Bye week musings: Pac-10

L.A.'s teams had a collective bye week so I figured it would be a great chance to catch up on some West Coast football.

Actually, that's not true. One L.A. football team was in action. Occidental, ranked No. 11 in Division III, fell in the first round of the playoffs. Another reminder of what D-I doesn't have.

Anyway, let's keep it gossipy and avoid too many pesky stats today. Consider this your sports talk radio primer ...

Washington State 16, Washington State 13, 2OT:

• The Apple Cup was fun to follow, just for laughs. Washington and Washington State are probably the worst two teams in America (definitely the worst, if you ask ESPN). It's the first time in conference history that a pair of 10-loss teams played each other. Michael Lev of the Orange County Register and I started calling this year's edition the Cumquat Cup, since it was the most inconsequential fruit we could think of. Plus, it's also known as "dwarf fruit" — a good description of both team's stature in college football.
• Wazzu proved to be slightly less inept than Washington, pulling out a mildly amusing comeback. The 29 combined points might have been a historic low for a double-overtime game. I thumbed through the record books and confirmed it's the worst offensive output going back to the start of the 2003 season. Together, they had slightly more offensive yards (661) than Oklahoma alone had against Texas Tech (625). And that game merely lasted four quarters (if you watched, the Sooners needed all of two).
  
• Washington has one more game, at Cal, which should seal a perfect 0-12 record for outgoing Coach Tyrone Willingham. I'm still dumbfounded that he held a news conference to announce that he was fired, then kept coaching. Remember, he had the leverage of his contract. He could have forced an immediate break by not showing up to the news conference, demanded that they announce after the season, or simply said it was his own (or a mutual) decision. Either of the last two options would have allowed him to "finish the job," and he could have walked away with a shred of dignity. At least Green Day made him a tribute video.

Cal 37, Stanford 16:

• I went to the Big Game and it felt like some sort of college football alternate reality. The train station on the way into Berkeley was strewn with empty latte cups instead of beer cans, and I overheard students talking about Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan. Stereotype upheld.
• After the first quarter, a contestant tried to throw a football 25 yards through a small target for $500,000. It fell short, bounced ... and went in. The crowd went wild until the announcer said it didn't count. He hit a second, closer throw and won free groceries for a year. The fans weren't sure if they should cheer for him or boo the organizers for withholding the big prize.
• The most universal applause might have come when an errant pass hit a referee squarely on his dome.
• Stanford's band is pretty innovative, but this is the first time I've seen cyclical percussion. A guy was basically strapped into a mini Ferris wheel and spun head over heels while drumming. Props to them for keeping up a party atmosphere after a rough loss to their top rival.
• Speaking of atmosphere, Cal's cheerleaders were a pleasant surprise. Their postgame was more like a dance party than the ho-hum traditional stuff. Very nice.
• Oh, right. Game. It wasn't close. Woulda' been nice to see Stanford use Alex Loukas more. After a slow first half, trick plays and turnovers killed the Cardinal, who are now bowl ineligible. These teams feature premier tailbacks who will be a force next year in the conference.

Oregon State 19, Arizona 17:

• This was a comeback thriller. Unlike the Cumquat Cup, it mattered. Both teams are bowl-bound, but a field goal as time expired kept the Beavers on pace for the Granddaddy. Their Rose Bowl hopes all comes down to the final regular season game against Oregon.
• We'll probably hear a few "shoulder the pressure" jokes about Oregon State. It didn't use starting quarterback Lyle Moevao because of an earlier shoulder injury, and star-in-the-making Jacquizz Rodgers hurt his in the first quarter. Now that Cal has played every team in the Pac-10 (except Washington, but they don't count) I asked some of their linebackers about the league's best tailbacks. Rodgers' name always came up.
• Let's say Oregon State gets to the Rose Bowl and is dinged up. That's bad news, because the team was healthy when Penn State blew it out early in the year. The Nittany Lions clinched the Big Ten on Saturday and will be in Pasadena on New Year's Day. Could be a bad rematch.

Bowl thoughts:

• The Pac-10 has six bowl contracts in addition to the Rose Bowl. If Oregon State beats Oregon and plays in Pasadena, USC will probably wind up in a different BCS game. That leaves three other bowl eligible Pac-10 teams for six games. Whoops. Arizona State or UCLA could slip into the mix; only one will even have a shot. They play each other Friday. Whoever wins that game must beat their archrival (Arizona for ASU, USC for UCLA). Both are tall tasks.
• After this season, the Pac-10's six bowl contracts are finished. They'll probably renegotiate a few, but there could be some changes. All of this should happen before the retirement of Commissioner Tom Hansen.

—Adam Rose

Comments

[JosephineBruin]

Two Bruins received Rhodes Scholarships to Oxford yesterday. Football player Chris Joseph and Rugby Player
Scott Hugo. Congrats!!!

Also congrats to the women's soccer team on their win over the trojans to go to the elite 8.

[Happy4LA]

Adam, thanks for this post ... nice recap of the weekend in college football. Of course if UCLA does become bowl eligible, usc likely won't be invited to any BCS bowl and will be playing in the Holiday Bowl (?). I'm too lazy to look up if a 2 loss usc team still comes in 2nd place. And what happens if OSU and usc both lose their last games. Status quo?