Five undefeated teams will face each other
Five teams remain undefeated in the Pac-10: Oregon, Stanford,
UCLA, Washington and Washington State. However, with
Washington at UCLA and Washington State at Stanford this weekend,
the conference should start to shape up.
The Pac-10 is also the only conference to have three teams
ranked in the Top 10, but that may change as well.
“This week there’s going to be a lot of going up and
down,” UCLA head coach Bob Toledo said. “With us and
Washington, somebody’s gonna get knocked out of the Top
10.”
Oregon is currently No. 5 on the AP, No. 6 on the USA Today/ESPN
poll. UCLA is No. 7 on both and Washington is No. 10 and No. 8
respectively. The other ranked Pac-10 team is Stanford, No. 23 and
No. 22 respectively.
Can anyone beat the Pac-10 teams?
The Pac-10 has a 19-4 (.826) non-conference record this season
including 4-1 against Top 25 teams.
National leaders include Stanford’s Luke Powell who is No.
1 in punt returns, averaging 25.5 yards.
Heisman hopes at OSU slipping away
Ken Simonton has been held to 64.0 yards a game, erasing all
Heisman talk. However, he needs only one more point to become the
leading non-kicker on the Pac-10 career scoring ladder. Oregon
State, defending Pac-10 co-champion, is struggling thus far going
0-2 in conference play and 1-3 overall.
Overlooked quarterbacks making impact
WSU’s Jason Gesser and ASU’s Jeff Krohn may not get
the same media attention as Joey Heisman, but they are leading the
Pac-10 in total offense and passing yards per game.
Krohn is averaging 289.0 yards passing and Gesser is averaging
261.2. WSU’s 5-0 start is their best since 1997 when they
made the Rose Bowl. Perhaps more importantly, the Cougars have
already won more games than they did all last year.
USC loses to Washington in final minutes of
game
Pete Carrol’s bad week got worse. After beginning by
calling his players not talented enough, the Trojans failed to
respond to his criticism and lost to Washington, making them 0-3 in
conference play. The game was tied up throughout until Washington
marched down the field in the final minutes, running down the clock
and winning 27-24 on a field goal with 5 seconds remaining. USC has
lost by a total of only 14 points in their four losses.
Players of the Week
Offense: QB ““ Joey Harrington, Oregon. Joey Heisman passed
for three touchdowns and rushed for three more in a 63-28 blowout
of Arizona’s once vaulted desert swarm.
Defense: LB ““ Ben Mahdavi, Washington. Mahdavi had a
game-high 15 tackles, including a quarterback sack (-7), and
recovered a fumble in the Huskie’s 27-24 victory over the
Trojans.
Special Teams: PK ““ John Anderson, Washington. Anderson, a
junior from Boynton Beach, Fla., connected on the game-winning
field goal from 32 yards out as time expired to give Washington the
27-24 victory against USC.
Notes compiled by Hannah Gordon, Daily Bruin Reporter.