Pac-10 Picks
This week I won’t be doing a separate Cal game preview because frankly, this is such an easy one to pick and everyone agrees that I don’t have much valuable to add. But, I still need to keep my metrics going so here are my Pac-10 picks.
Cal 49, UW 17: UDub has a bad pass defense, a run defense that was exposed by OSU, no QB (which desimates both their passing and running game), and the game is in Berkeley. I’ve always had respect for Willmingham but this is a game he just can’t win no matter how disciplined his team is.
UCLA 20, Notre Dame 35: UCLA is every bit as weak as everyone thought they were. While Notre Dame is still a big wild-card in my book, they’re still well strong enough to beat UCLA soundly particularly with the game being in South Bend.
ASU 37, Stanford 10: 10 seems to be about all Stanford is capable of and without their starting QB I don’t see that changing. ASU on the other hand has turned a corner confidence wise and will win the majority of their remaining games.
WaZoo 19, Oregon 24: This is the possible upset of the week game in my opinion. I was very impressed with the WSU defense last week and I think they’re going to give Oregon fits. However, their inability to get it done in the redzone will be their demise and even though they’ll be smart enough this week to kick the field goal while they have the chance, it won’t be enough to get over the top in this squeeker.
UA 10, OSU 24: OSU really surprised me with their upset of Washington last week. I guess it was their yearly upset because they always seem to find the formula to upset a better Pac-10 team (last year it was Cal). Of course now that Stanback is out at UW, that’s no longer an upset, but he didn’t go down until the 4th quarter. In any case, Arizona is the worse team in the Pac-10 east of Palo Alto (OK, anywhere besides Palo Alto. Trivia question of the week: name the four Pac-10 schools to the west of Stanford without looking on a map.). They’ll just not be able to put up enough offense to beat OSU.
Well, that’s the roundup for this week. Check back on Sunday for updated metrics and a Bears game wrap-up.
October 21st, 2006 at 11:26 pm
Their pass defense wasn’t as bad as it was supposed to be, and their 2nd string QB was darn good for a first game, minus the interceptions. Too bad WaZoo messed up your perfect record. Were you at the game? Wow…electric there at the end. I wish our crowd was riled up like that ALL the time. I noticed a lot of times early in the game that my secion (the young alumni section, between visitors and students) and the two student sections were the only ones standing and making noise.
I am so relieved we got the W. That’s all that matters. Winning ugly is still winning. I’m sure you’re happy ND beat UCLA. I’m not, not only because I don’t like ND (actually, I really don’t like UCLA either) but because it A) hurts our strength of schedule, and B) continues to make the Pac-10 look bad in the national spotlight (a-la Cal/Tenn).
It’s a bye week now. What am I going to do?!
October 21st, 2006 at 11:31 pm
I’ll be commenting on the game shortly but to comment on the WaZoo upset, I feel pretty good that although I called it wrong my instincts were right to note it as the possible upset of the week. I know some Oregon fans at work… they’re going to be very depressing to be around.