Pac-10 Picks

OK, onto the Pac-10 picks for this week.

Cal 45, WaZoo 17: See here for details.

UCLA 20, Oregon 38: I think most people make too much of a tough loss for a team.  There are those who will question whether Oregon has what it takes to beat UCLA when a week ago they would have been sure they would destroy UCLA.  Oregon had a bad game in Berkeley, but there is still plenty of talent on that team and they’ll be happy to play in front of their home crowd.  UCLA on the other hand hasn’t beaten even a remotely good team and has not played a team with Oregon’s skill level.  The only thing going in UCLA’s favor is the game tape of the Cal vs. Oregon game.  If they can figure out how to duplicate the way Cal confused Dixon, they might just have a hope, but I think their defensive won’t have the combination of speed and power that Cal had.

Arizona 12, Stanford 10: The best comment I have seen about this game was from a columnist who said “How many overtimes have to be played Saturday before the Arizona-Stanford game officially can be declared a scoreless tie?”  I really couldn’t decide who I wanted to pick for this game even though my heart said that Stanford is in for a 0-12 season.  But while thinking about it I remembered my new rule for Stanford games: add a safety to the opponents score for good measure.  Well, that broke the 10-10 tie.

Oregon St. 13, Washington 28: Washington is the real deal, particularly at home.  They got a tough break last week and their shot for being the first to dethrown USC was stolen from them by the clock manager.  I would have loved to see that game in Washington.  In any case, OSU’s offense seems to be sputtering and I don’t expect them to be able to get beyond that in their trip to Washington.

ASU 20, USC 28: I soooo want to call for the “upset” here.  USC is a flawed team and I can’t wait for Cal’s shot at them in November.  But yet again USC has that schedule of gold that gives them the even marginally challenging teams at home and saves the toughest teams for the end of the season when USC will have had a chance to gel their young team.  So I just can’t call for the upset.

That’s it for this week’s Pac-10 games.  It’s the first week of the season where all 10 teams are playing conference games and nobody has a bye.  Tune in on Monday for the updated metrics and the Bears game wrap up.

One Response to “Pac-10 Picks”

  1. Michael Says:

    I’m going to go off topic for a bit and ask what is going on with the A’s. 0-3 is a big hole to dig oneself out of. Frankly, I’m a bit dissappointed.

    Haha. You can tell when I’m not too worried about the Bears, huh?

    I agree with your predictions, but I would like to see USC run the table until the Cal game. I know with Oregon playing them that is possibly in doubt. but it would make us look better if we pulled off the upset. I’ve been watching the Oregon game and despite a lauded and stout D, we do give up an awful lot of passing yards (see Oregon’s 2nd drive, where we couldn’t stop them until they were 1st and goal). We rule against the run. I haven’t seen a lot of SC…which method do they prefer?

    I will watch the Washington/Cal game with some intrigue next weekend. I just cannot believe, despite what happened in Berkeley after Tedford, that a team that bad could get that good so soon. Makes you wonder about the rematch in Washington next year with a Lynch-less Cal team.

    I think Oregon will beat UCLA by more than your prediction, but that may just be wishful thinking. If we hang >50 pts on anyone this year, I hope it’s the Bruins.