Week Eleven

Saturday, November 14

California 24 - Arizona 16 (pick: Arizona 35-10)

Not a fatal misstep for the Wildcat's in terms of wins and losses - Arizona maintains control of their bowl assignment but the lackluster way Arizona lost raises questions. The Bears were handled home and away by the conferences better teams and two of them remain on Arizona's dance card.    

Stanford 55 - USC 21 (pick: Stanford 35-28)

I would pay money to see Stanford play the Oakland Raiders right now.

Oregon State 48 -Washington 21 (pick: OSU 42-12)

The Huskies win over USC turned out to be more of an indicator of how far the Trojans have come back to the pack than how improved Washington would be one year removed from Tyrone Willingham. And Willingham didn't have Locker for most of last season.

UCLA 43 - Washington State 7 (pick: UCLA 17-3)

Even against the Cougs one wouldn't imagine the Bruin offense sticking 43 points on the board. But then, WSU has surrendered more than forty in four straight games and it is near certain they will extend that streak to five against the Beavers, perhaps even to six when they travel to Montlake for the Apple Cup.

Oregon 44 - Arizona State 21 (pick: Oregon 42-13)

Two turnovers and fourteen points given away were the only flaws in a game that saw Oregon establish control early and never be really threatened by the Sun Devils. Not their finest game style wise but a clear and decisive result.

Week Twelve

Saturday, November 21

Oregon at Arizona

Tucson has been a tough town since the day it was founded. Sort of ironic that ex-Wildcat coach Dick Tomey announced his retirement at San Jose State the same week Oregon is facing Arizona. In the early years of the Bellotti regime, Tomey and the Wildcats were consistently one of Oregon's chief rivals. If you ever need a lesson in the catastrophic impact firing a coach can bring upon a program. Here is it..

When current head coach Mike Stoops was on the hot seat after five years of sideline rage, the Wildcats manage a 7-6 outing in 2008, beat BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl and are currently one of four teams remaining in the Rose Bowl race. Quite a turn around on the surface of it.

But maybe not. Arizona's schedule is back loaded. First Oregon visits, then at ASU and at USC. Granted that last pair has had lackluster outings of late, but neither could be considered "gimmes" for the Wildcats. Given their performance at Cal, it is not unreasonable to think the Wildcats very much could go 1-3 or even 0-4 to close out the schedule. That would be 7-6 or 6-7. Just sayin.

Oregon 37-23.

California at Stanford

California will need the band on the field pretty early to slow down Toby Gerhart, and if the clarinet section can't get a pass rush on quarterback Andrew Luck, it won't make any difference. Farm Boys 48-13.

Arizona State at UCLA

In simple terms, UCLA's offense doesn't suck as bad as Arizona State's. Bruins 13-10.