Tristan Tippet: The Pac-10 can pack it in for the season
The biggest upset in college football goes to the previously unranked Oregon Ducks, who absolutely destroyed the Associated Press No. 6 California Golden Bears, 42-3.
The Pac-10 Conference has left much to be desired over the past two weeks. The USC Trojans were a top candidate to make it to the National Championship game this year. An 18-15 win early in the season against the Ohio State Buckeyes helped solidify that prognostication- until last week’s loss to Washington, who was defeated by an uninspiring Stanford team on Saturday.
With the Trojans stumbling early, hope suddenly turned to California, who had beaten, well, nobody. But the Golden Bears had one of the best running backs in the country in Jahvid Best, and they had their sights set on a showdown against the Trojans next Saturday. A win over the Trojans would give the Golden Bears a real shot at a Pac-10 Title. The problem is that they forgot to duck Oregon, so to speak.
Wilson Chang: Keith, your favorite ER doc is paging you
Tristan read my mind, but his talk about Pac-10 match ups has nothing to do with Oregon’s trouncing of the Golden Bears. Three weeks removed from LeGarrette Blount’s slugfest, the Ducks have fought their way back into the polls.
Following a tepid performance in a win over BCS dark horse Utah, quarterback Jeremiah Masoli came out and ripped the Bears a new one, throwing for three touchdowns. Couple that with impressive running from six different running backs and we have ourselves a blowout of a perennial Pac-10 power.
The Bears looked like they were just slow to start, but ultimately couldn’t get their game going. Oregon sacked quarterback Kevin Riley four times and outgained them two-and-a-half times over. Cal should just feel lucky they’re still ranked after getting routed the way they did.
Knowing Keith, he was probably watching reruns of Grey’s Anatomy while football was on. The only way he’d be watching football on a Saturday night is if a linebacker came in and sent ‘McDreamy’ into the ICU on his TiVo.
Keith Cordero Jr.: Wilson, here’s an off-the-menu special
Tristan and Wilson are both way off base when it comes to picking the upset of the week. Oregon’s defeat of Cal may be an upset in the rankings, but not on the talent level. Oregon has bounced back from a loss to current No. 5 Boise State, so it is no slouch.’
The upset of the week is unranked South Florida, who just lost star senior quarterback Matt Grothe for the season with an ACL tear, who went to Tallahassee and beat a then-No. 18 ranked Florida State Seminoles team which had housed a legit Top 10 BYU team the week before.
When FSU head coach Bobby Bowden underestimates a team like the Bulls of South Florida, it’s a big deal and a big loss for a program that was coming off a huge win over BYU.’
Hey Wilson, if we were writing restaurant reviews, do you think you would have a chance against me? Go eat dinner by yourself at a terrible restaurant and write a review on how I schooled you.
Judge Phillipe: A little red rage left over, huh?
Well, I see there is still some fire left over from Saturday night’s game, because you guys came out swinging.
I also notice that Wilson and Keith gave Tristan a rookie pass, and that’s not what I like to see. In fact, you guys should have teamed up to scare him from doing fighting words again.
On to the matter at hand.
While most people would agree that Oregon’s win over Cal was the biggest upset from a rankings standpoint, they must also recognize that rankings are subjective, especially this time of year.
Keith raises an interesting point in that their talent levels are very similar and Oregon was ranked at the beginning of the season.’
Florida State and South Florida, on the other hand, aren’t that close talent-wise, so the edge goes to the Bulls victory over the Seminoles. Granted, the Bulls have made strides in recent years, but they still rest a tier below the big dogs of the ACC.
Verdict
Keith wins the closest decision of the semester and should consider himself lucky for dodging some brilliant programming-involved jabs from Wilson.
Facetime
Did you see the Donald Driver catch against the Rams? Wow.
