Pac-10 Week 4 Wrap Up

The 4^th week of the Pac-10 season was full of surprises. In the lone non-conference game of the week, ASU almost upset the Georgia Bulldogs. There were two top 25 teams within conference that were victims of upsets, USC got back on track, and Arizona may have found a quarterback.

The most anticipated conference game this week was the game between Oregon and Cal. The Oregon offense was struggling going into this game and everyone, myself included, expected this game to be another chance for Jahvid Best to pile on the stats and add to his case for the Heisman. However, the Ducks came out ready to play and the Bears began their annual mid-season meltdown a few weeks early. Cal came out flat and never gained any momentum. Oregon finally unleashed the offense that everyone had been expecting to see in Boise. The Ducks pounded the bears 42-3 and Jeremiah Masoli reminded everyone why the Ducks had so much hype in the preseason.

Arizona State @ Georgia: The Sun Devils played surprisingly well on the road this weekend. The defense played well as expected. It had been impressive all year and continued to impress and it limited Georgia to 20 points. The problem in this game was ASU’s inconsistency on offense. The Sun Devils struggled to move the ball and it may have cost them. ASU was also missing their Lou Grouza award winning kicker; this may not seem like a big deal, but a field goal attempt to take the lead was blocked towards the end of the game, and with Webber in there the results may have been different. The Sun Devils were impressive, but lost on a last second field goal 20-17. On the positive side, there are a lot of positives that the Devils can take away from the loss and use in next week’s game against struggling Oregon State.

Arizona @ Oregon State: Both teams went into this game looking for an identity. They each struggled through their first 3 games and were playing below expectations. Nick Foles was making his first career start for the Wildcats in a hostile environment, but he came through in a big way. Foles passed for 252 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Wildcats were without leading rusher Nic Grigsby, but didn’t miss a beat as they rolled to a 37-32 victory in front of the Beaver Faithful at Reser Stadium.

Washington State @ USC: There was never really any doubt as to who would win this game. The only reason people watched this game was to see how Matt Barkley would look in his return to football. Barkley looked fairly impressive, throwing for 247 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Trojans also rushed for 2 touchdowns and won 27-6.

Washington @ Stanford: After beating USC and climbing into the top 25 for the first time in 6 years, Washington did the one thing it could not afford to do. It had a letdown against Stanford. After playing so well at home a week ago, the Huskies let Stanford run all over them. Stanford ran back the opening kickoff for a touchdown and kept the momentum throughout. Running back Toby Gerhart ran for a career high 200 yards and Stanford ran for 322 as a team.

Overall Record After Week 4: 23-9