Sorry to tell you this, Hawaii, but you might not be that good:  Part I

After hanging out with magical attractive hippie woman for a moment, I went to enter the stadium.  Yknow, there are these people selling water bottles for a buck on the side of the road by I-House.  I tried to sell them one of my many water bottles that I bring to the game for fun.  In the course of this conversation, they said that I wouldn’t be allowed to bring water bottles into the game, which was odd since I’d brought them in all the other games.  And the security dude didn’t even give the water bottles a second glance.  So, I’m not sure what these enterprising hydro-capitalists were talking about. 

I walked down to the field before the game on the Cal side this time.  Got to see a bunch of players warm up.

I was standing there with a few friends of mine, one of which was female.  She told us how last year #45, who is not the #45 up there, but instead Julian Arthur, hit on her at a bar.  And he was so forward, that she had to kick him in the nuts.  How crazy…..

Now, *that’s* some hair! 

Right before this photo was taken Tad Smith slapped some player on the butt.  I forget which one.  Maybe Rulon Davis, I forget.   

Constanzo and Co. go running to the center to do some more stretching.  

There was a lot of pomp and circumstance before this game.  For example, the Golden Knights parachuted into the stadium.  It seemed like a giant ad for the army.  To wit:

I was kinda hoping they would spell out Cal or something, but alas, there was nothing like that.

Next time, we’ll look back at a simpler time in our nation’s history when the refs hated Jeff Tedford and a young Nate Longshore was teaching America how to overthrow his receivers again.  Also, we’ll see some photos.

A so-so weekend for the Pac-10.  Some good (USC and Stanford), some bad (Washington and Arizona), and some ugly (UCLA) all add up to a 7-3 weekend — I was hoping for better.

- USC once again carried the Pac-10 banner nationally, traveling to Lincoln, NE and blowing out the nationally-ranked Huskers.  I personally thought Nebraska was overrated anyway (I think Raiders fans all know just how good of a coach Callahan really is), but it was a statement performance nonetheless, and it cements USC at #1 in the land in the eyes of most voters.

- At the other end of the Pac-10, Stanford shocked a lot of people by shutting out San Jose State 37-0, its first home whitewashing in 35 years.  San Jose State is clearly not good, and the memories of last year’s bowl team are fading fast, but it was still a dominant performance, something Stanford hasn’t had against anyone since Ty Willingham strolled the sidelines.

- Cal looked good this week (not that anyone outside the Bay Area saw it) in blowing out Louisiana Tech.  Cal was far from perfect, but they were plenty good enough, and a 30 point margin of victory was apparently enough to move them up no. 6 in the AP poll.

- Oregon also dominated a lesser opponent on Saturday, although blowing out Fresno State is perhaps not what it once was.  Still, a third consecutive dominating performance finds Oregon sitting on the cusp of the top 10.

- Arizona State beat San Diego state by 3 touchdowns, Washington State downed Idaho by 2 TDs and a field goal, and Oregon State hung 61 on I-AA Idaho State.  *Yawn*  Wins are wins, but none of this impresses me.  Considering ASU’s weak competition so far (San Jose State, Colorado, and San Diego State, all at home), I still have no idea if they’re any good or not.  Do you?

- Washington led Ohio State at halftime (7-3) before their defense succumbed and the game got out of hand (33-14).  I know this was a popular upset pick last weekend, but I think we all got a little too excited over a win against an awful Syracuse team and a Boise State that obviously lost something to graduation.  Still, no shame in losing to a top 10 team, whatever the situation.

- Arizona, however, should be rather ashamed, losing to New Mexico at home.  Yes, it was close, and New Mexico isn’t awful, but for a team that had designs on moving into the upper half of the conference this season, two losses and a win over a I-AA team is hardly the start they wanted.  The fans and boosters must be getting restless by now; normally, I’d say that Mike Stoops was looking like he might be the next Pac-10 coach to get fired, except…

- Karl Dorrell looks like he’ll beat him to it.  44-6!  To a previously hapless Utah!  Shameful.  Thus far, the Pac-10 had mostly avoided any "black-eye" type losses (OK, perhaps Oregon State’s flop at Cincinnati), but this one hurts, especially for a program that was ranked near the top 10 and was expected to compete for the Pac-10 title.  They still might, but the national respect has gone, and if things don’t turn around, Dorrell will follow it out the door.

With only 4 non-conference games to play, 3 of them against Notre Dame (Stanford hosts TCU in a few weeks), the Pac-10’s national standing is pretty much set.  From here on out, we’re just beating each other up.  How’d we do so far?

Overall record : 20-6
Record v. I-A : 18-6
Record v. BCS schools : 5-3
Good Wins : Cal vs. Tennessee, Oregon @ Michigan, Washington vs. Boise State, USC @ Nebraska, Oregon vs. Fresno State
Bad Losses : Oregon State @ Cincinnati, UCLA @ Utah, Arizona v. I-A competition

Overall, I’m pretty happy.  Would have loved it if Washington could have taken out Ohio State, and I could certainly have done without Oregon State and UCLA flopping on the road, but as a whole, it’s a pretty decent resume.  If we don’t have the toughest conference in the land, we’re running a close second to the SEC.

However, according to this chat (thanks Eric), Bob Davie does not agree:

Carl Reno NV: Is the Pac-10 this year’s strongest conference?

 Bob Davie: No way. I mean just look at last week. UCLA-Utah, Washington-Ohio St., Arizona-New Mexico, Oregon St.-Cincinnati, and Cal barely escaped Colorado St. two weeks ago. It is strong for one reason, USC.

I’d say Davie’s methods of analysis leaves something to be desired.  Every conference has a black eye or two at this point.  Shall I bring up Michigan, or Auburn, or Syracuse, or the Big XII North (but especially Iowa State)?  I can’t say that shallow ‘analysis’ like this is why Notre Dame fired Bob Daive (it probably had something to do with getting creamed in bowl games), but it sure couldn’t have helped.