Around the Pac Ten Blogs

This is one of the deadest weeks in the year with finals going on, the football team not in a bowl, and no announced recruits coming in so far for the weekend. Still the Volleyball team will open up the defense of it's National Championship in Omaha this evening, and the football team is trying to find a couple more early qualifiers.

Speaking of recruiting the Huskies have 7 more spots to fill with HS players. They have two more to fill with early qualifiers. One nice thing going on is they have more highly rated players still interested than spots available. The class is currently ranked at 25 nationally, and in the top 3-4 in the league which is about right. With some star power at the end the Huskies realistically could finish inside the top twenty which was the goal, and neccesity this year.

Johnny Durocher is toying with playing college football again. You have to love the spirit, and question the wisdom.

Check out the Volleyball game tonight. there will be 17,000 fans in the stands for it. People question since there are 3 Pac Ten teams in the Finals why hold the event in the Midwest? I have 17,000 answers for you. Of the 25 NCAA titles awarded, 13 have been won by Pac-10 teams: Stanford (six), USC (three), UCLA (three) and Washington (one). Five times Pac-10 teams have met in the final. Only in softball, where Pac-10 teams have won 19 of 25 NCAA titles, is the conference so dominant in a sport. Washington is just the 13th school in 26 years of NCAA women's tournaments to string together three consecutive Final Four appearances.

Nothing new to report on the basketball front. Hope Romar is making some progress with defense, and ball handling. The team wasn't scheduled to practice on Wednesday allowing players some time to finish up academic work and also allow some of the coaches to hit the road recruiting for a day or so.

A number of notable recruits are going to make their choices at the end of the week so stay tuned to Dawgman for the latest in recruiting information.

Let's take a walk down Pac Ten Alley, and see what the neighbors on the coast are up to.

At USC they are saying they won't lose as many players to the NFL as they did last season. Looks like Sedrick Ellis is not coming out.

Scott Wolf is reporting that Sedrick Ellis has decided to stay in the Cardinal & Gold for his senior season. He states that Lawrence Jackson's decision to stay weighed heavily on his decision. "He's my boy," Ellis said. "That put the laminate sealing on it."

At California they wonder what it will take to get to a Rose Bowl.

This has been a very frustrating football season for Cal followers. This team had great talent, but it didn't play that way often enough. Now the Golden Bears are going back to the Holiday Bowl, which should be renamed the Consolation Bowl. What can the Bears do to get to the Rose Bowl -- or another BCS bowl?

At Oregon State the Beaver's are excited about new construction at Reser, and are breathing a sigh of relief that Mike Riley didn't head to ASU.

"Had we known that we were going to end up in this situation we would never have gone down that road. We made a commitment and we thought we had a commitment from the other end, but I wish Dennis Erickson the best."

At Oregon the game of what is it continues, and the basketball team is ranked for the first time in a few years.

Off to its best start in 11 seasons and ranked for the first time in nearly four years, Oregon (No. 24 ESPN/USA Today; No. 22 AP) wasn't about to let a slow start keep it down.

At UCLA they revel in having the number one basketball team in the nation, and they take a look at the matchup of the mediocre coming up at the Emerald Bowl.

Earlier in the week we started looking into the offensive and defensive statistical matchups between UCLA and Florida State. As some of the commenters pointed out in that post UCLA jus cannot afford to take FSU lightly like it may have overlooked Fresno State and Wyoming in Dorrell's first two bowl games. FSU is coming into this game with a very mediocre 6-6 record (as oppose to UCLA's mediocre 7-5).

Over at WSU they are excited about basketball and take some shots at Dennis Erickson.

You can almost picture the billboard: "Coming to Sun Devil Stadium, it's Dennis Erickson! Tickets Going Fast, HURRY! Limited Time Engagement! He'll be gone before you know it!"

In Arizona they are putting there wish list together for 2007.

I've been good this year. Maybe the best I've ever been. I cleaned the house while watching college football. I listened to my wife even when sports were on T.V. . I paid my dues. So I expect to be handsomely rewarded this Christmas morn' So I compiled a wish list... .

At Stanford they are into the Volleyball Final Four, and are still looking for a new head football coach. Tom Williams is a good young choice with deep Stanford roots.

San Jose State co-defensive coordinator Tom Williams has met with Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby, according to a source close to Stanford, and Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Greg Knapp also has been contacted by the school to gauge his interest in the position, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Finally at Arizona State the news is what else, Dennis Erickson.

Arizona State hired Dennis Erickson this week in a process that was different than the hiring of basketball coach Herb Sendek in April, said ASU Vice President for Athletics Lisa Love, who hired both coaches.The difference is in tradition. ASU football has some, which gave Love something to sell.