Pac 10 Things We Learned This Week

Another deplorable call thrusts the Pac-10's officials into the national spotlight; it's time for an overhaul.

They’re blind and deaf, they’re Pac-10 refs.

It’s become an annual tradition, a horrible call that makes Pac-10 officiating a national joke for another season.

And the fact that Oklahoma is coming to the Pacific Northwest this week, two years after the most visible gaffes, is an irony you couldn’t have made up.

After all, it was the botched onside kick and pass interference calls against the Sooners at Oregon that heralded in this latest era of laughable refereeing. A touchdown ruled a fumble in last year’s Oregon State-Washington game. The reversal of the reversal that took 15 minutes at the Coliseum.

Who ever replaces Tom Hansen as conference commissioner must make competent officiating their top priority.

It is the only way for the conference of champions to live up to its credo.

Nine other observations from the second week of Pac-10 football

-Ty Willingham is under a black cloud at Washington
Two years ago, it was Stanback’s foot.

Last season, it was a defense that lost its confidence after the Ohio State game.

Now the celebration call that left everyone in Husky Stadium aghast.

What did Willingham do to deserve such luck? Irish fans need not reply.

-Jake Locker is a tenacious football player
Watching him rally the Huskies for their final touchdown, how can you not love his feel for the game?

-Cal looks great, but the receivers remain a question mark
Sean Young leads the team with all of six catches through two games. How will the Bears fare against aggressive Pac-10 secondaries?

-USC will bring the house on Todd Boeckman
It might be going out on a limb, but the pass rush of the Trojans is a little better than that of the Ohio Bobcats.

If Boeckman makes mistakes early, USC will rout the Buckeyes.

-Everyone is a year late on the Oregon State bandwagon
After winning 19 games the last two years, the Beavers finally got some national buzz in the preseason. The pundits might want to save it for next year.

It’s another September swoon for Oregon State. The scary part is this time, it isn’t fueled by turnovers (-11 margin in early loss to Cincinnati, Arizona State and UCLA last season).

The run defense is awful and the Beavers can’t get their own rush attack on track. A road trip to Utah might decide whether or not OSU reaches its third consecutive bowl game.

-Arizona State’s offensive line passed its first test
They gave up 55 sacks. Everyone knows that by now, but the aggressive Cardinal defense managed only two sacks of Rudy Carpenter on Saturday.

With Georgia and USC on the docket, that’s a great start.

-Washington State might be the worst team in a BCS conference
Consider it a running contest between the Cougs and Syracuse, but at least the Orange managed to score touchdowns in their loss to Akron.

-Oregon got one heck of a bargain
The Ducks paid only $235,000 to bring Utah State to Eugene. They then proceeded to amass 66 points and a school record 688 yards of offense against the Aggies. Considering the cost of cupcakes these days, it would have been a bargain at twice the price.

-Oct. 4 is the biggest day of Pac-10 football in a long time
Oregon at USC. Arizona State at Cal. The only thing more exciting would be undefeated Sun Devils at undefeated Trojans the next week.