Pac 12 Review: Stanford Hot in the Desert; USC Tops of the South and The PAthetiC 12

Well, the Pac 12 is not making a good showing of it so far this year. With OOC games against Nebraska, Illinois, and Texas, the Pac went 0-3. and only one game was within 2 touchdowns at the end. I have a hard time believing that any team in the Pac will be competing for a Natty invite this year, or deserves it. And some people want to get rid of the Rose Bowl tie-in, haha. On to the games.

North:

Stanford 37 at Arizona 10 - If anyone has a shot at going undefeated through the conference it's the Tree right now. With away games at WSU, USC and OSU left on their schedule, Stanford has one of the easiest schedules left and still the best player in the country. I'm not going to kick Arizona while their down right now, chances are they'd be offended that anyone can actually kick something right. Nick Foles and Juron Criner are still one of the most potent 1-2 combos in college football, but without a running game and no kicking game it's tough to win close games.

Oregon 56 vs Missouri St 7 - LaMichael got off the 100 yard game schneid with 204 yards on the ground, and De'Anthony continues to impress with over 150 all purpose yards. The worry for most Duck fans seems to come from the defensive side of the ball, specifically the defensive line. With zero sacks in 3 games, a definite decrease in turnovers, and no real pressure coming from the front 4, those worries seem grounded going into Pac 12 play. Oregon is playing it conservative right now, letting guys nurse early season injuries, but the temperature is going to increase this week as Oregon has to head to the desert to take on an Arizona team that has lost 7 of its last 8 with its only win coming over Northern Arizona.

Cal 63 vs Presbyterian 12 - There's probably some controversy with putting Cal third in the Pac 12 North right now, but undefeated, taking care of business and a road win against another Pac 12 team means they have to be ranked higher than other teams with a loss. This should all be settled by the end of next week as Cal has to travel to UW. I'm not 100% sold on Maynard for the Bears though. He's barely throwing over 50% completion percentage against weaker opponents with some serious talent to throw to. I don't think he'll be tested by UW's secondary, but if they plan on picking up a much needed road win in the Pac 12 North, he's going to have to improve and step up as the leader of this offense.

Nebraska 51 vs washington 38 - Well the grudge match in this 3 game series goes to the Corn Huskers. Nebraska was able to capitalize on 3 UW turnovers and about 3000 poor calls by the referees. Seriously, the B1G has some explaining to do with how this game was called. It wasn't just terrible, it was god awful. 2 interference penalties on kicks that were either phantom or actually not penalties to begin with as well as your usual smattering of holding, pass interference and non-calls that conspicuously went Nebraska's way. Either way, UW's defense continues to let them down giving up another 450+ yard game. The concern for the huskies has to be the health of Keith Price, who appeared to suffer a knee injury and was limping around for most of the 4^th quarter.

Washington State 24 at San Diego State 42 - If I told you that WSU had the lead with 10 mintues to go in the game and ended up losing by 3 scores, what would you call that? I'd call it Coug'n it too. Damn, WSU. I so wanted to believe that you'd turned a corner, but this being your first real test, and you wilt and give up the final 4 touchdowns of the game in a little over one quarter of play. It's not going to get any easier as the Cougs have to head to Colorado to take on a Buffs team that just dismantled their rival.

Oregon St 0 vs Bye Week 100 - That's right Oregon State, you even lost against the bye week. Apparently Mike Riley decided to make it public what everyone already knew, Ryan Katz is out as the starter. Don't know how you take away someone's starter role, when they haven't even really taken half the snaps this season. It's going to get worse before it gets better Beaver fans. Just saying.

South

USC 38 vs Syracuse 17 - It must be nice starting the first three games of the season at home. That'll change as USC plays 3 of the next 4 on the road including next week at ASU. Barkley had an impressive night as he went 26-39 for 324 yards and 5 Tds and no INTs. The USC defense still doesn't look like the defenses of old, but they were able to keep Syracuse under 100 yards rushing. Barkley and Woods might be just as deadly a connection as Foles-Criner or Luck-Anyone at this point too.

Utah 54 at BYU 10 - Seriously, who else would you put as the second best team in the South right now? Utah forced 7 turnovers in the Holy War as most of the game looked like someone had greased the football with pig fat and then handed it to BYU. Wynn and Utah's passing game still looks like it struggles to get momentum, but John White IV picked up 174 yards on the ground and 3 Tds on 22 carries.

Arizona St 14 at Illinois 17 - Oh ASU, you undisciplined, unfocused schizophrenic neanderthals. ASU is averaging 80 yards in penalties per game this year which is actually higher then their 70/yards per game average last year. Sure they might cause 3 turnovers, but they also gave 3 right back. Are they a passing team or a running team? They have one of the most athletic and experienced teams in the Pac, but couldn't scheme their way out of a Sudoku box. I'm so looking forward to seeing them play USC next week.

Arizona - I think their kicker just missed another one.

Colorado 28 vs Colorado St 14 - It's good to see these new Pac 12 teams beating up on their old rivals in OOC play. Once again, Colorado struggled in the first half to get anything going, but once they scored their first TD of the first half this season, they started rolling. Rodney Stewart is a hidden gem in the Pac 12 with over 200 all purpose yards and a threat to go the distance anytime he touches the ball. CU still needs to work on penalties (10 for 114 yards... yikes, ASU thinks that's a lot) but all in all, a good win for the Buffs.

UCLA 20 vs Texas 49 - I hacked Rick Neuheisel's computer and here is what I found. It will be nice for UCLA to get a road win against OSU next week with nobody watching only to come back and get thumped by Stanford the week after. Neuheisel is about to scuttle his third straight storied program. UW took years and 0-12 to recover from it. Colorado had to change conferences to remove the stink he left on that program. Ucla is going to need a serious penicillin shot after getting into bed with that trash.