Pac-10 weekend in review: Week off helps Cal rise in polls

October 12, 10:57 PMCal Bears ExaminerRob Calonge

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The Cal Bears took the weekend off, but they were as productive as if they had been on the field.  Going into the weekend, the Bears were ranked only in the USA Today Coaches poll at #25 and tied with Arizona for Pac-10 supremacy with a 2-0 conference record.  Now?  They've been added to a couple of polls and they are now all alone in first in the Pac-10 with that same 2-0 record.

Both Cal and Washington had the weekend off, while the other eight teams in the Pac-10 faced off in conference play.

Arizona State (2-4, 1-2 Pac-10) at #8 USC (4-1, 2-1 Pac-10)

Normally, a team that turns the ball over five times and commits nine penalties is going to lose their game.  That is, normally.  As we all know, USC is anything but normal.  The Trojans were able to overcome their struggles with a dominating defensive performance and beat the Sun Devils 28-0.  It was the first time that Arizona State had been shutout since Cal did it to them on October 30, 2004, 27-0.

It was the Trojans ninth straight victory over the Sun Devils, their fourth straight loss.  Arizona State has only scored 44 total points in those losses after starting off the season with a prolific passing attack.  Sun Devil starting quarterback, Rudy Carpenter, had to leave the game in the third quarter with a sprained ankle before his backup Danny Sullivan came in to finish the game.  Carpenter completed 11 of 20 passes for 126 yards, an interception, and a fumble that was recovered by Arizona State.  Sullivan completed 4 of 17 passes for 28 yards and two interceptions.

USC starter Mark Sanchez wasn't too much better.  He completed 13 of 26 passes for 179 yards, one touchdown passing, one touchdown rushing, three interceptions and one fumble lost.  Luckily, Sanchez had Joe McKnight rushing for a career day.  McKnight rushed for a career best 143 yards on 11 carries and had one reception for seven yards.

USC marched down from their 28-yard line and scored a touchdown on their opening drive at the 11:46 mark of the first quarter.  It wouldn't be until midway through the second quarter that USC would score again on an 80-yard drive capped off by a four-yard touchdown pass by Sanchez.  The following ASU drive resulted in an interception by Trojan cornerback Kevin Thomas who returned it 46 yards for another touchdown.  USC's final score came with 8:09 left in the fourth quarter when Stafon Johnson scored on a two-yard run culminating a 92 yard 3:57 drive.

ASU will take some much needed time off next weekend, while the Trojans will travel to Washington State and play the Cougars, which is probably putting it gently considering...

Washington State (1-6, 0-4 Pac-10) at Oregon State (3-3, 2-1 Pac-10)

Coming into the game, the Cougars had held an opponent to less than 30 points only once in six games, and that was 28 points to UCLA.  They weren't so lucky against Oregon State on Saturday, as they were thrashed again 66-13.  It was the third time this season that the Cougars had let an opponent score 60 or more points against them and they scored less than 15 points for the sixth time in seven games.  First-year WSU head coach, Paul Wulff, might be having one of the worst seasons in Pac-10 history.

The Beavers scored touchdowns on their first two possessions of the game and still had time to score another before the end of the first quarter to go into the second quarter up by 21 points.  In the second quarter, the Cougars began to make a game of it when Myron Beck intercepted Oregon State quarterback Lyle Moevao and returned it to the Beavers' 36 yard-line.  Five plays later, Chantz Staden rushed one yard for a Cougar score.

In Cougar fashion, the extra point was missed, but three plays later, Louis Bland picked off Moevao and returned it for another Washington State touchdown.  After the extra point, the Cougars were down 21-13.  Remarkably, the very next series Moevao would throw his third interception of the quarter, but WSU wouldn't capitalize on that one.  The Cougars never got closer as Oregon State went on to score the final 45 points of the game.

For the game, Washington State had only 132 yards of total offense with two turnovers and 12 penalties for 145 yards.  Oregon State turned the ball over four times, but 548 yards of total offense (225 passing, 323 rushing), and only five penalties for 49 yards.

Next week, Oregon State will be at Washington to take on the Huskies, while the Cougars will be praying that the USC Trojans miss their flight to Pullman, Washington.

UCLA (2-4, 1-2 Pac-10) at Oregon (5-2, 3-1 Pac-10)

The Oregon Ducks used the legs of their third-string quarterback to get past the UCLA Bruins 31-24 Saturday night.  For the game, the Ducks only had 42 passing yards and 323 rushing yards with 170 and a touchdown coming from sophomore QB Jeremiah Masoli.  UCLA had 351 total yards, 288 passing and 63 on the ground, but it took over a half before they could get on the scoreboard.

Oregon scored a touchdown in every quarter, the last a 69 yard game-ender with 2:36 to go in the fourth quarter.  The Bruins, first score came with 7:33 left to play in the third quarter closing the gap to seven points, and also scoring UCLA's first touchdown on the road for the year.  Unfortunately, the following onside kick went 12 yards and out of bounds, leaving the Ducks to start their next drive on the Bruins' 37 yard line.  The Ducks scored a touchdown four plays later ultimately making the score 21-7.

Undeterred, UCLA took their next drive 75 yards on nine plays for another touchdown.  The drive was aided by a personal foul penalty and later a pass interference call that looked like an interception at the two-yard line.  The Bruins ran it in on the next play to make the score 21-14.  After a field goal for each team, the Ducks put the game out of reach on the Legarrette Blount 69 yard touchdown run.  The Bruins would again score with 55 seconds left in the game to get within one touchdown, but Oregon recovered the ensuing onside kick.

Oregon will take next week off before facing Arizona State in Arizona, while UCLA faces Stanford at home.

Arizona (4-2, 2-1 Pac-10) at Stanford (4-3, 3-1 Pac-10)

It's unlikely that anyone outside of Stanford would've guessed that they'd be 3-1 in the Pac-10 at this point, but they are.  Arizona came into the game as the only other team besides Cal undefeated in Pac-10 play, but now the Bears are all alone in first.  It took a clutch drive in the closing seconds by a third-string quarterback to make it happen for the Cardinal, but they now sit tied for second in the Pac-10 after beating Arizona 24-23.

At the start of the fourth quarter, both teams were tied at 17.  The Wildcats were at their own five-yard line facing third down with 11 yards to go.  Arizona quarterback, Willie Tuitama, completed a 16-yard pass to receiver, Terrell Turner, for the first down.  Tuitama then led the Wildcats down the field where the drive stalled at Stanford's five-yard line.  Arizona would settle for a field goal putting them up 20-17.

Due to an injury to Stanford's starting quarterback, Tavita Pritchard, backup Jason Forcier came in, but was ineffective completing two passes in six attempts and an interception.  After a sack and an incompletion, leaving Stanford with a third and 30 situation, head coach Jim Harbaugh brought in third-stringer Alex Loukas.  The Cardinals wouldn't convert, and the next Arizona drive would yield another field goal, leaving the score 23-17 Wildcats with 5:48 to go.

That's when Loukas worked his magic.  After a good return by Delano Howell, the Cardinal started their drive at their own 40-yard line.  After rushing for four yards on the first play, he completed his only pass attempt for 21 yards to receiver, Ryan Whalen.  Alternating turns running the ball with running back Toby Gerhart, Loukas would run for 16, seven, and five yards before giving way to Gerhart for two one-yard runs to score the decisive touchdown with 25 seconds left on the clock.  After the extra point, the Cardinal would finish the game preventing Arizona from recreating the famous last second Cal play.

Stanford travels to UCLA next Saturday while Arizona comes to Berkeley to face Cal.

Here are the Pac-10 standings after the weekend:

Not playing over the weekend has it's benefits when you're ranked.  It's more likely that you'll go up in the polls rather than down, and having been ranked last week #25 in the all important USA Today Top 25 Coaches Poll nearly guarantees that the other polls will follow.  To Cal's benefit, that's exactly what happened.

USA Today Top 25 Coaches Poll

The Bears moved up in the USA Today Top 25 Coaches Poll by three spots, oddly five spots behind Michigan State who they beat to start the year.

AP Top 25

Cal made their way back to the AP poll this week, but barely.  After not being ranked since losing to Maryland, they are back at the #25 spot.

Harris Top 25

Since Cal made it into the Coaches and the AP polls, it stands to reason that they'd at least be close in the Harris Interactive Top 25 poll.  They made it to #24 on this poll.