Pac-10 Picks: Week 10
by uofafanatic on Nov 5, 2010 4:42 PM PDT
in Arizona Wildcats Football
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Are you ready, Pac-10 fans? There are three potential upset situations this weekend, (I’m not counting the Arizona @ Stanford game. Whoever wins that contest, it won’t be an upset.) and I’m choosing one as my ‘upset of the week’. Considering my track record this season, I’d imagine that no team wants me to pick them to get the upset. Onward to the jinx! Arizona 37 - Stanford 34: Foles, if truly 100%, should have a great day against the Stanford secondary. Freshman DT Justin Washington will be back, and along with the best defensive line in the Pac-10 will be shutting down the run and hampering Stanford QB Andrew Luck all night long. This will be a good game. This will be a close game. But the difference will be the Arizona defense, which is better than any other on the Stanford schedule.
Washington 13 - Oregon 48: With Locker out, the Huskies have no chance here. I’d love to see them somehow beat Oregon, it would do great things for Arizona’s Rose Bowl hopes. It just won’t happen.
Cal 34 - Washington State 14: Cal should have no trouble here. Best case scenario here for the ‘Cougs is they avoid too many injuries, and maybe this pushes coach Wulff a little closer to the unemployment line.
Upset Pick of the Week: Oregon State 21 - UCLA 24: The Beavers may be overlooking the Bruins with Brehaut under center. UCLA is clearly a ‘bottom 5’ team at the moment. They are also a dangerous team, and desperate for a win. If they commit more to the pass, as they did against Arizona, this ‘pistol’ offense has the potential to be deadly.
Sorry, Bruins fans, but I had to pick someone. Maybe you’ll beat the jinx?
Arizona State 14 - USC 38: The Sun Devils are clearly outmatched here, and USC will be out for blood after the embarrassing loss to Oregon. I might have more faith in ASU pulling off the upset, if they had a better coach, but they don’t. ASU loses big here, but hopefully it doesn’t cost coach Dennis Erickson his job. It’s too much fun watching the Sun Devils’ spiral to the bottom of the Pac-10.
Don’t agree with my picks? Leave a comment and tell me why I’m wrong, and your prediction for how it will really go.
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Pac-10 upset of the week
While I certainly believe UCLA could pull off the upset against the Beavers, the Beavers have fared too well late in the season since Mike Riley has taken over. Washington State, on the other had, will not go winless in the Pac-10. They will not win @OSU so that leaves home games against Cal and UW.
Although the Huskies have had a disappointing season this year and the Cougars will want revenge for last years shellacking in the Apple Cup, they have wins against strong opponents. I have more faith in Washington, considering they have beaten Big East conference contender Syracuse, along with USC and Oregon State. Both Pac-10 wins came against teams that entered the game ranked in the AP top 25.
On Saturday, Cal will be featuring a first time starter who has attempted a grand total of 32 passes in his career. They will need to lean heavily on Shane Vareen to continue to produce on offense. Washington State is a desperate team, and it showed against Arizona when they attempted an onside kick to start the game, also attempting an early fourth down conversion after they recovered the initial kickoff. After being throttled by ASU last weekend the Cougars will either fall apart and lose big, or rally as a team and play lights out. The fact that they have continued to play hard despite the continued losses leads me to believe Washington State will break through this season and earn their first, and only, conference win of the season. This is why Washington State is my upset pick of the week.
Great upset pick.
I think I have learned my lesson in questioning your wisdom.
While WSU played a solid game and kept it close, Cal defense got the job done in the 4th quarter killing my upset pick
Additionally, after watching UCLA come alive and gain confidence against Arizona a week ago I should have known they would be fired up against the Beavers. I didn’t see it coming in regards to OSU laying an egg in Pasadena. You made an excellent prediction that Oregon State might overlook the Bruins.
It's the Pac-10
For some reason, this conference seems unusually prone to looking past an opponent. Or maybe we’re all just paranoid about it, not sure. But really, as much as I hate to give Neuheisel credit, (And I really, really hate to give him any credit), that pistol offense is evolving into a major pain in the butt for defenses. Watch out for UCLA next season.
Patrick Evans (uofafanatic)
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