Week One Recap

Well, Wazzou didn't pull the upset, and the Pac-10 teams hold their united heads in shame after losing two of three to the SEC. The good news is we swept the Mountain West and won the rest of our games, so at least we don't look as bad as Colorado and the Big 12. Cal was utterly disappointing in their visit to Tennessee, but at least USC dominated Arkansas to save some conference face.

So what did we learn this weekend?

-The Huskies won. However, I think Willingham has to be on the hot seat after escaping, at home, with a six point win over lowly SJSU. I'm not alone in my disappointment, as U-Dub Dish points to some unhappy fans. It was also the smallest crowd at a UW home game since 1981.

-David Irons is really good. He held All-American Jason Hill to a mere four catches for 18 yards. The good news for WSU is that DeMaundray Woolridge looks like he has a little Jerome Harrison in him.

-Oregon clearly became the primary challenger to USC for the Rose Bowl seat. Jonathan Stewart is much man, and he showed it against a hapless Stanford defense. Cause for concern: 120 penalty yards.

-Sean Canfield looked better than Matt Moore, though every Beaver looked pretty good against Eastern Washington. We'll learn more next week against Boise State.

-Stanford has a pretty good quarterback in Trent Edwards. They do not however, have a good defense.

-Cal is probably not a national title contender. They can still salvage the season though, but they have managed to discredit the whole Pac-10. And as bad as Cal's loss was, I still don't think it was as bad as UW's win over San Jose State.

-USC is still the class of the conference. A dominant win over a vengeful SEC team on the road. Booty looks like the real deal, and so do the 17 freshman running backs on USC's roster. Also, USC may actually have a defense this year, though the Josh Pinkard injury is not good.

-UCLA won't suffer much of a falloff this year. Ben Olson filled Drew's shoes admirably and Logan Paulsen did the same for Marcedes Lewis' footwear. Kahlil Bell however, is no Maurice Drew.

-ASU needed a scare before finally showing up against Northern Arizona. The only thing you can really see from a 1-AA opponent is that the Sun Devil secondary looks pretty vulnerable after letting Jason Murietta and Alex Watson connect 11 times for 206 yards and a pair of scores.

-Arizona did not play that well. Luckily for them, BYU didn't play very well either. Arizona was actually outgained by BYU despite holding them to 24 rushing yards. Willie Tuitama will have to actually complete some passes if the Wildcats are going to keep it close against LSU.

This is how I would rank the Pac-10 teams in terms of last week's performance:

1.	USC
2.	Oregon
3.	UCLA
4.	Oregon State
5.	Arizona State
6.	Arizona
7.	Washington State
8.	Stanford
9.	Cal
10.	Washington

In other news:

-Trojan Football News has an article from the LA Times concerning the emergence of one John David Booty.

-Bruins Nation was very excited to see "Southpaw Jesus" succeed versus Utah.

-Bruce Feldman writes about his foolishness in jumping on the Cal bandwagon.

-ASU WR Jamaal Lewis was suspended from the NAU game because he was charged with criminal speeding after getting caught going 115 mph after a visit to a Scottsdale nightclub.

-Both Chase Lyman and Mike Hass were cut from the Saints roster, as they moved down to the 53 man threshold. Building the Dam points out that Hass already signed with da Bears.

-Not football related, but the "Crocodile Hunter," Steve Irwin, was killed by a stingray off the coast of Australia.