Pac-10/West Coast notes for '09

[Conan]

Now this part threw me for a loop.

"...suspensions of a half dozen or more players is proof that the apocalypse they expected all along is underway." Huh?

Is that anything like Paul Wulff kicking several starting players off the team? More than that? Sometimes I just don't trust these HC's because the only people they will talk to are their buddies, press or what have you, off the record if anything at all. I agree that it's not good policy to let these things go unexplained because a lot of speculation over a kid's career is never a good thing for anyone including the kid. If he gets spanked for being a bad boy, go ahead and let the cat out of the bag and throw the ball back in his court so to speak. It will likely do him some good to confront his acts.

For a second there I thought Erickson was going to do some major house cleaning... in an apocalyptic sense as the writer put it. Heck, everyone's known about the rowdy types he recruits for ages. I was thinking (ASU AD) Lisa Love had a good talk with DE about it... perhaps? Or it's nothing.

I really don't know what to make of this so I'm going to make nothing of it until the roster starts changing to go along with whatever Erickson is up to. Could be just a bunch of sabre rattling to put a few marginal players on notice. A statement to the whole team if you will. I don't recall him putting his foot down even once in the past couple years over there. I could be wrong but nothing comes to mind.

 

[Dawoofdaddy]

Conan, OV or UNDER 6.5 wins for UCLA?

bookmaker was dealing 7 UND -40 earlier today.

 

[Conan]

Updated power rankings after week 1:
September 8, 2009 9:00 AM

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

Oregon falls and Washington gets a hard look but stays put in this week's Pac-10 power rankings -- the idea is a team probably should win before it gets a promotion.

1. USC: The Trojans looked dominant in a 56-3 bludgeoning of San Jose State, with freshman quarterback Matt Barkley not looking like a freshman and a rebuilt defense looking not unlike the 2008 crew. Of course, a visit to Ohio State should be more revealing of whether the Trojans are again national title contenders.
2. California: A blowout 52-13 victory over Maryland, which beat Cal a year ago, was impressive, particularly because quarterback Kevin Riley was sharp while throwing four touchdown passes. Coupled with Oregon's defeat at Boise State, the Bears now are the clear top challenger to USC's supremacy.
3. Oregon State: Hard to make much of the Beavers 34-7 win over Portland State, an FCS team. The Rodgers brothers, Jacquizz and James, looked good, as did quarterback Sean Canfield. The rebuilt secondary yielded some yards but only a single TD. We'll get a better measure of the Beavers, who are trying to avoid another slow start, this weekend at UNLV.
4. Arizona: While the offense struggled to get into the endzone with quarterback Matt Scott, the Wildcats defense was dominating and looked very fast, according to the Chippewas themselves. The big question is will tight end Rob Gronkowski be ready to play on Sept. 19 at Iowa?
5. Oregon: The 19-8 embarrassment at Boise State -- and all that happened afterwards -- was terrible. But if the Ducks bounce back over the next two weekends at home against Purdue and Utah, a lot of that sting will go away before Cal comes to town.
6. Stanford: The Cardinal whipped Washington State, as expected. They can make a big step forward as a program with a win at Wake Forest, which fell to Baylor over the weekend.
7. UCLA: The Bruins whipped San Diego State, as expected. They can make a big step forward as a program with a win at Tennessee, which will be out for revenge after losing at UCLA last year. How will the young Bruins handle one of the nation's toughest stadiums?
8. Arizona State: The Sun Devils dominated Idaho State, but Idaho State is an FCS team -- and a bad one at that. Still, they played well enough, particularly on defense, to stay ahead of Washington. ASU is off this weekend before Louisiana-Monroe comes to town, a game the Sun Devils shouldn't take lightly. The WarHawks won at Alabama in 2007.
9. Washington: The Huskies lost impressively to LSU, piling up 478 yards against a super-ferocious SEC defense. Still, as new coach Steve Sarkisian said, there are no moral victories. The Huskies should end their 15-game losing streak on Saturday against Idaho.
10. Washington State: It says a little about where the Cougars are as a program -- baby steps to respectability -- that a 39-13 loss to Stanford is mostly billed as progress. Of course, they lost 58-0 to the Cardinal a year ago. The Cougars play Hawaii in Seattle on Saturday, one of the few games this year in which they won't be a huge underdog.