No More Penalty Talk: Time To Play Football

The talk of the nation this week has been the over-celebration penalty that was called on Washington QB Jake Locker.  We never gave our thoughts, so after everyone has, we will.  Bad Rule. Correct Call.  According to the rules, you can’t throw the ball high in the air.  The ball Locker threw was in the air for 2.36 seconds.  That qualifies as high.  Should that rule be in the book?  No.  But it is and the official made the correct call.  Besides, UW has to make the PAT, no matter how far it is.  If you are truly a team trying to turn it around, you make that kick.

The Washington State game against Baylor has been moved to tomorrow night at 5:30.  We were mildly excited because we were looking forward to relaxing after work and watching the game.  Then it hit us, the game now won’t be on TV.  Understandably, this is what’s best for the people of the Texas coast but, selfishly, we wish we could watch it.

We’ll find out this week if UCLA is the real deal.  BYU sneanked out of Seattle with a win so they should be on high alert this week.  The game is in Provo so it is going to be very important that the good Kevin Craft shows up for the Bruins.

USC-Ohio State is the game of the weekend.  Everyone is focusing on Beanie Wells’ injured foot but we’re more interested in seeing how Mark Sanchez plays.  OSU returns most of their defense, a defense that is considerably better that Virginia’s.  Sanchez is going to need to play well, it doesn’t matter how many 5-star RBs the Trojans have.

Stanford has another tough game this week visiting TCU.  The Horn Frogs are another one of those teams that it seems every year are looking to burst the BCS bubble.  This game time has also been changed to an earlier start time on Saturday to avoid the hurricane.  Stanford showed last week that they still have many holes to fill.

Nonconference Slate: How’d The Pac Do?

The first week of the season is over.  The ACC got smacked around, the SEC looked dominant once again, and the Big 10 was, well, the Big 10.

How did the Pac-10 fair in its’ first go-around in the nonconference schedule?

vs. SEC,   1-0 UCLA beat Tennessee 27-24 in OT

vs. Big 10,   1-0 California beat Michigan State 38-31

vs. Big 12,   0-1 Washington State lost to Oklahoma State 39-13

vs. ACC   1-0, USC beat USC 52-7

vs. WAC   1-0, Arizona beat Idaho 70-0

vs. Football Championship Division   1-0, Arizona State beat Northern Arizona

Overall, the conference did great.  5-1, with the only loss coming from the team predicted to finish last in the conferece. 

The Pac-10 proved it is one of the Top Two conferences in the land.  A UCLA team predicted to finish in the middle of the Pac-10 just beat a top SEC team.  We don’t care what SEC fans say, one of your teams just got beat for the second straight season to open the year.

Week One was a week for Pac-10 Football.

Roaming With The Pac: September 1, Fall Is Here!!!

A look at what the newspapers are saying a day after they’ve had time to digest Saturday’s action.

Beat a team 70-0, so what.  That’s no reason to relax, especially with the mighty Rockets from Toledo coming to town Saturday. Coaches don’t let Wildcats relax [Tucson Citizen]

Sun Devil freshman had an opportunity to play against Northern Arizona, exposing them to their first college football action.  Coach Dennis Erickson was more focused on getting them some experience than the results on the field.  ASU’s late dip vs. NAU doesn’t worry Erickson [East Valley Tribune]

California Head Coach Jeff Tedford chose Kevin Riley as his QB right out of fall camp.  After Saturday’s win over Michigan State, the gap between Riley and last year’s starter Nate Longshore seems even greater.  Riley was telling the Cal students to stop booing Longshore after he threw his second pick of the day in his new, limited role. Cal’s Tedford gets QB decision right…twice [Contra Costa Times]

Oregon QB Justin Roper is feeling better after suffering a concussion on Saturday.  Also, starting LT Fenuki Tupou will be back this week after being suspended for accepting a lunch and $100 from an agent.  Tupou has since donated $110 to charity. Ducks’ stock ticks up [The Register-Guard]

USC is preparing for its’ showdown with Ohio State in two weeks like RB Beanie Wells will be playing for the Buckeyes.  Coach Pete Carroll cites his own QB’s recovery for injury as a reason to believe Wells will be in uniform and on the field September 13. Trojans Coach Pete Carroll anticipates quick recovery for Beanie Wells [LA Times]

Tyrone Willingham keeps all his practices closed expect the first 25 minutes.  It looked like Oregon had been practicing with the Huskies all season, maybe even had a copy of their playbook.  With BYU coming to town this week, UW doesn’t have a lot of time to get this fixed. Washington’s game plan was an open book to Oregon [Seattle Times]

After watching film of the Oklahoma State game, Coach Paul Wulff still sees a team that made too many mistakes.  Wulff was impressed with the offense in the 3rd quarter, stresses the fact that it should run that smooth all game long. Looking back at Saturday’s game [Spokesman-Review]