BtD Collaborative Power Poll, Week 10

The really should have an * next to WSU that their points were given by default.

I was tempted to give OSU a first place vote since they have beaten USC but a loss to Stanford is worse then a loss to OSU….My eyes have just gone crosseyed.

1. USC
2. Arizona
3. Cal
4. Oregon State
5. Stanford
6. Oregon
7. Arizona State
8. UCLA
9. UW
10. WSU

I still think we are one of the best teams in the Pac 10, but our inability to spot the long pass is going to hurt us against pass happy teams such as, drumroll please, ARIZONA (#2) and CAL (#3)

We’d do ourselves a huge favor going into Pasadena this weekend and getting a somewhat decent road win

When it comes to the long passes, our defenders are defending against getting beat over the top and getting scored on in one play.

We can’t stop efficient, senior quarterbacks running a 2-minute offense. Other than that, we’re fine.

If Rudy Carpenter and Mark Sanchez and Brian Johnson can’t pick apart the Beavers and actually build a lead that their defense can sit on in the first 3 quarters, then I’d say the Beavers are doing pretty well against the pass overall.

The Washington game was an anomaly. The passes were deep, but they were poorly thrown. Huskies were 4 for 11 on those lollipops and couldn’t turn them into points. Of significant note, there was no run after the catch.

Arizona doesn’t bomb it anyway, they’re a dink and dunk possession team trying to make the game as short as possible for their defense…that’s why they’ve been so bad until Tuitama’s senior year—it sounds good on paper, but it’s pretty tricky for a college QB to really be able to make that work.

Cal is a savvy team, and they probably have a good run defense, but they haven’t really played anyone. We’ll know more about them this weekend.

VD, if what you’re saying is true then the ducks are going to be throttled in AZ in a couple weeks.

To be continued….

The key to the Beavers is to improve every week. In order for OSU to beat UCLA this week they need to improve everything. Their blocking, their passing, their running, their pass rush, their run defense, their pass d, their special teams (really crucial BTW) and even their coaching.

IMPROVE EVERY WEEK!

…but I had them ahead of UA. One less special teams muff and Cal would be on the wrong side of UO in the standings. So I couldn’t justify ranking any team different than their current standings. I still can’t figure out why UO has not learned from the sins of the past as it pertains to an offense that features a scrambling QB and then the next thing you know is they are auditioning for QBs from the student body. Roper is underwhelming, so maybe this plays into others ranking UA higher than UO.

Regarding the aspersions being cast on OSU’s defense of the long ball, I note as others have that the completed passes have been well thrown balls hitting guys in stride. (Except for those UW hail-marys.) It’s not like there have been a lot of wide-open guys on crossing routes with assignments being blown. As CV noted, no run after the catch. I’m not sure I agree with those who would say the blame lies in defenders not turning to look for the ball. In my experience, this is exactly what coaches tell you NOT to do. Your best move on such a well thrown ball is to rip it at the moment of catch. Not easy, but it’s hard to coach guys to look back for the ball in such a way that that particular move comes at exactly the right moment. Receivers have all kinds of ways of false telling the incoming ball, the idea being to get the defender to look back just before the cut. Makes plenty of DBs look stupid. The speed of receivers combined with precise passes at the college level means the crap some guys did in high school just doesn’t play in the bigs. I welcome the thoughts of others on this.

We learn something about Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, and Stanford this week, all teams that we have huge questions about.

Is Cal a legit team? Can Oregon State play well away from Reser? Is Stanford a fluke, or will UO finally beat a decent team?

This week, though, seemed pretty easy. I had OSU at second entering the weekend, and though they didn’t blow the Sun Devils out, it’s hard for me to downgrade them because of a close win. If anything, this team needed to win a close game to learn how to win in the face of adversity. Cal beat UO in a sloppy game, and I had already decided that the winner would rank 3rd and the loser would come in 5th.

Arizona played SC tough… I guess that is the hardest team for me to pinpoint. I would probably have them tied at third with Cal, but if I had to pick one, I’d go with Cal, for now. They didn’t lose at home to Northern Arizona.

1. So Cal
2. OSU
3. Oski’s Bears
4. ’Zona
5. Duckies
6. ’furd
7. Devils
8. Teddy bears
9. Puppies
10. Wazzu might be the worst team in the modern era of the Pac-10. With a good chunk of conference schedule remaining, they have already set the record for most points allowed in Pac-10 play. (for those who are curious, Cal held the record, setting it the year before Tedford was hired)

This week will definitely separate the pretenders and contenders. I have a feeling Cal’s quarterbacks will struggle against SC.