Pac-10 Week 9 Wrap Up

Week 9 was an exciting week in the Pac-10 as two of the four games were decided in the final minutes. We also saw an Oregon team tear apart USC and virtually crush all hopes that the Trojans had of winning the Pac-10 for the 8^th straight year.

Cal @ Arizona State: This game was surprisingly close. The Sun Devils shut down Jahvid Best as they held him to 63 total yards. The Devils knew that in order to have a chance to win, they would need to force Kevin Riley to beat them. Riley threw for 351 yards and two touchdowns and led the Bears to a last second victory. With 23 seconds remaining in the game, Giorgio Tavecchio kicked a 23 yard field goal to give the Bears as 23-21 victory over the Sun Devils. ASU continues to struggle on offense as Danny Sullivan threw another two interceptions in the loss. Next week the Sun Devils will host USC and the Bears will host the Beavers of Oregon State.

UCLA @ Oregon State: For a team that usually lacks quarterback play, the UCLA Bruins got a great game from Kevin Prince who threw for 323 yards and 2 touchdowns and rallied the Bruins from a 19-3 deficit tying the game at 19. Unfortunately the Bruins still lost and fell to 0-5 in conference play, matching its worst start ever. The Bruins lost because they were unable to contain Jacquizz Rodgers who had 112 rushing yards, 96 receiving yards, and a touchdown pass.

Washington State @ Notre Dame: Notre Dame has had close games for the past 6 weeks, but that all changed this week as they had buried the Cougars by halftime. The Irish were up 30-7 at halftime and cruised to an easy victory in San Antonio. They went on to win 40-14.

USC @ Oregon: Remember when Pete Carroll coached teams thrived on great defense and always found ways to win the big games? Well, that all changed on Saturday night in Oregon as the Ducks torched the Trojans’ Defense for 613 yards, the most ever given up in the Carroll era. Oregon won 47- 20 in a game that was close until halftime. The Ducks were up 7 at the half. The Ducks outscored the Trojans 23-3 in the second half. Oregon is now undefeated in conference play and is in the driver’s seat to win the conference and clinch a Rose Bowl Berth. Jeremiah Masoli was named national player of the week after throwing for over 200 yards and rushing for over 100. Oregon running back LaMichael James also rushed for 183 yards, a career high.