Was the knee of Notre Dame's Robert Hughes down, or not, on the controversial 2-point conversion run? That is at the forefront for Washington fans heading into the week as they wonder what life would be like with a 3-2 record after last year's disasterous season.
On to the weekly grades:
Washington: If this were the 0-12 team of a year ago, you’d give Washington’s performance against Notre Dame an A. But it’s not. It’s clear this is a team capable making a run at a .500 season. I thought Jake Locker would have his best game of the season at Notre Dame, and he was close, though he’s still Tim Tebow Lite, because Tebow would have put away those goal line opportunities. Chris Polk may not have Jahvid Best’s electric burst, but is there a tougher running back in the Pac-10 right now? Play this game two years from now, and the Huskies might stroll to a win. It’s going to take two years of weight room and upgrading on the offensive and defensive lines to turn around what was the difference at Notre Dame Stadium: the talent and will to win in the fourth quarter by the big guys on the field. Grade: B
Washington State: Former Cougar coach and current radio analyst Jim Walden called WSU a “junior varsity team” during its embarrassing performance against Oregon. The Ducks’ spread offense can make good defenses look ill-prepared, so it’s no surprise they made the Cougars look like cardboard cutouts. Offensively, four first downs when playing against the Ducks’ second string for almost half the game? Even WSU should do better than that. Every time it looks like the Cougars are beginning to take a step forward, it slips four steps backward. Nothing good came from Saturday’s game. Grade: F
Oregon State: Sean Canfield isn’t losing his quarterback job to Lyle Moevao any time soon. He continues to sling it at a high percentage, but unlike last week against Arizona, Canfield made some big plays downfield against Arizona State. That was more like the Oregon State defense I’m used to seeing: tenacious, opportunistic and unrelenting on the quarterback. Next Saturday’s game against Stanford should be the country’s sneaky good game of the week. Grade: A-minus
Oregon: Much was written in preseason about the Pac-10 wealth of good defenses, but rarely, if ever, was Oregon mentioned among them. Five games into the season, you can’t start a serious discussion about Pac-10 defense without talking Oregon. The Ducks may not have USC’s star power, but they’re just about as effective as the Trojans. And Oregon’s offense is no longer emerging. It has arrived. Now that the Ducks have decided to make Ed Dickson part of the game plan again, they’re darn near unstoppable. Right now, I’d have to make Oregon a 3-point favorite over USC on Oct. 31. Grade: A
California: Is there much debate that Cal is the country’s most disappointing team as of Oct. 4? While it’s not a huge surprise that the Bears could lose on consecutive weeks to Oregon and USC, it’s a paddle-worthy shocking that they couldn’t score a touchdown against either defense and lost by an aggregate count of 72-6. Best has said goodbye to his Heisman hopes, and perhaps Kevin Riley should say goodbye to the starting quarterback job. And what happened to a Cal defense that looked to be as good as any in the Pac-10 in August? Grade: F
Stanford: Other than another second-half snooze by the defense, this was a top-rate performance by Stanford. Toby Gerhart is making a run at Pac-10 offensive Player of the Year after recording his fourth 100-yard game in five tries this season. Gerhart embodies what Stanford football has become under coach Jim Harbaugh: tough and unrelenting. If there’s one nit, it’s quarterback Andrew Luck. So far, the Cardinal hasn’t needed him to win a game, but they will at some point. Is he capable? Doesn’t look like it yet. Grade: B-plus
USC: As I wrote Saturday night, be very afraid of USC. The Trojans always have an early to mid-season lull, then wake up. This one sort of came on cue. Taylor Mays has returned, Matt Barkley has regained his health, and the Trojans are full of needing to prove themselves. It was a bad combination for the corpse known as Cal. Other than Oregon, I can’t see any team in the Pac-10 scoring more than 17 points on the Trojan defense as it is now configured. Grade: A
UCLA: Finally, the Bruins ran into a better team. Not even a bye week was enough to fix the Bruins’ offensive problems. It’s going to take a couple years of growing up, not a bye week, to take care of that. On the other hand, UCLA’s defense is ready now. Except it wasn’t Saturday. The Bruins allowed Stanford’s offense and Gerhart control the game, and didn’t force a turnover. When UCLA’s defense comes in second best, the Bruins aren’t going to beat many teams. Grade: C
Arizona State: Good thing there’s Cal, otherwise the weight of Pac-10 scorn would fall directly on the Sun Devils. ASU was out of it from the get-go against Oregon State. What was supposed to be an emerging defense couldn’t handle the Beavers’ playmakers. And quarterback Danny Sullivan? Has anyone thrown for a more meaningless 338 yards in college football history? The offensive line has to take some of the blame for Sullivan’s problems, but still, you’re a senior. It’s probably time to look elsewhere for a quarterback. Grade: D-plus
Arizona: Bye week.
Nick Daschel covers the Pac-10 for Buster Sports, and can be reached at ndaschel@bustersports.com
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Comments
Fact is, Masoli can't hold Locker's jock strap and Locker has had a heck of a year while playing the best competition of the season out of any Pac 10 team. Lets see how the mighty Ducks play outside of their home cookin'....oh wait, we already saw that. Yikes.
Can't wait until October 24th. Here is to hoping Oregon is still riding high at that point so we can give a game to another top-10 team....