Bruins And Cardinals Play For First Place In The Pac Ten

UCLA travels to Stanford on October 3rd with first place in the conference on the line. UCLA’s top priority will be to stop the Stanford running game. Toby Gerhart is leading the conference with 516 rushing yards. Stanford will be running directly at a Bruin defense that is only giving up 2.3 YPC on the ground. The goals for both of these programs going into this season was to become bowl eligible. Stanford has not been to a bowl game since the Seattle Bowl in 2001 and UCLA’s last bowl appearance was the 2007 Las Vegas Bowl. Stanford is 3-1 after beating Washington 34-14 and the undefeated Bruins (3-0) are coming off a bye week after beating Kansas State 23-9 on September 19th.

Both of these teams have to find a way to advance the ball down the field through the air. After the fourth week of the season UCLA has the ninth best passing offense (167.3 Passing Yards Per Game) in the conference and Stanford has the seventh best passing offense (185.8 Passing Yards Per Game). Cardinal QB Andrew Luck is completing 60.2% of his passes and has a QB rating of 146.4. On the other hand, both Bruin QB’s are completing less than 60% of their passes. Kevin Prince is completing 55.8% and Kevin Craft is completing 54.2% of his throws. The team that gets a big performance out of their QB will have a big advantage in this game.

This game is very pivotal in the Pac Ten race. UCLA and Stanford face some tough opponents following this game. UCLA gets Oregon and California at home before traveling to Arizona on October 24th. Stanford is at Oregon State and Arizona before getting Arizona State at home on October 24th. The next four weeks will determine what Bowls they can qualify for and if they will be Bowl eligible at all.

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Ducks Take Bears To The Woodshed

California entered Autzen Stadium as the #6 team in the country with the hopes of finally living up to expectations and capturing a Pac Ten Title this season. The Bears leave Autzen Stadium with an embarrassing 42-3 loss to the Ducks. Now the USC/Cal game next week might be an elimination game leaving the loser with no shot at the Rose Bowl. After going down to the Ducks it will be very difficult for the Bears to come back and beat the Trojans next week. Oregon was off the radar after their disappointing 19-8 loss to Boise State in the first week of the college football season. Since that defeat the Ducks bounced back and beat Purdue 38-36 and Utah 31-24. After this impressive win over the Bears, Oregon will be ranked again and are back in the hunt for first place in the conference.

The Ducks were lights out on defense. They held Cal to 3/15 on third down conversions and kept the Bear defense on the field for the majority of the game. The Ducks limited the Bears to only 76 yards on the ground. Oregon won the time of possession battle 32:47 to 27:08. After this performance Jeremiah Masoli is now neck and neck with Jake Locker as the best QB in the Pac Ten. Masoli was 21/25, for 253 passing yards and 3 TD’s. Just a few weeks back when RB LeGarrette Blount was suspended for the season many thought that the Oregon running game took a major hit. Redshirt Freshman LaMichael James has proven that he can be a threat out of the backfield. James finished the game with 21 carries, for 118 yards, 1 TD and 5.6 YPC.

The Ducks have Washington State at home next week before traveling to UCLA. On October 10th at the Rose Bowl the Ducks could be unbeaten in conference play and the UCLA Bruins could be undefeated. This game will be the marquee game in the Pac Ten and the winner will be in a very good position for the remainder of the season. The way the games have been playing out after the first month there is not a team that will separate themselves from the rest of the pack until the last couple weeks of the season.

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Bruins Belong In The Top 25

The UCLA Bruins have taken some steps forward to prove that their football program is on the rise. With Redshirt Freshman QB Kevin Prince behind center the Bruins opened the season with a 33-14 victory over San Diego State. The following week UCLA went into a very hostile environment and defeated Tennessee 19-15. Not many teams in the country can travel to Neyland Stadium and pull out a victory in front of 102,000 fans. Kevin Prince was lost to an injury and the Bruins didn’t have an emotional letdown as they came back home to defeat Kansas State 23-9. Teams like Kansas (#20), Nebraska (#25) and North Carolina (#22) are ranked in the Top 25 without an impressive win on their schedule. A few more wins should secure a spot for UCLA in the Top 25.

When you think about this football program the names that come to mind are Rick Neuheisel and Norm Chow. The Bruins are not that great of an offensive team right now.
UCLA is the 8th best passing team in the Pac Ten with 167.3 yards per game. There are a lot of young players on that side of the ball. WR Taylor Embree is a Sophomore (7 Catches, 114 Yards). RB Jonathan Franklin is only a Freshman (242 Yards, 2 TD’s). QB Kevin Prince is a Redshirt Freshman and had a QB rating of 105.52 before he got hurt. As the season progresses the offense will start to produce more once the players start to understand their roles in the offense better.

It’s been the defense that has warranted UCLA being among the Top 25 teams in the country after their third game of the season. The Bruins are only giving up 74.3 yards per game and only 2.3 YPC. UCLA has the fourth best-run defense in the Pac Ten. With players like DT Brian Price, DE Korey Bosworth and CB Alterraun Verner leading the defense the Bruins have a chance to beat Stanford and Oregon over the next few weeks and remain undefeated when they play California in the Rose Bowl on October 17th.

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UW Proves Trojans Lack Playmakers

Before today’s 16-13 loss to the Huskies, a lot of people thought that QB Aaron Corp would be allowed to throw the ball more than Matt Barkley did at Ohio State. Corp finished the game 13/22 for 110 passing yards, 1 INT and only 5 yards per completion. Head Coach Steve Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Nick Holt were familiar with all things USC, but Washington does not have the talent that the Trojans possess and this game should not have been close. The one position that matters is the one that the Huskies had an advantage at and that is the QB position. QB Jake Locker went 21/35, threw for 237 yards and no turnovers.

It is very hard to ignore the turnover margin, which was 3-0 in favor of UW, but the Trojans couldn’t get anything going with the passing game for the second week in a row. Joe McKnight is not a huge part of the passing game despite USC’s plan to utilize him the same way that they used Reggie Bush. McKnight finished the game with three receptions for six yards. McKnight only touched the ball a total of 14 times. Steve Sarkisian found a way to get the ball to his RB Chris Polk 28 times. Pete Carroll continues to lose quality coaches and it might finally be catching up to the USC program.

Despite the loss of WR Ronald Johnson, USC still has WR Damian Williams, FB Stanley Havili and the under utilized Joe McKnight that should be making an impact in the passing game. Nine different players caught passes for the Washington Huskies. Freshman WR James Johnson finished the game with seven catches for 72 yards for UW. The one stat that contributed to the Trojan loss was going 0/10 on third down conversions.

Pete Carroll has to get his offensive coaches going in the right direction. USC plays at California and at Notre Dame in October and the 15.5 points the Trojans have averaged over the last two games will not be enough to beat those teams. As good as USC recruits RB’s and defensive players they have not reeled in an abundance of talent at the WR position and it will be interesting to see if they address this problem this recruiting season.

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Bears Take Another Step Forward

The Bears defeated the Golden Gophers 35-21. After jumping on Minnesota 14-0, California was outscored 21-7 before taking control of the game in the fourth quarter. The question is did the Bears make a great impression with this win? Minnesota is probably the fourth or fifth best team in the Big Ten with Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State and maybe Iowa ahead of them. On the other hand, Cal is expected to compete for first place in the Pac Ten. A 14 point victory in a new stadium on the road should not be overlooked, but the Bears should have put this game away before halftime. Cal has experienced a lot of trouble on the road going 1-4 in 2008.

The Trojans are the measuring stick for every team in the Pac Ten and Cal is trying to dethrone USC. The Trojans played the first or second best team in the Big Ten in Ohio State on the road and won by three. Last season USC beat Virginia on the road by 45. In 2007 USC beat Nebraska by 18 on the road and Notre Dame by 38 in South Bend. As the Trojans have shown when you have elite talent and a strong belief on what you are trying to accomplish the site of the game does not matter. The Bears have enough talent to beat a lot of teams by more than 20, but Cal is not playing up to their talent level. With Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen in the backfield and a talented group of WR’s, after the half it should not take until the fourth quarter to get a first down. Jahvid Best was on the sideline a lot in the second half. Best should always be on the field even if the ball is not going to him, because he demands so much attention from the defense that things will open up for other players. Jahvid finished the game with 26 carries for 131 yards and 5 TDs.

Going forward the key to the Bears season will be their ability to win games on the road. Next week California plays at Oregon. Later in the season the Bears play at UCLA, at Arizona State, at Stanford and at Washington. If the Bears plan on making a move nationally and in the Pac Ten Conference they will be forced to overcome their difficulties on the road. California’s defense will be a big reason why this football team starts to win on the road. The defense held Minnesota to 37 yards rushing and 4/12 on third down conversions. Next up is a difficult game in Autzen Stadium. If the Bears can get past the Ducks it would set-up a major match-up against the Trojans on October 3rd.

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Showdown In Corvallis

Cincinnati is the best team in the Big East and they visit the Beavers on September 19th. This is a very good match-up that is not getting that much National attention. Last season the Bearcats fell to Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl 20-7 and Oregon State needed one victory to make it to the Rose Bowl, but loss to rival Oregon 65-38. This year the Bearcats have defeated Rutgers and South Missouri State by a combined score of 117-18. The Beavers defense must be prepared to stop a potent offense if they want to win this game.

Cincinnati QB Tony Pike is completing 77.2% of his passes. Pike has thrown for 591 yards and 6 TD’s. WR Marshawn Gilyard (6-1 187) is Pike’s favorite target. Gilyard leads the Bearcat receivers with 14 receptions for 200 yards and 3 TD’s. The Beavers lost a lot of their key players from last season’s defense. The best way for Oregon State to slow down the Bearcats high-powered offense is to control the clock by giving the ball to RB Jacquizz Rodgers. Against UNLV the Beavers won the time of possession battle 33:03 to 26:57. In his first two games this season Quizz has rushed for 269 yards, 4 TD’s and he is averaging 6.4 YPC. Rodgers is one of the best RB’s in the Pac Ten and at 5-7 193 he is very hard for the defense to locate. Oregon State is the first real test for the Bearcats this season and for Cincinnati to be successful they must stop the Beavers running game.

Conference pride is also at stake in this contest. The MWC is proving that they are more deserving of an automatic bid than the Big East Conference with memorable victories such as Utah over Alabama and BYU over Oklahoma. In 2005 TCU defeated Oklahoma 17-10 and in 2008 Utah beat Michigan 25-23. Is there a recent Big East victory in an OOC game that people remember? These are the kind of games that people will point to if the Bearcats lose to support the opinion that the Big East should not automatically qualify for a BCS game. The Pac Ten is also fighting for respect. USC gets a lot of credit and the Trojans deserve it, but other Pac Ten teams are not feared like teams in the SEC or Big 12 are. A lot will be on the line on September 19th. If the Beavers win they will most likely be in the Top 25 next week.

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Trojans Don’t Panic

100,100 people in Ohio Stadium plus the football team and coaching staff believed they had USC beat for fifty plus minutes of the football game. USC fought and scratched and never gave up and finally took the lead with less than a minute to play in the game. RB Stafon Johnson was held to 50 yards on 11 carries, but it was Johnson that gave the Trojans a 7-0 lead and put them ahead 18-15 in the fourth quarter. On the last drive it was the Joe McKnight show. McKnight caught passes and made a nice cut back run that set-up the go ahead score.

The whole country was waiting for Ohio State to fold as they have in their past meetings against top ten opponents. The Buckeyes did a tremendous job of erasing last season’s 35-3 loss to USC from their minds. Ohio State’s defense did a tremendous job of stopping the Trojans offense for the majority of the night. Matt Barkley was 15/31, passed for 195 yards and 1 interception. WR Damian Williams was held to 5 catches for 51 yards. The Buckeyes held the Trojans to 6/16 on third down conversions and kept USC in bad field position for the majority of the night. The Trojans are a team that usually dominates teams with their running game, but Ohio State only gave up 118 rushing yards.

USC had a number of reasons to lose that football game. Matt Barkley was inaccurate with a number of passes. The USC offensive line could not push around the front seven of the Buckeyes. There were a couple times that WR’s Williams and Ausberry should have scored TD’s, but they were an inch or two from staying inbounds. The first TD that Ohio State scored was a blown assignment by Taylor Mays. The Trojans were able to put all those miscues aside to put together the game winning drive. This game came down to what QB would make the most plays Pryor or Barkley. The bottom line is when you look back on this game two things will stand out, the last drive lead by Freshman QB Matt Barkley and Jim Tressel’s play calling that gave the Trojans the opportunity to tie the game before heading into halftime.

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