The Pac 10 had a strong week 1 outing, capped by USC's thorough dismantling on Virginia and UCLA's upset/comeback victory over Tennessee in a flagrantly bad game... but sometimes games go like that and you'd still like the W.
USC and UCLA have the week off while we've got two conference games and two games against ranked nonconference foes on the plate. Exciting week for those of you on the east coast who can stay up till 3pm to see it!
BYU @ Washington
Fortunately for the Huskies, I don't see BYU's defense as being too strong, and Jake Locker could be trouble for such a unit. Max Hall and his receivers will probably light up the UW secondary, so expect a shootout here.
Oregon State @ Penn State
Happy Valley is not a fun place to travel for a team who started out 0-1 and had blatantly obvious issues with stopping the run. Luckily, PSU will be without two starting defensive linemen, although I'm still not sure how the Beavers will handle this front seven. For that matter, I'm still not sure how good Daryll Clark actually is, so Penn State might not be scoring too much themselves. Still, they have a dedication to the running game and surprising skill at receiver. Bottom line, I don't like the prospects of winning this one of the road for OSU.
A victory in either of the above games would be yet another big early accomplishment for the Pac 9. (Pac 10 - USC; ie, the teams that sometimes struggle to gain national respect)
Utah State @ Oregon
Oregon just brutalized Washington in their opener, racking up tons of rushing yards by Jeremiah Johnson and Chris Harper while holding opposing QB Jake Locker to a sub-par outing. Utah State is just terrible. Blowout!
California @ Washington State
I mentioned earlier that this game would be interesting if both teams were 1-0. Well, they're not. Cal is, but the Cougars didn't even come close. The WSU offense looked awful against Oklahoma State, while Cal moved the ball up and down the field with ease against Michigan State. With Kevin Riley now taking all snaps for Cal, this one won't even be close.
Toledo @ Arizona
Arizona faces much stiffer competition this week than they did in week 1 when they beat Idaho 70-0. I'm thinking, 41-6?
Stanford @ Arizona State
Stanford dominated the ground against Oregon State, while Arizona State couldn't get a ground game going against Northern Arizona. Stanford was also horribly outpassed by OSU, while ASU may have the 2nd-best QB in the conference. Bonus that we've got two pretty good coaches going at it (yes, I think Harbaugh's 4-8 was a good record last season considering the injuries and what he was working with and against) here, this could actually be a good games despite Arizona State being the heavy favorite.
