Pac-10 Week 1 Thoughts

I had a chance to catch a number of games, and the rest are thoughts simply on results and recent happenings in the conference.

USC
After a fairly ridiculous night out on the town, I did have a chance to come back and take in the second half of their matchup against Hawaii, and the buzz is spot on. While USC’s offense looks to be rolling, the Trojans were surprisingly awful on defense. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I enjoyed watching the USC defense get ripped to shreds to the tune of 588 yards and 36 points. While the outcome of the game was rarely in question, the tackling was shoddy, the zones were chasm-sized, and their young but inexperienced secondary simply looked confused.

It became apparent watching the game, that we really aren’t going to see a return of the Carroll-led defensive dominant squads from some of the past several years.

With that said, I would be shocked if USC continued to look this bad by mid-season. I think their secondary is too talented and they have too strong of a defensive mind in coordinator Monte Kiffen to wallow in this absurdity forever. The Trojans will get much better on defense. How much better? Not sure, but they won’t be this bad consistently.

Oregon
Didn’t catch the game (saw the highlights) but didn’t need to. I know it was only New Mexico, but beating anyone short of a pee-wee team 72-0 is impressive. Kenjon Barner looked absolutely ridiculous out there, and one can only imagine how much more dangerous this offense will be once they get LaMichael James back and QB Darron Thomas grows as a starter.

Losing Masoli hurts, but this team still has too much returning talent for me to think any other conference team looks like it might take the conference crown this year…


Arizona
…Although, I will say Arizona looked up to the task on Friday after thumping Toledo 41-2. I actually caught the entire game and thought that initially, the Wildcats looked a lot more impressive on defense than on offense. In fact, given the losses on defense in the front seven, I thought Arizona actually looked faster on defense than they did last year. And don’t get it twisted, Toledo can put up points on offense, yet managed none against Arizona. By the end of the game, Arizona’s offense completely woke up and showed why they might easily average 30 ppg this year.

I’m actually a lot more scared of the conference opener against them than I previously was.

Stanford
Immediately after beating UC Davis, I texted my friend, a Stanford Alum and after a bit of an exchange, stated, “let’s see who thumps the FCS school better.” Turns out Cal did, but Stanford still did everything they needed to do against Sacramento State.

I still have questions about Stanford’s backfield, which was evident in the lack of a playmaker emerging from their runningback corps on Saturday. I do think Andrew Luck will do just about everything in his power to mask those deficiencies however.

We’ll see also whether Stanford has added any speed to a defense that has been burned on a number of occasions in the past. While I do think they’re a bowl-bound team, we’ll get a better sense of their conference-contention chances after their matchup against UCLA this Saturday.

Oregon State
Unfortunately, I could catch this game, but despite losing to TCU, it hasn’t shaken my belief that this is still a solid OSU squad that will again heat up starting in October and challenge for a conference title.

What has to be concerning for Beavers fans however, was their run defense that gave up 278 yards to a TCU run offense that wasn’t very strong. You have to wonder if some of those defensive losses become a bit more critical now.

Washington
The Huskies flopped against BYU like I expected. I still think they’ll be a threat to most conference teams this year, but I think they’re still a few years out from actually challenging for a conference title like some have boldly suggested.

Washington State
Ouch. Getting drubbed by Oklahoma State 65-17 is not how Coug fans expected to start the season. I was slowly sipping the “WSU will be better this year, and might surprise some people” kool-aid, so you can imagine my surprise after seeing them be absurdly uncompetitive against the Cowboys.

This upcoming game against Montana State now has a looming cloud over them. In what is considered their lone “lockdown” win, anything less than an easy win and you really have to start thinking about throwing this season out, and looking for other answers at the head coaching position.

Arizona State
Arizona State’s game against Portland State affirmed my thought that ASU’s offense (once a weakness) will be a bit stronger this year, and that their defense (once their strength) will experience a bit of a letdown. The Sun Devils whipped the poor Vikings 54-9.

We’ll see if they can consistently execute the new spread against the conference defenses, but new QB Steven Threet seemed to look the part, going 14-21 for 239 yards and 2 TDs with one pick.

I’m still far from sold on ASU, and think they’ll again miss a bowl game. They’ve thrived on lower competition, but have usually been beaten up by team’s with a pulse, and it’ll take some more impressive outings by Threet to have be convinced otherwise.

UCLA
I’m still amazed some times that Rick Neuheisel hasn’t made his team more competitive despite their incredible recruiting success. I know the answers lie in his inability to keep an offensive line intact for a season, but you’d think they’d be doing a bit better than this.

The Bruins went down in flames against Kansas State, with missed opportunities being the common theme. Looking at their upcoming schedule, and I can easily see them dropping to 1-3 (or gasp 0-4) before facing Washington State who could potentially have a better record than the Bruins headed into their matchup. Can you imagine that? In fact, looking at the entirety of UCLA’s schedule, it’s hard for me to imagine them winning more than 4 games this season.

Unless their offense begins clicking and the defense finds some answers, you’d think even that might be a stretch.