It has been a few weeks since the last time I did Pac Ten Alley. The move over to this new format and address was time consuming during the season. With a bye this week I was able to get it done and published.
I noticed that the site counter went over 100,000 this week which was good to see. When I started the blog we only had two regular members Prrbrr, and Hair of the Dawg. I want to thank those two, everyone else that flowed over from the old site to the new site, plus all the new people who have found us - thank you!
i think the new format is pretty good, and invite you to start using the fan post sections to post your own topics and video. All we really need is for the team to start winning some games and it is going to be very busy in here.
When i began the blog the mission was to stay positive about Husky football. We are doing our best with that after a 0-3 start. With every loss the inevitability of change keeps creeping into the picture. It isn't going to be the focus of the blog but we are going to comment on it.
Puppy Chow
Craig Noble finally received his test score from the California Exit Exam and will be headed to Seattle to enroll in Fall classes. Three weeks into the season means he will likely redshirt or be advised to enroll in January to save a year of eligibility.
Washington will only have three practices this week as they try to heal up the regulars. As is the custom in bye week the frosh who haven't played yet will get a lot of attention and that includes WR's Anthony Boyles, and Cody Bruns who have not played yet this season. The Huskies will also be doing some scrimmaging to address problems on defense such as tackling, and challenges on offense like getting a running game going. The field goal and PAT kicking jobs are also up for grabs this week.
O'Dea's Zach Fogerson was a great pickup to start the 2010 recruiting class. Zach will probably end up being a 3-4 star recruit. He may be the best FB out West in 2010.
Nathan Ware
Nathan Ware asks the questions when will anyone besides USC win the Pac-10 title?
Obviously, it doesn't appear to be this year. The Trojans have already won 6 consecutive titles and 2008 looks like their 7th.
Look ahead at future seasons. Do you see anyone beating USC next year? Probably not. They'll likely be better next season. How about 2010? 2011? 2012? When will it ever end?
Pac Ten Alley
Now it is time to take a walk down the coast to see what the neighbors are up to.
At Oregon Justing Roper is going to be out at least four games with a knee injury. That is the third Duck QB who has gone down with an injured knee in two seasons if you are counting.
Oregon coach Mike Bellotti announced late yesterday that the injury to Justin Roper's left knee is not as serious as they initially thought. "He has a partial tear of his MCL (medial collateral ligament)," Bellotti said after reviewing MRI results of Roper's knee. "They ruled him out this week and only questionable for next week and probable for the following week."
Addicted to Quack chimes in with some thoughts about the QB situation.
All offseason I talked about how Oregon would be very tough to beat if we got B+ play out of our QBs. On Saturday, we got D- play, and we should have lost that game. If this QB play continues, we'll be lucky to go .500 the rest of the season. And I say "QB play" because we will not see Roper for a few weeks. And I don't see this as a bad thing for 3 reasons:
Stanford is sticking with QB Tavita Pritchard.
Despite the fact that the Stanford ranks 116th out of 119 Division I teams in total offense, Cardinal coach Jim Harbaugh said Tuesday that he is sticking with junior Tavita Pritchard as his starting quarterback.
How did Arizona lose to New Mexico again?
Face it, we all expected more out of quarterback Willie Tuitama. The Cats’ senior accounted for four of the Wildcats’ five touchdowns, two interceptions and the two fumbles. More telling was Tuitama’s inability to drive the Cats for a score with the team down eight points with 1:30 remaining. The Wildcats went-three-and-out. Tuitama finished by completing 27 of 50 passes for 321 yards — not his worst statistical performance, by any stretch — but his turnovers were deadly.
The Beaver Blog talks about students wearing orange for the USC game.
As some of you may have heard, the student body of this fine institution is organizing an "Orange Out" for September 25th's 6:00pm nationally televised game against the USC Trojans. You may find it silly that the students would propose an orange out, because most Beaver fans wear orange to Reser Stadium each Saturday. However, although a large contingent of Beaver Nation does wear Orange, there is still a decent sized group of fans who opt for other colors- white, gray, black, etc. It is our goal to get this minority decked out in orange.
Notre Dame's Rakes of Mallow is wallowing in the pride of beating Michigan. By the way guys Michigan isn't very good. I think Michigan State spanks them this week and sends them back to earth.
Last week I wrote two pieces, "Five Reasons Notre Dame Loses to Michigan" and "Five Reasons Notre Dame Beats Michigan." Now, after a few days of basking long-awaited glow of beating the Wolverines, let's look back and see how well my predictions fared.
Scott Wulf who follows the Trojans only has them rated #3 in the polls. what kind of crazy stuff is that?
Apparently, I did not get the memo Saturday night when it came time to vote in The Associated Press top 25 poll. I was one of only three voters who did not select USC as the nation's No. 1 team. There were 61 other voters who disagreed with us. The coaches' poll was almost identical, with 57 of 61 votes going for the Trojans. I have no problem being in the minority. As Groucho Marx said, "I don't care to belong to any club that would have me as a member."
The House of Sparky thinks the Pac Ten is a joke.
I am disgusted.
Disgusted that we could lose to UNLV at home. Angry that their quarterback knew just how to pick apart our supposedly solid defense. Depressed that our season is circling the drain, and can only be salvaged by running the table and going to the Rose Bowl.
But the worst part?
I didn't think it could ever happen. I was 100% certain we would be 3-0 next week, taking on Georgia in a battle of conference supremacy.Today, we learned the Pac-10 is a joke. Outside of USC, we are a horrible conference with very little talent at this point in the season. Oregon looks suspect at best, and everyone else lost. Oregon State? Meh. UCLA lost by FIFTY NINE POINTS and didn't score ANY.
UCLA is running casting calls this week after the historical beating they took last Saturday.
UCLA's practice Tuesday had the appearance of a casting call, as Bruins coaches responded to being blown out, 59-0, by Brigham Young by trying to shake up an offense that has produced two touchdowns in two games.
Some interesting comments from the WSU football blog.
Happy Hump Day Cougar Nation. Hope you’re having a good week. Well, with the exception of some stragglers, we had one of our better weekend of comments that I can ever remember. For the most part, you all offered some really strong insights and conclusions. One of your remarks that stood out for yours truly concerned Brinkhater’s not-so-nimble prediction that we would finish 6th in the conference and would head to our first bowl in several years.
California was upset by Maryland last week but the California Golden Blog is making the best of it by exploring the Washington DC area drinking establishments.
Well, we all know how the Maryland game went - hot, humid, muggy, and disappointing. But, all was not lost. Those of us who went to the game had a blast cavorting around DC, visiting the various establishments of the alcohol trade, and meeting many more Cal fans than you might expect to find concentrated 3000 miles away from our shining campanile.