Pac Ten Alley

We have officially reached the start of the slow news time for the year when it comes to college athletics, but we were able to unearth some nuggets during our walk down Pac Ten Alley.

Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times rips the Sporting News which has been a shadow of itself ever since it was purchased by Paul Allen.

I had just glanced at this Sporting News ranking of the Pac-10 schedules for this season and was about to begin a blog wondering how they could really rank UW's slate second to UCLA's when I realized that the magazine once known as "The Bible of Sports'' had done it again. Close readers of this blog know that I regard The Sporting News --- which like the Yankees, is a shell of its once-great self --- as having about as much insight into Pac-10 sports as Lindsay Lohan does about safe driving habits.

The Quarterback situation at USC is just ridiculous.

John David Booty's starting spot is in no danger after a breakthrough performance in the Rose Bowl, earning him a spot on the Heisman Watch List but the quarterback situation at USC is about to get a lot more interesting with the arrivals of Arkansas transfer Mitch Mustain and Orange Lutheran graduate Aaron Corp to eventually compete with Mark Sanchez. There are plenty of story lines heading into fall camp.

Cal at Stanford tickets getting tough to get in smaller Stanford Stadium.

The 115-year-old Cal-Stanford football contest transcends mere athletics. It's a gathering of the tribes, a bacchanalian ritual akin to Mardi Gras and Christmas combined. For fans of both schools, the Big Game is seared into their internal clock like the turning of the seasons. In the past, any Cal season ticket holder automatically got a ticket to the Big Game. But that has changed -- tickets for November's showdown are expected to be rarer than Stanford victories last year. The only way for Cal fans to get Big Game tickets at this point is to have donated at least $6,800 to the athletic booster fund or to buy Stanford season tickets. Many have.

The magic is still happening as Oregon State advances to the Super Regionals at home against Michigan.

Lonnie Lechelt's solo home run sparked a three-run second inning and put defending national champion Oregon State ahead to stay today in a 7-3 victory over Virginia in the Charlottesville Regional. The Beavers (42-18) won for the third time in two days, and beat the Cavaliers for the second straight time, to keep alive their hope of defending their title. Oregon State advanced to the Super Regional round, hosting Michigan starting Saturday. "The guys are just really pumped to be able to go back to Corvallis," Beavers second baseman Joey Wong said. "It will be really fun. "Virginia, hosting a regional for the third time in four years, has never made it out of the regional. The Cavaliers were in their seventh trip to the tournament.

Oregon Nabs a Tight End from California.

Tight End Mychal Rivera from Birmingham High in Van Nuys, CA says he's committed to Oregon. Telling Educk.com, ""I'm a solid verbal," said Rivera. "I'm relieved to get it over with. In my mind, I had it over with about two weeks ago, after they offered, but I didn't want to say anything until I got up there."

The war against Karl Dorrell continues at UCLA.

I'm sure the guys over at Bruins Nation and Dump Dorrell will be interested to know that when you perform this same analysis for the games where Dorrell had input (i.e. after the WSU game) and when just Svoboda was in charge (i.e. WSU and earlier) there is virtually no difference in the plays called. In fact, Dorrell was even more conservative, passing the ball only 26% of the time in the red zone to Svoboda's 39%. In goal line situations the team followed the run-run-pass pattern almost exclusively when Dorrell was helping call the shots.

The search for a cornerback coach continues at WSU.

Washington State's football program already was facing a 2007 season with an unproven secondary. Now the uncertainty includes a new assistant coach. Ken Greene, former standout WSU safety in the 1970s, later an NFL player and for the past four years an assistant under Bill Doba, has been dismissed from the staff.

The Arizona Softball teams falls in the first round against Tennessee.

Arizona pitcher Taryne Mowatt rolled her eyes because she knew the question was coming.
Are you tired? "Yeah, it's getting tougher, but it doesn't mean I'm getting tired," she said. "I don't get tired." And yet for the first time at the College World Series, Mowatt was merely mortal, allowing two home runs as Tennessee beat Arizona 3-0 Monday night in the first game of the best-of-three championship round.

Stanford win the NCAA Mens Golf Title.

The Cardinal shot a 1-over-par 281 Saturday in Williamsburg, Va., and ran away with the NCAA tournament by 12 shots, its first golf title since 1994. "Our first three years, we were happy with a top-five, a top-three," senior Matt Savage said once the win was secure. "To finally progress to winning one tournament, and then winning six, and then winning the championship, it's unbelievable."

ASU advances to the Baseball Super Regional.

Arizona State gets an extra day to prepare for its NCAA baseball super regional against Mississippi, a best-of-three series that will begin Saturday at Packard Stadium. Game 2 is Sunday and Game 3, if necessary, is Monday. Times will be announced today. The winner advances to the College World Series and is more likely to play its first game in Omaha, Neb., on June 16 because of the Saturday super regional start.