Week four is in the books, and conference-wide the Pac-10 is left with more questions, than answers. Eight of the ten teams have played four games, with UCLA and Arizona State being the lone teams that have not opened up conference play yet. Stanford sits atop the conference at 2-0 after dispatching both Washington schools. No offense to Stanford, but wins over the Washington schools does not a season make. Although, USC is pretty jealous of Stanford at the moment, after splitting against the Washingtons.
It looks like Oregon is over that debacle at Boise State to start the season. Cal, again, has somehow managed to take a team with superior talent and piss away an opportunity to take control of the conference. Oregon State, again, cannot help but start a football season without some serious hiccups. UCLA looks to be on the way up, after a couple notable non-conference wins over Tennessee and Kansas State. Arizona is yet again a mystery at this point in the season. Washington was blessed with some incredible timing (and location) of their matchup against USC, and Washington State is Washington State.
From the looks of it, the eventual winner of the Pac-10 in 2009 will have at least one conference loss. The three Pac-10 undefeateds (Stanford, Oregon, Arizona) are extremely unlikely to run the conference slate unscathed. All three teams have their flaws, and some huge games ahead. What does it all mean? This race is wide open. At this point, only Washington State is legitimately not contending for a top spot in the Pac. It's going to be an exciting race.
Click on the jump for a recap of this week's games.
Arizona 37, Oregon State 32 - Nick Foles asserted himself as the starting quarterback for Arizona now, and in the future. The sophomore was poised and efficient leading the Cats to a big victory on the road against Oregon State. The defense bent, often, but it did not completely break.
Oregon 42, Cal 3 - Oregon is not to be taken lightly. Everyone in Strawberry Canyon will attest to that. The most impressive part of the game was not the offensive output. Everyone knows Oregon can score with anyone when they are clicking. The defense absolutely dominating a great Cal offense should have the rest of the Pac-10 worried.
Georgia 21, Arizona State 17 - The Devils hung pretty tough in Athens. Although, Georgia has been nothing by mediocre all season so far. Regardless, a pretty good showing by Sparky in the south.
Stanford 34, Washington 14 - Quite the Big Upset Hangover UW suffered. Stanford can run the hell out of the ball. This was Washington's first game away from Seattle, so a relative drop-off was likely, especially after the huge emotional win over USC the week before.
USC 27, Washington State 6 - Just remember, USC was favored by 45 points in this game. There is no way anyone in the Land of Troy is happy about that performance. In Los Angeles, by the way.
Pac-10 Power Rankings
- Oregon 3-1 (1-0)
- USC 3-1 (1-1)
- UCLA 3-0 (0-0)
- Stanford 3-1 (2-0)
- Arizona 3-1 (1-0)
- Cal 3-1 (0-1)
- Washington 2-2 (1-1)
- Arizona State 2-1 (0-0)
- Oregon State 2-2 (0-1)
- Washington State 1-3 (0-2)