Rising:
Cal: The best performance of the week.
Washington: It’s clear that this team is night and day better than last year.
Stanford: Nice performance at Wazzu.
Arizona: A strong performance by the Wildcat D against a team that’s better than most people think.
Hovering:
USC: Struggled early, but overall a solid performance.
UCLA: Ditto.
Arizona St: An unremarkable game.
Oregon St: An unremarkable game.
Falling:
Washington St: Not an awful performance, but definitely not a good one either.
Oregon: Monumentally awful night against Boise.
Stanford (-17) 39, @ Washington St 13
my pick: Stanford 35, @ Washington St 13
What to take from this:
If you’re Stanford:
The pass defense clearly has issues, with the Cougars finding way too much success through the air when needed, but everything else was working. The running game was great, the run defense was very solid, the special teams were great, and the passing game was adequate (a massive improvement from last year). This was a solid step forward, but they’ll find out next week at Wake how much of it was playing Washington St and how much of it was real improvement. For now, though, it was a very good sign.
If you’re Washington St:
Barring a truly massive Oregon collapse (possible but unlikely), this is pretty clearly the worst team in the Pac-10. They were totally outclassed by a mid-level Pac-10 team in a week one home game, which is a very troubling sign. Still, there were some signs of life. They had a few good runs, the passing game worked at times, and those are things to try and build on. Hawaii comes to Seattle, which is a very important game for the Cougars. If they can pull out the win, they’ll have something substantial to build on, instead of a couple small moral victories.
@ Boise St 19, Oregon (+4) 8
my pick: @ Boise St 38, Oregon 31
What to take from this:
There’s nothing good to take from this one. OK, the defense played decently, but even that was as much Boise gacking in the red zone as it was the Ducks really doing much positive. And everything else was a disaster. The offensive line was atrocious, Masoli was mediocre at best, and obviously the post-game turned an awful game into a total disaster. The Ducks don’t have a good defense, they clearly don’t have a close to good offensive line, Masoli obviously can’t carry this team by himself, and now Blount is gone. I thought this was around a .500-level team before the year began, but right now I’m not sure they’re even at that level. They only have two easy games left this year (Purdue and Wazzu, both at Autzen), and the first is coming up next. They better win, or there’s no telling how bad things could get.
@ Cal (-21.5) 52, Maryland 13
my pick: @ Cal 42, Maryland 13
What to take from this:
This was an extremely impressive performance. Cal came out and dominated from pretty much the first snap of the game, going up 14-0 before six minutes of gametime had passed, answering a pair of Terp field goals with 31 straight points, and never looking back. The offense and defense both played great (Kevin Riley’s great performance was an especially pleasant surprise), and there really wasn’t anything to complain about. It was somewhat odd that Cal didn’t let backup QB Mansion get much work given how ugly the rout became, but it was obvious that this was a payback game and they really wanted to make Maryland pay. The real test will come with a nasty four game stretch starting at Minnesota, but for now things are looking very good.
@ Arizona (-14) 19, Central Michigan 6
my pick: @ Arizona 34, Central Michigan 14
What to take from this:
There were definitely some issues to be worried about here, especially the consistent inability to turn scoring opportunities into touchdowns rather than field goals. However, the fact remains that their defense put the clamps on a pretty good offense (CMU’s only significant drive came late in the game when the Wildcats were fairly well in control), penalties weren’t too bad, and they only coughed up the ball twice. Overall, this was a mildly encouraging effort, though certainly there’s work left to do.
LSU 31, @ Washington St (+17.5) 23
my pick: LSU 28, @ Washington 17
What to take from this:
Washington has to be disappointed in how they gave this game away with big mistakes (fumble inside the five, tip pick for a LSU TD, way too many penalties). On the other hand, the fact remains that Washington played a top 15 team in LSU and only lost because they gave the game away. By virtually any interpretation, that’s an incredible improvement from where they were last year. Yes, they had plenty of other edges: colder weather than LSU is used to, a good home field edge, a cross-country week one game, and a very late start, but still, this was a very good building block. Now they need to start winning real victories instead of just moral victories.
@ UCLA (-19) 33, San Diego St 14
my pick: @ UCLA 38, San Diego St 10
What to take from this:
For a little while it looked like a disaster in progress, but after falling behind 14-3 UCLA came through and dominated the rest of the game. It’s worrisome that they were capable of struggling as much as they did early, but the fact remains that this team was faced with adversity and overcame it. For now, that’s a good thing, even if it was against the Aztecs. Obviously the offense needs to cut down on the turnovers, but the defense played well and came up with some huge plays. They need to seriously up their game in Knoxville to have a chance, but there’s reason to believe that they might be able to.
@ USC (-33.5) 56, San Jose St 3
my pick: @ USC 42, San Jose St 10
What to take from this:
USC struggled for a while, but once they got going, they became almost impossible to stop. San Jose St isn’t good enough to read too much into the win, but it was still overall a solid performance.
@ Arizona St (NL) 50, Idaho St 3
my pick: @ Arizona St 45, Idaho St 3
What to take from this:
Nothing. No injuries, not a close game, it’s all good.
@ Oregon St (NL) 34, Portland St 7
my pick: @ Oregon St 45, Portland St 3
What to take from this:
Nothing. No injuries, not a close game, it’s all good.
Pac-10 Games Record:
This Week: 9-0 SU, 4-2-1 ATS
Season: 9-0 SU, 4-2-1 ATS
National Games of the Week:
Alabama (-6.5) 34, Virginia Tech 24
my pick: Alabama 21, Virginia Tech 17
@ Oklahoma St (-5.5) 24, Georgia 10
my pick: @ Oklahoma St 28, Georgia 24
BYU 14, Oklahoma (-21.5) 13
my pick: Oklahoma 48, BYU 17
Missouri 37, Illinois (-7) 9
my pick: Illinois 35, Missouri 17
Colorado St 23, @ Colorado (-10.5) 17
my pick: @ Colorado 34, Colorado St 24
Cincy 47, @ Rutgers (-5.5) 15
my pick: @ Rutgers 31, Cincy 17
Miami 38, @ Florida St (-6.5) 34
my pick: @ Florida St 28, Miami 17
National Games Record:
This Week: 2-5 SU, 1-6 ATS
Season: 2-5 SU, 1-6 ATS
Bad Lines
Notre Dame -14 vs Nevada
Covered by 21 points
Baylor +2 @ Wake
Covered by 5 points and outright upset
Bad Lines Record:
This Week: 2-0
Season: 2-0
Mr Pac-10's 2009 Blog
Questions, comments or suggestions? Email me at cfn_ms@hotmail.com