The fact that Arizona State was tied 14-14 with Northern Arizona entering the fourth quarter should be a major cause for concern for Sun Devils fans. ASU always seems to be one of those teams with very high expectations that often fails to deliver.

Anyone heard from Other FSU? Watching Fresno St game and waiting to hear from him.

Can't believe I've blown off nonfootball-friendly friends tomorrow to spend most of the day in front of the television.

2006 dream: to meet a man who understands...

I predict they will be the Pac-10 downward surprise.

Can't predict yet the upward surprise. WSU? OSU? Stanford? Arizona? UCLA to surprise USC/Cal/Oregon? Can't wait to see.

No team in the Pac-10 is a clear favorite.

Hell, no team in the nation is a clear favorite. That's going to make it a great college football season.

quote:

"...Can't believe I've blown off nonfootball-friendly friends tomorrow to spend most of the day in front of the television."

2006 dream: to meet a man who understands"

Sounds like me. I certainly understand!...But I'm taken already. frown

I'm sorry...but wtf Cal?

My Pac-10 thoughts: Stanford looked unbelievably bad today... stunningly and astonishingly bad. Cal is nowhere near a Top 10 team like many people (including me) thought. Oregon looked as good as advertised though next week's game at Fresno State will be a much stiffer test than Stanford and will tell a lot more about the Ducks. And who thought UCLA would blow out Utah? The Bruins were impressive. Washington barely surviving at home against San Jose State does not bode well for the Huskies.

Edited to add: USC's win at Arkansas was unbelievably dominant. The Hogs were completely outclassed on their home field and USC looks like it almost hasn't missed a beat. And sadly, all this talk about a resurgent Arizona Wildcats team? Zona looked exactly like it did last year and the year before that... below average.

[ September 02, 2006, 10:38 PM: Message edited by: TheOtherFSU ]

The Bears were stunned. Guess it should have been expected - a new qb - 100,000+ fans making noise. A reality check.

GO DUCKS! Pretty exciting game - kind of a messy first quarter. Will the Ducks rock the Pac-10?

Former UCLA head coach Bob Toledo, now the new offensive coordinator at New Mexico, fared horribly tonight. New Mexico, playing at home, did not score a TD and managed just two field goals in a loss to Division I-AA Portland State, 17-6. Ouch.

Portland State also plays Cal and Oregon this year. That's a very ambitious schedule for a I-AA team.

[ September 02, 2006, 08:46 PM: Message edited by: TheOtherFSU ]

If yesterday's games are any indication of what's to come for the Pac-10, I'd say the title will be decided between USC, UCLA & Oregon. All 3 looked quite impresssive...On another note, either Cal was overrated or the Vols were underrated. I believe the answer is both. If I were Tedford I'd stick w/ Ajoob. Longshore looked rattled, intimidated & not sure of himself, which are not leadership qualities. If Ajoob returns to last year's form, Cal will probably challenge for the title. But right now I'm not so sure.

It's still several days away but I'm already pumped for Saturday's Oregon-Fresno State game. Any other Outsportsers going to this one?

The Ducks looked great against Stanford in all phases last week. Fresno State is still breaking in a new QB and lost some key players from last season's team so I'm not sure how this one's going to play out. The Bulldogs have not lost a non-conference home game since 1998 and I know the team will be fired up bigtime. The last time a ranked Pac-10 team visited Fresno was in 2001 when 10th-ranked Oregon State came to town and went home a 44-24 loser. Should be a good one. Any predictions?

Hey Other,

I'd love to drive over to Fresno for the game on Saturday, but NONE of my friends wants to go with me (and I hate to do road trips alone - it's BORING). Had fantasies today of renting a cheap motel room, showing up in my DUCKS cap, DUCKS WINNING OF COURSE, going to the local gay bar, flirting with cute FSU fans, etc. - you get the drift.

Wanna bet? Ducks 35, FSU 27. I'll buy you a drink regardless!

Smooch,
R

This one's not going to be easy. You got the road game at Fresno which is always a tough place to play, and you also have the look ahead factor to Oklahoma coming to town next week.

Still, I think Belotti will keep the Ducks focused enough for the Ducks to pull off a close 38-34 victory since every game for the past couple of years have been close. Jonathan Stewart should be ready to go on Saturday. I'm expecting a lot out of Jeremiah Johnson on Saturday since I don't think Stewart will get as many carries as he did last week due to his ankle.

I should have been more organized and planned a road trip this weekend!

[ September 06, 2006, 07:51 AM: Message edited by: Mariner Duck Guy ]

I'm very torn on this one. I would never count out a Pat Hill-coached team when it is focused. Sure the Bulldogs sometimes self-destruct and lose interest when they're in the middle of the WAC season, but they traditionally play their best games of the year against the best teams on the schedule. And playing at home with a standing-room-only crowd on national TV against a ranked opponent? That rarely happens. I give Belloti a lot of credit for even scheduling that game.

Considering that Oregon's outstanding 10-1 team barely beat the Bulldogs by a FG in Eugene last season (and with the help of the Pac-10 officiating crew I might add), I say the 'Dogs get revenge and win 28-24 this time.

The close games in this series are pretty amazing. Oregon's wins over Fresno State have been by the following margins: by 3 in OT in 1996, by 3 in double OT in 1997, by 4 in 2002 and by 3 last year. Fresno State's wins in the series have been by 7 and 6 points. The teams meet in Eugene again next year too.

And why does it always seem like Dan Fouts is up in the booth calling every Ducks game on TV? I see he's part of the announcing team again this week. Aargh!

Oh, and Mel Kiper was on ESPN Radio talking a little about the game and said he hopes Oregon isn't looking ahead to Oklahoma because they're actually playing a team better than the Sooners this week.

[ September 06, 2006, 08:55 AM: Message edited by: TheOtherFSU ]

Oregon has some cool games in the upcoming years...and its weird that this is scheduled so far in advance. They have Michigan next year to complete the home/away series, Purdue in 2008 & 2009, Tennessee in 2010 & 2013, Colorado in 2014 & 2017 and Georgia in 2015 & 2016.

When's Willingham going to get Washington back to being a decent-to-good team again? It sucks being up here in Seattle and not having a home team to root for ... except for the Seahawks!

It seems that Willingham's coaching abilities went downhill after he left Stanford. Maybe he needs better assistants & recruiting scouts.

Hey Other and others -

Thought OSU would win tonight - love the IDEA of Boise St winning - but - that blue field? - always for the underdogs -

Can't help but wondering - after trying to stay awake for the FSU/Miami game - WTF?

Tune in: ESPNADD!

To rephrase Shakespeare:

"The First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All the Sports Media."

The original quote (500 years ago):

The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers. Henry IV, Part 2

DO DUCKS!

Slurp,
Rob

[ September 07, 2006, 07:33 PM: Message edited by: weirdblackdog ]

Boise State rolling up 42 straight points on Oregon State last night was great to see! The Broncos' offense is really amazing year after year (oh, except for last year when they were held to 7 points at Fresno State).

Even all the standing-room-only seats (at $32 apiece just to stand on the upper concourse of the stadium) were sold by yesterday afternoon for Oregon-Fresno State this weekend. Can't wait.

[ September 08, 2006, 11:56 AM: Message edited by: TheOtherFSU ]

Boise State is always fun to watch although it's always hard to adjust watching them play on that blue turf. I give OSU credit for going into Boise. It's always dangerous for a team to travel to Boise or Fresno.

The game tomorrow between the Oregon and FSU should be a good one. Jeremiah Johnson will be the starter for tomorrow's game, but if Oregon can't move the ball on the ground, expect to see Jonathan Stewart in the game. I'm also expecting Dennis Dixon to show more of his mobility & speed than he did last week against Stanford.

At least the game is at 7pm tomorrow night. I had the AIDS walk in the morning and plans in the afternoon so I was afraid I was going to miss the game.

GO DUCKS.

MDG, we have 4 tickets and I'm going with my BF and his sister along with her boyfriend who just happens to be an Oregon grad. He is actually planning on wearing a Ducks t-shirt (against my better judgment because I told him it could get very ugly and I know the stadium is going to be extremely rowdy). You really should've gone to this game, y'know. Heck, I would've even treated you to two tickets if I'd planned a little better. I'm sure Oregon will have a pretty sizable crowd of its own there tomorrow.


[ September 08, 2006, 01:35 PM: Message edited by: TheOtherFSU ]

Goodluck to my Pac-10 brothers & sisters. May you win out today! wink

My Trojans have a bye & don't play until next Sat...Beat the Huskers!

Fight On!

What a frustrating game last night in Fresno. My voice probably won't return for another 24 hours... it was soooo loud, and such a long and draining game. I can't believe how evenly matched Fresno State and Oregon are year after year. The 'Dogs were one huge freshman mistake away from winning I believe. I've never seen a college game that featured that weird blocked FG play (I know about the Leon Lett one). Leave it to some dang freshman to try to play hero and grab the ball after a HUGE blocked field goal that would've given the Bulldogs the ball with the score tied in the second half. Later, I thought Bellotti made a smart move by calling the fake FG with 4 minutes left. (Even though everyone around me was screaming to watch the fake a minute before it happened, it seemed to catch the Bulldogs by surprise for some reason.) Usually, Fresno State's special teams are mentioned as close to the best in the country, but they had their worst game I can ever remember last night. Credit the Ducks. I think this year's Oregon team is better than last year's... though Fresno State was able to pound out over 200 yards on the ground, which has got to be a concern for the Ducks. I will be shocked if Oklahoma stays within two touchdowns next week.

Oh, and how bad is Stanford? Losing to San Jose State? Now THAT has got to be depressing. It's a great win for the Spartans though.

[ September 10, 2006, 09:45 AM: Message edited by: TheOtherFSU ]

I think I picked Fresno and San Jose State yesterday

if Stanford wins a game this season, I'll be shocked

It's been 2 weeks in a row now that the Pac-10 (as a whole) didn't fair well in nc play.

I thought we were going to be a stronger conference this year. Right now it doesn't look so.

Cal handled Minnesota yesterday

Yeah, that's great for Cal. The close one between Oregon & Fresno St wasn't a surprise. Fresno is always a thorn on one's side. I give credit to Oregon to want to go to their house & play them. And Arizona St beating Nevada, no surprise there.

But UCLA was favored by 28 against Rice, they won by 10. And the rest of the Pac-10 were just plain embarrassed.

Edited for the following:

I forgot about WSU beating (I believe) lowly Idaho, dull opponent. All of the wins in the Pac-10 were a no-brainer. And all of the losses, well...

[ September 10, 2006, 05:05 PM: Message edited by: SCTrojan ]

GO DUCKS! Exciting game. (Much better than those other snorers: Notre Dame/Penn St and Ohio St/Texas.) Dixon is really impressive. If the receivers get more consistent, it could be an explosive offense. Getting by ASU, Cal and USC away from home will be a challenge, though. Fresno St should be in the top 25.

Cal came through and looked a little more like the team everyone was expecting them to be.

Surprise of the weekend? UW hanging in there at Oklahoma?

Yikes: Stanford loses to SJSU? Arizona creamed? UCLA struggles with Rice? Come on!

Pac-10 predictions for 9/16? I'm going with Oregon, WSU, Cal, UW (in a surprise), USC, Stanford, Arizona and ASU (although I think that game might be a tossup - Colorado has to be reeling at this point and ASU will remain inconsistent).

GO DUCKS!
R

P.S. Tell me please, how is it that Florida St remains in the top 10 after that debacle on Saturday? What a joke!

The Ducks defense is a big...no HUGE concern for the weekend. The Secondary is one hurtin' unit. With corner Jackie Bates probably gone for the season, the Ducks will have to rely on freshmen and JC transfers to man the corners. Not good news with Adrian Peterson coming to town.

On the plus side, Jonathan Stewart should be ready to go on Saturday.

4 days to another big game.

GO DUCKS

Stanford's new football stadium (unveiled to the public this Saturday for the home opener against Navy) looks great. Two thoughts: How in the heck could they transform that old pathetic stadium into this new beauty in only 9 months? And it's too bad the team seems horrible this season with great new digs like that.

wow!! I thinks someone's comin' to the Bay Area to check dis place out!

I gave in and got season tickets. The stadium looks great, but as toFSU says, the team certainly hasn't. Hopefully they can christen the new stadium with a win over the Midshipmen.

Maybe the new digs will help recruiting? Oh, wait -- it's Stanford!

Go Big Red! Go Trees!

you should have bought season tix to Cal instead

what other stadium has a fault line running through it

I bought the Stanford season tix because that's my alma mater. I wouldn't be caught dead with Cal tickets, unless I was going to cheer for whomever da bears were playing that week!

If you ever need a date...

Want to root for the Ducks against Cal on 10/7?

GO DUCKS,
Rob

How great is this?

This is the first year I've been on outsports (out of 3?) when the Pac-10 thread actually had people talking - ahead of those other conferences (I forget all the names).

GO PAC-10 QUEER FANS!
Rob

I'm kind of looking forward to seeing how Fresno State does against the Huskies this weekend. U-Dub has played well in the first half, but have looked horrible in the second half. Interesting that the Fuskies & Ducks have Oklahoma & Fresno State on their schedule on consecutive weekends. Of course, the Ducks will fare better against the Sooners than the Huskies fared last weekend

Washington beats Fresno State in Seattle today 21-20 when the Bulldogs miss a PAT with 4:50 left in the game. Fresno's special teams are horrendous this season and the main reason for losing to both Oregon and Washington. Today was a milestone of sorts... it was the first time in history that the Bulldogs were favored by the oddsmakers in a Pac-10 stadium. This is not anywhere near the same team that scared USC a year ago. I think Washington is just as bad as last year too. Not impressed with them at all.

[ September 16, 2006, 06:43 PM: Message edited by: TheOtherFSU ]

I'm sorry norcal

I had always assumed that you were a Nebraska alum

[ September 16, 2006, 06:51 PM: Message edited by: theodoresdaddy ]

And I thought Stanford would be a surprise this season...

YIKES!

Surprisingly BAD.

So much for my predictions...

[ September 16, 2006, 09:48 PM: Message edited by: weirdblackdog ]

"...This is the first year I've been on outsports (out of 3?) when the Pac-10 thread actually had people talking - ahead of those other conferences (I forget all the names).

GO PAC-10 QUEER FANS!

We ARE hot, aren't we!

I've become a fan of a couple Pac-10 teams over the last few years; e.g. Oregon Ducks, and especially USC (because of Pete, Bush, and Leinart). I think USC is the best team in the nation right now, even if they are not as explosive or exciting as last year's team. And even though I like the Ducks, I have to be honest about what I saw. Oklahoma got hosed by the officials last Saturday, on both the on-side kick and the erroneous PI calls that went against them. Because of that, we'll never know the rightful winner; which team would have won had the game been officiated properly. What is the point of instant replay if it can't be utilized to reverse bad calls? All this unreviewable "judgement call" stuff is crap. I'm a Ducks fan, but,, for me, that win was definitely refs-assisted, and tainted. The Big twelve is having hard enough time re-establishing itself as it is; and for some reason, Oklahoma seems to have gotten the worst of it over the last couple years. A super-elite team like USC can overcome bad calls, but when two teams are evenly matched like Okie and the Ducks, several bad calls shift the balance of power toward the team benefitting from those bad calls, and makes it that much harder for the other team to win the game.

[ September 17, 2006, 10:20 PM: Message edited by: Thomas ]

Pac-10 commissioner admitted the errors today:

WALNUT CREEK, Calif.-- The Pacific-10 Conference has suspended for one game the officiating crew and the instant replay officials that worked Saturday's Oklahoma at Oregon football game and apologized to the University of Oklahoma for the officiating on a key play in the game.

A review by Pacific-10 Conference officials of video of the game revealed that both the instant replay officials and the game officials assigned by the Conference made errors in the final minute and 12 seconds of the game, Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen said today.

Oregon won the game 34-33, scoring two touchdowns in the final 1:12. An onside kick by Oregon after its first touchdown was touched by an Oregon player before it had traveled the required 10 yards, and the ball accordingly should have been awarded to Oklahoma at the spot of touching. Further, while the ball was determined to have been recovered by Oregon by the game officials, video shows an Oklahoma player actually recovered the ball. That aspect of the play is not reviewable by instant replay by rule.

The play was reviewed by the instant replay officials, who concurred with the field officials that Oklahoma had touched the ball with Oregon recovering and the play stood as called on the field.

A subsequent Oregon pass play on which pass interference was called on Oklahoma also was reviewed to see if the forward pass had been touched by a defensive player, thus nullifying the pass interference call. The replay officials ruled that there was not indisputable video evidence that the touching had occurred.

"The fact that the errors on the onside kick altered the outcome of the game is most unfortunate and unsettling," Hansen said. "We had a solid veteran crew assigned, and the instant replay official had a fine career as a referee in the Pac-10. We believe in the ability and integrity of each individual involved. It should be noted that not all of the seven officials were directly involved in the play in question, but the entire crew bears responsibility for every play. Game officials and replay officials have positions of great responsibility and must be accountable for their actions.

"Errors clearly were made and not corrected, and for that we apologize to the University of Oklahoma, Coach Bob Stoops and his players. They played an outstanding college football game, as did Oregon, and it is regrettable that the outcome of the contest was affected by the officiating.

"Because of the ramifications, we are taking action against both the members of the officiating crew and the instant replay official and his assistant. Each individual will be suspended for one game, and their work in future games closely monitored.

"Officiating on the field is much more difficult than it appears from the stands, and certainly when watching repeated replays. Plays occur at a high rate of speed. Decisions on the field must be made instantaneously. The training and experience of officials at this level enable them to work at a high degree of accuracy.

Unfortunately, at the critical moment of this game errors were made," Hansen stated.
"Further, the instant replay official is limited to the views of any play which is made available and must make a timely decision, although on the kickoff play ample views were available," he concluded.

Is it true that the PAC-10 is the only conference with a rule that their own officials work out of conference PAC-10 home games?

We sure don't allow that in the Big 12. Screw the apologies, change that stupid conference rule. And all this time we thought Big 12 refs sucked sweaty donkey balls.

Have to agree. No one will take the Pac-10 or its officials seriously if there's even the appearance of incompetence or bias.

I think they ought to play the game over. How fun would that be?

GO DUCKS!
Rob

The sad part about the officiating incompetence in the OU/UO game is it could possibly have BCS implications for a team that wasn't even playing on Autzen's field Saturday....and my money says it won't be a PAC-10 team.

I usually think that everything works out in the end. Perhaps not for the media or the college football establishment, but public (and queer) opinion is usually correct and acknowledged - as in the 2003 LSU/USC problem.

Not that anyone wants to know, but my 3-dollar bill thoughts are that Oklahoma is not the team everyone expected it to be this year - its defense is sophomore at best. The party line was that the better team (Oklahoma) came to the lesser/home team (Oregon). I didn't see that. Oklahoma struggled in its two games prior to coming to Eugene - both of which were at home. Doesn't make it a bad team. They have a great coach and a great tradition and they will go far this season. But, if Oklahoma was so great, they would have won the game regardless the bad calls.

As for the Ducks, I think this game taught the boys who haven't been near the big fellas for a few seasons that you have to get serious. Mistakes killed both teams. The Ducks have huge talent (so much for rivals.com recruiting myths). The Oregon/ASU/Cal game matchups are going to be incredible. Even SEC fans might stay up past 9:30!

For me, the exciting thing about this year's college football season is that there's a lot of talent and some very good coaching and, let's face it, anything could happen. Oklahoma could still win a national championship (although I doubt it will). So could Oregon (also doubt it). So could about 8 other teams. That's a lot more exciting than a preseason (ESPN) shoo-in.

It's just college after all - isn't that why we all love it?

Smooch,
Rob

[ September 18, 2006, 08:01 PM: Message edited by: weirdblackdog ]

You do realize OU lost their starting QB at basically the final hour before the season started and a WR took over? God help me for taking up for OU, but I expected them to struggle early on and improve with each game. The better team most definitely did not win Saturday, IMHO.

And I do think it's wrong that it has a ripple effect. We're talking about an instant replay error...that is not acceptable.

But yeah, life does goes on. Unfortunately, there's a lot of blood, sweat and tears, not to mention coaches livelihoods, involved in College football to just dust it off casually to a cliche.


L & K's,

HF

I don't tend to lose sleep over men who make millions of dollars (college football coaches and Barry Bonds, for instance). If their mortgages come due and there's no paycheck, perhaps they can put a trailer on the credit card.

[ September 18, 2006, 08:26 PM: Message edited by: weirdblackdog ]

Yes. Oregon got the lucky break. But, Oregon wasn't the one who could not punch it in 3 different times with a first and goal inside the 10.

The refs were not the ones to allow Dixon to run 10+ yards to pull the Ducks within 6. The refs also didn't leave Paysinger 5 yards open for the go ahead score. The refs didn't mismanage the clock. The refs didn't allow the Ducks defense to block the potential winning field goal.

Oklahoma's defense should put part of the blame on themselves. Oregon also made crucial turnovers, one on a questionable fumble by Stewart deep in Duck territory.

And you know what, the Ducks are hurtin' on offense and defense. They are on their second and third stringers at the corners. The Sooners should have been able to exploit the inexperieced db's. Also, the Ducks two starting wide receivers were out of the game. Stewart was not 100% with his sprained ankle, yet ran for 170+ yards.

And the Ducks know something about losing their QB. They lost Kellen Clemens for the year midway through last year, and threw Dixon & Leaf into the mix even though they had maybe 5 snaps in their college career. Yet, the Ducks managed to make it through the season and almost went to a BCS bowl game.

Yes, the Ducks got lucky. But to think the refs solely cost the game for the Sooners is foolish.

Ducks have a well deserved bye this weekend. Next up are road games at ASU, at Cal and then home to UCLA. Brutal.

Pardon me! I guess Oregon deserved to win when you take into account what happened last year. If I were a Duck fan, I'd take the win too.

You think I'm foolish, but to honestly think the officiating didn't change the outcome, my friend, is truly foolish. The world of College Football knows it. But hey, chalk up that W. Obviously it was well-deserved and I'm totally off base. In that case, I think we should suspend the suspensions the PAC-10 dished out.

[ September 18, 2006, 09:35 PM: Message edited by: HornFan ]