassed Wolverine’s with a good game plan for stopping Oregon. Interestingly enough App State and Oregon run a very similar system, this game should be a shootout and if the Ducks can avoid throwing picks and fumbling they can win. In the end I think Big Blue will mot lose twice in a row at home to teams not named Ohio State so the Ducks will come back to Autzen 1-1 for the match-up versus the always pesky Fresno State Bulldogs.
6. Oregon State (7) – The Beavs won a grind them out game against Utah who looked pretty solid early until they lost their starting tailback and quarterback to injuries and after that lost any offensive momentum they had. The Beavers are clearly raw at QB right now and dropped a lot of balls too. Bernard looked stellar and I’d expect them to ride him a lot this year especially if Stroughter doesn’t play. A solid win at home but this team has the look of a 500 squad to me unless there is some major improvement from Canfield and/or Moevald. A trip to Cincinatti on Thursday will be a challenge, going east is always hard and the Bearcats can put up points.
7. UW (9) – The big mover on the board the Huskies look great in a win that saw them have to travel all the way across the country for a 9 am Pacific start. Jake Locker looked about as impressive of any Pac 10 freshman QB I can remember in his debut. The schedule is probably too much to ask for Washington to make a bowl game this year but I could see them beating a few mid range Pac 10 teams this season and possibly get to 6 wins. Boise State is probably a bit much for UW to handle right now but there is, for the first time in many years, a reason to have hope for the future for Husky football and that is because of Jake Locker.
8. WSU (6) - No shame in losing in Camp Randall Stadium to a very good Wisconsin team but there are clearly some major issues with the Cougars defense that need to be resolved. With the next two games being against SDSU and Idaho I’d expect to see WSU be 2-1 once Pac 10 play starts and hopefully the experience they got playing in Camp Randall will help them prepare for their Pac 10 schedule.
9. UA (8) – I saw none of the BYU Arizona game but for the Wildcats to only score 6 points against a MWC defense is a very bad sign. They should mend up nicely with NAU in town this week but I warn the Cats to not look past their Championship Division brethren.
10. LSJU (10) – Glass half full thought is that they scored 17 against a Top 20 team in UCLA. Unfortunately they gave up 45 points and UCLA toyed with their defense all day. Harbaugh will make things interesting on the farm at least and that really can’t be said for any Stanford coach since the days of Bill Walsh and Dennis Green.

College Football is Back!

I won't have a chance to post my full season preview until Friday night I think but I wanted to at least put my picks down on the blog before the Oregon State - Utah game comes on. So here it goes:

1. USC 12-0 (9-0) BCS Champ game
2. UCLA 10-2 (7-2) Possible at large in Rose or Holiday
3. Cal 10-2 (7-2) Sun or Holiday if UCLA moves up
4. UO 7-5 (5-4) Emerald Bowl5. ASU 7-5 (4-5) Vegas Bowl
6. WSU 6-6 (4-5) Armed Forces Bowl
7. OSU 6-6 (3-6)
8. UA 5-7 (3-6)
9. UW 3-10 (2-7)
10. LSJU 2-10 (1-8)

Oregon Washington

It is has nothing to do with hoops but Lamar Latrell always makes me laugh. How did that guy make it in to Cobra Kai. Has he been in anything else outside of any of the painfully bad Nerds sequels? Might have to check Imdb on that.

Well Oregon had a late run to get the game almost tied but then there was just too mcuch size and Justin Dentmon down the stretch and the Dawgs pulled away. Dentmon choose a great night to have a have a career day. It seems that Oregon had the scoring to win this game but were killed on the defeonsive boards and Tajuan Porter was exposed defensively by Dentmon. The Ducks may have missed Aaron Brooks more on the defensive side of the ball. I thought Ray Schaefer gave Oregon some pretty good minutes and that not having Zahn to spell Maarty hurt the Ducks a bit but had he been out there I don't think it would have meant Oregon would have won.

There has been a lot of crowing from USC fans that they deserve to be in the Top 25 (polls are meaningless I know) but Stanford handled them solidly last night showing that the Trees may be able to play themselves in to the NCAA's. USC needs to salvage their weekend with a win versus Cal who you can pretty much count out of even any NCAA consideration if they lose to USC on saturday. The Trojans have pretty ugly computer numbers but do have wins versus Oregon and Arizona. USC is really being hurt by scheduling 3 +300 RPI teams in the preseason.