Arizona: beat Idaho 70-0. Hard to really say here if Arizona finally turned the corner or if this was just a beatdown of a bottom of the WAC team. Yes, 70 points is impressive, and yes holding them to 0 points is also impressive. But what I think was most impressive was no turnovers (which has been a problem for UA in the past) and forcing 5, as well as holding them to only 112 yards. The verdict is still out on this UA team- I still think this team is overrated and won't be good come Pac 10 time- but it was an impressive start to the year.

Arizona State: beat Northern Arizona 30-13. A good showing by a Sun Devil team that is picked, along with Oregon, as a potential dethroner of USC. Rudy Carpenter played well in the time that he saw, and it appeared that the offensive line might actually be improved from last year despite losing all those starters (hard to be worse after giving up as many sacks as they did last year). A couple things to watch for: ASU didn't force any turnovers against a FCS team, as well as got dominated in time of possession by nearly 10 minutes. They will get a chance to prove themselves in the next coming weeks with a game against an improved Stanford and a game against Georgia.

Cal: beat Michigan State 38-31. This game could have been a blowout. Cal vastly outplayed MSU, despite only winning by 7 and the game not being decided until the final minutes. But Nate Longshore came in with a chance to prove himself and threw 2 INTs, 1 in the Red Zone and 1 that was a pick 6. The Cal offense looked explosive, and I think Jahvid Best looks better then advertised. Can Riley keep up the production the entire year remains to be seen. But I thought that Cal would be greatly improved from last year and finish 2nd in the Pac 10, and they looked every bit of that on Saturday.

Oregon: beat Washington 44-10. What can I say about the most hated team in the Pac 10? Well, it was a tail of 2 halves. The first half, I was laughing because neither team looked very impressive, and Oregon looked like their were missing Dixon. Then the 2nd half happened. Oregon's offense looked every bit as advertised last year. The only positive thing for me that came out of the game was that Washington looked so awful that it's really hard to judge UO just yet. I can only hope that they follow their natural tradition of blowing it come November. Why does Mike Bellotti make his team eat Cheeri-Os out of the box? Because everytime they get close to a bowl they choke. Had to get that jab in.

Oregon State: lost to Stanford 36-28. Ugh. Shit. F**k. What the hell. Anyways, I don't want to get into this too much because it depresses me. A couple positives, our offense looked as powerful as ever. And our pass defense looked decent. A couple issues, no forced turnovers and too many big plays. I think this loss won't look as bad at the end of the year because I truly believe Stanford will be a bowl team. But it's time for OSU to start demanding respect, and an opening game loss to Stanford on ESPN is no way to do it. A win against Penn State would go a long way to redeeming ourselves.

Stanford: beat Oregon State 36-28. Ugh. Shit. F**k. What the hell. Anyways, I don't want to get into this too much because it depresses me. But Stanford did look improved, and Jim Harbaugh is building quite the resume in only the beginning of his 2nd year. Their rushing offense looked somewhat impressive, breaking open a couple big plays. But their passing offense didn't look very strong. They are going to need to improve in that area in order to keep up with the Pac 10 offenses.

UCLA: beat Tennessee 27-24. WOW. That's all I can say is, WOW. For a team that I predicted to finish only ahead of the Washington schools, they certainly impressed. I do think they were lucky to be in the game after throwing 4 INTs, but their defense looked as good as any in the conference. I still don't know how good this team is, but if they can beat BYU and Fresno State, that will be a great start for Rick Nieuheisel.

USC: beat Virginia 52-7. Now how good this team look? Despite playing a lower-tier ACC team, they looked as good as any team in Pete Carroll's era. They should run through Ohio State, and start conference play ready to roll through the remaining 9 teams. Will probably have the classic slip up against 1 or 2 teams, but I can't predict it. They have a favorable conference schedule with UO, ASU and Cal all at home. But this upcoming 4 game stretch (v. Ohio St, @Oregon St, v UO, v ASU) could prove to be a difficult road to travel.

Washington, Washington State: lost to Oregon 44-10, Oklahoma St 39-13. I decided I didn't want to write about both teams separately, because it looks as if both teams will be 0-8 in conference and the Apple Cup will decide last place. I don't see Washington winning any of their non-conference games (BYU, Oklahoma, Notre Dame) and I could see Washington State losing to both Baylor and even Portland State. Probably not PSU, but they looked awful versus a lower half Big XII South team.

Pac 10 Rankings through Week 1:

1. USC

2. UO

3. Cal

4. UCLA

5. ASU

6. Stanford

7. Arizona

8. Oregon State

9. Washington

10. Washington State

NOTE: These are just the rankings through 1 week of play, not where I predict the teams to finish.