It’s week-two in college football and there is a full slate of Pac-10 games. Oregon puts the league’s reputation on the line, while Wazzou has their best chance at a win.

Colorado at California

It is an early season battle for a leg up in the Pac-12…oh, wait, we still have two years for that. Instead a mediocre Big 12 team ventures to NoCal to face a Cal team that has something to prove to the doubters. The Buffs beat up on their MWC rival, while Cal dismantled an intramural team from Cal Davis.

Kevin Riley is the QB for the Bears, which begs me to ask “why can’t Tedford find a QB?” Cal has not had a good passer since Aaron Rodgers and Tedford has made a lot of mediocre passers NFL millionaires, so why can’t he recruit anyone. Seriously, Trent Dilfer, David Carr, Akili Smith, Joey Harrington, Kyle Boller, all these guys are rich because of Tedford and he has been stuck with Joe Ayoob and Riley the past five year? Of course, if Dan Hawkins does not start winning he’ll join Dirk Koetter in guys who can win in Boise and nowhere else. Cal 28, Colorado 14

Syracuse at Washington

This is a great game…if this was 1990. Washington lost a tough one at BYU while Syracuse got the win over former Wildcat assistant Rob Ianello’s Akron squad. It’s a tough road trip from Syracuse to Seattle and Jake Locker is due for a good game after being just average last week. Washington 35, Syracuse 20

Montana State at Washington State

This will be the only game all year the Cougars will be favored in. Oklahoma State is still scoring touchdowns against Wazzu. Frankly, the Cougs look more like a Big Sky team than a Pac-10 team and if they were playing Montana and not Montana State, they could very well lose. Although the Bobcats dropped 59 on some team called Fort Lewis, this will be a step up in competition. I would not rule out Montana State joining Jacksonville State and North Dakota State in the upset brigade, but I won’t pick it. Washington State 20, Montana State 13

Oregon at Tennessee

Bragging rights are at stake as the Ducks head into SEC country. Last time a Pac-10 team went to Neyland Stadium, UCLA pulled off an upset in what ended up being the swansong for Phil Fullmer. Of course, a better Cal team went to Knoxville a few years ago and failed to show up. The Ducks are coming off a dismantling of New Mexico that looked like someone left the “easy” setting left on the Playstation consol. Tennessee will get their first true test of the Dooley era. It’s a battle of a team with 500 uniforms against a team with uniforms that keep you from getting you shot while hunting. Pac-10 offense vs. SEC defense. Offense wins. Oregon 38, Tennessee 17

Northern Arizona at Arizona State

The Sun Devils try to wrap up the Big Sky regular season crown with their second straight game against a I-AA opponent. NAU has hung tough with the Devils in recent years and they will do so again, at least for awhile. The Devils will be 2-0 when this one is done, but could be 2-5 by the time they host Washington State at the end of October. Four road games and a home game against Oregon looks daunting. Arizona State 41, NAU 16

Stanford at UCLA

First Pac-10 game of the year. The Bruins got run over in Manhattan, Kansas by a fairly average Kansas State club, while Stanford beat up on Sac State (insert juvenile laughing here). If Toby Gerhart was still with the Cardinal he might rack up 300 yards on Saturday, but alas it is up to the arm of Andrew Luck. Somehow Norm Chow has scrapped his old offense and implemented the “Pistol”. He could have a whole battalion back there but with Kevin Prince at quarterback the Bruins could be in trouble. When in doubt, look at the head coach and the quarterback. Stanford is superior in both. Stanford 33, UCLA 12

Virginia at USC

Before the season I wondered two things about USC, can Kiffin coach and can Barley play? Barkley showed me a lot against Hawaii, while the jury is still out on Kiffin. That being said, USC is more talented at every position than the Wahoos. UVA won an uninspiring game against Richmond and have the Virginia Military Institute on tap after a trip to Troy. Apparently Virginia Commonwealth was not available this season. USC won’t repeate the 54-point performance they had a few years back in Charlottesville, but they will win handily. USC 44, Virginia 28

The Citadel at Arizona

I’d like to make fun of this game, but the young men lining up against the Wildcats will soon serve this country, it just does not feel right. Considering that the Bulldogs have such stalwarts as Chowan, Furman, Wofford and Elon on the schedule, maybe they thought they were playing John Mackovic’s Wildcat teams. Instead they get a team that dismantled Toledo a week ago and even with the triple option I can’t see The Citadel being better than the Rockets. They will do a better job of ball control, but it won’t be enough. Arizona 49, Citadel 7

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 9th, 2010 at 8:36 pm and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: Arizona football, Arizona Wildcats, UofA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.