Pac-10 Notes: USC and Cal Up, Everyone Else In Holding Pattern

Pac-10 teams begin their second week of play on Saturday, highlighted by No. 3 USC's trip to Columbus to play Ohio State. It means nothing but consensus leans heavily towards the Trojans despite it being a cover of darkness road game before what Eleven Warriors calls 105,000 of college football's best hooligans, despite starting a true freshman quarterback in Matt Barkley and despite Ohio State having the tiebreaker of all tiebreakers in Terrelle Pryor.

Yeah, USC's loaded. The rest of the conference lineup Saturday is a mixed bag filled with one big road trip to SEC country, a couple middling names and a handful of regional cupcakes. Mmm, cupcakes. Wait, no, bad Pac-10. Time to bag some fresh game out of say, Knoxville? Hmmm, maybe not.

So, USC. We last saw them romping over Dick Why In The Heck Did Arizona Fire Him Tomey's San Jose State kids, 56-3 behind a ridiculous 342 yard rush effort that was the fifth best rush total of the Pete Carroll era. Their defense played lights out as well, allowing a little over 130 total yards while mixing in some talented youngsters. The names to know this year beyond Taylor Mays are middle linebacker Chris Galippo and defensive tackle Jurrell Casey.

Obviously on Saturday we'll see them on the road against Ohio State with all kinds of intrigue as people see if USC can continue its ridiculous streak of big early season road game kills. Notable: Taylor Mays has likened Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor to a Pterodactyl.

Oregon -- The first rule of Blount-gate, nobody talks about Blount-gate. Or Boise State. Oregon is going to press the refresh button on its season this weekend as it hosts surprising Purdue. The Boilermakers smashed Akron to the tune of 315 rush yards, 234 of them coming from previously anonymous Ralph Bolden. Drew Brees would roll over in his grave at that news, er, um, anyway. The Duckies' big problem is their pass game was horribly exposed last week as something insufficient if they can't get that run game going. They have to, or this year's over.

Oregon State -- Just call them the Twin Mice of Terror, as the Rodgers brothers returned for the Beavers in rolling up 253 combined yards in a 34-7 victory over Portland State. Heaven help that offense is they're not on the field, as we saw what happened in the Sun Bowl against Pitt, an ugly 3-0 victory with absolutely zero spark. Sean Canfield replaced the injured Lyle Moevao and went 8 of 11 for 158 yards and appears to have found his mojo -- and accuracy. Next up: UNLV as the Beavers try to shake a history of slow starts.

Stanford -- Everyone's sleeper Pac-10 pick and with good reason, Stanford got the Pac-10 party started early with a 39-13 victory over improving Washington State last Saturday. Freshman quarterback Andrew Luck was solid if unspectacular but added 53 rush yards including a high of 31. The team's identity will mirror that of its coach, smash mouth football, little depth (we kid, we kid) and bulldozer back Toby Gerhart. Speaking of which he had 121 rush yards as part of a 288 yard team total. The defense chipped in a goal line stand from the one for good measure.

Of some intrigue, this week's game is at Wake Forest and Stanford coaches enforced a mandate that players not sleep on the flight. Mirroring Maryland's early start time against Cal last year, the game will kick off at noon Eastern, 9 AM Pacific time. The endlessly annoying Stanford Tree will most certainly not be recovered from its hangover in time to give its full effort on account of that. There will be retribution, oh yes, there will be retribution.

UCLA -- As expected the Bruin offense was so-so under redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Prince, but an overall team effort speared a surge of 30 unanswered points after training San Diego State at home 14-3 last week. A return of a blocked field goal, three interceptions from defensive back Rahim Moore and a few timely runs plus a stout defensive effort after a shaky first quarter paved the way to a 33-14 final total. Next up is a trip to Knoxville, Tennessee to play ... Tennessee, a trip that tripped up northern rival California a few years ago.

Tennessee is well familiar with UCLA, as both coach Lane Kiffin and assistant Ed Orgeron were USC assistants. Orgeron gets particularly animated about UCLA and is certain to make clear losing to a team with powder blue colors is a crime against all of the Volunteer state. Bruins' offensive coordinator Norm Chow will be opposite sidelines of the man who replaced him at USC, almost certainly carrying a grudge. Good times.

Arizona State -- The Sun Devils battered cupcake Idaho State 50-3 last week, holding them to just 37 total yards. Kicker Thomas Weber nailed five short field goals on the way to a 20 point afternoon. Nobody will pay attention to them for at least another week with Louisiana-Monroe on the docket. Deservedly so. Schedule better, Sparky!

Arizona -- The Wildcats were 19-6 winners over Central Michigan, effectively shutting down one of the FBS's more versatile quarterbacks in Dan LeFevour. Matt Scott got the nod at quarterback, performing modestly beyond the 83 rush yards he totaled. Next up is Northern Arizona.

Cal -- The Bears have jumped out as the prime candidate to take down USC after stomping Maryland 52-13. Quarterback Kevin Riley tossed four touchdowns and the defense swarmed Maryland's quarterbacks in cruising to the revenge win. Next up is Eastern Washington before a brutal stretch at Minnesota, at Oregon, home against USC and then at UCLA. There's gold in them thar' proving grounds.

Washington -- The surprise team of the weekend, although I anticipated they'd put up a good fight against LSU. The Huskies are a bit like Stanford, with several very good players but lacking much overall depth to sustain themselves over 60 minutes. Husky Stadium was rocking in making an unwelcome host to the visitors from down south before inevitably falling 31-23. Moral victories are worthless but Washington gets a great shot Saturday for a real one against Idaho which would snap their 15-game losing streak.

Washington State -- Well, at least they showed some life in losing to Stanford 39-13. Quarterbacks Kevin Lopina and Marshall Lobbestael rotated but by every account Lopina was the clear superior. Yet, it looks like the rotation is in effect for another week when the Cougars host Hawaii.

Our Pac-10 Power Rankings

1)USC
2)Cal
3)Stanford
4)Oregon State
5)Washington
6)UCLA
7)Arizona
8)Arizona State
9)Oregon
10)Washington State

Pac-10 Teams In The Rankings

Rushing Offense (7) USC 342 yards/game
Total Offense (4) USC 620 yards/game
Scoring Offense (6) USC 56 points/game (9) California 52 points/game
Passing Efficiency (5) USC 212.83 rating (7) California 204.6
Time of Possession (2) Arizona 37:45 (7) Washington 36:52 (9) UCLA 35:59

Rush Defense (1) ASU -5 yards/game (2) USC 9 yards
Pass Defense (4) ASU 42 yards/game
Total Defense (1) ASU 37 yards/game (6) USC 121 yards
Scoring Defense (10) ASU 3 points/game TIE USC 3 points
Pass Efficiency Defense (1) ASU 22.64 rating
Sacks (1) California 6/game (4) USC 5/game
Turnover Margin (1) ASU +5 (10) California +2