Pac 10 Conference Roundup - Week 7

Pac 10 conference roundup, standings, player and game of the week

Click on each team for game recaps, thoughts, schedules and more and scroll down for the games, results, players of the week  and the conference roundup.

 Arizona | Arizona St |  California | Oregon | Oregon St | Stanford
UCLA | USC | Washington | Washington St

Pac 10 Game of the Week
Oregon State 31 ... California 28
Down ten in the final minutes, the Bears came up with a thriller of an ending as Lavelle Hawkins took a Kevin Riley pass 64 yards for a touchdown to pull within three, and after the D held, they got the ball on their own six with 1:27 to play. Riley almost got sacked for a safety, and almost got stopped several other times on the drive, but he got the ball deep into OSU territory helped by a 37-yard pass to Robert Jordan and a pass interference call to get it down to the 12. But with no timeouts left, Riley tried to run, got stopped at the eight, and time ran out. It was a see-saw game for the first 50 minutes, highlighted by a ten-yard Hawkins touchdown catch, and for Oregon State, field goals from 22, 52 and 33 yards out and two one-yard Yvenson Bernard touchdown runs.

Pac 10 Player of the Week
Oregon State LB Alan Darlin made 14 tackles, one sack, and forced and recovered a fumble in the win over Cal.

Conference Roundup

Arizona … The USC game was there for the taking, but there just wasn't enough from the top playmakers to make it happen. The running game was nowhere to be found, and Willie Tuitama didn't pick up the slack with his passing with just 233 yards on 30 completions. Defensively, Spencer Larson had a whale of a game, but as good as the D was, that was mostly due to the general ineffectiveness of the USC offense. This could've been a springboard game with Stanford and Washington up next, but now there's no room left for any mistakes. The Wildcats have to run the table for a winning season.
Arizona State … It seems to take ASU about a half to get its feet wet, and then it comes out and blows the doors off teams. Credit the coaching staff for making the proper adjustments at halftime, but it's also a cause for concern with the big boys on the schedule coming up. The Sun Devils can't get out to a slow start against Cal or Oregon, but as long as there aren't many mistakes, the penalties are kept to a minimum, and there's good offensive balance, this team is talented enough to beat anyone left on the slate.
California … Number one was right there for the taking. Forever, Cal fans would wonder what would've happened if Nate Longshore would've been healthy for the Oregon State game, but Kevin Riley wasn't all that bad, and he even added a little bit of mobility. Yeah, he shouldn't have run at the end and made a mental error, but that's a young player in the biggest of all pressure situations. The defense didn't do enough to get pressure and force OSU QB Sean Canfield to screw up, and the coaching staff didn't do enough to try getting the ball in DeSean Jackson's hands. The season is hardly over, but now there's no room for error.  
Oregon … The downer of the blowout win over Washington State was an injury bug that hit RB Jeremiah Johnson (knee) and WR Cameron Colvin (ankle), and now they're likely gone for the year. Outside of that, everything else was perfect, as Dennis Dixon ran the offense to perfection, the defense swarmed all over everything the Cougars wanted to do, and the team coasted to an easy win. With Cal losing, the Pac 10 race is wide open for the Ducks, and they'll have several chances to make national statements over the coming weeks. If they play like this, there won't be any problems.
Oregon State … Isn't it amazing what the team can do when it gets decent, mistake-free quarterback play? The Beavers turned their season around with the win over California, and while they got a break with Kevin Riley in for an injured Nate Longshore under center for the Bears, they also earned their way to the win with great play for about 50 minutes. Now the key will be consistency. Can QB Sean Canfield be error-free again? Can the defensive line continue to generate consistent pressure? With Stanford up next in two week, 5-3 is a must going into the USC showdown.
Stanford … While not always pretty, the offense showed good balance against TCU with Anthony Kimble running as well as he had all year, and Tavita Pritchard coming through with a nice fourth quarter drive. This time it didn't work out, but compared to where the team was earlier in the year, and back to last year, rolling up 364 yards and 36 points on a decent Horned Frog defense is a step forward. Now the Cardinal has to go on the road for three games in the next four.
UCLA … Didn’t Play This Week
USC  … After the Stanford loss, USC needed to come out roaring to show the world that last week was an aberration. It didn't happen. The injuries keep on mounting and the ineffectiveness of the offense continues to shine through. However, the defense remains solid, while there's just enough of a spark here and there, like Joe McKnight's big punt return to set up what turned out to be the game-winning score, to show that there's still a ton of talent waiting to shine. Next week had better be a blowout over Notre Dame, or the Trojans will deserve to take a huge tumble in the rankings.
Washington … Eventually, Jake Locker is going to have to start throwing better. While he's dangerous running the ball, he hasn't been nearly as accurate as he needs to be against the better teams. Against Arizona State, he needed to be able to keep the chains moving, and he couldn't do it, especially in the fourth quarter as ASU held on to the ball for 10:41. The defense can only hold up for so long, and against Oregon next week, the offense will have to figure out how to keep pace in a firefight. Either Locker will have to start bombing away, or he'll have to start completing more than 60% of his throws.
Washington State … At this point in the year, the offense should be getting better, not worse, and against Oregon, the attack was stuck in the mud thanks to a lousy day from the offensive line. Alex Brink never got time to get settled, and the running game never had a chance to try anything after getting down so quickly. The Cougars are going to be an up-and-down team the rest of the year, but very soon, there had better be some ups. It's asking a lot to run the table, but that's what the Cougars might have to do.

	Conference				Overall					Home		Away
	W	L	PF	PA	W	L	PF	PA	STR	W	L	W	L
Arizona State	4	0	152	75	7	0	264	105	W7	5	0	2	0
USC	3	1	117	75	5	1	204	116	W1	3	1	2	0
UCLA	3	0	129	62	4	2	168	143	L1	2	1	2	1
Oregon	2	1	132	69	5	1	271	124	W1	3	1	2	0
California	2	1	104	82	5	1	225	153	L1	3	1	2	0
Oregon State	2	2	108	128	4	3	196	179	W2	3	1	1	2
Stanford	1	3	75	164	2	4	148	202	L1	1	4	1	0
Arizona	1	3	104	116	2	5	183	189	L2	2	1	0	4
Washington	0	3	75	115	2	4	155	170	L4	1	2	1	2
Washington State	0	4	61	171	2	5	172	258	L4	2	1	0	4

Saturday, October 13
3:30 PM	at Oregon 53 ... Washington State 7 CFN Prediction: Oregon 42-20  UO -18
3:30 PM	at USC 20 ... Arizona 13 CFN Prediction: USC 40-17   USC -21
5:00 PM	TCU 38 ... at Stanford 36 CFN Prediction: TCU 23-16   TCU -5.5
7:00 PM	Oregon State 31 ... at California 28 CFN Prediction: Cal 38-17   Cal -14
10:15 PM	at Arizona State 44 ... Washington 20 CFN Prediction: ASU 34-23   ASU -12

Past Pac 10 Games of the Week
Sept. 1 - California 45 ... Tennessee 31
Sept. 8 - UCLA 27 ... BYU 17
Sept. 15 - New Mexico 29 ... at Arizona 27
Sept. 22 - UCLA 44 ... Washington 31
Sept. 29 - California 31 ... at Oregon 24
Oct. 6 - Stanford 24 ... at USC 23
Oct. 13 - Oregon State 31 ... at California 28

Past Pac 10 Players of the Week
Sept. 2 - California RB Justin Forsett
Sept. 8 - Washington State QB Alex Brink
Sept. 15 - Oregon State WR Sammie Stroughter
Sept. 22 - Oregon QB Dennis Dixon
Sept. 29 - California WR DeSean Jackson
Oct. 6 - Stanford QB Tavita Pritchard
Oct. 13 - Oregon State LB Alan Darlin