Pac Ten Alley

Barbara Hedges once said, that was then, and this is now.

Only few weeks ago I wrote a column in favor of keeping Ty till the end of his contract. I felt that Washington had played better this season despite starting off the season 2-5. I felt losses to Ohio St, USC, UCLA, Arizona State, and Oregon were OK for a team in a rebuilding year. That all came crashing down in a loss at home to Arizona.

After becoming unglued after that loss I decided to retract a bit and wait to see how we finish the season. The logic of course was the Huskies still could finish with a winning season and go to a bowl game. Would anyone of us have a problem with that?

Last week we took care of Stanford and dominated them in almost every area but the scoreboard, 27-10 just didn't do it for me when you run for over 300 yards. It wasn't a great game, but it was a win, and like everyone else we were glad to take it.

This week is the one that really means something. Oregon State even with the injuries has been a better team than us this year. If we beat Oregon State on the road in Corvallis I will start getting excited again. After that we have Cal, WSU, and Hawaii.

My thinking is if we beat Oregon State we have the ability to win the rest of our games and go bowling, and if that happens you really shouldn't be urging anyone to fire the coach.

On the other hand if Washington loses the next four it is time to get the pitchforks, and torches ready again. If we split I don't think anything will happen at the end of the year, but lose out and the pressure on UW from boosters will be tremendous with favorite son Jim Mora Jr waiting in the wings.

So in conclusion I think this is one of the biggest games of the year. UW heads into this one with some confidence, winning a game, any game guarantees to give your team a big boost. A win in Corvallis will keep hopes alive, and most importantly it will mean that we have a very good chance of winning the next three.

Pac Ten Alley

Lets take a stroll down the coast to see what the neighbors are up to.

It looks like Yvenson Bernard is going to give it a go with his tender shoulder in his final home game for Oregon State.

The big things we learned: Canfield is 99% sitting out this week against Washington. Moevao will get the start. Yvenson will probably be back. Defense end Dorian Smith will also be out with a knee sprain. We'll examine these two injuries in greater depth late in the week. Now, for some quotes from Riley.

Could Bob Gregory be the next head man at WSU? Now that Cal is eliminated from championship contention expect more stories like this as Tedford assistants get a good look from around the country.

Cal defensive coordinator Bob Gregory, a Washington State graduate, is among a group of logical candidates for the Cougars' head coaching job if Bill Doba is fired, which has been the subject of widespread speculation on the Internet. Gregory's first job interview - a 20-17 win over the Cougars - was nearly flawless. The Bears didn't give up a touchdown until the game's final minute and allowed Washington State to put together only two drives of more than 70 yards. Cal limited the Cougars to 52 rushing yards, 17 first downs and 4-of-16 on third-down conversions. "We played very well against a very good offense," Gregory said. "Hopefully, a game like this will give us a little confidence." Washington State came into the game averaging 24.9 points and 129.2 rushing yards a game. Quarterback Alex Brink, who averages 293.8 passing yards a game, had only 138 yards through three quarters. Two late drives pushed Brink's total to 306 passing yards.

WSU finally received their first verbal commitment. Karstetter is a good looking kid who didn't receive an offer from cross state Washington.

Stop the presses! A verbal commitment! Unbelievable. And a Ferris kid to boot. In all seriousness, this is a solid "get". Tall and lanky at 6-4, 195, a very good athlete. Hey, it's a start. A good hoops player as well, who knows, maybe this is more about the hoops team?? For some reason he's a bit under the radar though. Offers from schools like Air Force, UNLV, Idaho and Eastern, but didn't get offers from ASU or UW, schools on his list. From Scout.com:Karstetter racked up 71 receptions for 1,002 yards with 12 TDs in 10 games as a junior. He took home all-league and AP all-state honors, along with the WIAA/Seattle Times State Athlete of the Week Award for a 174-yard, two touchdown performance against Shadle Park. Karstetter is also one of the state's top basketball players, taking home the MVP of the Greater Spokane League and AP first team all-state honors as the Saxons won the 2007 state 4A hoops title.

Hawaii looks like it will slide into a BCS bowl game if they can get by Washington.

So far this season Brennan is 225 of 328 for 2,820 yards and 26 touchdowns. Twenty-four quarterbacks have attempted more passes than Brennan, but only three have more touchdown passes. He's seventh in the nation in passing efficiency with a 160.3 rating. Eight quarterbacks have more passing yards.

UCLA is on the skids as usual. You can guess what the topic is.

I honestly don’t see why these kids should rush back to play for losers like Dorrell or Walker. Why risk their careers playing for coaches who do not deserve to be here next here? If I were Harwell’s parents, I’d strongly consider advising the kid to take a medical red shirt, and come back strong under a new coaching staff next season.

Booty is shaking off some rust for USC

Quarterback John David Booty attributed some high passes against Oregon State to rust after he broke his finger. "I've been out three games. Usually, when you first come back to camp or spring ball, they aren't perfect,’’ Booty said. "A couple of throws were high on me."He also overthrew freshman wide receiver Ronald Johnson on a deep pass. What's interesting is Carroll praised freshman wide receiver Ronald Johnson on the play. "We just missed him," Carroll said. "(Johnson is) doing his part."

The bubble has burst in Tempe, but they can still go to a BCS game if they get by USC.

So we lost. The sting isn't as bad as it was immediately following the game, but the BCS is looking like a stretch barring a complete catastrophe, not that the 2007 college football season hasn't been without the unbelievable. More on that in a moment, but what the hell happened?We got beat by a better team but I think Oregon fans will admit that Saturday's game wasn't their best performance. There were several dropped passes by the Ducks, they were without superman Dennis Dixon for the fourth quarter, and the Oregon pass D was less than spectacular. While many doors were left open for ASU throughout the night, the Sun Devils couldn't seem to walk through any of them.

Our favorite team to hate is probably the best football team in the country. tough to say if they can get by Ohio State, or LSU to get into the title game.

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, a record crowd of 59,379, watched their high flying Ducks win the biggest game in Autzen history. The game was not as close as the score would indicate as we had a few miscues that could have led to even more Oregon points.

Arizona has won two in a row!

Arizona cornerback Antoine Cason is among the 12 semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award, given to college football's top defensive back. The list will be cut to three finalists on Nov. 19. Cason, a senior, has four interceptions this season. He has broken up six passes, forced two fumbles and has 62 tackles, including a sack.

The Stanford team Washington beat last Saturday may be the most injury depleted squad in the conference.

Consider this a combo effort from myself and Merc beat writer Darren Sabedra, who has been all over the Stanford injury situation all season — and it has been a long and ever-growing situation. At this time of year, every team has injury issues. It’s just that Stanford has been hit hard at one position (tailback).