It's time for a segment called "Pacific Time," wherein your faithful Islamabad scribes recap the week's action around the Pac-10. Offers from Islamabad: We watch Pac-10 football so you don't have to.
Let's start our Tour de Incompetence in Eugene, where Oregon fans are, well, a bit disgusted by their performance in Idaho on Thursday night. I'm sure you've heard all about this, but here's the recap:
1) Oregon, specifically running back LeGarrette Blount, talked inordinate amounts of smack leading up to this year's game.
2) Oregon proceeded to be thoroughly outplayed by Boise State on national television in a sloppy game.
3) LeGarrette Blount acted crazier than a rabid squirrel following the game.
Let's just say the game didn't go according to plan. It was the first game of much ballyhooed coach Chip Kelly's tenure, and it made relations between current AD and prior coach Mike Belotti and Kelly a bit strained. And if an organization looks chaotic from the outside, it's usually ten times worse on the inside. The game makes the Pac-10 look bad in a lot of ways, and substantially decreases the Pac-10's perceived strength.
For Oregon, they have everybody's favorite panacea - a home date against Purdue. But they have to shape up fast, because Utah and Cal are coming to visit Autzen Stadium, and the Bears could easily leave Eugene after beating a 1-3 Ducks team.
Speaking of Cal, the Golden Bears hosted the Maryland Terrapins, perennial contenders for the coveted award of "Most Awesome Mascot." Individuals who can bear to watch Pac-10 football may recall that Cal was thoroughly trounced by Maryland last year in College Park, when the kickoff was at 7am Pacific Time. This year afforded Cal a strong measure of revenge in a 52-13 drubbing of a largely talentless Maryland squad. The key takeaways:
1) After the Oregon fiasco, Cal is now the most dangerous in-conference opponent for USC.
2) Running backs Jahvid Best and Shane Voreen split the workload, and Best looked better than Voreen, averaging 13.7 yards per carry. I've been saying this for a year now, but Jeff Tedford really needs to find ways to get Best more touches per game.
3) Kevin Riley looked excellent, throwing with precision all over the field, including a couple of beautiful deep passes. He finished the day 17 for 26 with 298 yards, 4 TDs, and no picks.
4) The Cal defense looked overrated. The vaunted secondary (considered the best in the Pac-10 by many) allowed over five and a half yards per passing attempt. However, the defense did record six sacks, which was in large part a function of good coverage downfield. The front seven, considered the weakness of the team, looked decent while allowing 3.2 yards per rush and recording those six sacks. We'll see how the defense stacks up when playing a decent opponent.
The Mediocrity Express rolls into Pullman, Washington, where we get our first taste of Pac-10 conference play. Stanford and Washington State faced off in a battle to forget, in which Stanford prevailed, 39-13. Both teams looked better than expected, with both teams combining for a mere 8 penalties for 77 yards and no turnovers.
The star of the game was clearly Stanford running back Toby Gerhart, who had 23 carries for 121 yards and 2 TDs. Stanford's freshman quarterback, Andrew Luck, turned in a shaky performance, going 11 of 23 for 198 yards. Luck is no John Elway. Coach Jim Harbaugh is really doing a good job with the Cardinal, and they should be very competitive in conference games this year.
Washington State was... well, they scored points. And that's a big plus in their book. They looked reasonably well-coached. There is still a vast talent gap between Pullman and the rest of the Pac-10, so don't expect them to do better than last place. But they might be able to beat Hawaii or SMU at home to avoid a winless season.
The results in Seattle were vastly more positive. In the first game under new coach and ex-USC assistant Steve Sarkesian, the Huskies played LSU very tight, finally falling 31-23. Jake Locker looked good, the defense played well, and the offense was always able to move the ball. Nonetheless, Washington still isn't very good at football. If they pull out more than two wins in conference, Sarkesian should be hailed a genius.
The Rest:
Oregon State, Arizona, and Arizona State all predictably beat vastly overmatched opponents - Portland State, Central Michigan, and Idaho State, respectively. None of the games were good barometers of how the teams will play. The Rodgers brothers played well for Oregon State. Arizona beat Central Michigan, but by only a score of 19-6. And Arizona State had Vontaze Burfict, the academic and physical equivalent of a heat seeking missile.
All in all, an excellent week for the Pac-10 after the Oregon snafu.
Late Update: It has come to Islamabad's attention that we, in our haste to close on a car sale to a lovely Siberian couple, inadvertently forgot to discuss UCLA's game. This was not at all intentional - we hate to miss out on such an excellent opportunity for humor. With that out of the way, let's get to the game.
Second-year head coach Rick Neuheisel, whom you might remember from him suing the NCAA, has his Gutty Little Bruins playing thoroughly mediocre football, an enormous improvement from last year, beating San Jose State 33-14. For one, last year's starting quarterback, Kevin "Fingerpainter" Craft, was allowed nowhere near a football. For another, the Bruin offensive line now has a 50% success rate in blocking defensive linemen. Also, the defense no longer resembles a leaky sieve.
Now this is not to say that the Bruins are good, per se. No, the Bruins are merely no longer embarrassing. The lack of Kevin Craft throwing 4 pick-sixes per game tends to really help out a team. Moving forward, UCLA can be expected to beat the Washington squads, lose to SC, Cal, and the Oregon schools, and play competitively with Stanford and the Arizona schools. Any more than that would be a great success for CRN.
The defense, however improved, has some substantial problems - mainly depth. For instance, CB Andrew Hester has a cracked fibula and is expected to be out for three weeks (tell that to Aaron Corp). In his stead will be diminutive sophomore Courtney Vinney and walk-on Andrew Abbott, who was last seen being burned by a San Diego State wideout for an 80 yard TD. That might pose a problem when UCLA travels to Knoxville to face Lane Kiffin's revamped-but-still-crappy Volunteers.
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I find the title of this segment misleading because Arizona is in the Mountain Time Zone. I did not spend 4 years studying medicine at the University of Managua, only to be tricked by you.
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