Pac-10 Football Weekly

Keeping you up to date with just about everything going on in Pac-10 Football, from the week that was to this week’s upcoming games.

2008 Pac-10 Conference Standings (as of November 12, 2008)

	School	W	L	W	L	Current Bowl*	Projected Bowl**
1	USC	6	1	8	1	Rose Bowl	Rose v. Penn St.
2	Oregon St.	5	1	6	3	Holiday Bowl	Holiday v. Oklahoma St.
3	Oregon	5	2	7	3	Sun Bowl	Las Vegas v. BYU
4	Arizona	4	2	6	3	Las Vegas Bowl	Emerald v. Georgia Tech
	California	4	2	6	3	Emerald Bowl	Sun Bowl v. Nebraska
6	Stanford	4	3	5	5	Hawaii Bowl
7	Arizona St.	2	4	3	6	Poinsettia Bowl
	UCLA	2	4	3	6
9	Washington	0	6	0	9
10	Washington St.	0	7	1	9

* - If season ended today

** - per CBS Sportsline

Players of the Week

Offense

Jacquizz Rodgers, TB, Oregon St. (third time)

31 carries for 144 yards, two TDs in 34-6 win @ UCLA

Defense

Taylor Mays, FS, USC

Five tackles, four pass breakups in 17-3 win v. Cal

Special Teams

Thomas Weber, PK/P, ASU

3-3 FGs, 4-4 PATs, 41.2 punt avg. in 39-19 win @ Washington

Notable Statistical Leaders (bold stats indicate conference leader)

RUSHING

Jacquizz Rodgers, Oregon St.

1,089 yards on 228 carries (4.8 avg), 121.0/game (10th in nation), 10 TDs

How long can the young freshman continue to carry this load?  Is there a wall in his future?  His 228 carries are just nine fewer than Oregon’s Jeremiah Johnson and LeGarrette Blount, who have combined for 237 carries.

Nic Grigsby, Arizona

885 yards on 149 carries (5.9 avg), 98.3/game, 11 TDs

Appeared to have lost his job when his backup, Keola Antolin, busted off 149 yards in 42-27 win v. Cal back in October.  Had huge game with 189 yards on 27 carries in last week’s 59-28 win v. Washington State.

LeGarrette Blount, Oregon

741 yards on 104 carries (7.1 avg), 74.1/game, 14 TDs

Leads the conference in scoring despite being Jeremiah Johnson’s backup and having fewer than 10 carries in each of the last 5 games.  His 7.1 yards per carry is second only to USC’s Joe McKnight.

Oregon Offense

2,743 yards on 464 carries (5.9 avg), 274.3/game (Fifth in Nation), 35 TDs

The combination of Johnson, Blount and QB Jeremiah Masoli often seems only able to be stopped by themselves (or rain).

USC Defense

700 yards on 298 carries (2.3 avg), 77.8/game (Third in Nation), five TDs

Still scratching my head trying to figure out how OSU’s Rodgers put up 186 big ones on this defense.

PASSING

Mark Sanchez, USC

2,122 yards on 162-250 (235.8/gm), with 24 TDs, seven INTs for 162.2 rating (12th in Nation)

Quietly putting together a solid season.  Leading Pac-10 QBs in just about every meaningful statistic.  Could be conference Offensive Player of the Year and also a 2009 Heisman favorite.

Mike Thomas, Arizona

664 yards on 52 receptions, 73.8/game, four TDs

The senior WR leads the conference in most receiving stats, including a season-best 175 yards @ Stanford back in October.

USC Defense

1,158 yards on 141-267, 128.7/gm (First in Nation)

You can’t run on them.  You can’t pass on them.  Special Teams? No. 1 in Kickoff Coverage, too.

OTHER STATS

• Scoring Defense: USC leads the Nation with 6.7 pts/gm. Arizona is No. 24 with 19.1/gm
• Scoring Offense: Tulsa leads the Nation with 52 pts/gm, Arizona is No. 10 with 39.11/gm, and Oregon is No. 12 with 38.3/gm
• Total Defense: USC leads the Nation with 206.44 yds/gm. Arizona is No. 13 with 285.44/gm
• Total Offense: Tulsa leads the Nation with 593 yds/gm, USC is No. 12 with 454.67/gm, and Oregon is No. 13 with 454/gm
• Sacks: Oregon DE Nick Reed is attempting to lead the conference in sacks for the second year in a row.  He led in 2007 with 12.0 and currently leads with 9.0 in 2008.  The 2007 First Team Pac-10 Honoree could be the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year, having already been named to the 2008 Academic All-District Team.

This Week’s Games

California @ No. 23 Oregon State (12:30 ABC)

Mike Riley’s Beavers have been able to sneak up on a few unsuspecting foes over the years.  Now we get to see how they do as favorites, at home, as a ranked team against a bowl-bound opponent.

Line: Oregon State -3

Harmon Forecast (CBS Sportsline): Oregon State 28, California 24

Paul’s Pick: Oregon State 34, California 27

Cal’s defense stood up pretty well in the rain against Oregon, and at times played well against the Trojans, but with the letdown after that USC loss and how awful they looked attempting to tackle Arizona’s pint-sized Antolin, I can’t see them stopping Rodgers and the Beavers.

Washington State @ Arizona State

Another chance for Dennis Erickson to coach against one of his former teams.  This looks to be your crummy game of the week.

Line: Arizona State -36 ½ (yes, you read that right)

Harmon Forecast (CBS Sportsline): Arizona State 45, Washington State 12

Paul’s Pick: Arizona State 58, Washington State 17

The Cougs have given up 58 or more in six of their seven Pac-10 games.  No reason this should be any different.  The Sun Devils are technically still playing for something—they’ll be bowl eligible with wins over WSU, UCLA and Arizona.

Arizona @ Oregon (3:30 FSNAZ/CSNNW)

A chance for the Ducks to redeem themselves and possibly shake off some bad memories from the past three seasons: 2005, Kellen Clemens goes down for the season in Tucson; 2006, Dennis Dixon is booed off the field at Autzen; 2007, Dixon’s Heisman, and the Ducks’ National Title hopes, dashed when Dixon’s knee buckles on the Wildcats’ turf.

Line: Oregon -3 ½

Harmon Forecast (CBS Sportsline): Oregon 38, Arizona 36

Paul’s Pick: Oregon 27, Arizona 24

In another Autzen thriller, the Ducks, and their potent ground game, squeak out a win against the Wildcats.  Arizona’s strength is their pass defense.  However, they’re No. 6 in the Pac-10 against the run and will have their hands full against a vengeful-minded Oregon team.  The Ducks will need to put some serious pressure on QB Willie Tuitama and make some big plays in the secondary.

No. 6 USC @ Stanford (4:00 Versus)

Could it happen again?  It’s highly unlikely, but Jim Harbaugh has his Stanford Cardinal playing inspired football.

Line: USC -23

Harmon Forecast (CBS Sportsline): USC 32, Stanford 15

Paul’s Pick: USC 24, Stanford 6

As much as I would like to pick an upset here, the way USC’s defense has been dominating teams, it’s just not going to happen.

UCLA @ Washington (7:15 FSN)

Not exactly sure why this one is even on TV.  I know Seattle and LA are large markets (I guess that’s the reason) and Neuheisel is coming back to go against his old team, but honestly, will Husky fans even care if they snag the upset?

Line: UCLA -7 1/2

Harmon Forecast (CBS Sportsline): UCLA 26, Washington 20

Paul’s Pick: Washington 28, UCLA 27 (UPSET SPECIAL)

Call me crazy.  There’s absolutely no reason to think the Huskies can do this, other than the fact that UCLA is just not quite there yet and Husky QB Ronnie Fouch now has a few games under his belt.  Stranger things have happened.