Pac 10 Things We Learned This Week

The importance of ignoring BCS disaster scenarios, not giving teams another shot at the end zone and getting a better TV contact among the ten trends and topics from week five in the Pac-10 conference.

-The First Rule of Fight Club is You Do Not Talk About Fight Club
Remember last Thursday night when USC’s title hopes were dead and buried?

Exactly 48 hours after losing to Oregon State, they were alive again as then-No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Florida and No. 9 Wisconsin were also bit by the upset bug.

The Trojans landed at No. 9 in both polls with six of the teams in front of them set to play one another this season and a possible Oklahoma-Missouri meeting in the Big XII title game. Penn State has to go to Ohio State and BYU has an intense rivalry game with Utah to end the season.

After five weeks last season, Cal, Wisconsin, Boston College, Florida, Kentucky and South Florida were all in the top 10. None of them finished there or even made a BCS bowl.

In short, save the doomsday scenarios until Thanksgiving.

-Well, There’s Something You Don’t See Everyday
The Pac-10 salvaged a little pride by finally beating a team from the Mountain West with Cal’s 42-7 win over Colorado State, but that 35 point margin of victory belies just how putrid the Bears offense has been in its last two games.

Tailback Jahvid Best suffered a dislocated elbow and is out for Saturday’s crucial showdown with Arizona State. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Kevin Riley completed exactly three passes to wide receivers before getting unceremoniously replaced. There were fumbles and drops and just plain bad execution.

Take away a blocked punt, interception return and punt return for touchdowns and Cal edges a team that struggled against Sacramento State and Houston by just two scores.

If a week off couldn’t right the Bears’ wrongs, what will an ASU team looking to salvage its season do?

-The Improbable Return of Nate Longshore
The senior quarterback suddenly finds himself back in the thick of things after Riley’s 6-for-13 stink bomb against the Rams.

What a fitting bit of irony it would be if he saved Cal’s season – the next five games are against ASU, Arizona, UCLA, Oregon – after being blamed for last year’s collapse?

-An Offense Found, the Battle Lost
UCLA finally scored an offensive touchdown – three of them, actually – as running back Kahlil Bell returned from injury, but one critical coaching error set off a chain reaction in the 36-31 loss to Fresno State.

Coach Rick Neuheisel elected to accept a holding penalty on third down in the red zone, giving the Bulldogs another bite at a touchdown. His decision made it third and 22 at the Bruins 25 and Ryan Matthews promptly took a screen pass for a touchdown.

UCLA committed fouls on the ensuing kickoff and following play, went three and out and gave up another touchdown.

Game over.

-Who’s Got Next?
Kevin Craft is a stopgap solution for UCLA, that much has been confirmed after four games.

So what happens next year? The only viable options are freshmen Kevin Prince and Nick Crissman and touted recruit Richard Brehaut, but Prince is LDS and had previously expressed interest in taking a church mission.

Will Neuheisel and Norm Chow be willing to turn the offense over to a young pup with a still iffy supporting cast? To be determined.

-One Way to Win
Stanford rolled up 244 yards rushing in its 35-28 victory at Washington, allowing QB Tavita Pritchard to serve as a game manager.

Pritchard was efficient, completing 16 of 24 passes for 222 yards and three touchdowns. It was only the second time this season he posted a quarterback rating over 100, the other being the opening night win over Oregon State.

The effectiveness of the running game, even after Toby Gerhart went down early with a concussion, keeps Cardinal bowl hopes alive.

-The Official End of the Willingham Era
On the other sideline of Husky Stadium, it was dynamic quarterback Jake Locker who went down in the first half.

His broken thumb will keep him out for six weeks, and though backup Ronnie Fouch played well in Locker’s absence, the injury guarantees Washington won’t reach six wins and a postseason berth.

-Who’s Got Next, Coaching Edition
Do you select the next UW coach to build on Locker’s skills, or transition to a pro-style offense?

That question could determine how much play Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian get in a coaching search.

Others that should be on any short list: Mike Leach of Texas Tech and Chris Petersen of Boise State.

-Unstoppable Force versus Movable Object
USC allowed 5.0 yards per carry to a 5-foot-6 tailback.

Oregon rushed for 346 yards on 53 carries against Washington State.

Figured out the storyline for Saturday’s make-or-break game at the Coliseum yet?

-Can You See Me? Can You Hear Me?
Said it before, say it again – the Pac-10 has the absolute worst TV contract in college football.

On Saturday, there were no nationally televised games. Even in Los Angeles, the only two games available were Fresno State-UCLA and Stanford-Washington, which was picked up by the local FSN affiliate.

Compare that to three Big Ten and SEC games available on basic cable and it’s clear the new Pac-10 commissioner’s top priority needs to be making the conference a national entity once again.

Sorry but USC losing doesn’t count as exposure.