Four Pac-10 games this weekend, all won by the road team. Interesting.
1. Oregon 15, California 13 -- Oregon's "PlayStation" offense was thoroughly dominated by an inspired Cal defense, but the Bears' offense and special teams was unable to convert on that success, as Oregon two scores came on a punt return and a very short field after a turnover. The Ducks used an excellent defensive performance of their own and a nine minute clock killing drive to move to 10-0 on the season.
2. Stanford 17, Arizona St. 13 -- Anyone who doubts Arizona State's defense need only look at their games against Oregon, Stanford, and Wisconsin this year. Unfortunately for them, they lost all those games despite stellar defensive performances. Andrew Luck engineered a great scoring drive in the fourth quarter to push themselves past the Sun Devils, who have now falled out of bowl contention.
3. USC 24, Arizona 21 -- A lot of us aren't big Lane Kiffin fans, but lets give him some credit--with aboslutely nothing except pride to play for, he still has his kids playing hard and winning games. SC is at its low point, and its still the third best team in the conference. Pretty remarkable. Arizona is a good team. But they've now lost two conference games at home, and there is simply no excuse for that if you wish to be elite.
4. Arizona
5. California
6. Arizona State
7. UCLA
8. Washington
9. Washington State 31, Oregon State 14 -- Washington State finally got that elusive Pac-10 win, and it was no fluke, as the Cougs dominated the Beavers on both sides of the ball. Washington State has improved by leaps and bounds this year. Paul Wulff has probably saved his job, and I would not be surprised to see the Cougars get another W in the Apple Cup.
10. Oregon State -- Ultimately, the 12Pac Review is a power poll, and in three of their last four, OSU has lost to UCLA, Washington, and Washington State so, even with three conference wins, its evident that Oregon State has clearly regressed and at this moment in time are the weakest team in the conference. With a final three against the top three teams in this poll, the Beavers will be staying in Corvallis for Christmas.
Notre Dame 28, Utah 3 -- Pretty clear at this point that Utah was a fraud built on schedule softer than Charmin.
Colorado 34, Iowa State 14 -- The moment the Buffs fire Dan Hawkins, they get a totally unexpected win. Coincidence? I think not. I still think that with the right coach (Mike Bellotti, anyone) that Colorado, like Washington, is a sleeping giant in the Pac-12.