Pac-10 Power Rankings, Week 4

by Jake on Sep 22, 2008 7:29 AM PDT in Football

USC (0-0. 2-0): The Trojans remain the top dog in the nation, and there's no reason not to put them atop our list.. Last week: Idle. This week: at Oregon State, Thursday, 6:00.
California (1-0, 2-1): The Bears move up by default after Oregon, Arizona State, and UCLA all lost games on Saturday. Last week: Idle. This week:vs. Colorado State.
Oregon State (0-1, 1-2): The Beavers have two rather ugly losses and one okay win, but they seem in a better position than the teams below at this point. They'll need to compete with USC to maintain a high spot in our rankings. Last week: Idle. This week: vs. USC.
Oregon (1-0, 3-1): The Ducks have two blowout wins over Washington and Utah State and a nail-biter win at Purdue. Their lack of trusty quarterbacks prevents them from moving higher in the poll. Can the running game carry the Ducks this season? We'll see what they can do against conference doormat Washington State. Last week: vs. Boise State (L, 37-32) This week: at Washington State.
Arizona (1-0, 3-1): They may not have played the toughest schedule to date, but they have more wins than eight teams in the conference. That's what matters, right? They looked impressive in a win over the mysterious UCLA Bruins, and have a bye week to thing about Jake Locker and the Huskies. Last week: at UCLA (W, 31-10) This week: Idle. Next Opponent: Washington, October 4.
Arizona State (1-0, 2-2): The Sun Devils took a beating against Georgia, and also took a beating in the BtD poll, falling to #5. Losing to Georgia is not a bad thing, but when you compound that loss with a loss to UNLV, it's hard to rank the Devils very high. Last week: vs. Georgia (L, 27-10) This week: Idle. Next Opponent: (at) California, October 4.
UCLA (0-1, 1-2): What's up with these guys? First, they shock the country with a win over (then No. 18) Tennessee. Then, they lay an egg against (then No. 18) BYU. Next, they lose their Pac-10 opener, in the Rose Bowl, to Arizona. Last week: vs. Arizona (L, 31-10) This week: vs. Fresno State.
Stanford (1-1, 2-2): Stanford didn't impress against San Jose State, but they got the job done. Last week: vs. San Jose State (W, 23-10) Next Week: at Washington.
Washington (0-1, 0-3): Washington has played three top 25 teams, but they were a few plays away from winning at least one game. This week's game against Stanford should be a good test of how good the Huskies really are. Last week: Idle. This week: vs. Stanford.
Washington State (0-1, 0-3): If there's two things that are certain, it's that USC is #1, and WSU is #10. Sorry guys. Last week: vs. Portland State (W, 48-9) This week: vs. Oregon.

Your input is encouraged.

0 recs | Comment 14 comments

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Comments

Homer Alert!

I really don’t think that there is any way to justify OSU at #3. I guess that the definition of power poll is fluid, but many times a power poll is like asking, who would win between these teams on a neutral field? And based on that, OSU can’t be any better than 5th right now. They have done nothing. They have lost to a bad Stanford team, gotten destroyed, and beat a horrible Hawaii team.

Even if you’re ranking based on how you think the teams will end up, OSU is most likely going to start out 1-4, and will have tough time with Arizona on the road. Even with the favorable home schedule, it will be a big challenge to end up with 5 conference wins this year. That loss to Stanford does the opposite of setting up the Beavers for the rest of the year.

--www.AddictedToQuack.com, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog

by jtlight on Sep 22, 2008 8:25 AM PDT 0 recs

can't really disagree

i don’t think OSU is the third best team in the PAC 10. It really should be USC #1 and everyone else #2 because no one has proved they are second best or worse. besides WSU

Woof

by Charles Barkley McLovin on Sep 22, 2008 12:25 PM PDT up 0 recs

Is there any way to NOT justify OSU at #3?

I know of one team that we could beat for sure, if we just called a few play action passes.

by CV3000 on Sep 22, 2008 5:17 PM PDT up 0 recs

Even though ("homer alert!")...

I think the Duck fan above should beware of making predictions for our team and would be more worried about the direction their team seems to be going :), I will have agree putting OSU above UO, UA, and ASU is incorrect at this time (yes that agreeing did hurt me more than I can express).

I would actually put those three teams tied with Cal right now and put OSU, UCLA, and Stanford tied for the next level (3rd) and UW and WSU tied for last place. So much more in agreement with CB McLovin’s analysis. The current standings would look like this:

1. USC
T2. Cal, UO, UA, ASU
T3. OSU, UCLA, Stanford
Last. UW and WSU

Oh, and very much subject to change!

-RVM

by rvm on Sep 22, 2008 1:18 PM PDT 0 recs