Why I Have Come to Despise the SEC

Oregon vs Arizona Sate
Originally uploaded by pete4ducks.

A few years ago I really enjoyed watching SEC games but the conference is seriously starting to bug me and I don't think I am alone here. Here is why I think they are making a mockery of the game by deftly taking advantage of some regional advantages and exploiting the BCS system which benefits their schools a great deal but isn't that great for the fans or players.

1. Cream-puff scheduling - Congratulations Georgia you are the sole SEC team who played a Top 25 ranked non-SEC team on the road this season. I'll give Alabama some credit for playing Va Tech at a neutral site (though they have a decided home field advantage) and Vanderbilt gets credit for inviting Georgia Tech to their house. The SEC has figured out that with their love from the media and the perceived strength of the conference that there is no reason to challenge themselves outside of the conference. I'll give Tennessee credit for scheduling UCLA, Cal and Oregon in a 6 year span but going 1-3 has probably made them to rethink the idea of playing good out of conference competition.

2. Crooked refs - I mean for anyone who watched the Florida game versus Arkansas does this even need to be argued? And this is just one of about 5 games this year in the SEC that could be argued were swung by creative officiating that seemed to favor certain teams.

3. Scheduling I-AA or Sun Belt teams in November. Thanks jerks like I really want to see Alabama play UT-Chatanooga. November is for rivalry games and intriguing conference match-ups (see the Pac 10 for example). It is not for glorified scrimmages. If I was a season ticket holder I would be livid about this trend. If the Ducks decide to bring in PSU the week before the Civil War I'd be irate.

4. Can anyone please explain to me why Florida and Alabama haven't played each other in the regular season the last two years? I mean it isn't hard SEC you play a 8 game schedule - you play your 5 division teams every season that means you can play the other 6 teams every other year alternating sites. Seems fairly cut and dry to me. Oh but wait that would mean that it would be harder for Bama and Florida to go through the season undefeated if they had to play each-other wouldn't it?

Memo to the SEC you and the BCS that you control are making the sport less exciting but keep making that money.

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.

State of the Program: Pac 10

State of the Program: Pac 10

On field success is probably the largest factor in to defining what a program is but the definition has to encompass more than just that. Analyzing a program has to include other factors such as national recognition, stability, facilities, revenue and coaching which doesn’t automatically correlate with the win/loss record of the last season. Certain schools have built in geographical and historical advantages that should make them a powerful program (USC, UCLA, UW) while others face the issue of not being in recruiting hotbed or large media markets (UO, OSU, WSU). A strong program now gives schools hope for future success but is no guarantee of and schools that do not constantly evolve in terms of marketing, compliance and facilities have programs that can stagnate with Washington being the current example and USC being another in the Paul Hackett era. Here is my attempt to rank the programs as of 2009 in the Pac 10 Conference.

1. USC – How they got to be #1: The Trojans are among a select number of schools that can be considered Top Tier programs nationally with schools such as Florida, Texas, Oklahoma and Ohio State. These are schools that consistently compete for national championships, generate large amounts of revenue and garner a great deal of attention from the national media and from prospective recruits. Pete Carroll’s enthusiasm, leadership and ability to relate to the modern college athlete quickly turned around a program that during the 80’s and 90’s had fallen from a dominant force in college football to one that was inconsistent and full of under-achieving prima donna players, clueless coaches and apathetic fans. USC has always been in a position to recruit pretty much the best athletes from the LA area but under Carroll they have been able to pluck athletes from all over the country. The success under Carroll has led to USC being able to sell large numbers of tickets and merchandise which drives revenue and the success of the football team has benefitted the entire athletic department and school in general. Why they will stay #1: Pete Carroll and the location in the LA area should guarantee success in the short term. Kids who are being recruited now don’t remember a time when USC wasn’t a favorite to compete for a national championship every year. How they could slip in the future: Losing Pete Carroll would be the obvious reason but there are some other secondary issues. One is that no one in American sports aside from Tiger Woods seems to stay on top forever and the success of USC has driven the rest of the schools in the conference to try even harder to emulate their success. Issue number two is the state of the LA Coliseum, a building though very large, doesn’t produce the amount of revenue that a modernized building owned by the university would bring the program. The final issue is whether there end up being long term sanctions regarding Reggie Bush and the rent scandal that put the hammer down on USC ala what happened to Washington in the early 90’s My personal opinion is that the NCAA will never punish a major program these days as hard a Washington was punished (no TV games, postseason ban) but a reduction in scholarships could hurt the depth at USC and allow a team such as UO or UCLA to make the Pac 10 a conference where USC isn’t automatically the favorite every year. How they could rise in the future: Have better decision making in close games and rectify the stadium issue to one that is more profitable for the Trojans.

2. UO – How they got to be #2: Oregon, more-so than probably any program in the country figured out in the late 80’s that college football had become a big business and has taken that strategy to heights that few people would have expected. From the time that the Ducks took the unprecedented step to add luxury suites to Autzen Stadium back in the late 80’s the Ducks have seen their success level rise on the field and the level of national media attention garnered towards them increase as well. The stability of the Bellotti reign and the money and marketing relationship with Phil Knight and Nike has put Oregon at the forefront of innovation in the sport both on and off the field. Though the program has made some missteps over the years (Robo-duck, Andy Ludwig, Rich Stubler, Duck Dome idea) the school has more often than made what at the time seemed a controversial decision pay off in the end (Chip Kelly, the expansion of Autzen, the Moshofsky Center, Pat Killkenny as AD). Why they will stay #2: The Ducks have done such a good job of branding themselves as innovators through the Nike relationship, the scheme of Chip Kelly and out of the box thinking that any high school kid who is being recruited around the nation knows who Oregon is now and sees them as a legitimate destination program not a safety school when no other option is available. That Oregon is now a national recruiter is a testament that the branding effort has worked. Though many people find the constant change of Oregon uniforms and the whole billboard thing tacky it has captured the attention of recruits and the media. Better to have them talking about you than not at all and Oregon in the times before the BCS began was an afterthought. How they could slip in the future: The Chip Kelly/Mike Bellotti transition is a complete failure and Oregon’s vaunted stability goes away. There is a fallout between Phil Knight, Nike and Oregon. The economic downturn decreases donations to the program and the Ducks are not able to continue the branding process at the level they have been accustomed to and the Ducks slip back to being that unknown program in a far corner of the country. Oregon’s spread option is solved by opposing d-coordinators and the teams slip in to mediocrity. There is a seismic shift in the tastes and culture of American youth that shifts from what is flashy, new and innovative to a more traditional mindset. How they could rise in the future: Fully taking advantage of the momentum they have from the last two seasons and putting it all together for a national championship run under Kelly that sends a shot across USC’s bow that shows the Pac 10 is going to be up for grabs every year. Keep finishing seasons off like they did in 2008 rather than the typical November fade.

3. OSU – How they got to be #3: By consistently making it to and winning bowl games. Raising Reser to the status of a viable but college stadium from the glorified high school field that it was. Neither of these events nor the Dennis Erickson lead Fiesta Bowl would have happened without the steady hand of Mike Riley’s leadership and an athletic department that rode in on the coat-tails of their Eugene neighbor’s success but instead of becoming the sports version of a tech company they built their program on community and family values. Oregon State under Riley has understood that they need to search deep and wide for players who may not fit the prototypical mold of a college athlete and to mold these recruits in to winners. Riley has taken these kids who play with a chip on their shoulder and gotten them to improve greatly during the seasons and his teams always seem to overcome adversity to finish strong and always with character. That Oregon State has become this after 30 years in the desert is truly amazing. Why they will stay #3: Mike Riley has built a family-centric program that appeals to parents and recruits and Oregon State has upgraded their facilities. The Beavers have taken advantage of playing on ESPN on Thursday night and this had to led to an increase in their national exposure. The back to back home wins versus USC and competing for the 2008 Pac 10 title has shown the program that anything is possible. How they could slip in the future: A few down years could cause Riley to be forced out which would be a huge error or Riley could decide to take a final big payday at another school or the NFL again, doubtful but always possible. The state of the economy could diminish attendance, donations and increase debt and this could stop the improvement in facilities that has occurred in the last five year. With the continued use of the spread nationally Oregon State’s pro-set offense becomes passé and the coaching staff is unable to adapt or teach incoming recruits how to achieve success in it. How they could rise in the future: Play as well as they do in September as they do in November. Riley’s teams have suffered some terrible early season performances, had they not blown the opener versus Stanford last year they would have clinched a Rose Bowl berth before the Civil War was even played. Oregon State should also work to modernize their marketing efforts which look years behind Oregon’s.

4. Cal – How they got to be #4: In the Tom Holmoe era Cal was a hopeless program that was among the worst in all of the BCS conferences. The arrival of Jeff Tedford quickly changed fortunes in Berkeley and Cal quickly became a perennial bowl team. Tedford has the second best record in the Pac 10 since his arrival and had a 4-2 record versus Mike Bellotti. Tedford has gotten the students and alumni to care about Cal football again and has pushed for the modernization of the decaying Memorial Coliseum. Why they will stay #4: Tedford has built a consistent winner and should be able to stay at the school as long as he wants to be there. If the long awaited facility improvements finally are completed Cal will no longer have the issue of being negatively recruited by other teams based on their facilities and this should make it harder for schools like Oregon to poach players out of the Bay Area from the Bears. How they could slip in the future: The facility upgrades get further delayed and this causes Tedford to bolt. Tedford can’t decide on an offense and flounders at both the pro-set and spread variants he has been using. Cal, pretty much on a permanent short leash due to probation violations in the past is caught in some type of NCAA problems and gets sanctions from the NCAA and Pac 10. How they could rise in the future: Get it built! Probably more importantly Jeff Tedford needs to get his team to better respond to adversity. Cal has had a bad habit of letting a bad loss kill their season.

5. Stanford – How they got to be #5: This one is based on potential and a commitment to football from the administration that was clearly lacking before Jim Harbaugh came on the scene. Transforming the stadium from what was an aging over-sized stadium to a much more manageable sized stadium with top of the line facilities has eliminated the perceived facilities gap. The win over USC showed the rest of the Pac 10 that anyone could compete against USC and Harbaugh has the belief that national championships can be won at Stanford. You have to dream big to accomplish greatness. Previous Stanford regimes were happy to beat Cal ever other year and maybe get to a bowl every 4 years or so. Harbaugh has yet to get to a bowl but he has set the table for future success. Why they will stay #5: Harbaugh has instilled a winning attitude and a culture of winning has always been what has defined Stanford as an institution no reason that can’t be extended to the gridiron. Stanford has seemingly endless amounts of money in their endowment so if the school commits to facilities they can give the football program anything it wants. The promise of a quality education in a nice area on a beautiful campus will always be a huge factor for recruits who have the academic standing to get in to the school. How they could slip in the future: Harbaugh could decide to leave. Even if he stays he could have problems keeping quality assistant coaches due to the high cost of living expenses in Palo Alto if the university doesn’t kick in higher pay for assistants. The pool of players Stanford can actually recruit and sign is diminished by rising fortunes at schools they compete with nationally on the recruiting trail such as Duke, Northwestern and Vanderbilt. How they could rise in the future: Put together a program that competes for bowl berths every year and makes a run at the Pac 10 title in the next three seasons.

6. ASU – How they got to be #6: Perennial underachievers who based on geography and campus life should always be a top program in the Pac 10. Dennis Erickson took a large step back in his second year at Arizona State losing 6 games in a row at one point and not making a bowl game. That Arizona State has only won 2 Pac 10 titles since joining the conference is a bit surprising considering the size of the institution and fertile recruiting ground with traditional success raiding both Texas and California for top athletes. Why they will stay #6: Arizona State could continue to go along in the manner they traditionally have and that is being a team with a lot of great individual players that have trouble coming together and putting up championship contending teams. Arizona State very often has been ranked in the Top 25 to start a season yet ends up finishing right around .500 and in a lower tiered bowl game. How they could slip in the future: It would be hard for me to see this program be much worse than it was last year but a couple of things could cause a further slip. One is that the game might have passed Dennis Erickson on. Players could continue to fall in to the trap of having the party life that is the ASU campus sap their drive and desire to perform on the gridiron. The amount of distractions in a place like Tempe is enormous compared to sleepy burgs like Pullman and Corvallis and this could led to more off the field distractions that keeps the program not focused on doing what is needed to garner success. How they could rise in the future: Dennis Erickson could find lighting in a bottle with the JC recruits he has signed in the past two years but for long term stability in the program I think that ASU needs to take greater care in recruiting high character student athletes.

7. UCLA – How they got to be #7: The biggest factor in UCLA’s fall from grace has probably been the rise of USC under Pete Carroll. The Bruins still are able to roll up highly ranked recruiting classes every year but seemed to have problems with depth at certain positions mainly quarterback which is the biggest reason UCLA didn’t achieve what Rick Neuhiesal might have hoped for last year. The Rose Bowl, though a great venue, is not on campus and I believe this leads to the student body not having much of a vested in the program. This in turn leads to alumni who don’t have much interest in the program. Having attended some games at UCLA both when UCLA was competing for Pac 10 titles and when they were an also ran I can tell you that it appears that most of the fans don’t have a connection to the university. Many just want to watch a winning football team play on the field and fans like that don’t give the long time support in years you get from students and alumni. An on campus stadium would do wonders for getting the student body involved with football but I am not sure of the logistically possibilities of this ever happening. Why they will stay #6: I highly doubt they do. Rick Neuhiesal will be able to get a better quarterback situation in place for the future and he has shown at both Washington and Colorado that he can put a winner on the field. They should be back in a bowl in 2009 and for the foreseeable future after that. How they could slip in the future: With all the built in advantages of being a large LA based university it would be hard to imagine things getting much worse for the UCLA program than it was in 2008. They could slip in a couple of ways however. One is that Neuhiesal slips back in to his “Slick Rick” mode and gets nailed by the NCAA for something and UCLA get sanctioned, another could be a breakdown in the deal between the Rose Bowl and UCLA that forces the Bruins to have to do something like playing home games at the Coliseum again where they would always be second class citizens. Finally the disaster that is the California education funding could force the school in to slashing funds for the program How they could rise in the future: Neuheisal should be able to recruit quite well and has always done a good job of developing quarterbacks, UCLA will likely never become what USC is now but there is no reason they can’t become a program that is in contention for Rose Bowls every other year or so. The foundation is there.

8. U of A - How they got to be #8: Arizona is coming off of its best season since Dick Tomey was coach, that is certainly a positive and at least according to the ranking services Mike Stoops has done a pretty good job getting recruits to commit to Tucson. The results under Stoops have not been great though are an improvement over the Mackovic regime. Arizona’s problem is two-fold. First issue is that they are primarily a basketball school, perhaps more so than any other school in the conference (Stanford and UCLA perhaps) Arizona has been defined by their basketball program and football has been a second thought. A root cause for the decay that has been seen in the 2000’s for Arizona football likely was poor idea of firing the very stable and respected Dick Tomey who consistently had Arizona in the top half of the conference for the snake-oil salesman that is John Mackovic. Mackovic tried to the instill a culture that was more West Point or Texas A&M to a campus that is definitely got more of a laid back party/hippie vibe going on. Mackovic forced his players to have short hair cuts and lose the earrings under the guise that this would cause them to be more disciplined but instead it alienated many West Coast kids and put a real hamper in their ability to recruit Hawaii and athletes of Pacific Islander descent which had long been a fertile recruiting ground for the Wildcats. Instead Mackovic focused on his traditional base of recruiting Texas and saw most of his recruiting classes flame out. Mike Stoops seems to have instilled a culture of aggressiveness and toughness but his teams have been characterized by under-achievement and sloppy play. Stoops knows he can’t afford to have a non-bowl season as the natives are restless. His seat is the hottest in the conference. Why they will stay #8: The Cats will start the season with a different quarterback than Willie Tuitama for the first time in 4 seasons. The Pac 10 has traditionally seen teams led by Senior QB’s be successful and then struggle the next season. This could happen to Arizona. How they could slip in the future: The spread offense doesn’t kick in with Tuitama gone and the Cats lose like of folks on defense. Stoops misses out on a bowl, losses to ASU and finishes below Washington. Stoops is fired and the Cats make a mistake in hiring his replacement. How they could rise in the future: The Cats make investments to raise the quality of their facilities which are decaying (particularly their grass surface playing field which is the worst grass field in the Pac 10). Stoops continues to build through recruiting and the spread succeeds without Tuitama. Arizona becomes a consistent bowl attendee finishing in the top half of the conference consistently.

9. UW – How they got to be #9: A book could be written on how the Washington Husky went from being one of the most dominant football programs in the country in the early 1990’s to what was arguably the worst BCS conference team since the BCS started in 1998 (I am looking at you Rutgers 2001). Washington fans will point to the 85 scholarship limit, the track at Husky Stadium, the NCAA sanctions, the purple helmet era, spread offenses balancing the talent gap and Ty Willingham but the biggest factor in Washington seeing its program going in to the crapper has been a series of poor hiring decisions going back to removal of Jim Lambright. Lambright was a gruff figure and had the unfortunate fate of having to follow up Don James who is among the most beloved figures in the history of the Seattle sports scene. Lambright was beloved as a DC but as a Head Coach he didn’t seem to say the right words to the Tyee Club and despite taking Washington to a bowl every year eligible Lambright never won over Tyee because he never got UW back to the Rose Bowl. In comes Rick Neuhisal who gets UW to the Rose Bowl in two years with Lambright’s recruits yet follows up his pattern of cutting corners at a school that was under the microscope of the NCAA for violations under James. Neuhiesal had done a great job of recruiting skill position players but was lackluster in signing offensive lineman and front seven players on defense which had been the traditional backbone of the team. Washington would no longer win the battle of the trenches and then with his habit of really ticking people off and skirting the rules Neuheisal eventually got himself removed as coach of the Huskies. Washington then turned to Keith Gilbertson who was way over his skies and then Ty Willingham who severely misread the job he was taking over and the rest is history. To go 0-12 at a school with all the built in advantages that Washington has is almost impossible. The key for the Sarkisian regime will be making UW relevant again to not just Washington area kids but to top flight California recruits. They can only go up from here. Why they will stay #9: In the short term they certainly could if they build around Locker once more and he gets hurt. They have the talent to sniff .500 but again don’t play the type of schedule that a rebuilding program should have with LSU and Notre Dame on the docket. How they could slip in the future: How could it possibly be worse than 2008? Losing to Idaho perhaps at home? Another round of NCAA sanctions? How they could rise in the future: The Dawgs, with some effort, should be able to rebound to bowl contention by 2010, the cupboard is not nearly as bare as the one in Pullman is. They may want to consider ramping down the OOC schedule a bit. The Dawgs are hamstrung in that they can’t hope to fill Husky Stadium often playing the likes of Idaho and Utah State but they have no chance on the field against teams like Oklahoma, LSU and Ohio State when they invade Husky Stadium. UW is scheduled out for quite some time as if they were that late 80’s dominating team on the West that needs to make a splash to get more votes in the polls but the reality is that they should instead try and concentrate on playing a more manageable schedule to get back to bowl games. Going 1-2 or 0-3 in the OCC means you have to win 5 or 6 games in the Pac 10 to even be bowl eligible which is pretty tough considering the long losing streaks Washington has posted against USC, Oregon and Oregon State.

10. WSU - How they got to be #10: With all due respect to the Cougars intended they should be last on this list every year simply based on the fact that they are not on the I-5 corridor and are in the smallest media market in the Pac 10 by a large margin. Pullman is likely the most remote locations for any Div 1-A school in the country. The Cougars had a nice stretch of time in the late 90’s and early part of this decade but the wheels fell off pretty quickly by the end of the decade. Mike Price’s departure was the downfall of the program, even though Bill Doba was able to put up a 10 win season his first year out, the man was just not equipped to be a head coach in the 21st century in a BCS conference. To win at WSU you have except that you will have some 3-9 years in the mix and then hope that everything comes together for a big year. This formula has been to create a family atmosphere where kids like to play, take risks on guys that other schools may be avoiding because of academic/character issues and hope they pan out and run an innovative offensive system with a hard hitting defense. Of these tasks Doba probably only accomplished one towards the end of his regime and that was taking risks on questionable kids. Unfortunately those questionable kids got in a boat load of trouble and didn’t really excel on the field. Paul Wolff took over a team that not only was facing NCAA scholarship reductions but also was full of stiffs, malcontents and criminals. Wolff has overcome adversity before but he faces an all but impossible rebuilding job. Can he win quick enough to avoid being fired? Not many Seattle area alums are relishing the thought of driving 5 hours to watch more years of pathetic football. Why they will stay #10: Let me count the ways. Terrible economy, scholarship reductions, lack of talent, fan base who is not near the college, isolated campus, challenging conference, inability to attract recruits, strong programs at UO, OSU and Boise State who compete for many of the same players. How they could slip in the future: Lose the Apple Cup, which seems fairly likely this year. They’ve been more successful on the field than Washington has in the last decade for the most part however they are at such a major logistical disadvantage it’s hard to see them keeping up if Washington can even partially get back on the track. How they could rise in the future: Try to regain some of the magic under the late Price era, hope that Boise State fades as a program and a few other Pac 10 programs return to the dumpster fire status of the past (Oregon State, Arizona, Stanford for example) and come up with a truly innovative offense that evens the playing field against more talented squads.

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 Power Poll Week Two

Dominant offensive performances were seen all around the conference this week but the big story has to be the triumphant return of Rick Neuheisal and Norm Chow to Los Angeles and the win they were able to pull out of a hat versus Tennessee on national TV this Labor Day. I didn’t watch much of the first half and really didn’t miss anything other than a terrible offensive performance by both team but especially UCLA’s QB Kevin Craft. Chow and Neuheisal deserve credit for staying with the kid after 4 first half picks. Somehow, due to a combination of better accuracy and Tennesse dropping back in a deep zone against a weak armed QB UCLA was able to throw drives together while on defense get some big league run stuffing from their very solid up the middle defense. UCLA always seems to play OOC teams tough and this game was just another example of that. The Bruins will likely still face major struggles this year they should end of making a bowl which before the Tennessee game was not a likelihood in my book. In other news USC is good, really good and have the fortune of playing Oregon, Ohio State, ASU and Cal all in the Coliseum. Does anyone see a loss on that schedule except possible against U of A on 10/25? Give Stanford credit for maximizing their talent and taking advantage of some dumb mistakes by Oregon State but clearly the less talented team won last Thursday. This was a bad loss for the Beavers, who pending a miracle are looking at a 1-3 start. I am not sure really what to take out of the Oregon/Washington game other than that Washington is really bad, Oregon should be able to start out 5-0 and win at least 8 games but the second half of the schedule is dicey. As for Washington I’ve heard rumors that the guy they have in their cross-hairs for taking over for the dead man walking Willingham regime is Chip Kelly. Kelly going to UW would be beyond a coup – it removes your rivals second most important asset (after Uncle Phil) while at the same time brings in a dynamic offensive mind who would likely work wonders year one with Jake Locker. Oregon cannot let this happen but it is going to be very hard for them to keep Chip Kelly from taking a head coaching job. If Oregon were to lose him it would better to lose him to a non-Pac 10 school. Outside of WSU the rest of the conference played fairly well other than Nate Longshore who I think we can officially put the fork in to. From Heisman candidate on the #2 in the country to not starting in less than a year, Cal wins by 21 if he doesn’t play.
1. USC (1) – Looked truly dominant, they could be back to the form of the 2004 team. Sanchez showed no rust and looked much better than last year and the Trojans get an extra week for Ohio State who will have a banged up Beanie Wells. I’d eat my hat if this team doesn’t play for the BCS championship even with 1 loss.
2. ASU (2) – I’d move them down but I had them 2 last week and from what I read pulled almost everyone for the second half of the NAU game and treated it like a scrimmage. Stanford will provide them a nice chance to get in a game versus a quality opponent before Georgia comes to town but at the same time this game has “trap game” written all over it. Interesting that Stanford will have played two Pac 10 games already while most of the league has played zero.
3. UO (3) – Who needs Dennis Dixon? Just kidding but clearly QB is not as big as a worry for Oregon as I had thought. I think by mid-season Jeremiah Masoli will be playing the majority of snaps as he better fits the scheme. Utah State will be treated as a scrimmage by the Ducks, I’d expect Roper won’t play in the second half nor will Jeremiah Johnson.
4. Cal (4) – They beat a similar team to themselves in a rapidly improving Michigan State. Game would have been closer if Longshore hadn’t played. I still think this team has the second best talent in the league but they need play some better defense it appears. No Pac-10 road game is easy but I look for a comfortable win in Pullman this weekend.
5. UCLA (9) – The Tennessee win was kind of a perfect storm scenario and they Bruins shouldn’t be expecting to get that kind of performance every week against Top 20 teams, at the same time the Bruins do have the potential to go bowling this year and I didn’t think that last week.
6. UA (6) – Idaho stinks but beating anyone 70-0 is impressive. They should have no issues versus Toledo this week.
7. OSU (5) – Yeah they lost to Stanford but if they can fix their issues on the front seven with run defense and if Moevao can have a little better ball security they will be in the mix for a top 5 Pac-10 finish. Playing at Penn State might be a bit too much too ask at this point for a young team.
8. LSJU (8) – Very nice win versus OSU, Jim Harbaugh has done a good job of getting everything he can out of his players but depth and athleticism are clearly lacking. Going in to Tempe and looking for a win is probably too much to ask at this point. The schedule makers did Stanford no favors with only 5 home games this year.
9. WSU (10) – The only reason I have them 9th is that they have an easier schedule than Washington and have a better chance of having their QB survive the season. They should be able to give Cal a game for a half but I don’t see an upset occurring.
10. UW (7) – The Huskies are in major trouble. They have a schedule set up like they are defending national champs not a below average Pac-10 team. They need to get better protection for Locker who will face long odds in lasting the season, the Dawgs could beat BYU but will face tough odds against a physical team needing a BCS conference road win to make their case for a BCS berth if they were to go 12-0.

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.

Week 11 Review and Pac 10 Power Poll

Note: I wrote this on Monday before the events of Thursday's Oregon/Arizona game. My work internet now blocks Blogspot and my time at home during the week is pretty limited so I was late in posting this.

Oregon was the big winner this week and they didn’t even play. Thanks to Illinois knocking off an untested Ohio State squad Oregon slid in to the #2 spot in the BCS. However even if they win out they are not assured a spot in the Big Game in New Orleans as the winner of the Big 12 Championship game may jump Oregon. In other news the winner of the ASU/USC game on Thanksgiving has put themselves in great position to get to a BCS game likely either the Rose or Fiesta Bowl depending on where Oregon ends up. I want to make the point to say that I was very happy to see Jake Locker come back form that scary situation with a clean bill of health. The kid is a hero who will lead Washington back to respectability of he gets a surrounding cast. Not sure if Ty Willingham will be the guy who gets to lead him to that point however. As much criticism as Gordon Reice received last year for the Oklahoma/Oregon call I have to say that the botched call in the OSU/UW was even worse though it didn’t effect the outcome of the game. At worst case the ball should have been called dead at the 6 inch line, my opinion was that Bernard scored, not sure how they called it a fumble and how the play wasn’t reviewed. USC and ASU won hard fought games and WSU maintained a glimmer of hope for a bowl with a win over Stanford.

1. UO (1) – The Ducks can see the light at the end of the tunnel but need to keep their eye on the prize. Simply winning out may not be enough for the Ducks if Kansas wins out, if Oklahoma wins out the Ducks need to show some serious style points. Oregon faces Zona at the worst possible time in that they face a team on a hot streak who can throw the ball down the field, play a night game in the desert which is always a gamble and face the whole #2 and Thursday night curse. All in all I think the Ducks still win by 10 but this was should be a memorable game.
2. USC (2) – USC seems to have its power running game back, where was it against Oregon however? The play at ASU on Thanksgiving in what amounts to a BCS playoff game.
3. ASU (3) – Did enough to beat UCLA but I would have expected a larger win all things considered. Depending on how the year ends ASU could find itself as low as the Sun Bowl or as high as the Fiesta or Rose Bowl.
4. OSU (4) – Weird game that OSU frankly should have won by 20 but was much closer due to some bad calls by the refs, an emotional effort by UW after Jake Locker and a breakdown in the Beaver pass defense mainly caused by 3 key secondary members being kicked out of the game. I think the Pac 10 gave the Beavs some justice by not suspending the players for the first half of the WSU game.
5. Cal (6) – Played USC tough but just didn’t have enough. This team has dropped quicker than almost any team in memory from a high national ranking. At this point probably can’t hope for anything better than the Sun Bowl.
6. UA (5) – Still Bowl eligible for one more night. Stoops is safe from what reports are saying but I am not so sure.
7. UCLA (7) – Stung by injuries more than any team in the country I thought they played pretty tough against ASU. I think this is Karl Dorrell’s swan song, probably a great time for a bye week to give them time to prepare for Oregon.
8. WSU (9) – Once giving up for dead WSU is now a home win against OSU and a road win in Seattle from getting 6 wins, which this year, unlike last will get the Cougars in to a bowl game. The Beavs likely not having Yvensen Bernard and what should be dicey weather should help out the Cougars.
9. UW (8) – Good to see Jake Locker okay, Carl Bonnell actually played pretty well in relief but until this team gets a solid running back they are going to have problems.
10. Stanford (10) – Decimated by injuries they get a needed bye week before playing Notre Dame and Cal to end the year. Stanford could be a bowl team next year

Week Ten Review and Pac 10 Power Poll

The second week in a row of Oregon hosting a Top 10 opponent ended with the same result for the Oregon faithful, a Duck win with the eyes of the nation upon them. Oregon now is in the position of being the sole school to control their own Rose Bowl destiny. At this point if Oregon wins out against Arizona, UCLA and Oregon State the worst the worst case scenario is the Ducks spending New Years in Pasadena. Oregon, led by Dennis Dixon, has handled all the attention in a very business-like manner and I think this will aide the team in avoiding any issues of over-confidence. The Ducks are pretty dinged up so the 10 days off they get before the big game versus the now hot Wildcats is important. USC returned to form in dominating Oregon State at the line of scrimmage. The Trojan offense is clearly not at the same level that we have come to expect under Pete Carroll but the defense is top notch. USC is still in play for a BCS bid, the Fiesta Bowl versus the Big 12 winner would be a nice destination as would the Rose Bowl if Oregon gets to play in New Orleans. In other games Cal slipped by a Washington State team that lacked James Tardy at running back. Cal it appears is just playing the year out ala the 2006 Ducks. Washington went out and won a game for the first time since early September. Who knows what the make out of Stanford but the Dawgs could conceivably rally to 6-6 with the schedule they have remaining though getting past Oregon State in Corvallis would be pretty daunting. Finally Arizona beat UCLA in the battle of which coach will survive November. Karl Dorrell is clearly done at UCLA no matter what happens the rest of the year. Mike Stoops is likely gone as well but if he were to knock off Oregon and ASU to end the season at 6-6 you never know. For some reason Arizona just seems to play a whole lot better in November than any other month of the year. The Ducks and Devils need to be on upset watch. Kudos to the Midshipmen of Navy for beating Notre Dame.

1. UO (1) – With ESPN Gameday in town and a national audience watching the Ducks delivered. The Heisman is Dennis Dixon’s to lose. The Ducks get 10 day to prepare for the surging offense of the Wildcats in what you know will be a hard hitting game.
2. USC (3) – Nice rebound win versus the Beavers. USC still can play for a BCS bid but the Pac 10 championship is all but out of the question.
3. ASU (2) – The Sun Devils were perhaps just not tested enough to play the caliber of team as Oregon at this point in the year. ASU needs to rebound against UCLA this week if they hope to have a hot at a BCS at-large bid
4. OSU (4) – Got completely shut down in LA but they should get back on track against UW in a game that gets them the needed 6 wins for bowl eligibility.
5. UA (7) – Back to back wins after the disaster of losing to Stanford at home. Surviving this year will be tough for Stoops but the cupboard won’t be bare for whoever is coach next year. I expect they will give Oregon quite the battle.
6. Cal (6) At this point this team will only win games against teams they have way more talent then, they gave up a lot of yards in the air to Brink and the Cougs and had a sub-par offensive performance, still Cal should be considered up with ASU and USC the team to beat in 2008 with a senior QB in Longshore.
7. UCLA (5) – Though they have been injury depleted this year UCLA is among the biggest disappointments nationally (Notre Dame, Louisville and Nebraska are up there as well).
8. UW (10) – Got off the snide with it’s first win off the year down on the Farm. Will it be enough to save Willingham?
9. WSU (9) – Played tough in a loss in Berkeley. Doba and company could conceivably rally to get to 6 wins, that would be a great accomplishment.
10. Stanford (8) For some reason Stanford is much better on the road than at home.

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 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)

NCAA 2008

Well been busy with work, new house and the little one lately. Emily was very kind to me and bough me a Xbox 360 for my birthday. The day it cam out I used a gift card to Best Buy to get NCAA 2008. The game is sick, I played a little bit of Campus Legend before my roster file was procured and I really enjoyed how it would sim until your player actually made it on the field. Well as for the game play I have to say this is the best job of making a realistic football game (or maybe even sports for that matter) that I have seen. The AI is out of this world, actually I should say realistic, makes for a more fun game. No longer will throwing bombs and constant sending 5 WR's then running with your QB every play work, the AI will adjust to your tactics. At the time it is realistic so if you show a certain tendancy then switch it up you can burn the defense. I've found this works quite well, pound the ball in the line a few times on runs to get the safties up then go deep on third and short, works well!

Well I will spend the next month or so playing the game, researching up on the 2007 season and then will do my preseason predictions in late August!

Week 13 Review, Final Power Poll and Awards

UCLA did the unthinkable and threw a major wrench in to the BCS, USC’s amazing run of being in title games and the travel plans of LSU Tiger Supporters. Kudos to UCLA’s defense for not letting the USC receivers torch them late like the letdown that occurred late in the game against Notre Dame. UCLA showed a nice mix of blitzing and dropping back linebackers in to coverage which seemed to confuse Booty a bit. USC flat out laid an egg but give credit to UCLA who may have turned the corner with an impressive end to the year with wins over ASU, OSU and USC. Cal played quite a flat game against Stanford who gave an excellent effort yet it wasn’t enough to save the job of Walt Harris. The more I think about his firing I am not sure it is a good move. If it was based on his recruiting effort this year then maybe that makes sense but frankly the cupboard was completely bare from the Teevens era and in 2005 outside of the Cal-Davis game Stanford was quite competitive when they had a ton of seniors on the defensive side. It will be interesting to see who takes this job which faces some major issues in high academic standards, lack of recent bowl appearances, a very high cost area and a fan base that can’t be called rabid. A huge issue head coaches face at Stanford is the issue of the high cost of living making it very difficult to attract assistant coaches. $125,000 doesn’t take you very far in Palo Alto when you have a family while the same $125,000 in Pullman, Eugene or Corvallis makes one very well off. As for Cal I look for them to lay a major egg in the Holiday Bowl. This team hasn’t played very well this season against bowl teams outside the games versus ASU and Oregon, despite winning 7 games in conference, and I think that the players much like those at Oregon have been listening too much to their pre-season press clippings. In the final game of the college regular season Oregon State beat a very fired up and dangerous Hawaii team on the road which all things considered was a pretty impressive win. Note to Hawaii fans, stop throwing your trash on the field!

2006 Offensive MVP – Marshuan Lynch, Cal – Honorable mention to John David Booty, USC and Yvensen Bernard OSU.

2006 Defensive MVP – Daymeion Hughes, Cal – Honorable mention to Mkristo Bruce WSU, and Blair Phillips, UO

2006 Coach of the Year – Mike Riley, OSU Honorable mention to Ty Willingham UW and Pete Carroll USC

2006 Newcomer of the Year – Dexter Manley Jr – Honorable mention to Emanuel Moody USC and Chris Henry, UA

2006 Most Disappointing Team – Cal Bears – Dis-honorable mention to Oregon and ASU.

2006 Over Achieving Team – Oregon State Beavers - Honorable Mention – UCLA Bruins and Washington Huskies

2006 Comeback Player of the Year – Matt Moore, OSU – Honorable mention to Nate Longshore, Cal and Isaiah Stanback, UW

2006 Final Power Poll:

USC (1) – When it comes down to it this frankly wasn’t a very good team on the road but even so came within two plays of being in the BCS championship yet again. Going in to the season I figured USC would lose 2 games and that ended up happening. Being that this is a fairly young team with unfinished business I see them being the #1 team in the nation at the start of 2007 as long a Pete Carroll is not coaching the Arizona Cardinals. Team MVP: The entire USC front seven I can’t just single out one guy. They kept the boat afloat for most of the season and gave their much less efficient offense a chance to win every game. Without the defensive improvement seen from the 2005 to 2006 season USC could have finished with 2 or 3 more loses.
UCLA (3) – Major credit goes to UCLA for finishing the season out strong with wins over ASU, OSU and USC after a very difficult middle stretch. Karl Dorrell deserves a contract extension and has things set in the right way for 2007. If the offense opens up a bit more UCLA should be able to compete for the conference title in 2007 though faces the problem off having to play on the road at USC next year. Team MVP: Defensive Coordinator Dewayne Walker: UCLA was a 10 win team last though only because they were able to win a bunch of shootouts. Walker came in and in one year turned UCLA in to team that held both UCLA and Notre Dame to under 20 point games.
OSU (4) – No one outside of the players and coaches probably would have thought after the loss to WSU in the Pac 10 opener at home that OSU would end up with a chance to win 10 games. Kudos to Mike Riley for keeping his team together and not pulling Matt Moore from the starting line-up. Kudos to the Oregon State defense and special teams for taking advantage of almost every mistake made by their often “more talented opponents”. Finally kudos to Matt Moore for ignoring all the garbage thrown his way by OSU fans and students and persevere. Much credit goes to him for not forcing the passes that he did in 2005 so often. A big boo goes to the pathetic Oregon State fans and students, you didn’t deserve the effort your team brought you in 2006. Team MVP Yvensen Bernard, not the biggest of backs but had plenty of heart and put up another 1000 yard season in quiet fashion.
Cal (2) – Frankly 2006 has to go down as a major disappointment for the Cal Bears. The hype machine shown a bit too bright on this team before the season started and things just didn’t work out the way many had predicted. Cal’s defense was not up to snuff even with the amazing Daymeion Hughes being the nations best cornerback. The fall injury to opposite corner and special-teams maven Tim Mixon really hurt this team. If Cal can show the type of defensive improvement that USC and UCLA showed from 2005 to 2006 this is still a team with national title chances in 2007 but one of these days Jeff Tedford will need to live up to the hype. Team MVP: Daymeion Hughes, even in a down year for the Cal defense Hughes still proved to be the best cover corner in America.
ASU (5) – ASU is one of those teams ala Clemson and Michigan State that ever year looks much better on paper than they actually are and ends up showing some flashes of greatness before imploding. 2006 was no exception and the ASU brass decided that a change in direction is what is needed after the debacle of the Carpenter-Keller QB controversy. In college football they say you are what you are. Do I think a new coach will do much better at ASU than Dirk Koetter, no not really. Maybe it is the sun, the co-eds or the party-scene but for some reason ASU always underachieves almost every year and then makes a Rose Bowl every decade or so. Koetter did a nice job ruining Mike Stoops almost breakout season though it was helped by the cheap helmet to helmet shot that may have ended the career of Willy Tuitama. Team MVP: Ryan Torain. ASU was able to run the ball quite effectively in 2006 despite the massive injury damage to the Offensive Line and Rudy Carpenter’s loss of confidence after the Cal game.
UA (6) – Arizona and Mike Stoops were on top of the world after beating Cal and Oregon in back to back November games and a bowl game looked to be in the cards for the first time since the end of the Dick Tomey era. However a soon to be fired Dirk Koetter and ASU came in and ran the ball down the throat of the Wildcat D early and got off to a 21-0 lead. A questionable hit to the helmet knocked out Willy Tuitama giving the promising young man his third major concussion in a little over a year. The thought has to be out there that Tuitama may not be able to complete his career due to the injuries. Arizona is clearly not a very good team offensively without him on the field. A healthy Tuitama in 2007 and this is a team with an outside shot to deliver big in the conference and even challenge for that elusive first Rose Bowl bid, however no Tuitama and all those plans could go up in smoke when everyone brings 9 guys to stop Chris Henry and forcing the Cats in to a one dimensional offense with a substandard back-up QB. Team MVP: Notice a trend here? Willy Tuitama will be the most important offensive player to his team in 2007 if he is indeed able to play.
UO (7)- What started out so promising ended with a “moral victory” in a loss to rival Oregon State in Corvallis. Looking back at the season Oregon was able to put up some terrific numbers against some mediocre teams and got lucky with the whole Oklahoma game which if you turn from a win to a loss gave Oregon only two wins over bowl teams. Bellotti was probably a bit too loyal to Dennis Dixon and in the end probably did more damage to the young man’s confidence by not pulling him earlier in the season say a nice long stint on the bench for the Portland State game. Dixon didn’t improve as the year went on and panicked after early mistakes and unless he shows an improvement a-la Akili Smith from 97 to 98 the Dixon era at Oregon looks to be a disappointment. If Oregon can cut a turnover a game they have the chance to go out and win 10 games next year as the schedule is much more favorable despite a trip to Ann Arbor in September. The question of the off-season will be who is next year’s QB, Brady Leaf or Dennis Dixon. Team MVP: Blair Phillips. Phillips was a warrior on a team that had unbelievable injury issues on the defensive side of the ball. He will be incredibly missed.
UW (8) – At one point this team was 4-1 with only a loss on the road to Oklahoma and was sniffing the Top 25. Then Oregon State came to town put up a nice lead and then the unfortunate career ending injury to Isaiah Stanback occurred and the Washington season went down in flames. Stanback was clearly the heart and soul of this team along with being their only offensive playmaker. As for next year UW will likely sooner or later start the Jake Locker era as the mistake prone Carl Bonnell isn’t likely going to be taking any teams to the promised land soon. Had Stanback not gone down UW at a minimum would have defeated Stanford and would have been bowl eligible. 5 wins was about the upside I saw for Washington this season and that is what they achieved however I give the players who have bought in to coach Ty’s system credit. 2007 may end up being a step back but by 2008 I think UW will be back within the top half of the Pac 10 on a consistent basis. The days of Don James are forever gone but the potential to have a program along the level of what Oregon, UCLA and Cal have now is certainly easily within reach. Team MVP: Isaiah Stanback. If Stanback doesn’t go down and the Dawgs win 7 or 8 games then I might have put him as Pac 10 MVP.
WSU (9) – After beating Oregon and UCLA in October the Cougars found themselves in the Top 25 at 6-3 then they quickly were destroyed by injuries and even lost to a dreadful UW team who had lost by 18 to Stanford the previous week. All in despite some q breakout season by Mkristo Bruce this was not a vintage WSU season and outside of having a starting QB who will be a senior next year I don’t see any reason to think that WSU will have any better of a season next year. Jason Hill was injured and probably made a poor financial choice by not declaring for last season’s draft. Michael Bumpus had a lot of catches but wasn’t the deep threat that was needed to open up the running lanes and the Cougars were not able to be put up the type of yards that Harrison had put up last year. Team MVP: Mkristo Bruce. When healthy this was the scariest man in the league to opposing QB’s and running-backs.
LSJU (10) – The 2006 Stanford campaign will likely go down in as one of the worst in the history of the Pac 10. In the last decade I would probably only compare it to the 2001 season of the Cal Bears. All in all the administration decided to cut the cords with Walt Harris after only two years. Harris did take a Pitt team to the BCS in 2004 however said team only won 7 games and in my opinion was the worst BCS team since the whole thing started back in 1998 with, ironically, the 1999 version of Stanford likely being it’s top competition for the title. There is nothing good to say about the Stanford program right except that they have a pretty stadium. It would be difficult to have a worse 2007 than 2006 to think that Stanford will be back to the level of even 2005 next year is a bit ambitious. Team MVP: The people who designed the stadium redesign. The Cardinal have a pretty new house to play in, if they get a winner back there Stanford games may start becoming fun again.