The Weekly Rehash

Hey Fox Sports, can you please put all Pac-10 games on FSN West instead of putting some on Prime Ticket? Those of us in San Diego looking to watch the USC-UW game on Saturday were instead treated to a replay of USD volleyball. Thanks for that Fox, all San Diegans are very appreciative. At least the Big 12 Coaches Corner didn’t get bumped too. UCLA fans missed a game earlier this season because of the same problem. So congratulations FSN, you’re lowering your own ratings and now, you’re on notice!

So what else happened this weekend? We learned this weekend that USC is probably not the best team in the Pac-10 this season…at least not yet, Cal put up more offensive fireworks and Oregon showed us that they don’t have a Rose Bowl caliber defense this season.

USC 26, UW 20
Speaking of USC, Husky fan has to be disappointed after that outcome. They kept it close all game, in Los Angeles, and should have gotten at least one more play, but the officials didn’t do their job so well. But that shouldn’t even have been an issue, since the USC play calling was so stupid at the end of their last drive. After running the ball seven times in a row with Moody and Washington, all the way down to the Husky nine yard line, USC called a pass. Keep in mind we’re at two minutes to play, USC is up by only three, and UW has two timeouts left. If the pass is incomplete, that’s a free timeout for the Huskies. Luckily for the Trojans, it’s complete to the four yard line and UW has to use one of their timeouts. Fine, that one worked, but you can’t seriously call a pass again with less than two minutes to play, can you? Oh wait, you just did. And guess what? This one is incomplete. That’s a free timeout for UW. Seriously Pete, what part of clock management do you not understand? Do you need to hire a clock watcher ala Herm Edwards? You ran the ball down their throats for the past seven plays and they couldn’t stop it. Why pass now? You gave the Huskies an extra 25 seconds to beat you. And everyone held their collective breath as Stanback rallied UW all the way down to the USC 15 before time ran out. Pete, you could have saved everyone a bunch of time and the refs some controversy if you had just run the ball one more time. Anyways, the score really indicated just how close this game was. For UW, it’s a sign they are on the way back up. For USC, it’s a sign that they still need to get better before the Oregon-Cal-Notre Dame-UCLA stretch to end the season. Oh yeah, it’s also a sign that you get skipped over for the #2 spot in the AP Poll.

Cal 45, Oregon 24
It’s official: Cal is back. They have scored at least 40 points in all five games since losing at Tennessee and beaten their opponents in each game by at least 21 points. Quite simply, it is the best offense in college football right now. They crossed Oregon off their Pac-10 hit list and have to be licking their chops over the USC game in November. They also beat Oregon in another department this week: ugly yellow jerseys. Holy crap, what were those? At least the Ducks have ties with Nike and were trying to do something different. I don’t know what Cal’s excuse for those monstrosities was or ever will be. But let us pray that they never make it back on a football field again. The Pac-10 didn’t need yellow the first time and they don’t need more of it now! Back to the guys wearing those jerseys, Nate Longshore didn’t have a huge day yardage-wise, but he threw three more touchdown passes, Justin Forsett filled in admirably for an injured Marshawn Lynch and DeSean Jackson returned another punt for a touchdown. The Bears are firing on all cylinders on offense, defense and special teams, dominating anyone who steps in front of them. Oregon’s offense wasn’t horrible (24 points and 350 yards), but they committed four turnovers and only averaged 2.4 yards per carry. That is not going to get it done in big time college football. Dennis Dixon had his worst game of the season and the Ducks gave up two sacks, double their season total going into the game. Oregon has to be disappointed with the way they played, but should at worst lose only one more game (at USC) this season. So Duck fan should get hungry for that game at the Coliseum, it is now Oregon’s chance for redemption this season.

UCLA 27, Arizona 7
Both UCLA and Arizona were hoping to see their quarterbacks emerge in this game. What they didn’t expect that it would be their backup QBs. Ben Olson and Willie Tuitama both got hurt in the first half, and Patrick Cowan led UCLA to victory. Adam Austin didn’t play badly for Arizona, but the Wildcats only managed to rush for -11 yards. That’s not a typo. Chris Jennings led the team with 1.5 yards per carry. Yikes. UCLA wasn’t much better, with only 67 rushing yards, but at least they moved forward when they ran the ball. For those of you that haven’t noticed yet, only LSU allows fewer yards per game than UCLA. So even while their offense is still struggling to find an identity, the defense is showing up to play every week. It really gets tested in the next two weeks though, as the Bruins have to visit both Oregon and Notre Dame.

WSU 13, OSU 6
Boy, it hurts just to look at the box score for the OSU-WSU game. Six turnovers, 19 points and 42,000 fans filled with boredom. For some reason, Mike Riley seems to think it’s a good idea for Matt Moore to keep throwing interceptions and for Yvenson Bernard to not carry the Beavers. Seriously, how can this guy only rush 17 times against Cal and WSU? And start Sean Canfield already. How badly does Matt Moore need to play for this to happen? I feel like he could kill someone (aside from the Beaver offense) and still start for OSU on Saturdays. Jason Hill had a big game for the Cougars and he’s now had a TD catch in the last four games. Is Alex Brink finally remembering that Hill is pretty good? That coupled with the Cougar pass rush (WSU now leads the NCAA in sacks) could mean an upset against either Cal or Oregon, both of whom come to Pullman in the next two weeks.

Notre Dame 31, Stanford 10
Well it looks like I was wrong about Stanford. They covered the spread against Notre Dame and “only” lost by 21. It was still an ugly game for the Cardinal though, as they went a lowly 1 for 8 on third down and were outgained by 200 yards. Darius Walker had another great game on the ground against Stanford. After getting a season high 186 rushing yards against them last season, Walker set a season high for this season with 153 yards. You can almost guarantee your running back will have his best game of the season against Stanford (unless you’re UCLA). This loss coupled with Utah State’s victory last weekend means Stanford is likely to climb even higher on ESPN’s Bottom 10 this week. Thanks for representing the Pac-10 so well! And get excited for next Saturday, as lowly Arizona comes to Palo Alto. Sadly, one team will actually have to win this game. Whoever watches the game though, will lose.