Pac-10 prognosticating still possible
No, you’re not delusional. Your
eyesight is OK.
California is atop the Pacific-10
Conference standings. Washington
is last.
Crazy, but true.
Granted, it’s only three weeks
into the sea
anything like
this to happen. AdaiTI
teams (Oregon, Out in left field
USC, Washing
ton, Washington State, UCLA and
Amazingly,
six Pac-10
Gal) are ranked in the top-25 this
week, the most since Sept. 18,1989.
Not to be forgotten, Oregon State is
close behind at No. 28 in the Associ
ated Press poll.
What does that mean? Nothing,
really, since conference play hasn’t
even begun.
It does, however, promise another
exciting Pac-10 race where no
team can be taken for granted —
especially Gal.
After a 1-10 finish last year, the
Bears were picked to finish last in
the conference this year. Under first
year head coach Jeff Tedford, the
Bears have been golden. They
pounded then-No. 15 Michigan State
46-22 last week to start their season
3-0 for the first time since 1996.
They’re ranked — no joke — No. 23
in the Associated Press poll.
Tedford, the former Oregon offen
sive coordinator, is simply a miracle
man. I^et’s hope he didn’t sell his soul.
“What we're doing is a shock to
me,” comerback James Bethea told
the San Francisco Chronicle. “This
is how you always dream of your col
lege football career being — not to
say that we'll win every game we
play, but that we feel proud of play
ing for Cal, and we have a chance to
win every time we go out there.”
Quarterback Kyle Boiler, who’s ad
mitted to constantly watching the
film of Oregon’s Fiesta Bowl victory,
was named the Pac-10 Player of the
Week after accounting for four touch
downs (two throwing, one rushing,
one catching) against the Spartans.
After an ugly career, Boiler may
end on a positive note.
“My best stuff is yet to come, I
think,” Boiler told the San Francisco
Turn to Jude, page 12
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Pac-10
continued from page 4
The Golden Bears have not start
ed a season off this successfully
since 1996, and are just three wins
away from magical win No. 6 — the
figure that automatically qualifies a
team for postseason bowls. Of
course, California is banned from
bowling this season due to NCAA
rules violations, but that doesn’t
mean the Bears can’t have some fun
along the way.
“The funny thing is, no one on the
team was shocked that we won,”
California safety
Nnamdi Asomugha said. “We
were very confident going into the
Michigan State game that we could
play with this team, and after half
time it was evident.”
Montana State (2-1)
at No. 16 Washington
State (2-1)2 p.m.
There’s no better way for Washing
ton State to get better than to take on
I-AA opponent Montana State.
This game will probably be a
cakewalk for the Cougars, especially
considering they have defeated
Montana State in each of the six pre
vious games the two teams have
squared off in, including a 53-28
blowout last season.
But after last week’s loss to Ohio
State, the Cougars know they have
to get back on track.
“We know we have some work to
do,” defensive end Isaac Brown told
the Daily Evergreen. “Ohio State
showed us we had work to do. I
think that was kind of a good thing
for us, because we're not going to be
too full of ourselves. We're not going
to be on that high horse in the
weeks to come.”
Fresno State (1-2)
at Oregon State (3-0)
3:30 p.m., Fox Sports Net
Hoping to avenge last season’s
44-24 loss to the Cinderella squad
from central California, the
Beavers welcome Fresno State to
Reser Stadium for a game that
could be very entertaining.
Derek Anderson has sprouted
talent for Oregon State, throwing
for 12 touchdowns, no intercep
tions and a 66 percent completion
rate in three games. Against UNLV
last week, he threw for five TDs
and 356 yards.
Fresno State has nearly been the
Cinderella team it was a season ago,
but its luck may have run out. The
Bulldogs have lost two games by a
combined six points — by two to
Wisconsin and four to Oregon. How
ever, signal-caller Jeff Grady has not
played in two straight, and for the
Bulldogs to be successful, they need
him behind center.
But with Oregon State’s relative in
experience, this game should be close.
Wyoming (0-3) at
No. 13 Washington (1-1)
7 p.m., Fox Sports Net
Washington should be able to
handle the Cowboys without any
problems. But the Huskies have
had problems of their own this sea
son and Wyoming, which is look
ing for its first win, could be a dan
gerous squad.
At least that’s what Washington
head coach Rick Neuheisel seems
to think.
“Whenever you're playing a
team that's on the ropes, you al
ways worry about their devil-may
care strategy in a game that can
just be wide open and cause you all
sorts of fits if they're doing things
that might not be the norm in a
contest,” he said. “The outcome of
a game is a risk-reward deal, there
looks to be very little risk for them
right now in terms of what they
can do and what they can try. So
you get nervous about that.”
The Huskies have not played
since Sept. 7, when they notched a
convincing win over San Jose State.
However, their 31-29 loss to Michi
gan to open the season still seems to
have its residue on the Washington
program. For the Huskies to succeed
this year, Neuheisel will have to get
his players to forgive and forget.
Contact the sports reporter
at hankhager@dailyemerald.com.
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