The Sun Devils showed no signs of weakness in the second half after they trailed at halftime against Washington, Cal fell to the Beavers, the Trojans still look beatable, and the Ducks tromped the worst team in the Pac-10.
So basically, the conference title is still up for grabs.
Arizona State looks the be the favorite right now, but look who they've played. They've played the Beavers, Washington, Washington State, and Stanford. That leaves them with Cal, Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Arizona to round out their season. I can't imagine Dennis Erickson getting his team through that stretch unscathed, but it's possible. Their matchup with the Ducks in a few weeks at Autzen will probably be the toughest test.
UCLA also remains unbeaten in conference play. But they've yet to play the tough part of their schedule, just like Arizona State. They've played the Beavers, Stanford, and Washington. So, they too have Oregon, Cal, USC, Arizona, Arizona State, and Wazzu. I can't possibly imagine them going undefeated for those games, especially with some injuries to Ben Olsen.
USC beat Arizona, barely. To me, they look as vulnerable as ever to other teams in the Pac-10. They have what will likely be a tune up at Notre Dame this week, but they have the Ducks at Autzen in two. After that, they still have Cal and Arizona State. Mark Sanchez looked good against Arizona, but the Trojans are going to have to beat opponents like the Wildcats more handily than they have been in the past if the want a chance against the top teams in the conference. *breath*
The Ducks stomped the Cougars in Eugene, and next week shouldn't be any harder when they travel to Seattle. I like Jake Locker, but the Ducks will be too much for the Huskies. Oregon's win over Wazzu was costly though. Cameron Colvin is done for the season, and Jeremiah Johnson could be done as well. With Paysiger already out, the loss of Colvin really hurts their receiving corps. We'll keep an eye on the situation as we get closer to the Civil War.
The Beavers are a big question mark right now. They looked good against the Bears, but what happened against UCLA? and Arizona State? Is Sean Canfield finally maturing into a reliable quarterback? We'll continue to poke at that question throughout the be week.
And then there's Stanford, Arizona, Washington, and Washington State. Stanford's season is being held together with the win over SC, Arizona has looked good even though they've only beaten Wazzu in conference, and then there's the teams yet to win a Pac-10 game: Washington and Washington State.
The new polls have just been released... more on that later.
GO BEAVERS!
--JB--