Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Pac-10 In Review - Week 1

I admit to watching very little football this weekend. It was not because I did not try though. At the very last minute a long-time friend and his wife invited us to spend the weekend with them at a cabin near Santa Cruz. My very first question was whether or not there was a TV and if it had FSN. The answer was no. I then told them I would talk to my wife and she would decide if we went. Needless to say she thought very little about watching the Ducks game and we went. It was a great time had by all. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology I was able to follow the action on my phone so it was not all that bad. In the end, I accumulated some bonus points that I will cash in at a later point in the season. Not all was lost as I had a fresh boysenberry pie at about halftime of the Ducks game to celebrate certain victory. As for the happenings in the Pac-10 from a very uneducated point-of-view:

Stanford was my hero of the weekend until Monday night. Putting a hurting on Oregon State was great to see. I suppose I have finally been able to forgive Stanford for ruining a perfect season way back in 2001. Man, that was a very long time ago.

Oregon State coach Mike Riley is smarter than all of us. After much thought I have determined he loses early season games intentionally. He sets the bar so low that if Oregon State comes close to beating Penn State this week then he looks like Vince Lombardi. With Oregon State fans only hoping for a bowl appearance every year he has the cushiest job in America. Well done, Mike.

UCLA versus Tennessee was the only game I saw this weekend (unless you count Oregon's game on TiVo). It was a phenomenal game to watch. There is no way UCLA should have been close let alone win. Now I know this next sentence will banish me from any special Ducks, Huskies or Buffaloes clubs but I have to say it. I kind of like Neuheisel. I really don't think he is cheating now but he found a way to win that game with a rag tag bunch of misfits (not including the defensive line). A few more wins like that and he will retire early to become a motivational speaker.

Washington got beat by a far superior team. It certainly will not be the last time this year. I would have guessed they would show up and try to save Willingham's job but that did not happen. If I am a UW fan I have Chip Kelly as my darkhorse for next year's coach. His offense has destroyed the Huskies twice now. Luckily, for the Ducks UW has not had an athletic director for months so maybe they will have no idea who to hire.

California-Berkeley is probably my least favorite Pac-10 team. They are the closest team to my current residence and everyone knows I like to hate the hometown teams. My wife's uncle has season tickets to the Bears so when they struggle it makes it so much more fun to talk to him. Beating Michigan State by a touchdown is lame. According to the paper the game was not that close but Longshore found a way to keep the Spartans in it. What was he doing in the game?

Arizona beat up on Idaho. Wow, very impressive. Who's up next, University of Alberta? There preseason schedule is offensive to me.

Arizona State did not play anybody very good either if I'm not mistaken. All I know about their weekend is that their indoor facility blew down. That is God's way of telling them an indoor facility in Tempe is a complete waste of money and space I suppose.

Washington State needs to be kicked out of the Pac-10 immediately. I do not care who replaces them. The school does not even have to field a football team. Just somebody take their place NOW!

USC manhandled Virginia. I have not seen a single highlight from the game but I gather from the score that things must have gone well for Petey. Everyone knows the true competition for USC comes during Pac-10 play so look for much of the same against the most overrated team in the history of sports next weekend.

Oregon looked great and I am very happy about it. Jake Locker was a non-factor to my surprise. Did anyone else notice the Oregon DBs were tucking their jersey bottoms into their shoulder pads showing off their stomachs? Reminded me of watching Miami play back in Ray Lewis' day. The one thing that does worry me a bit is that Oregon used its fourth quarterback by the second or third quarter of the first game. The Masoli pick up in the summer may have been Bellotti's greatest coaching move.

One last thing, I have been spreading the Duck gospel down here. A couple of weeks ago I asked my coworkers if they liked college football? No one really did. Can't really blame them with Sac State being the hometown team. That did not deter me from talking about the start of the season and the Oregon Ducks. Come to find out I show up to work today and I'm the only one that did not watch the game live. They were all fired up about the Ducks and congratulating me on the win as if I had something to do with it. One lady I work with even told me she got home on Saturday night, checked her satellite and called her provider to upgrade so she could get the channel the Ducks were on. I thought everyone got FSN but who knows. I do have to report that not a single one of them liked the uniforms though. Oh well, I'm sure their kids did.

1 comment:

Allison said...

I'm with you. There's something about Rick N. that I like. Not the speeches though.

I can send you one of Laef's old Sac State shirts so you can represent. Are they 0-6 yet?