Pac-2010: Oregon, Stanford, and Arizona All Look Like National Title Contenders

The third Saturday of the college football season did not start off to kindly for the Pac-10 conference. The Nebraska Cornhuskers, absolutely dismantled a Washington Huskies squad led by vastly overrated quarterback Jake Locker 56-21 in Seattle.

The horrible defeat was coming off the heels of California’s late Friday night loss to a sneaky good Nevada team out of the WAC. Jeff Tedford’s Golden Bears were outmatched and outplayed in the contest as they let up a total of 52 points to impressive looking duel threat quarterback Colin Kaepernick and the rest of the Wolpack.

But as they say - it’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish. And there’s no conference in the country that enjoyed this Saturday night quite as much as the Pac 10 did.

The conference’s most highly regarded team, the no. 5 ranked Oregon Ducks, blew apart an inferior Portland State bunch 69-0 behind the running of sophomore superstar LaMichael James, who just leapfrogged to the top of the Heisman favorite list with today’s performance. James’ 227 rushing yards helped raise Oregon’s offensive points per game average up to 63, which is impressive even if you consider the lower level of competition they’ve faced so far.

Right now the Ducks look to be in the conversation with the Cornhuskers, Ohio State, and Alabama for the top team in the country honor.

There’s no other offense that is as in sync as this Oregon unit right now. And we’ve come to realize that quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, who just lost his second game at Ole Miss to the lowly Vanderbilt Commodores, wasn’t nearly as big of a part of this team’s success as some had made him out to be (I'm looking at you ESPN).  

Sophomore quarterback Darron Thomas has looked supremely solid in his first three starts, completing 30 of his 55 passes for over 400 yards and 4 TDs.

The absolute star of the show has been James thus far. After sitting out the season opener because of a one game suspension, a game in which he watched backup Kenjon Barner score 5 TDs in the first half, there were many onlookers curious to see how the young running back would respond.

All James has done in his first two games of the season is rush for over 350 yards on just 30 carries. He’s also found the endzone three times.

The oppositions will undoubtedly get tougher for the Ducks as the season wears on, and there could be no bigger test then the one they face on October 2nd when they host the Stanford Cardinal.

Jim Harbaugh’s Stanford team has looked spectacular to start the 2010 season. The Cardinal, a team that for some silly reason came into the season unranked, have been lights out so far behind the sensational play of possible 2011 NFL Draft No. 1 pick, quarterback Andrew Luck.

Luck, who is just a redshirt sophomore and second year starter, has the tools and the poise to lead this talented Stanford squad into contention for a national championship.

Behind the leadership of Harbaugh and some of their experienced and talented upperclassmen, this Stanford team could be destined for greatness.

The third Pac-10 team that proved their worth tonight was the Arizona Wildcats who outphysicaled a strong Iowa Hawkeye team in a monumental win out in the desert.

The Wildcats showed that last year’s Holiday Bowl blowout loss to Nebraska was firmly in the past. And they also showed they were finally ready to take that next step under head coach Mike Stoops.

Arizona’s defense is ferocious and quarterback Nick Foles to receiver Juron Criner is starting to become one of the best big play pass combinations in the country.

The only question for this Arizona team is - can they sustain it?

Another surprising resume booster for the Pac-10 came in the form of an upset win for the UCLA Bruins as they took down a no. 23 ranked Houston team 31-13 at the Rose Bowl tonight. The Cougars were without Case Keenum’s services for the second half, but it really didn’t look like it would've made much of a difference judging by the way UCLA was playing.

The win could finally be the spark the Bruins need to get their season going.

Sure, the rest of the Pac-10 was less than stellar today.

The USC Trojans looked mediocre in a win over Minnesota. Oregon State barely escaped with a victory over a Louisville team that is considered one of the worst in the Big East. Arizona State had an extra point blocked that could have tied things up with Wisconsin late in the fourth quarter. And yes, Paul Wulff’s Washington Cougars don’t even belong in the FBS at this point.

But guess what?

Nobody cares about them. We only care about the big boys of the conference, and at the present time, the Pac-10‘s big three look like they could go toe to toe with anybody in the country.

The Pac-10, which for so many years was considered to be fourth or fifth in college football’s conference pecking order, just took a major step forward on this third Saturday of the season.

The conference only has one BCS National Championship (USC in 2004) to its credit compared to the six that the SEC currently owns, but it wouldn’t be surprising if 2010 turned out to be the year that the Pac-10 cuts into that deficit.

Every year the goal for the better Pac-10 teams is usually to get to the Rose Bowl at the end of the season, but this year, the conference’s elite teams could be thinking national championship.

I don’t want to come out and say definitively this early in the season that it’s going to be Nebraska versus either Oregon or Stanford in the national championship game, but the thought is certainly starting to creep into my mind.

At this point, I view the Pac-10 as a four tier league which looks as follows......

Elite Teams
-Oregon Ducks
-Stanford Cardinal
-Arizona Wildcats

Contenders
-USC Trojans
-CAL Golden Bears

Still Unproven
-Arizona State Sun Devils
-UCLA Bruins
-Oregon State Beavers
-Washington Huskies

Redefining Embarrassment
-Washington State Cougars