For years it's seemed unfathomable, but the Pac 10 might have a champion whose name isn't USC in 2008. The irony is that this comes in one of the conference's weakest seasons in recent memory - not Aaron Rodgers' Cal, not Dennis Dixon's Oregon, but Lyle Moveao's Oregon State Beavers would be the team to finally dethrone the King.
USC sits at 9-1 and have, for the most part, laid waste to every opponent they've faced with a stifling defense. One bad half cost them a game to Oregon State, who sits at 8-3 with their final game vs Oregon coming up this week. But alas, two of these losses are out of conference (Penn State, Utah - not a bad bunch) making the Beavers 7-1 in conference with the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Trojans. Oregon State hosts Oregon this Saturday, and a win sends the Beavers to the Rose Bowl. Due to the Ducks being 6-2 in conference (with loss to USC), and everyone else having 3 or more conference losses, if Oregon wins then that probably ensures that USC will get the conference crown even if they lose to UCLA, as long as they don't also lose to Notre Dame.
UCLA @ Arizona State
Both sitting at 4-6, these are the two worst teams in the conference from outside the state of Washington. Both teams have swept the Washington schools and beaten Stanford, but bonus that UCLA's win comes over Tennessee. Oh wait, Tennessee isn't going to be bowl eligible, and just lost to Wyoming. Eh. So yeah, don't watch this. Honestly.
Oregon @ Oregon State
As mentioned, this is the de-facto Pac 10 Championship Game. Yeah, we didn't see that coming 3 months ago either. Not only would a win send Oregon State to the Rose Bowl to rematch Penn State, but it would likely keep _Buckeye._ out of the BCS. Always a plus. So with no hostility intended towards USC, go Beavs! Unfortunately, Jacquizz Rodgers may be out for this game, which obviously would have a huge impact on how it plays out...
Notre Dame @ USC
Notre Dame just lost to Syracuse. This is going to be every bit as awesome as it looks.
Washington State @ Hawaii
WSU looks to follow up an "epic fail" game with a simple "fail."
