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.
The Pac-10 has suspended one of its officials for failing to throw a flag on a facemasking penalty committed by USC safety Taylor Mays on Oregon State receiver James Rodgers, the latest in a long line of high-profile missed calls by college football officials this year.
So is this the year someone besides USC wins the Pac-10 title and gains the automatic BCS bowl berth?
If there is ever a year for USC to get chased from behind and caught, this is this year. The Trojans are breaking in a new quarterback in Aaron Corp and replacing several departed starters to the NFL draft.
So who's it going to be? Cal? Can the Golden Bears overcome early-season trap games and win the games they are supposed to and make it interesting? Can Oregon beat USC at home and win difficult road games and take the title? And how about Oregon State? Do Mike Riley teams always have to start 1-3 before getting into high gear?
And what about the rest of the field? Is this Stanford's breakout year? Is UCLA ready to become a Pac-10 factor again? And is Arizona really the third worst team in the conference as it was picked by the media? These are all intriguing questions that will be worked out in the coming weeks.
Our standings preview and records predictions are after the jump.
LOS ANGELES -- USC was picked to win the Pac-10 football title for the seventh consecutive year by the media, and yet the coaches from all nine competitors -- including Arizona's Mike Stoops (right) and even USC coach Pete Carroll -- touched on the uncertainty of the Trojans this season.
USC received 28 of the 32 votes with California receiving three while third-place Oregon collected one vote. The Trojans will be breaking in a new quarterback and several new defenders since 11 players were taken in the NFL Draft. Perhaps this is the year another school emerges and takes the crown out of Los Angeles, but they approached Thursday precariously and with respect. There were no declarations that USC is going down or the reign is over -- not even from UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel.
LOS ANGELES -- Perhaps there was a reason Pete Carroll pleaded with Mark Sanchez to return to USC for his senior season. He knew his Trojans would lose their gorilla grip on the Pac-10, and that is the enduring theme entering the conference's media day Thursday at the LAX Sheraton Hotel.
The Trojans are not the prohibitive favorites, but the precarious favorites with a slew of teams chasing them. But there's one major catch in their pursuit, most of the conference teams -- outside Washington -- are breaking in a new or less experienced quarterback. USC should be voted the favorites Thursday, but who is second?
Pity the poor Pac-10; its revenues are barely half of the SEC, Big Ten, and, shudder, the ACC.
As a result, the Pac-10 is exploring a route that has already made it rain on the SEC and the Big Ten, starting their own network. The Big Ten started their own network in conjunction with FOX and netted $66 million from the network last year. Rather than start their own network, the SEC partnered with CBS and ESPN. Beginning this year the SEC will bring in -- wait for it -- $205 million a year just from television rights. Why does that matter? The Pac-10 conference had revenues of just $88.78 million in 2007. Yep, by 2009, the SEC will triple the Pac-10 in sports revenue. That's a huge deal in the arm's race that is major collegiate sports.
Fortunately, as a lover of all things college football, I'm here to help the Pac-10 ensure their network is a hit. How do we do that? Programming, baby, it's all about the programming.
Since 2002, the Pac-10 has been derisively called USC and the nine dwarves. Its more than a little unfair, but that's the prevailing wisdom. Although the conference is consistently among the deepest and most competitive around, USC's monopolized that top spot. Any chance of that changing this year begins with decisions those programs make this spring.
A member of the Oregon legislature plans to introduce a bill that would require the state's public universities, including Oregon and Oregon State, to interview at least one minority before hiring a head football coach.
The law would be modeled on the NFL's "Rooney Rule," which has been in place for six years and has coincided with an increase in African-American head coaches in the NFL.
FanHouse's lead-up to college football's signing day makes like Charles Dickens and looks at the Ghosts of Recruiting -- past, present and future. In the Ghosts of Recruiting Present, we document prominent recruiting makes and misses that changed programs
Part of the fun of recruiting is looking at what could have been. And so it seems we wonder what could have been for Texas this year if they had brought in the Smurfish home-state Rodgers brothers out of Richmond/Lamar Consolidated -- James and Jacquizz. You know, those two guys up at Oregon State of all places. One ushered in a revival of the "fly sweep" in college football and the other won Pac-10 Freshman and Offensive Player of the Year honors after single-handedly making mincemeat of the otherwise impenetrable USC defense.
FanHouse gathers around the TV to bring you insights from Bowl Season '08.
It will take an epically bad game to top the putridity of the 75th Sun Bowl. Pitt and Oregon State pillow fought their way to a 3-0 Oregon State win. This was downright colossal in disturbingly bad offensive performances.
There are games where the numbers don't tell the story. This game is not one of them. Only two drives that got into the red zone, five turnovers, eleven sacks, thirteen three-and-outs, twenty punts, and less than 500 total yards between the two teams.
Admittedly both teams were diminished on offense. Oregon State was playing without the Pac-10's Offensive Player and Freshman of the Year in running back Jacquizz Rodgers, along with Rodgers' older brother -- the second leading rusher and third in receiving. Pitt was without their starting center and left tackle on the offensive line.
Predictably, neither team was going to produce big numbers. Still, this was well below any expectations.
NCAA Football 
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.
So is this the year someone besides USC wins the Pac-10 title and gains the automatic BCS bowl berth? 
LOS ANGELES -- USC was picked to win the Pac-10 football title for the seventh consecutive year by the media, and yet the coaches from all nine competitors -- including Arizona's Mike Stoops (right) and even USC coach 
LOS ANGELES -- Perhaps there was a reason 
Pity the poor 
College Football Spring Storylines 2009
A member of the Oregon legislature plans to introduce a bill that would require the state's public universities, including Oregon and Oregon State, to interview at least one minority before hiring a head football coach.
FanHouse's lead-up to college football's signing day makes like Charles Dickens and looks at the 
FanHouse gathers around the TV to bring you insights from 
