Monday, September 28, 1998
Contenders in Pac-10 race gear up for season
PREVIEW: Talent-deprived teams such as Cougars, Golden Bears
must beef up to win against UCLA
By Vytas Mazeika
Daily Bruin Staff
For those of you who have no idea about what’s going on in the
Pacific 10 Conference, here is your guide to the 1998 football
season. Now, from top to bottom, here are the teams:
UCLA Bruins
* Outlook: An inexperienced defense is all that stands in the
way of a national championship. With senior quarterback Cade McNown
leading a shoot and run offense with too many weapons to corral,
UCLA is guaranteed to put a lot of points on the board every
Saturday.
* Key game: Washington (Nov. 14). This game will likely decide
if the Bruins will stay undefeated until at least early January in
the Fiesta Bowl.
* Key player: McNown (senior quarterback). Any time this Heisman
candidate is off his game, UCLA head coach Bob Toledo will keep his
fingers crossed in hope of a victory.
Washington Huskies
* Outlook: A come-from-behind victory against pre-season
favorite Arizona State has placed Washington in contention for the
Pac-10 title. The problem is how the Husky defense lacks a
secondary while the offense depends far too much on the arm of
junior Brock Huard (who lost his two receivers, tailback and tight
end).
* Key game: Arizona State (Sept. 5). The Huskies already won
this game 42-38 behind last-second heroics from Huard. The victory
makes the Bruins and the Huskies the two favorites for the Pac-10
crown.
* Key player: Huard (junior quarterback). His talent is
undeniable, and the comparisons to McNown will come as often as the
parallels between Ryan Leaf and Peyton Manning. If Huard decides to
come back for his senior year, the Huskies should run away with the
Pac-10 in 1999.
Oregon Ducks
* Outlook: The huge surprise is how good the offense has looked
early on, especially considering the loss of a 1,000-yard rusher in
Saladin McCullough and split end Pat Johnson. After two weeks, the
team ranked No. 7 nationally in total offense at 533.5 yards per
game. If the offense keeps overachieving, then the Ducks could turn
this season into a Disney movie.
* Key game: Against UCLA (Oct. 17). Likely to be 5-0 when they
step into the Rose Bowl, the Ducks will begin a five-week run in
which they will face UCLA, USC, Arizona, Washington and ASU. It
would be an understatement to say that this stretch will make or
break Oregon.
* Key player: Peter Sirmon (junior inside linebacker). There is
still concern about a defense that was burned for 440.5 yards per
game last season. If Sirmon can fill the middle, the sky is the
limit for the Ducks in 1998.
Arizona Wildcats
* Outlook: The desert swarm is gone, but the Wildcats don’t seem
worried. Instead, they seem intent on swarming opposing defenses
with an air attack that shuffles quarterbacks Ortege Jenkins and
Keith Smith. Arizona is a solid team that always finds a way to
stay near the top in the Pac-10 standings.
* Key game: At Washington (Oct. 3) and UCLA (Oct. 10). In
back-to-back weeks the Wildcats will take on the class of the
Pac-10. If Arizona somehow comes away with two wins, the conference
is theirs for the taking.
* Key player: Trung Canidate (junior runningback). Canidate, who
averaged 100.5 yards per game last season, returned to the offense
from a stress fracture for the second game, and he solidifies
another Pac-10 high octane offense.
Arizona State Sun Devils
* Outlook: How the mighty have fallen. ASU was the popular pick
to challenge UCLA for the Pac-10 crown before the season started,
but after back-to-back losses to start the season, not a single
soul is behind the Sun Devils now. ASU even fell from the top 25 in
both polls after starting near the top 10. If the Sun Devils don’t
turn it around soon, all that talent will go to waste in a
bowl-less season.
* Key game: Washington (Sept. 5). The 42-38 loss to the Huskies
killed what looked to be a promising season. Since ASU won’t play
UCLA for the second-straight year and thus won’t control their own
fate, all that ASU has left to play for is pride.
* Key player: J.R. Redmond (junior runningback). Consistency is
needed from the backfield if sophomore quarterback Ryan Kealy is to
perform up to expectations. A 26-6 loss early on to BYU does not
bode well for the Sun Devils or Redmond.
USC Trojans
* Outlook: Paul Hackett, the only new head coach in the Pac-10,
comes to Southern Cal with a mission to change the program’s woes
around in a hurry. He has a lot of talent returning offensively and
defensively but figures to struggle until the offense understands
the new schemes. Look for the Trojans to start out slow and finish
strong against rivals UCLA and Notre Dame.
* Key game: Florida State (Sept. 26) and UCLA (Nov. 21). The
first game will determine if the Trojans are pretenders while the
second game will determine if the Bruins can make it eight in
row.
* Key player: R.Jay Soward (junior wide receiver). After serving
a one game suspension for academic purposes, Soward scored three
touch downs in his first game (two through the air and one on a
punt return). USC must settle on a quarterback soon to make sure
there is some chemistry in the offense.
Oregon State Beavers
* Outlook: After going 0-8 in the Pac-10 last year, OSU is due.
The team returns 18 out of 22 starters, and look at what experience
did for the Huskies last year. The experience on defense should be
the reason the Beavers will make a run at a bowl game instead of
the cellar in 1998.
* Key game: Oregon (Nov. 21). With a few conference upsets, the
Beavers may end up close to six wins and garner a bowl selection
with a victory over their hated rivals.
* Key player: Tim Alexander (senior wide receiver). It’s about
time the Beavers gave up on Alexander as a quarterback and
permanently placed him at the wide-out position. This should
stabilize the offense and give OSU capable and consistent offensive
production.
Stanford Cardinal
* Outlook: Once Chad Hutchinson decided to be a pitcher with the
Mark McGwire Cardinals instead of a quarterback with the Tyrone
Willingham Cardinal, the towel was thrown in. Expectations are
rather low for a team that returns only three defensive starters in
the offensively oriented Pac-10.
* Key game: Oregon State (Oct. 10). A loss to bottom-dwelling
OSU would not only eliminate any bowl hopes, it could even send the
Cardinal to the cellar in the Pac-10 standings.
* Key player: Troy Walters (senior wide receiver). Points will
be tough to come by for the Cardinal and virtually impossible if
Walters does not have a productive season.
Washington St. Cougars
* Outlook: The Cougars quickly jumped into the national
spotlight by stopping UCLA’s Jermaine Lewis on fourth down for a
dramatic victory to begin last season. WSU rode Ryan Leaf’s arm to
the Rose Bowl for the first time in 67 years, but with Leaf gone to
the Chargers and only two starters returning on offense, the
Cougars join the two Bay Area schools as the most inept
offensively.
* Key game: At UCLA (Oct. 3) and Washington (Nov. 21). The
Cougars have little chance for success this season, but strange
things do happen all the time. That’s the exact reason why you can
count on the returning Pac-10 champions to play the role of spoiler
in 1998.
* Key player: anyone who came back. Senior cornerback Dee
Moronkola may be the only player of keeping scoring low when he
matches up against the top wide receivers in the conference for the
entire season. Not even 1998 Heisman trophy winner Charles Woodson
(also a CB) would want to be stuck with such a task.
California Golden Bears
* Outlook: One win for the Bears in the Pac-10 would be shooting
for the high end of the spectrum. The offense seems doomed to be
anemic (Cal scored only 17 points in its first two games) while the
defense will spend far too much time on the field to be effective
in the fourth quarter. Blame Cal’s woes on poor recruiting the past
several years, as the Bears are one of the most experienced teams
in the Pac-10 with 16 returning starters, but won’t stay close
against younger and more talented teams.
* Key game: Stanford (Nov. 21). The season’s final game for both
teams could very well decide which one will end up being known as
the worst Pac-10 team of 1998.
* Key player: Justin Vedder (senior quarterback); Cal coach Tom
Holmoe hopes that Vedder can put at least some points on the board.
With the departure of wide receiver Bobby Shaw and his 1,000 yards,
chances are low that Vedder will be capable of doing much.
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