Pac-10: We've Got Excuses!

Ok, ok, so maybe this weekend didn’t turn out as good as Pac-10 fans would have hoped. But honestly, it wasn’t that bad. There are reasonable excuses for each loss, and it’s pretty awesome that the Pac-10 has a chance to maybe be as good as the Big East or at the very worst the Mountain West Conference.  Those are two behemoth power conferences with a history of domination over mid-major competition and we shouldn’t be ashamed of it.

First let’s talk about the UCLA and Washington losses.

There is really no reason to pay attention to the final score.

Often when a ranked team only beats an unranked team by a few points you’ll hear the coach say things like, “a win is a win” and “come January no one will remember the score”.

So why doesn’t that also apply to a loss? Sure UCLA and Washington were completely annihilated, but a loss is a loss right? It’s only one game. Who cares what the final score is!

Kudos to UCLA and Washington for not letting pride get in the way these losses. They obviously realized in the first quarter of each game that there was no hope in winning and therefore, why exert the effort? Get ready for next week. Final score be damned.

So yes, UCLA and Washington lost, but I’m not interested in the final score and you shouldn’t be either.

What about Washington State?

Well every conference has the ugly-step-child-I-won’t-pay-any-attention-to team. For the Pac-10 this team is Washington State. As far as I’m concerned they didn’t even play this weekend.  And since every conference has a team like this, (hello Big 12’s Baylor!) it all cancels each other out. I mean seriously, who did they even play this week???

And Stanford?

They played TCU this week and LaDainian Tomlinson is a beast. No one should have expected a win. I’ll bet money LT becomes a serviceable NFL back one day.

California?

Jet lag. You can’t expect college students to be awake for a 9 am game. Hell, I went through college only taking TWO classes that started before 10am. Yes, yes, yes, Cal should have beat Maryland, but seriously 9 am? You can’t blame them for losing. Saturdays are made for sleeping-in and Cal was merely keeping its priorities in order.   

As for ASU and ‘Zona?

So Arizona St. loss to UNLV team that only beat Utah St. by 10 points. Utah St. lost to Oregon 66-24. The only thing this goes to show is that Oregon is a really frickin’ good football team.

Arizona St was ranked 15th in the nation and since pollsters are never wrong this only proves how awesome the Ducks are. Arizona St. has a coach that wins everywhere he goes and one of the Pac-10s best QBs in Rudy Carpenter. Damn UNLV is good. What conference are they in? The SEC?

‘Zona…well I mean it could have been worse. They could have lost like 59-0 or something but they only lost 28 to 36. So it was a close one, and I’ll give them a moral victory since nothing was really expected of them this year.

Now what about the power of the conference?

It’s obvious the power of the Pac-10 resides in the state of Oregon…like usual.

The Beavers beat a team only a season removed from playing in the Sugar Bowl. I’ve been told that Hawaii has most of their talent back this season, so this is a big statement win for the Pac-10. Way to go Beavs!

Oregon beat a Big Ten power with their fifth-string QB. Yes I call Roper fifth string because most Oregon fans haven’t moved on from last season. We miss you Dennis.

But really fifth string—and it was like the Ducks weren’t even trying. Lulz. Oregon rocks.

Not all the power in the Pac-10 resides in Oregon though. Those plucky USC Trojans are still trying to make a name for themselves. They’re going to have to do more than beat a crap team like Ohio St. though. I think the jury is still out. I’m confident that by the end of the season USC will be pretty good.

So with Oregon, Oregon St., and USC carrying the banner for the Pac-10 conference we are in good hands.  We shouldn’t expect anything less than being considered maybe the fifth or sixth best conference in the country.