Greetings… all is well here on a Sunday… football right around the corner on Thursday…
In July 2009, Congress had a hearing on the Bowl Championship Series (this is the obligatory government section of my post). Obama wants a national football playoff. As a civil servant, the Hokie Guru must support his President and volunteers to work in the agency that implements that objective… maybe the Hokie Guru can arrange a detail.
The Pac 10 means LATE Saturday night football if you live on the East Coast… on several evenings, the Hokie Guru has stayed up until 2 AM watching the big games…. thank you, Fox Sports Net (maybe the only reason I’d purposely watch a Fox Network)…
The Pac 10 conference is, as we say in the rough west end of Alexandria, VA (lol), a man’s conference. Every team plays all nine teams in the conference. No other major Bowl Champsionship Series conference does this in America. Kudos to the league for willing to take this one. There is an awesome group of coaches in this league. Let’s get the preview started!!!
1.) Unversity of Southern California (USC) Trojans – Over the last 7 years, USC has gone 82-9 (!!!) and has won the Pac-10 title each year. If any team in the Pac 10 wants to beat the Trojans, they better get it done this year because the Hokie Guru doesn’t see USC losing any more games in 2010-2011 or 2011-2012. The Trojans have that much talent How do you like this? Head Coach, Pete Carroll, plus a stunner and selects Matt Barkley as his starting quarterback. Matt Barkley is the real deal. Aaron Corp, the injured quaterback, would start anywhere else in America… such the life of a football team that can select and doesn’t have to recruit. Fact is, the Los Angeles area has so many talented recruits that Pete Carroll never has to get on a plane to see them… he only has to get in a taxi to see them!! Not to say there aren’t problems… one of USC’s top receivers is out 6-8 weeks. But there are also studs like safety, Taylor Mays. Mark this early date on your calendar… September 12… the Trojans take on the The Ohio State University Buckeyes in Columbus, OH. It’s a must win for both teams looking to get to the national championship game.
2.) Oregon Ducks – Jeremiah Masoli is the best quarterback in the Pac 10 (the Hokie Guru agress with Sporting News)… not to say that USC’s starter won’t over take him by the end of the season… but today, Masoli is tops. Oregon might have the toughest schedule in the Pac 10. The Ducks must play every team in the Pac 10… and they must play at Boise State and Purdue… and take on an interesting Utah State opponent at home. Chip Kelly’s spread offense is what makes this team go… he took over as head coach this year… the Ducks might have the most underrated linebacker unit in the Pac 10… the Hokie Guru wishes he could be in Eugene, OR for Halloween when USC takes on Oregon 🙂
3.) California Bears -The best running back stable in the Pac-10 belongs to the Bears (Cal might hae the best group of running backs in the country). Life is really good if you are Cal coach, Jeff Tedford. Junior Jahvid Best is a Heisman darkhorse, meaning he might be one of the non-QBs invited to New York for the ceremony. It would be VERY cool to see the Bears upset USC on October 3, 2009. The game is at home and USC has a new quarterback this yar. Can the Bears become California’s #2 team? We’ll have to wait and find out.
4.) Oregon State Beavers – The trend of best dollar for value continues; Mike Riley gets more out of his players than any coach in the Pac-10. Running back, Jacquizz Rodgers (last year’s Pac-10 offensive player of the year), is 2009’s version of Barry Sanders. Can the little guy take the Beavers to the Holiday Bowl? They’ll have to upset California and Oregon (in the Civil War).
5.) UCLA Bruins – Rick Neuheisel is in the middle of a process. He might have the tougest coaching job in the Pac-10 because he is competing with USC, California, and to some extent, Oregon, for some of the best talent in Los Angeles. According to CFN, he’s put together two great college football recruiting classes in a row. Westwood must have patience with Neuheisel because this is only his second year. Expect dividends in the form of better seasons in years three and four of Neuheisel’s contract. UCLA will be better… because Norm Chow is their offensive coordinator… but it’s gonna take a lot of work. However, the Bruins defense wil keep them in every game.
6.) Arizona State Sun Devils – Most people think a Dennis Erickson coached team will become offensive gurus. That was not the case last year with the Sun Devils’ triple digit ranking. The defense, however, appears to be stout with Dexter Davis (All-America candidate) and Lawrence Guy at the on the line. If the offense can improve marginally, a 2nd-tier bowl game might be there for the taking.
7.) Stanford Cardinal (not a typo… it’s not Cardinals) – Very interesting that a team’s success could depend on whether their stud running back gets drafted by Major League Baseball. That appears to be the case for the Cardinal. Senior RB Toby Gerhart is a big stud. According to CFN, “A year after missing all but one game with a knee injury, he erupted for 1,136 yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground. A 237-pound bruiser, he powered his way through defenses, wearing them out and requiring multiple tacklers to bring him down. More than just Stanford’s best offensive player, he’s the heart and soul of this squad.” Standford returns 8 starters on offense and 7 on defense. Can you say Pac-10 darkhorse with head coach and former Chicago Bear, Jim Harbaugh, at the helm? If he gets this team to a 2nd-tier bowl game, every team in America is going to be knocking at his door.
8.) Arizona Wildcats – Such the life of being in the Pac-10. The Wildcats would likely compete for the three spot in the Big 10. Sometimes life isn’t fair, right?
9.) Washington Huskies – Steve Sarkisian was recently hired as head coach and will get 3-4 years to rebuild the Washington Huskies football program. The first action he must take is to close the gates around the state borders… Sarkisian must keep the State of Washington’s best players in the State of Washington and he must hope to steal a recruit or two from Los Angeles.
10.) Washington State Cougars – It must be deathly hard to recruit to Pullman, WA.
Have a great week. We will have our week 1 picks later tonight. If you didn’t see our other previews, the Big 10 11 is here, the Big 12 is here, the Big East Least is here, the Atlantic Coast Conference is here, the SEC is here,and our best of the non-BCS is here.
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