Quick programming note: I'm taking off this Thursday with my wife to go to Italy for our 10th wedding anniversary. Therefore, Dave and Paul have decided to step up and produce the 12 Pac Review for you the next three weekends. Daisy is also going to be filling in for me in the Jersey Contest and she better not let me down. I'm going to try and watch the games online in Italy but a 5pm start here is 2am in Florence. Since I won't be here to talk trash to USC, UW or Cal, I've decided to get 3 weeks worth of trash talk put into one post. So here goes.
1. Oregon 60 vs UCLA 13 - Now that's how a #1 team is supposed to look on National TV. Dominant. That game reminded me a lot of the Cal 42-3 ass kicking from last year, only Ucla was good enough to punch in a meaningless score against our walk ons late in the game, unlike Cal. Oregon was clicking from beginning to end offensively. And defensively, Ucla could only manage two field goals with that 3 yards and a cloud of dust "squirt gun" offense (someone want to explain to me why that offense is so en vogue again). Oregon's going to most likely stay #1 in some polls with that performance. Next up? Kiffin's Tampon 2.
2. Stanford 38 vs Washington St 28 - WSU is turning into quite the pesky little team aren't they? I'm interested to see how they progress the rest of the season as it looks like the kids are finally buying into Wulff's system and are playing with a lot of heart. Luck didn't have his best day as he went 20/28 for only 190 yards (a 6.8 ave). Luckily the rushing game picked them up as Taylor rushed for 142 yards and 2 TDs.
3. Arizona 44 vs Washington 14 - Arizona back-up QB Matt Scott didn't have any problems carving up UW's defense as he went 18/22 for 233 yards and 2 TDs. Arizona didn't need him much though considering they gained 234 yards on the ground for a team that is 7th in the conference in rushing and only averages 121 yards. I love the fact that UW has gone to a lot of zone-read, pistol and even wildcat offense. I thought Sark was a genius at the pro-style system and could turn Locker into a Heisman candidate and top NFL draft pick, and then all those great high school recruits would be dying to come to UW and play for Sark. I'm guessing this game might have something to do with the change. Here I made a picture in art class this week for Jake to commerate that game:
4. USC - So we've given you two weeks to prepare. I hope you've used the time to a) find a new defense, b) find a new coach, and c) figure out who the best running back in the conference is. Let's see if we can help you out with this (I'll give you an hint, it's the guy that's only played in 5 games):
| Player | School | Games | Att | Yards | Ave | TD | Yards/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LaMichael James | Oregon | 5 | 114 | 848 | 7.44 | 9 | 169.6 |
| Johnathan Franklin | UCLA | 6 | 112 | 679 | 6.06 | 5 | 113.17 |
| Shane Vereen | California | 6 | 111 | 630 | 5.68 | 8 | 105 |
| Jacquizz Rodgers | Oregon St | 6 | 141 | 621 | 4.4 | 10 | 103.5 |
| Chris Polk | Washington | 6 | 109 | 571 | 5.24 | 3 | 95.17 |
| Stepfan Taylor | Stanford | 6 | 99 | 482 | 4.87 | 3 | 80.33 |
| Allen Bradford | USC | 7 | 73 | 560 | 7.67 | 4 | 80 |
| Player ? | Washington | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| James Rodgers | Oregon St | 4 | 8 | 38 | 3 | 0 | 9.5 |
Seriously USC, what's your marquee win on the year? Cal? You might want to remind your QB that talking trash didn't work out too well for him last year. By the way, if the weakness in your defense is on the edges or to the outside receivers, that's not going to bode well for you either. Oh well, we're happy to bring along our travelling road show to get you some needed pub for the week.
5. Oregon State
6. Cal 50 vs Arizona St 17 - Cal, you're the Dorthy of the Pac 10. There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home. Too bad the Wicked Defensive Witch of ATQ North still isn't impressed by Andy "Cowardly Lion" Ludwig's play-for-the-punt scheme or Kevin "Scarecrow" Riley's ability to stand still in the pocket as he gets sacked. I can see Tedford now, "pay no attention to that man calling plays, the Great Tedford has spoken!" You're going to need more than your ruby red high heels and Toto Vereen to avoid another 42-3 nightmare. But don't worry Cal, when you wake up on that Sunday you'll realize that it was all just a very bad dream.
7. Washington
8. UCLA
9. Arizona St
10. Washington St
Utah 59 vs Colorado St 6 - Utah, you're schedule is making Potato State blush. You can do a lot to change that perspective if you take care of business the next three weeks (@Air Force, TCU, and @Notre Dame).
Colorado 24 vs Texas Tech 27 - TTU might have won the battle, but Colorado won the war. That's right Tech, you still have to play in the Big 12 next year and continue to kiss up to Texas to make sure your paychecks don't bounce, while CU gets to join the shiny new Pac 12 and play in LA every year. Colorado should just lose every game on purpose the rest of the year as their going away present to the Big 12, then again they just might anyway.