Nick Daschel is a veteran sports writer and columnist who has worked on the West coast for nearly three decades. Nick has covered the Pac-10 for about 15 years, primarily focusing on the Northwest schools.
Washington: Easy, Husky fans. Take a deep breath. Could the play calling be better, with a little more Jake Locker on the run, and just plain more running? Perhaps. But this can’t be said enough: rebuilding teams in Washington’s situation don’t have a stockpile of quality depth. The Huskies have to use some starters on special teams, while the developed programs like USC and Oregon rest their studs. That takes a toll. You think Steve Sarkisian wouldn’t like to unleash Locker, and not worry about injuries to Chris Polk? I think he would. But the pickings are lean behind Locker and Polk, and Sarkisian may be playing it cautiously. But feel free to criticize Sark about his annoying habit of pocketing timeouts. Terrence Austin’s no-catch for a touchdown demanded to replay booth analysis, and it was more than worth using a timeout. Grade: C
Washington State: It’s hard to knock this particular performance against Arizona, when it looks like a mirror image of many other sorry Cougar outings of 2008 and 2009. This statistic pretty much says it all: Washington State has been outscored 248-40 during the first half this season. Seriously, time to end this season. Now. Grade: F
Oregon: Honestly, I didn’t this one coming. And usually, I do. Most college teams north of Florida and USC have a heck of a time the following week after scoring a program-defining win, as was the case with Oregon’s win over USC. I thought this Duck team was different. It has a defense to go with an offense that cannot be stopped. Turns out, nope, just another college football team. The Ducks weren’t ready to play defense against a good, rested Stanford squad. And even though Oregon’s offense racked up 570 yards, it played uphill all game long. The Ducks’ offense didn’t take control from outset, and that wasn’t good enough on a day when the defense failed to show up. Grade: C-plus
Oregon State: Has anyone mentioned that Sean Canfield might be the Pac-10’s Offensive Player of the Year? Well, consider it said here, that the OSU senior quarterback, at the very least, ought to be included in the discussion. All Canfield does every Saturday this season is complete nearly 70 percent of his passes for around 300 yards. He did it again against California in leading the Beavers to a romp over California on a day when the Rodgers brothers weren’t running amok. There hasn’t been a more consistently productive quarterback in the Pac-10 this season than Canfield. Grade: A
California: Sorry, but I’ve got to go easy on the Bears today because of the horrific-looking injury to running back Jahvid Best. Though before Best’s second quarter injury, Cal was well on the way to showing it will be the Pac-10 phoniest team of the upcoming bowl season. Grade: B-minus
Stanford: If the Cardinal ever gets this road thing figured out, they’ll be a damn tough team to beat in a bowl game. The Cardinal hammered Oregon’s defense like no team has this season. Andrew Luck, not Matt Barkley, has become the Pac-10’s best first-year quarterback. Though Stanford’s defense gave up 42 points and 570 yards, it set the tone early in the game with several nice stops. Grade: A
USC: It was a win, yes. But outside of injured-riddled Oklahoma, is there a traditional power this season that looks more vulnerable than USC? The Trojans ran a total of three plays in Arizona State territory. There’s talk that USC is back in the Pac-10 title race after Oregon’s loss at Stanford. Yes, that’s true. But it’s also just as likely that the Trojans are in the Sun Bowl race, too. The way USC’s struggling offense is performing, the Trojans could easily lose one or two more games down the stretch. Grade: C-plus
UCLA: With more than 600 yards during the past five quarters, you have to conclude UCLA is making strides on offense. Sort of. But for all those yards, there were five turnovers. And a touchdown catch by the Bruins’ Terrence Austin that should have been overturned by the replay boobs. And a defense that gave up over six yards per rushing play to Washington. And an opponent in the Huskies who suddenly can’t figure out how to win a close game. Other than that, it was a swell day in the Rose Bowl. Grade: B-minus.
Arizona State: When ASU’s season is analyzed down the road, the loss to USC will surely get labeled as the lost opportunity of 2009. The Sun Devils defense played too well to lose. At least Dennis Erickson wasn’t afraid to pull the trigger and give true freshman Brock Osweiler a shot after Danny Sullivan once again proved he’s not a Pac 10-caliber quarterback. Grade: C-plus
Arizona: What can you say about the Wildcats’ rump-roasting of Washington State, other than, that was sure humiliating for the Cougars. The margin was 41 points, and it could have been 141 if Mike Stoops wanted to rub it in. Grade: A
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