NCAA Football california Golden Bears

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Here's hoping SEC fans stayed up to watch Oregon beat Arizona Saturday night. They got to see a few things their league hasn't had enough of this season.

Drama, bedlam, theatrics, tension, hilarity and near-riotous fun. And that just begins to describe the Ducks' 44-41 double overtime win.

It finally ended as the clock struck midnight back East. Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli slithered into the end zone to crash what would have been the biggest football party Tucson ever threw.

All of which settled one thing. The Pac-10 is the best conference in America.

STANFORD, Calif. -- Jim Harbaugh talked a little bit about hubris early this week, the danger of thinking you are more than you are.

Did Stanford think that putting up 106 points in consecutive upset victories over Oregon and USC would guarantee another flurry of points and touchdown celebrations?

Did they think that being ranked nationally and favored in the 112th Big Game – unheard of occurrences since Tyrone Willingham left The Farm for Notre Dame after the 2001 season – gave them an advantage against California's Bears?

Did they think that throwing the ball on 2nd down at the Cal 13-yard line with 1:36 to go was a better option that giving it to Toby Gerhart?

One of the best conference races in college football has been the one going down in the Pac-10. Heading into today, five teams were still competing for a shot at the Rose Bowl: Oregon, Stanford, Oregon State, Arizona and USC. Stanford's wood-shedding of USC eliminated one contender in a big way, and Cal likely did Arizona the honors in bumping the Wildcats 24-16.

Arizona, of course, is the only team in the league not to have gone to the Rose Bowl. The fact has been a nagging itch for the Wildcat football program, desperate for consistency and a trip to Pasadena to hang their hat on.

The Wildcats likely won't get it in 2009.

Cal kept quarterback Nick Foles and the Wildcat offense in check throughout, limiting Arizona to just 17 first downs and 276 yards. Its a disappointing elimination for Arizona, which had won three in a row including a wild victory over surging Stanford, 43-38.

He will likely not win the Heisman Trophy (though it would not be blasphemous).

He may not even be tendered an invite to the ceremony in mid-December (though he should).

But no one player will have a greater impact on the remainder of the college football season than Stanford senior tailback Toby Gerhart.

Cal's electric tailback Jahvid Best, once a Heisman Trophy candidate was diagnosed with a concussion after taking a serious spill against Oregon State Saturday night. Midway through the second quarter, Best rose high into the air to hurdle Oregon State safety Cameron Collins on the way to a touchdown, but fell onto his back and neck and was left immobile from the play.

Best's helmet flew off from the impact with the ground and his arms immediately went stiff.

The running back was carted off the field on a stretcher and transported to a local emergency room for observation. According to Cal spokesman Herb Benenson, Best had feeling in all his extremities but suffered a concussion.

Best suffered what the team called a "mild concussion" last week against Arizona.

But coach Jeff Tedford said all other tests were negative.

"He's in good shape," Tedford told the media.

Video of the play after the jump.

When in doubt, play defense. That seems to be the philosophy right now at USC, which has taken an offense with nine returning starters and the nation's best offensive line and driven it into a ditch for large stretches of this season. And so it was on the road Saturday, the USC Trojans steadily outplaying the Cal Bears on the way to a 30-3 victory.

Mirroring last week's performance against Washington State, USC came out firing offensively in building a 20-0 second-quarter lead, eventually cooled, and still cruised to victory behind yet another dominating defensive performance. Strange days considering that defense was one of the best of this era last year and graduated the bulk of its talent to the NFL.

Crazy as it sounded but a few weeks ago, there is a chance neither Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy or Sam Bradford will win the 2009 Heisman Trophy. Maybe that's a good thing. Their journey of inevitability has taken on some water surprisingly early this year.

When BYU's Coleby Clawson slammed Bradford to the turf causing a shoulder injury, Bradford's repeat hopes were finished. He has still yet to play a down since then. Last Saturday against Kentucky, Tebow also sustained a concussion injury while being driven to the ground. It is unclear whether he will play Saturday against LSU in Florida's first real test this season.

Meanwhile, Colt McCoy already has five interceptions although he completed 80 percent of his passes Saturday against UTEP as the Longhorns appear to have turned a corner offensively in pouring 64 points on the Miners.

On Saturday, I got Comcasted. Chances are, if you pay Comcast for anything -- I pay them almost $3,000 a year for cable, two DVRs, internet and home phone -- you've been Comcasted too. You know the feeling, something isn't working and it's impossible to get them to take care of it. In past years, my wife and I would literally fight over who had to call Comcast to rectify an error.

But this time it was personal, this time their incompetence cost me watching my team play on pay-per-view.

On Friday evening, I ordered the Tennessee's game against Ohio. The game was supposed to cost $24.95 since I was ordering it a day in advance. It cost $29.95, according to the ordering screen. So be it. no big deal. If Comcast only screws me out of $5, I consider it a blessing. I watched college football games all day, the prelude to one of the 12 chances I'll have all season to watch my team play.

Then, came kickoff of Tennessee and Ohio, nothing.

Take a big thick red marker and draw a line through California on the list of top Pac-10 football teams looking to gain some national respect this season.

Isn't that what you do to fraudulent programs that fail to show up in statement games?

Well, that's what happened to Cal, who entered the weekend undefeated and ranked sixth in the AP poll but got hammered by unranked Oregon, 42-3, in a game that wasn't even that close at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore.

Cal might've been looking ahead to next week's showdown with suddenly vulnerable USC, but they certainly sucked all the excitement out of it after getting whipped by the throwback jersey-wearing Oregon Ducks, 42-3.

They probably did just as much harm to Jahvid Best's Heisman campagin. The Ducks shut down the star running back, holding him to 55 yards and also battered Bears' quarterback Kevin Riley into a feeble 123-yard outing.

Saturday's victory is part of a stunning turnaround for Oregon, following its opening night embarrassment against Boise, a game marred by offensive ineptitude and LeGarrette Blount's sucker punch heard 'round the world. Since then, Oregon has beaten Purdue, Utah and now California. Amusingly, the Ducks dominated Cal in a manner similar to how Boise State handled them.