Looking Ahead

Alright, the Pac-10 season finally starts today (The UO-Stanford debacle doesn’t count) and there are some pretty intriguing match ups. And who knew Booty was such a hard name to pronounce? Lee Corso just referred to him as “Broty” four times in about ten seconds. And no one corrected him either. Oh well, onto the previews:

USC vs Arizona

The last four times USC has played Arizona, they have scored at least 40 points. I don’t know that the Trojan offense has gelled enough yet to rack up 40 points without some help from their defense, but they’ll definitely hit 20 again. The question is whether the Wildcats can get 20 and make it a game. It should at least be interesting, given that Pete Carroll’s kryptonite is conference openers on the road. Arizona has been disappointing thus far, but they played better last week even if it was against Stephen F. Austin. Arizona may cover the 23 point spread, but they just don’t have the athletes to beat USC.

Brian’s Pick: USC
Mike’s Pick: USC

UCLA vs Washington

Once again, the outcome of this game rests purely on the shoulders of Isaiah Stanback. Ben Olson has something to prove in his first conference game, but Washington is trying to prove that they are the only team that can win at Husky Stadium. Given that UW and UCLA are first and third in the Pac-10 in rushing, there is going to be a whole lot less passing in this game than most Pac-10 fans are used to. As a Trojan I would like to see the Huskies beat the Bruins, but I don’t know that they have enough of a home field advantage to keep UCLA out of it early.

Brian’s Pick: UCLA
Mike’s Pick: UCLA

Oregon State vs Idaho

To steal a line from the Rock, “Finally, Dennis Erickson has come back to Corvallis!” Ehh, doesn’t really work. Oh well, this is the game that all college football fans have all been waiting for, rivaling Steve Spurrier playing Florida and Chuck Amato or Mark Richt playing FSU. That didn’t work either. Hmmm. Guess this game doesn’t really matter. The Vandals are terrible and Beaver nation isn’t exactly thrilled with Mike Riley. So if OSU wins, no big deal. But if they lose, they’ll be calling for Riley’s head.

Brian’s Pick: Oregon State
Mike’s Pick: Oregon State

Washington State vs Stanford

Washington State at Stanford
Stanford: Nice new stadium, second year coach, same bad team. Really, things have looked awful for the Cardinal this year. Washington State struggled against Baylor last week, but should have enough offense to score on Stanford- okay, I can’t think of a team that doesn’t have enough offense to score on Stanford. Trent Edwards will put some points on the board for the Cardinal, but the defense will have to play significantly better than it has so far to win.

Brian’s Pick: Washington State
Mike’s Pick: Washington State

*Pac-10 Game of the Week*
Arizona State vs California

The Bears have seemingly recovered from an awful start against Tennessee. Of course, it’s easy to recover against teams like Minnesota and Portland State. Still, the Cal offense has performed like we expected them to at the beginning of the season. ASU will be a stiffer test, particularly for the defense. Rudy Carpenter has been extremely efficient so far. Last time Cal faced an efficient quarterback, they couldn’t tackle to save their lives. Still, in a game with two potent offenses, it’s the better defense that generally wins. Cal has experience and talent on the defensive side of the ball, much more so than ASU. A final statistic: Under coach Dirk Koetter, ASU is 0-10 on the road against California schools. Ouch.

Brian’s Pick: Cal
Mike’s Pick: Cal