Oregon State @ Washington:  The Beavers will need to dispose of a Husky team that most are predicting in the top third of the conference on the road to get to their bye week in position to control their fate down the stretch.  While the Beavers play Arizona a week earlier and also on the road, no one believes someone will run the table in conference so a loss would not be devastating to their hopes.  Follow that loss with a lackluster showing in Seattle a week later, however; they will watch their fate slip out of their grasp before the calendar turns November.

All-Everything Quarterback Jake Locker should keep things interesting on Montlake this season

The game wouldn’t be on the list if both teams weren’t looking serious as contenders and Jake Locker is enough of a threat to put the Dawgs in that category.  The Huskies certainly need to beat USC in LA for morale and psychological reasons, but this game is against a team that can actually win the title themselves so a head to head victory would play huge in the Pac-10’s convoluted tiebreak scenarios.  With trips to Arizona, Oregon, and Cal on the back side of the schedule, holding serve at home is going to be huge for a Washington team that is still unproven around Locker.  Beat the Beavers, who have finished one game away from the Roses the past two seasons and own a six game winning streak in the series, and suddenly the Montlake Jake for Heisman campaign blows up and the self-proclaimed “sleeping giant” is awakened.

The New Farm is smaller, but still every bit as intimidating as the original

Arizona @ Stanford:  The Cats took another step lastseason under Mike Stoops and were a double OT melee loss to Oregon away from clinching the school’s first Rose Bowl berth.  They are the most underestimated of the teams looking to fill the post-USC power vacuum but a victory on The Farm 2.0 against another contender in Stanford and the conference will be forced to take notice.  Even without dismissed WR Delashaun Dean, the Cats have depth and proven targets for Foles at the skill positions on offense and the defense is anchored by Trevin Wade, who picked a team high five passes in 2009.

As a certain college football show host says:  “You don’t just walk into Stanford Stadium, and push around the Cardinal!”  While the atmosphere is not enough to make the controller shake on your ps3, the danger of the small game feel is always there for the visitors on a trip to Palo Alto.  It may not matter if they play the game underwater the way Andrew Luck looked for most of 2009.  He makes all the throws and has touch that cannot be taught and has great creatability when the play breaks down.  If the Cardinal can replace the production of Heisman finalist and absolute horse Toby Gerhert, and that’s a broad shouldered if, they will still have plenty to play for when this one rolls around.

Stanford @ Oregon:  Luck and Co. check in again at number three not only because they are one of the most dangerous offenses in the conference but also because they were able to do enough to get past the Ducks last season.   While most of the damage (try 38, 223, and 3, which topped his single game carry total by 9) was done by the departed Toby Gerhart, it was the long strikes Luck was able to hit in the passing game that ultimately proved too much to overcome.  The defense gave up 42, but when it mattered they got the stops they needed and that is something the Ducks D could not say and they did that after losing starting MLB Clinton Snyder earlier in the week to an injury.  All that was last season though and now the Cardinal have a chance to prove they can beat a contender on the road not as 41 point underdogs, but a team everyone is expecting and ready for.

Whoever is getting the QB reps should be mostly worked out by this time game and the Ducks will need stability out of their offense against a team that hung 51 on them last season in their only Pac-10 loss.  Up until this point the Ducks biggest test will be their trip to Knoxville in week 2 but Tennessee has their own issues and Oregon should be strongly favored even on the road.  Most expect them to be undefeated heading into this home conference test and with a schedule that offers no breaks in the final four weeks, getting off to a strong start will be critical to staying in the race.

The Zona Zoo

USC @ Arizona:  I know, I just said another game wasn’t under consideration because it involved SC and they can’t officially earn a conference title regardless of how many games they win, but this is their biggest chance all season to play spoiler.  Every program in the conference is still trying to assert themselves longterm and take advantage of the sanctions against the Trojans, but no other program has won back to back conferences since 1990 and 1991 when Washington did it and Oregon’s outright titles last season and in 2001 are the only ones not to go to USC in the last decade.  If the Trojans are able to win this one it will likely cripple Arizona’s title hopes.

Since we are talking history, Arizona won their only share of a conference title in 1993 when they shared it with the two LA schools.  The Bruins ended up in the Grandaddy after beating USC in the finale and already having defeated the Cats earlier that year.  Last season Mike Stoops got the Wildcats as close as they have been since.  With Stanford the week before and a late season bye on the horizon before a rematch with Oregon, this game is a dangerous one for Arizona because they will be playing for their season against a team with nothing to lose.  With the final game being against a fledgling ASU program, beating USC could really give Arizona a stranglehold on the conference at this point in the season.

The Ducks are always public enemy number 1 in Corvallis, but last year's game has heightened the stakes in the rivalry

Oregon @ Oregon State:  Last season’s Civil War was the first with the Roses on the line and look for this season to feature the second.  Oregon is strong enough and has the athletes ready to step in and contribute in order to compensate for an untested QB.  Both Costa and Thomas are green in terms of game experience, but they both have multiple years of experience in Chip Kelly’s spread-option system and dynamic weapons around them and five returning starters on the O-Line.  The defense has a couple guys in new places in Eddie Pleasant and Dion Jordan, but overall they are loaded with experience and have talented enough depth to keep people fresh.  Not having to face Sean Canfield, who took control during the middle quarters of last year’s game, should help out too.

Revenge is a dish best served cold and the Beavers will be looking to serve up a couple huge helpings when the Ducks come calling in early December.  The last two years have ended in agony for Beaver fans at the hands of the hated Ducks.  Both times the Beavers have entered with a chance to break through and go to Pasadena and both times the Ducks have been there.  If OSU wants, like stanford, to take the step from darling to contender, they need to win this game.  Ryan Katz will have an entire season under his belt and will get his first taste of action in the CW at home and with the benefit of perhaps the two most explosive players in the conference in the Rodgers brothers.  Steven Paea caused major problems for the Ducks in last year’s game with his strength and ability to get a hand on the football when it’s left unprotected.  The OSU defense has really been the downfall the past two seasons when Mark Banker’s group was just shredded two years ago and then outmaneuvered in the second half last year.  Another defensive letdown with Roses on the line could put the heat on Banker who has yet to find an answer for Chip Kelly’s schemes.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 at 4:01 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.