Pac-10 is league of the weak, and other 'Extra Points'

Posted: Sunday, September 14, 2008 3:25 PM

While wondering if Charlie Weis would be willing to sacrifice a pair of ligaments in return for a victory every Saturday, this week’s set of EXTRA POINTS begins out West where things are upside-down for the moment.

League of the week: The Mountain West won all but one of its non-conference games on Saturday, including a sterling 4-0 mark against teams from the Pac-10, which is usually the undisputed bully of the region. The only setback for the MWC was San Diego State’s 35-10 loss at San Jose State, which is apparently a much tougher place to play than South Bend.

BCS league of the week: For the first time in history, Southeastern Conference schools occupy half of the Associated Press Top-10. Furthermore, based on the total number of points available in the poll (20,800), the SEC represents 29.6 percent (6,150) of this week’s AP Top-25. Not too shabby.

League of the weak: Aside from USC, what does the Pac-10 have? If going by recent results … not much. I’m thinking that it’s a certainty that this conference will have more fired coaches than Bowl Championship Series participants. 

• Arizona State blew a gimme at home against UNLV, getting shutout in the fourth quarter and overtime in an embarrassing 23-20 loss that takes Saturday’s previously heralded showdown with Georgia at Sun Devil Stadium down several pegs.
• California lost at Maryland, 35-27. Yes, that’s the same Terrapins who fell at Middle Tennessee, 24-14, the week before.
• Washington got dismantled by Oklahoma, 55-14, in Seattle, looking like an unqualified sparring partner for Sam Bradford.
• Arizona fell at New Mexico, 36-28. The Lobos opened the season with two home losses, waiting patiently for a Pac-10 patsy to show up in Albuquerque.
• Stanford lost, 31-14, at TCU before jetting back to the safety of Palo Alto’s libraries.
• On Friday, Washington State got blasted at Baylor, 45-17, but that was actually an accomplishment for the Cougars, who lost by 63 points at home in their previous outing.
• Also on the bright side were the Oregon schools. Oregon won at Purdue, 32-26. But the Ducks needed two overtimes and a pair of errant Boilermaker field goals to improve to 3-0. Meanwhile, Oregon State toyed with suddenly hapless Hawaii, 45-7, in Corvallis. 

Tale of one city: And then there’s UCLA. Before the season, the Bruins took out bold newspaper ads, proclaiming that “The football monopoly in Los Angeles is officially over.” That seemed like a possibility after the Bruin coaching staff used an array of mirrors to beat Tennessee on Labor Day. But the monopoly seems to be as strong as ever in both Los Angeles and Provo after BYU undressed UCLA, 59-0.

Has there ever been starker contrast between the Bruins and their crosstown rival Trojans based on the result of a single Saturday?

At least until further notice, USC is clearly THE University of Southern California. But we won’t go as far as the Los Angeles Times, which ran a huge headline on Sunday morning that screamed: “Miami beachhead,” and book hotel rooms on South Beach just yet for the Trojans.

More Trojans: After solidifying themselves as THE Ohio State University with wins over Youngstown State and Ohio, the Buckeyes will try to go 1-1 versus Trojan squads when they host Troy at the Horseshoe on Saturday. It will be interesting to gauge how many of those Buckeye helmet stickers were given out in the postmortem of the 35-3 disaster at USC. Terrelle Pryor deserves at least a couple (and some additional playing time), but we’re not sure who else.

Pitcher’s duel in Starkville: Oddities like Auburn’s 3-2 win at Mississippi State are part of what makes college football so special. There’s no truth to the rumor that Tim Hudson pitched five strong innings and Frank Thomas provided the winning margin with a solo shot in the top of the ninth.

Next up for Tommy Tuberville is the Tiger-Tiger showdown at LSU. Last year, the teams combined for 54 points and 784 total yards in LSU’s dramatic last-second victory. We might not see totals half as large in what will be this week’s marquee matchup, which will surely be more interesting than last Saturday’s supposed “Game of the Year” at the Coliseum.

A round of applause please: How about David Cutcliffe leading Duke to a pair of victories within his first three games in Durham? That’s how many wins the Blue Devils have had in their previous three seasons combined. We’re not sure how many more will follow now that they’ll be getting into conference play, but the 41-31 victory over Navy was impressive and the pass-catch combo of Thaddeus Lewis and Eron Riley is the best one you’ve never heard of.

Stand up and boo: If the current malaise of the Syracuse program wasn’t bad enough, Saturday’s 55-13 pounding applied by Penn State came against a backdrop of the Orange’s glorious past. What must Orangeman legends such as Jim Brown and Floyd Little be thinking the day after they gathered for the world premiere of “The Express,” a movie about Ernie Davis, who led Syracuse to an undefeated season in 1959 and won the Heisman Trophy two years later?

EMAIL THIS