Pac-10 weekend in review

October 6, 11:14 AMCal Bears ExaminerRob Calonge

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Pac-10 is there for Cal's taking

The Pac-10 is not considered very strong this year.  Many pundits over the weekend took shots at the lack of strength within the conference, while some of the major news outlets completely discounted everyone in the conference except for USC.  Is it true?  Has the Pac-10 finally become as soft as the Big 10?  Are they just as fallible as the WAC or the Mountain West Conference?

Cal's win is good for the Pac-10.  The Pac-10 needs Cal to keep winning so that the strength of the conference will improve.
-Craig James ABC's College Football Countdown

The Pac-10 had four in-conference games this past weekend and two out-of-conference games.  Oregon State helped to continue the Mountain West's dominance over the Pac-10 this year with the MWC now 6-1 against the BCS conference for the season.  Stanford was beaten by an average Notre Dame team that is still very young.  A look at the contests over the past weekend, might shed light on Cal's chances at a Pac-10 title.

Washington (0-5, 0-3 Pac-10) at Arizona (4-1, 2-0 Pac-10)

Could Arizona really be that good this year?  They have one of those MWC losses under their belt to New Mexico, but that's the only team that they've faced with a .500 record on the year.  For the record, they've beaten one-win Idaho and Toledo, two-win UCLA, and now winless Washington.  To say that Arizona hasn't been tested is an understatement.  Arizona has the #2 ranked defense in the nation, but until they start facing tougher opponents that ranking won't mean much.

Washington is probably already looking for a replacement for the overrated Ty Willingham.  Willingham is 6-22 since taking over in 2005, and even though he might have the best quarterback in all of college football, things don't appear to be changing for the Huskies.  That quarterback has a broken thumb and is expected to be out at least six weeks while a red-shirt freshman takes his place.

The Huskies porous defense and terrible punt teams helped to put Arizona in the lead 17-0 by the end of the first quarter.  Thanks in large part by a 62-yard pass by Washington's Ronnie Fouch, the Huskies were able to get back into the game with a touchdown of their own.  It never got that close again.  A punt returned for a touchdown and an interception of the Huskies at their own 34-yard line leading to another score finished the half and the game with the score 31-7.  The second half was mostly window dressing as the Wildcats easily won 48-14.

Arizon is next on Cal's list.  They are 3-0 at home and next week will come to California to face Stanford.  A win against the Cardinal will set up the last two teams undefeated in conference play.

Washington State (1-5, 0-3 Pac-10) at UCLA (2-3, 1-1 Pac-10)

The Bruins have been tough for the Bears over the past few years, but that might change with Rick Neuheisel and Norm Chow running things in Westwood.  Cal will face them in three weeks at home, and if UCLA has improved by then, it could be a tough outting for the Bears.  It would be difficult to forget the beating that Cal put on the Washington State Cougars a few weeks ago, but like UCLA, they are struggling with a new system and a new head coach in Paul Wulff.

The Cougars still have one of the worst offenses in all of college football.  They ran the ball 25 times for only 26 yards against the Bruins and passed for 151 yards on the day.  The Bruins weren't much better running the ball as they rushed for 100 yards on 37 carries for a 2.7 yards-per-carry average.  UCLA was able to be more efficient in passing as they threw for 225 yards on the day.

Penalties hurt Washington State as they were penalized eight times for 67 yards.  A personal foul helped to set up UCLA's first score, poor defensive play on third-down resulted in a second, and the Cougars couldn't keep a drive going due to false start and holding penalties on offense.  The only reason that Washington State avoided a shutout is due to a 47-yard field goal in the third quarter.  The Bruins won 28-3, but the game was still in doubt until the six-minute mark of the third quarter.

(23) Oregon (4-2, 2-1 Pac-10) at (9) USC (3-1, 1-1 Pac-10)

USC continues to be the class of the Pac-10.  There seems to be no end in sight for the Trojans dominance over the Pac-10 and elite standing within Div I college football.  Oregon is in the same realm as Cal in respect to their inability to be taken seriously due to their own inability to get the job done when it counts.  Like Cal, they are consistently ranked, but they have yet to prove that they can take it to the next level and be considered amongst the elite teams in the nation.

This game probably didn't help matters for the Ducks.  Losing to a top-tier team is one thing, but losing to them easily is another when you are trying to achieve the prestige of an elite team.  Besides beating Washington and Washington State, they have beaten one-win Utah State and two win Purdue.  They are as much a paper tiger as the Arizona Wildcats.  The two games that they've played against stiff competition, Boise State and USC, they've lost.

USC easily beat the Ducks 44-10 after spotting them a touchdown on Oregon's first drive of the game.  After Oregon went up 10-3 in the second quarter, the Trojans ignited the fireworks with 34-yard and 63-yard touchdown passes to take the lead and demoralize an already uncofident team.  USC would score 24 points in the second quarter and shutout the Ducks the rest of the way to easily get the victory 44-10.

Cal will first face Oregon at home on November 1, and then travel to USC the following weekend on November 8.

Oregon State (2-3, 1-1 Pac-10) at (15) Utah (6-0, 2-0 MWC)

Say what you want about Oregon State, but don't say that they aren't the Fresno State of the Pac-10.  The Beavers may have the toughest schedule in the Pac-10 at this point, behind USC.  They lost to #19 Penn State, beat Hawaii, beat USC, now have lost to #15 Utah.  They also lost to Stanford in game one, but that's a loss to an improving program.

The Utes are undefeated with victories over Michigan and Air Force.  The rest of their schedule has been a myriad of weak teams with the likes of UNLV, Utah State, and Weber State.  The soft victories shouldn't take away from how good they've been this season...except for the third and most of the fourth quarter of this game.

Utah led coming out of the locker room at halftime 20-15, but that lead quickly evaporated after quarterback Brian Johnson fumbled at the 34-yard line on the Utes' first possession.  The Beavers quickly capitalized with a touchdown to take the lead 21-20, but they missed the two-point conversion.  Thanks to a missed 31-yard field goal by the Beavers, the score remained a one-point game going into the fourth quarter.

The momentum had swung and the Utes looked overmatched going into the fourth quarter.  With 2:18 left the Beavers scored what looked like the winning touchdown to leave the score 28-20.  In less than a minute, Johnson led the Utes down the field with passes of 24 and 25 yards for a touchdown and then the two-point conversion where he ran it in.  Oregon State was only able to take 23 seconds off of the clock before giving the ball back to Utah with 1:06 left and Johnson promptly took the Utes down for the game winning 37-yard field goal as time expired.  Utah kept their ranking and perfect season intact with the 31-28 victory.

The Beavers, like Stanford, are a wild-card team.  Some weeks they are good enough to beat anyone, while others they look very average.  Even though they are 1-1 the past two weeks, they've looked anything but average.  Cal will play them in Corvallis, Oregon the week after they face USC.  That game will once again have 'TRAP' painted all over it for the Bears.

Stanford (3-3, 2-1 Pac-10) at Notre Dame (4-1, 4-0 home)

Stanford's wins are against Oregon State, San Jose State, and Washington.  There are no world-beaters in that group, although you could make a case for Oregon State being a quality opponent.  They have lost to #15 Arizona State, TCU, and now an unranked Notre Dame.  The only games they've played at home this season were against Oregon State and San Jose State, meaning that they could be better than we think they are.

Notre Dame has beaten Michigan, San Diego State, Purdue, and now Stanford on their way to a 4-1 record.  Their only loss came at Michigan State 23-7.  Since Brady Quinn left the program, the Fighting Irish have been exposed as a team with marginal talent when they face stiffer competition.  If it weren't for their prestige over the past millenium, they would be thought of as no better than a low-level Big-10 school.

Notre Dame took an early lead after an interception of Stanford's Tavita Pritchard with a nine-play drive for a touchdown in the first quarter.  It wasn't until the 10:51 mark of the second quarter that Stanford finally tied the game with an amazing 14 play 95-yard drive.  After that, Notre Dame took a commanding lead by scoring touchdowns on their next two possessions and taking a 21-7 lead going into the half.

Stanford wouldn't score again until the fourth quarter with the game nearly decided at 28-14 with 10:06 to play.  Two minutes later, the Cardinal would make it 28-21.  The next and last drive opportunity that Stanford would get would be one that started from their own three-yard line.  On 4th and 15 from their own 10-yard line, Stanford would only get 10 of the required 15 yards and the game's final score would remain 28-21.

The Stanford versus Cal Big Game is usually a highly contested affair.  With Stanford as last year's winner, it will probably be another tough game for the Bears on November 22.  Stanford in this game again has shown that they will play as hard after 60-minutes as they did in the first, making them a very dangerous team in the Pac-10.  Too often, when a team gets down, they mire in the loss.  Stanford continues to play hard even when their deficit is too far to overcome.

Arizona State Sun Devils at Cal

For a recap of the game click here.

Here are the standings for the Pac-10 as of 10/06/08: