Bad weekend for Pac-10
(Written by kencraw)
As much as I’m a happy guy that USC got knocked off by Stanford, it was bad for the Pac-10. While it SHOULD mean that the Pac-10 is so strong from top to bottom that even one of the worst teams can beat one of the best teams, that’s not the way it is seen across the nation. It’ll be seen as “the Pac-10 is soft”.
Going across town to the Rose Bowl, UCLA laid an egg against Notre Dame. In fairness to UCLA, although it it something that no one outside of the Pac-10 will ever know, UCLA played most of the game with a walk-on freshman QB who was playing in his first meaningful situation. His turnovers were what pretty much sunk UCLA. Nevertheless, across the nation, this will be seen as “one of the ‘better’ Pac-10 teams got beat by the horribly pathetic and winless Notre Dame!?! Those Pac-10 teams… just as soft as we thought.”
So as much as I’m a closet Notre Dame fan (an occupational hazard of being Catholic) and I think UCLA deserves to be stomped on AND I look forward to knock USC off of their pedestal… let’s make sure we temper that joy with the knowlege that his will be a bad thing for Cal and the Pac-10’s reputation across the nation. Said another way, while it’s still a 50/50 proposition, the likelihood of a GameDay visit to Berkeley on November 10th just took a hit.
On the plus side, USC looks very beatable come November 10th in Berkeley and that Rose Bowl is looking better and better.
UPDATE: With Cal and ASU being Pac-10’s only two undefeated teams, the October 27th matchup in Tempe is shaping up to be another big one. (Cal has OSU at home and UCLA in the Rose Bowl while ASU has Washington at home and then a bye, all games that the two should win.)
October 6th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
I don’t think that the national perception of the Pac-10 will suffer too badly. Anyone who has a team that plays a conference schedule will realize how easy it can be to lose a weird game to a conference opponent. Just ask Florida (or Tennessee, Rutgers, Wisconsin, most of the ACC, etc…).
Granted, it was last-place, cellar-dweller Stanford taking it to U$C (at U$C), but it was a conference game. Anything can happen.
As for UCLA, I won’t try to hide my dislike for the Bruins, but I will say that most people who follow football already know the rollercoaster aspect to Karl Dorrell’s teams. They’ve proven themselves inconsistent, at best, over the last few seasons, and I think any notion that this season would be any better were dashed at Utah a couple of weeks ago.
From all I’ve heard from the various talking heas during tonight’s remaining games and weekend wrap shows, national perception remains tepid toward Cal. They’ve already forgotten last weekend’s triumph against a tough–and still highly-ranked (even higher tomorrow)–Oregon. Tennessee is looking stronger after today, too. But, historically, Cal is not a winning program, so they aren’t “quite worthy” yet. (Or so they think.)
It’s funny. Last weekend, Cal had finally proven itself a contender. The real deal. Tonight, Ohio State in beating Purdue, has proven itself as the known commodity. Who do you think will get the favorable push in perception?
Still, with undefeateds Cal and Arizona State (although that won’t last beyond 10/27 and almost didn’t make it past this afternoon), Pac-10 stock remains steady.
The ACC has one undefeated team (Boston College); Big Ten, one (OSU); Big 12, two (Kansas, Missouri); Big East, three (Cincy, UConn[!!], South Florida); WAC, one (Hawaii, so far tonight, although they lost Colt Brennan to injury in the second quarter). The SEC has just one (LSU).
All in all, I think the Pac-10 is holding its own. I’d bet most of the country is more thrilled about $C losing, period. The arrogance is palpable and it’s SO nice to have that slapped down a bit!
October 7th, 2007 at 12:23 am
1. Cal
2. LSU
3. Oh St
4. USF
5. OK
6. BC
7. S Car
8. ORE
9. Florida
10. WVU
11. Va Tech
12. mizz
13. haw
14. USC
15. Cinci
16. Kent
17. ASU
18. wisconsin
19. Rocky Top
20. auburn
21. FSU
22. aub
23. Georgia
24. kansas
25. Illinois
October 7th, 2007 at 12:27 am
oops. 22. Illinois, 25. ‘furd (token for beating #1/2 on the road).
Oregon is better than Florida. Cal is as good as LSU. Cal has bigger, better wins than LSU. Look what the Vols did today!
October 7th, 2007 at 12:45 am
Game Day “New Top 5” today:
Two of the three commentators (and not Lee Corso) put Oregon in the top 5.
watch the video on espn right now.
All 3 put Cal #2. They are wrong. If Oregon is that good, Cal is number 1. …and ook what the Vols did today!
October 7th, 2007 at 1:15 am
SW Birmingham 3
LSU 66
Universidad de Bolivia soccer team (no pads) 6
LSU 77
What a defense!
FL put up bigger numbers on LSU… nothing special about that LSU defensea top 10 team puts up numbers on them just like everybody else – don’t get me wrong, it’s a damn good D (gritty, opportunistic), but no better than that of Ohio State or Cal.
October 7th, 2007 at 3:05 am
No, not really. These are the traditional powerhouses in LA, not 3 through 10. So national media had a good idea that USC was overrated and UCLA had Karl Dorrell–I was not surprised at all that the Irish decisively won that game in the Rose Bowl.
October 7th, 2007 at 7:50 am
The mob is fickle, and yesterday’s triumphs are quickly forgotten. I fully expect OSU to jump Cal in the rankings today. But so what. All that matters is Oregon State next week, then UCLA, then ASU, then Wazu, etc…
Take care of business each week of the rest of the season and Cal will be in a great place. It’s that simple. And if they do get jumped in the polls, maybe that will put a fire in the players’ bellies to go out there and prove something. A little extra motivation never hurts.
Still, it is somewhat upsetting that when the SEC teams beat up on each other it proves the strength of the conference, but when the Pac 10 does the same somehow is proves those teams are soft. Whatever.
GO BEARS! BEAT THE BEAVERS!
October 7th, 2007 at 9:21 am
I think what’s most important here is the fact that USC lost. Period. Anytime that happens, an angel gets its wings. Lets not lose fact of that
October 7th, 2007 at 9:51 am
As far as TrumanHugh’s thoughts that national media attitudes are tepid towards Cal, I would like to offer Fox Sports radio late-night call in program to the list of places that are certainly NOT tepid towards Cal. Last night the host and all the guests kept mentioning that teams like South Florida, BC, and Oklahoma just weren’t in the same category as the “LSUs, Cals, and Ohio States” of the world. This comment was made repeatedly. I thought I must have fallen asleep at the wheel when I heard it, because it seemed like I was dreaming.
As far as USC losing, I think it’s a great thing. Cal fans need to break their submissive attitude towards USC. If we want a Rose Bowl we need to earn it the right way, by winning a conference championship outright. Enough of trying to sneak in on an undefeated USC’s coattails. Enough rooting for USC to be ranked #1 when they beat us, as we have wanted for so many years. Cal controls its destiny.
As far as Pac-10 losing respect. I don’t think that’s the case in the computers at least. In the Sagarin ratings (which are used by Vegas to compute spreads, and by the BCS as one component), the Pac-10 actually improved its standing over the weekend. The Pac-10 is now considered the outright #1 conference in the country (formerly, the Pac-10 only laid claim to one of the 2 methods for ranking, with the SEC claiming the other).
And finally, don’t forget that the Pac-10 had a stellar non-conference record, with (I believe) the fewest games against I-AAs (no, they are not the Football Championship Subdivision, they are I-AA).
Now Big Game might actually be worth watching.
October 7th, 2007 at 11:18 am
I completely agree with WinAndIn. As much as I would love to see Cal in the Rose Bowl it is BS to root in any way for a back door entry. Let’s win an outright Pac 10 title. Shakespeare was wrong: It’s not true that a Rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
Count me among those who would rather see an undefeated Cal team play the Big 10 champion in the Rose Bowl than somebody else in the BCS mythical title game. Until there is a true playoff, traditon trumps the Bull Crap Series.
October 7th, 2007 at 11:32 am
My reaction to yesterday: Phew!
Jim Harbaugh reminds me a lot of Joe Kapp. A former Rose Bowl quarterback who went on to a serviceable pro career and then became an absolutely horrid college coach. But a coach with an uncanny ability to motivate a group of young men to the occasional shock-the-world upset. I’ve been quietly worrying about the Big Game, but now that the Cardinal has their one big win out of their system, I’m not so worried anymore. That November trip to Seattle, though, is another matter. And none of this takes for granted the four tests awaiting the Bears in October.
Still, it increasingly looks like Cal and Oregon (and maybe ASU) are the class of the Pac-10 this year. Many of us thought it was last year, but it’s starting to look like 2007 really is the Bears’ best chance to jump onto the BCS stage. Recall that Tennessee didn’t win its national title until the year AFTER Peyton Manning left. Maybe history will repeat itself with the post-Marshawn Cal Bears? At least we can hope. (And, we get to watch Marshawn tomorrow on MNF!)
October 7th, 2007 at 11:50 am
The rankings are in Cal is #2 in both the AP & the USA Today. Guess I was wrong, as usual.
Wow. California is the #2 team in the country. I know it doesn’t mean much, but still–that sounds very cool.
October 7th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Same here. Excited about Cal at #2.
Let’s not get complacent. We now have a larger target on our back!
Go Bears!
October 8th, 2007 at 5:36 am
I will wait until the BCS poll comes out. That is the only poll that counts for BCS bowl games. I would love to see CAL play for the BCS title game. However if it would be against LSU that would be in their own back yard in New Orleans. Either that game or the Rose Bowl would make me happy. Right now OSU is the only thing as CAL fans we need to worry about. CAL has a really BIG bulls eye on their back now with the #2 Ranking. They need to take care of business one game at a time!
October 8th, 2007 at 9:42 am
I think everyone was (rightfully) nervous about Cal getting screwed by the idiot polls (see: 2004). While anyone who has watched this year’s games would easily rank Cal ahead of OSU, a lot of these voters can’t be bothered to do things like “watch games” or “evaluate teams.” OSU is a name that just LOOKS like a #1, while Cal is a name that’s still fairly new/foreign to the Top 10.
Cases in point:
Oregon’s loss was to the #6 team in the country
USC’s loss was to an unranked team
Naturally, USC is ranked ahead of Oregon. Pollsters are idiots.
OSU’s 1 signature win is over a 5-0 Purdue team who was 5-0 solely because of their schedule. Aside from OSU over Purdue, neither team has beaten anyone who has even sniffed the top 25.
Cal’s 2 signature wins are over an Oregon team that beat down Michigan and a Tennessee team that demolished #12 Georgia.
Its not even remotely close.
Remember all these points when you argue with your non-Cal friends : P