Pac-10 Ratings/Rumblings

Whoa, the Pac-10 can thank USC (and Oregon to some extent) for defending the pride of the conference. After a decent start in out of conference play, the Pac-10 got blistered by the Mountain West conference. Ugh. Here's the rundown of the conference ratings (not standings since 3 teams still haven't played their first conference game yet:

1. USC (2-0 overall, 0-0 Pac-10) - Obviously. Ohio State may not be an elite team when playing outside of the Big Ten, but they are still a big time opponent. And the Trojans' 35-3 drubbing of a team that played in the last two BCS championship games and returned over 20 starters from last year's team is quite a statement. You can say the Buckeyes play in a "weak" conference but remember, USC's losses in the past two years have been to teams that were double digit underdogs. Saturday's win, coupled with a blowout on the road of Virginia keeps the Trojans at the top. The Trojans play Oregon State in a Thursday game, and USC always seems to have trouble in Pac-10 road openers, so they must remain focused, even against a down Oregon State squad.
   
2. Oregon (3-0, 1-0) - The only other undefeated team after the dust settled in Week 3, though it took two overtimes for the Ducks to hold off a mid-level Big Ten team. And now, Oregon is on their third starting quarterback heading into a home game against the tricky Broncos of Boise State. After facing their only test of the season so far, it's safe to say to jury's still out on the Ducks, even after blowout wins over Washington and Utah State. If they get past the Broncos, the Ducks will likely be 5-0 heading into their game at USC.
   
3. California (2-1, 1-0) - Here's where it gets tough in the rankings. The Golden Bears started off the season with a solid win over Michigan State and a 66-3 drubbing of Washington State. RB Jahvid Best was creating Heisman hype. Then Maryland happened. The Terps were in the opposite direction of Cal, with a 7 point win over FCS Delaware and a loss to Middle Tennessee State from the Sun Belt. But the Terps jumped on the Bears, and Cal tried valiantly to make a comeback, but fell short. It goes to show that it's always tough to win on the road, especially on the East Coast, and Maryland is technically a BCS team, so I expect the Golden Bears to rebound against Colorado State in a couple of weeks before hosting Arizona State in a game which looked promising before Saturday.
   
4. Arizona (2-1, 0-0) - Well it was between the Wildcats and Sun Devils. Arizona State is the better team, but had a much worse loss, even though losing to New Mexico isn't something to be proud of either. One of four teams to lose to a MWC foe this week, Arizona clearly could not break the glass ceiling of being a bowl-worthy team. The Wildcats smacked Idaho 70-0 in week one, then beat Toledo 41-16, and was looking to avenge last season's loss to the Lobos to become 3-0 heading into conference play. But no dice. Arizona couldn't live up to the expectations of being the chic pick to win the Pac-10, as a win against New Mexico likely would have put them at #2 in the standings this week. They open Pac-10 play against UCLA next week and could still be 5-1 entering their game against California.
5. Arizona State (2-1, 1-0) - Ugh, they looked flat the entire game. A lot of times when a ranked opponent plays sluggish against an inferior opponent, you always expect the ranked team to pull it out. But UNLV made the big plays late against Arizona State, and took a lot of luster from the Sun Devils' game against Georgia next week. But Arizona State has no one to blame but themselves. The Devils did not look sharp against Northern Arizona in week 1, and took a while to put a scrappy Stanford squad away. But this week, they allowed the Rebels to stay close late in the game, keeping the door open for the upset, and that's exactly what happened. After this tough loss, hard to see the Sun Devils' defending Pac-10 pride against Georgia next week. Things get slightly easier at Cal two weeks after that, then a visit to the Coliseum. Watch out for a 2-4 start for the Devils...
6. Stanford (1-2, 1-1) - At least they haven't lost by 59 points this season.... yet. Though they had no business beating Oregon State in week 1, and they were expected to lose to Arizona State and TCU. A win next week over San Jose State (please Stanford...), and if they can beat the Huskies, the Cardinal should be in good shape for their game against Notre Dame, who still isn't impressing me.
   
7. UCLA (1-1, 0-0) - That win over Tennessee got wiped out and forgotten about after a 59-0 blowout to BYU. Not saying that the Cougars are a bad team, just saying that UCLA played the worst game possible... and I didn't even watch the game! (Versus...) No one was expecting UCLA to win this game, but no one expected Neuheisel, Walker, and Chow to produce the worst loss in almost 80 years for UCLA either. The best thing the Bruins can do is forget about this game and move on, as they host an Arizona team looking to rebound from a tough loss as well, then they host the scrappy Fresno State Bulldogs, who are always looking for a fight...
   
8. Oregon State (1-2, 0-1) - The Beavers should have taken care of business against Stanford to open the season. Now they're staring down a 1-5 start to the season, which would make their trademark strong finishes to the season null and void. Back to back Thursday games against ranked teams (USC and Utah) do not bode well, but at least they handled Hawaii to avoid a potential 0-6 start heading into a game against the Washington schools. Hopefully they can catch the Trojans and Utes looking ahead. That's the only chance they have.
   
9. Washington (0-3, 0-1) - Well both Washington schools are 0-3. But at least the Huskies have something to complain about. Or excuses. Oregon is right now the second best team in the conference. The referees prevented Washington from at least a shot in overtime against BYU. Oklahoma is that good. Wazzu lost to Oklahoma State (< Oklahoma), California (< Oregon), and Baylor (<< BYU). The Huskies might have a chance against Stanford in two weeks, and they avoid the big boys in the Pac-1o til the tail end of the season, so UW might have a chance to string together some wins before Notre Dame, USC, Arizona State, and UCLA in a four game stretch.
   
10. Washington State (0-3, 0-1) - This was easy. At least the Huskies were close against BYU. But the Cougs have been outmatched and outclassed in all of their games this season. Losing by 63 points doesn't help either. If Washington State does not beat Portland State next week, they may not win a game til the Apple Cup or the season finale at Hawaii.

Ugh... My Top 25 after Week 3 (I told myself I was going to wait after Week 4, but oh well...):

1. USC (2-0)
   
2. Oklahoma (3-0)
3. Missouri (3-0)
   
4. Georgia (3-0)
5. Florida (2-0)
   
6. Texas (2-0)
7. Wisconsin (3-0)
8. Louisiana State (2-0)
9. Alabama (3-0)
10. South Florida (3-0)
11. Auburn (3-0)
12. Texas Tech (3-0)
13. Brigham Young (3-0)
14. East Carolina (3-0)
    
15. Ohio State (2-1)
16. Penn State (3-0)
17. Oregon (3-0)
18. Utah (3-0)
19. Wake Forest (2-0)
20. Kansas (2-1)
    
21. Vanderbilt (3-0)
22. Texas Christian (3-0)
    
23. Clemson (2-1)
    
24. West Virginia (1-1)
    
25. Fresno State (1-1)