Around the Pac Ten Blogs

It's that time of the week again, time to take another trip down Pac Ten Alley to see what the neighbors are up to.

On the Oregon blog Michael Wines is predicting victory for the Duck's. Now isnt' that a big surprise?

"Well guys, I can tell you. This will be the Oregon team that loves Dawg Food. A big factor this weekend will be the weather. It is supposed to start raining tomorrow and not let up for at least a week. The running game will be a big key for both sides and the Ducks should prevail on the ground."

Over at WSU they are now delusional as they are headed to a bowl, now the question is exactly which bowl?

"Yes, Cougar nation, Brinkhater was named offensive player of the week today after a few choice expletive laden tirades directed at Peanut (Loren Langley) during Saturdays game . Can't believe I won it, but I can say that I have been doin' my best to stay within myself, give it 110%, stay healthy, and do what I need to do to help the team win....

At the UCLA Blog they are still plotting the demise of Karl Dorrell.

"First don't by the BS when someone is trying to tell you that it is a definite that DG has made up his mind on allowing Dorrell to return next season as the head coach. That is just hog wash. Right now nobody knows what is going through DG's mind. And there is no use of trying. Because he hasn't spoken to anyone about Dorrell. Except for giving some vague public statements in the press in which he said that Dorrell needs to "right the ship," and "get some good wins here at the end of the season." In addition to that with some boilerplate comments on how the team is young, DG has not proffered anything else on Dorrell. That is because he is talking to nobody. I have talked to friends who are close to Morgan Center who basically told me that even no one in the Morgan Center knows what DG is thinking. I think that is a very good sign in the sense of DG is being professional about this. I have no idea whether DG will or will not do something dramatic should UCLA continues to collapse this season. So I think it will be foolish on my part to reach any kind of conclusion."

At USC they feel the OSU loss deeply, it feel worse than losing to Texas, it shows that they are indeed mortal.

"There's a reason you don't know how to feel right now, Trojans fans - you're simply not used to this. As the Oregon State faithful flooded the field at Reser Stadium while the final seconds ticked off the clock, the dichotomy was obvious. Sheer jubilation versus utter confusion. Ear-to-ear smiles contrasted with brainwashed stares. There was little denial, nothing to get angry about and no point in bargaining, so you couldn't even go through the five stages of grief properly. The Rose Bowl loss to Texas didn't hurt like this; it was more of a defeated hopelessness as Vince Young turned into some combination of Randall Cunningham, Barry Sanders and the Juggernaut. The 2003 loss to California wasn't as difficult to swallow because the USC program hadn't yet developed its aura of invincibility."

Over at Cal the league leaders are getting ready to plunder UCLA.

"Cal's bye week turned out to be pretty sweet as it rested the injured players and geared up for a home stretch that could easily be leading the team back to the Rose Bowl 49 years after the last Cal team played there. Cal needs to win three of its last four games, with USC being one of those wins to make it a reality ... that is, unless USC stumbles again in conference play."

At Arizona they don't have anything new posted, and why should they? Basketball season hasn't started yet.

At Stanford the plague of locust is the only thing that hasn't befallen the Tree yet this year. To make matters worse a staph infection is spreading among the team. Staph is a very serious matter, and it can kill you.

"Stanford has more to worry about than its game against USC on Saturday. Linebacker Pat Maynor has a staph infection in his leg, making him the Cardinal's third starter this season to come down with the bug. I don't know how much it's hit other places, but it's hit us, and it's been pretty devastating,'' Coach Walt Harris said Tuesday. The Mercury News reported in March that locker rooms and playing fields have become hot spots for the bacterium, which can be transmitted by physical contact and the sharing of items such as sports equipment, towels, razors and bars of soap."

At Arizona State they haven't posted anything in a couple of weeks so since they beat us last weekend I am not going to bother to look up anything up else concerning them.

I almost forgot the rodents from OSU, and after their big victory in Potato Salad Stadium last week they should have some interesting comments.

"A lot of guys stepped up big. Matt had another great game, and the "Canfield" signs should be somewhere near a dumpster. Save them for rooting Sean on next year, guys... Matt threw for 262 yards in the air. Sammie Stroughter had yet another Mike Hass-ish game, with 8 catches for 127 yards, and a 70 yard punt return for a touchdown that put the Beavers up 30-10. Clinton Polk, starting for a injured Yvenson Bernard, gained 100 yards on 18 carries, 19 yards better than USC's Chauncy Washington."