Best Game. Week Two

*We are going to be breaking down the Pac-10 schedule week-by-week to find out which game is the best every Saturday.  By “best,” we mean which game you should stop what your doing, make a sandwich, grab a beer, and sit on your ass and watch for 3+ hours.

The Week 2 Slate:

Toledo at Arizona

Stanford at Arizona State

California at Washington State

Utah State at Oregon

Oregon State at Penn State

BYU at Washington

Week Two gives us six games featuring Pac-10 teams: two conference games, two non-conference sleepers, and two intriguing match-ups.

The Golden Bears of California must travel to the golden wheat fields of Pullman to take on the Paul Wulff-led Cougars.  After facing a Big 10 foe at home, Cal will win their first road test.  Lowly Stanford takes a stroll down to the desert to face the Sun Devils.  Stanford is playing their second consecutive conference game meaning they will be first to the bottom after they start out 0-2.

Utah State at Oregon should be a blowout, allowing the Ducks to heal up after their Week One battle with the hated Huskies.  The Rockets of Toledo are in Tuscon to play Arizona.  Talk about a winnable game.  What happens if Mike Stoops some how drops this one?

That leaves us with BYU at Washington and Oregon State at Penn State.  Many “experts” are calling for BYU to run the table and crash the BCS party.  This is their first test since playing Northern Iowa isn’t much of a challenge.  Washington does normally play well at home; they upset Boise State their last year.  This should be a good game and definitely watchable, but not the best of the weekend.

Oregon State at Penn State is the best game for Week Two.  Under Coach Mike Riley OSU has continually started slow, yet rebounded to finish strong.  It was only two years ago that the Beavers upset then #3 USC at home.  They finished strong last year beating Maryland in the Emerald Bowl. 

Question: What’s been around longer, Stonehenge or Joe Paterno coaching Penn State?  If you said Stonehenge you’d be wrong.  Paterno will never leave the Nittany Lion sideline.  In 2005 he led them to an Orange Bowl win over Florida State.  They finished 9-4 last season and should field another bowl-bound team this season.  Pac-10 vs. Big 10 is the best game of Week Two.

Best Game Week Two: Oregon State at Penn State 

Best Game Week One: Tennessee at UCLA

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