Not a good weekend at all for the "Lack-10" (as Ted Miller so lovingly put it). Hard to argue with him. We went 3-7 this weekend, including 0-4 versus the MWC. USC did take it Ohio State, all but leaving the Buckeyes out of the National Championship this year (THANK GOD!) and as far as we are concerned, the Beavs D looked good again- say what you will about it being Hawai'i, but at least we didn't lose to UNLV or New Mexico.
Oregon State 45-7 Hawai'i
My Prediction: OSU 34-20
We did better than I thought, and that is due in large part to the fact that our D looked every bit the D that we have had the last couple of years. Things looked a little rough at the beginning, but we settled down, got into a groove, and took off. Lyle had a great game, throwing for 268 yards and 3 TDs, but more importantly, 0 interceptions. Taking care of the ball is what we need to do if we're going to win in this league. Jacquizz Rodgers continues to improve, rushing for 110 yards and 2 TDs. Ryan McCants finally got some more carries, rushing for 60 yards on 14 attempts. Hekker looked more comfortable, booting for an average of 41 yards. A point of concern: What the hell happened to Justin Kahut? In the spring game he kicked 2 FGs of over 50 yards. Saturday, he was knuckling the ball so bad that everyone knew it was a miss as soon as it left his foot. Hopefully this doesn't become a problem this year, because we are going to have close games where we need a clutch kicker.
Washington State 17-45 Baylor
My Prediction: Washington State 24-21
Well, I even said that I wanted to pick Baylor, but I was giving WSU the benefit of the doubt. However, this game was so far out of reach for WSU that it again confirms the Washington schools going defeated in the Pac 10 until they play each other. Baylor's QB only threw for 129 yards, but ran for 217 yards on only 11 carries. Their RB ran for 119 yards on 10 carries. Not a good sign for WSU's defense, especially when dealing with teams like UW and UO. Pac 10 teams are going to run it down their throats if they don't pick things up.
Cal 27-35 Maryland
My Prediction: Cal 45-10
Don't make fun of me. I don't think ANYBODY predicted this Cal team that put up 66 points and held WSU to 3 last week would have come out this flat against a team that only beat Delaware by 7 and lost to Middle Tennessee. I did say however, that they might not start out too hot being as it started at noon Eastern Time, and they wouldn't be used to playing at 9 AM. I was right, they only scored 6 points until the 4th quarter, when they blew up for 21. Too little, too late for the Bears. Nobody can blame Kevin Riley, who threw for 423 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT. If you want to lay blame, try the Cal RBs, who ran for only 61 yards on 16 carries. Look for Cal to bounce back. I still say this was a fluke. An embarassment, yes, but a fluke none the less.
Stanford 14-31 TCU
My Prediction: TCU 28-17
This one turned out pretty much like I had thought it might, making our loss to Stanford look even worse (especially with ASU, who dismantled Stanford, losing to UNLV). Stanford could only muster 193 yards of total offense, while giving up 378 (including 233 on the ground). The Cardinal had it close, tied 14-14 at halftime, but never really got anything going in the 2nd half. Stanford also didn't manage to force any turnovers, which should be a point of concern for Harbaugh. I thought this team would win at least 6 games this year, but it's not looking very good right now, especially if they can't put up more points.
Oregon 32-26 Purdue
My Prediction: Oregon 49-21
A lot closer then most pundits predicted (including Purdue Coach Joe Tiller), Purdue either surprised most with how good they were, or Oregon showed some weaknesses. Big news now that Roper is out 2-4 weeks, with games against Boise State and @USC on the slate during that time. A bright spot for UO continues to be their running game, with Lagarrette Blount and Jeremiah Johnson running for 228 yards and 2 TDs on 29 combined carries. That "amazing" UO defense has yet to impress me, but they did force 3 turnovers against the Boilers.
UCLA 0-59 BYU
My Prediction: BYU 29-13
One thing I said UCLA absolutely needed to keep BYU's offense off the field to have any chance of keeping it close. They didn't. At all. I think what was most intriguing is this defense was supposed to be the bread and butter for the Bruins, but they gave up more than 500 yards of total offense, including 337 yards passing and passing TDs, which doesn't bode well for them against the Pass-10 (yep, I just made that up, you like?). Kevin Craft had a decent game, throwing for 230 yards and only 1 interception, but no touchdowns.
Oklahoma 55-14 Washington
My Prediction: Oklahoma 56-17
A pretty close prediction, it took UW nearly 40 minutes to put their first points on the board, and by then it was all over folks. Their D gave up 591 yards of total offense, and 5 pass touchdowns. No bright spots at all for this Washington team, which has all but fired Ty Willingham. The most frustrating part would have to be that this team is playing with no heart whatsoever. As soon as they get down a touchdown or 2, they give up. Goodbye Ty, it's been a great 5 years for the rest of the Pac.
USC 35-3 Ohio State
My Prediction: USC 28-20
Nothing really too surprising here, except the lack of Ohio State fire power. I don't think Beanie Wells would have changed anything for tOSU, but they certainly looked dazed and confused. USC didn't put up gaudy numbers (348 total yards) but held the Buckeyes to 207 total yards. Anyone who watched the game saw how dominant USC was, and tOSU couldn't get anything going. I think that this keeps Ohio State out of the National Championship, and sets SC up on the right road to it. SC might now be able to suffer a loss and still get to the 'ship, assumming Ohio State runs the table the rest of the year.
Arizona 28-36 New Mexico
My Prediction: Arizona 42-7
I could not have been more wrong. Me, one of the biggest haters of UA, fell into the trap of believing that UA might in fact be improved. But that just wasn't the case, as we all saw. Arizona looked pretty sad against a middle of the MWC team. Tuitama passed for 320 yards and 3 TDs, but also tossed 2 INTs. UA only ran for 67 yards, while giving up 221 yards on the ground. I wonder if this is the beginning of the end for Stoops and Co.
Arizona State 20-23 UNLV
My Prediction: Arizona State 42-10
How does a MWC that went 1-11 last year beat the #15 team in the nation? UNLV took this game as a pay day, and came out on top in overtime. Not to mention the fact that UNLV scored with 20 seconds left to tie the game. Don't know what to make of this ASU team- they looked good the previous two games, and shitty this one. I still think they are going to be one of the teams to beat this year. We will certainly learn a lot more after this Saturday with #3 UGA coming to town.
So all in all, a rough weekend for the Pac-10. Unfortunately, there will be no recovering for the Pac 10 after this weekend, seeing as it was the last of the non-conference games for most teams. An ASU win over Georgia would go a long way, as would a Beaver win vs Utah in a couple weeks (more so that the Pac 10 doesn't get swept by the MWC). We shall see by the end of the year in the Pac bounces back.