WEEKLY 12-PAC(K):Week Three Edition...

A Look Back At The Week That Was...

• Taylor Martinez And Company Exact Some Revenge Against Washington, With A Little Help From The Guy's In Stripes: In the third meeting in just 364 days between the two teams, this time in Lincoln, Nebraska, the Cornhuskers seemed unstoppable on offense and suspect at times on D as they rolled the Huskies 51-38. When the whistle blew at the half, it looked like it was going to be a pretty exciting shootout, as Washington only trailed by three points at 20-17. Depending on who you ask, some might say it should have been 24-20 UW. With only a couple of minutes to go in the second, Washington punted the ball away to Nebraska. As the deep man for the Cornhuskers went to catch the ball, one of his teammates tripped and bumped into him. That caused the ball to bounce off of his leg and into the hands of a waiting Husky gunner, who then ran the ball into the end-zone for what appeared to be a touchdown. Then came the flag for kick catch interference, which would be the first of three controversial calls for the same penalty, and things began unraveling from there. Nebraska was then able to march down and kick a field goal to go into halftime leading by a field goal. The third quarter was an absolute nightmare for the Huskies, who were called for another kick catch interference at the start of the quarter, with an additional five yards tacked on for a sideline penalty. Nebraska was able to capitalize on the great field position to go up 27-17. On the ensuing kickoff, Washington true freshmen Bishop Sankey fumbled the kick return in the end zone, and he and receiver Kevin Smith were unable to corral the ball as a swarm of Husker special teamer's ran down to grab the ball at the 1-yard line. It only took one play for them to punch it in and blow the game wide open. The Huskies made a late comeback, scoring three TD's in the fourth, but it was too little too late. Blaming the officials would be easy to do on this one, and the calls were admittedly bad. The Pac-12 officiating office even said so. But, winning teams overcome things like that, and after the first bad call the Dawg's never seemed to regain their composure. It cost them the game, and a chance to prove that the Holiday Bowl was no fluke. 

•  USC May Not Be Eligible For The Post Season, But They Are Starting to Look Like The Trojans of Years Past: Matt Barkley threw for 324 yards and five touchdowns, as the Trojans stormed past a lackluster Syracuse team. The Trojans offense had gotten off to somewhat of a slow start in the first two games, but they exploded Saturday. Where they are really reasserting themselves though is on the defensive side of things. They are allowing just over 300 yards per game through the first three contests, with a meager 88 of those on the ground. The Pac-12 South appears to be wide open, and with this team not being able to play in a bowl game, look for them to be very motivated to run the table. That would make quite the statement heading into the 2012 season, when the Trojans bowl ban will be lifted. 

•  The Cardinal Continue to Roll, As Zona' Continues to Tumble: Heisman front-runner (And future Seahawk quarterback) Andrew Luck threw for 325 yards, as the Stanford Cardinal thumped Mike Stoops' struggling Arizona Wildcats. After being contained much of the first half, Luck and his offense erupted in the last 30 minutes of the game. Slowly and methodically picking apart a worn out Arizona defense. Stanford has won 11 straight games, dating back to last season, which became the longest streak in the Nation after defending champ Auburn was knocked off Saturday afternoon. Arizona, meanwhile, has a 1-2 record and is currently on a very different sort of streak. The Wildcat's have now lost seven straight in conference games. With immaturity on both sides of the ball, it looks like it may be a long Winter in Tucson for Coach Stoops and company. For Stanford and Luck, who are currently ranked 5th in the country, they seem to have picked up right where they left off in the Orange Bowl. They appear to be legit nation championship contenders in 2011.

The Winners...

• Utah Utes: For the first time since 1922 the Utes and BYU played each other as non-conference opponents, and it was all Utah. Forcing seven turnovers, and punishing the Cougars with a relentless ground game, they became the first in-state opponent to knock off Brigham Young since 2005. Quarterback Jordan Wynn threw for 239 yards and two touchdowns, and running back John White shredded the defense on 174 yards and three scores. If the Utah defense can continue forcing turnovers, and the run game keeps on rolling, these guys may surprise some folks in the Pac-12 North. 

• Washington Receiver James Johnson: Although it came in a loss, the Junior had his best day as a Husky, catching six balls for 108 yards, two of them for touchdowns.  

The Losers...

• The Stanford Defense: It looks like this could be a very magical year for the Cardinal, as they are ranked 5th in the country and have the best quarterback in the nation leading their attack. The news on Monday that linebacker Shayne Skov will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury could prove to be a very big blow. Skov, the teams leading tackler, is the man who runs the show for the defensive unit. Next to Luck, he is the most important man on the team. It may be something they can overcome, but they will need somebody to step up in a very big way in order to keep national title hopes alive down on the farm.

• UCLA Head Coach Rick Neuheisel: Bruin fans are growing very impatient with the 4th year head man, and a 49-20 drubbing by the Texas Longhorns at the Rose Bowl will not help his cause. Quarterback Kevin prince went 3-7 with three interceptions in the first quarter before being yanked for backup Richard Brehaut. If Neuheisel and the Bruins can't turn things around soon, his seat will be getting much hotter than it already is.

A Look Ahead...

• #23 USC Heads to Tempe to Take on The Sun Devils:  After a tough loss last weekend against Illinois, Arizona State returns home to take on a 3-0 Trojan squad that looks to be returning to form. This will be the first crucial game in what appears to be a wide open Pac-12 South. Look for a high scoring game, I say last team to touch the ball wins.

•  Oregon Takes on The Wildcats in Tucson: It has been a tough stretch for Arizona, having faced two top-ten opponents in the last two weeks. It doesn't get any easier this weekend, as the 10th ranked Ducks head into town to play a team they have beat in three straight contests. Arizona quarterback Nick Foles has been playing very solid football, throwing for 7 touchdowns and zero interceptions, but he has gotten no help from an inexperienced offensive line and a lackluster running game. Things shouldn't be any different in this contest, as I expect Oregon to win big. 

•  Make or Break Meeting For Oregon State And UCLA: With losing records to begin the year, and struggling units on both sides of the ball, this game could be key in determining what direction these two teams are heading in for the 2011 season. Oregon State is starting a freshmen at quarterback, and UCLA doesn't know what to do at the position. Look for it to be a low scoring game, with UCLA being able to do just enough to pull out the victory.

My Random Sports Thoughts of The Week...

• The Seattle Seahawk offense is still bad. Actually, worse than it was a week ago. When you are talking about the April draft in September, things are not good.

• I told you last week Pretty Boy Floyd would knock Victor Ortiz out, and I don't care how it happened, it did. There is no such thing as a cheap shot in boxing. The object of the game is to batter one another in the face until one man is knocked out. And the number one rule to remember in the sport is to ALWAYS protect yourself. Well, Ortiz forgot that rule and the veteran Mayweather made him pay. Case closed. Oh, and that post game tirade against Larry Merchant was priceless.

• I will have a separate article on this before the weekend, but the Pac-12 choosing not to expand is the best decision. What people forget about a lot of times when talking about this sort of thing, is the academic side to all of it. We can all make fun of some of the schools in the league (Those people in Tempe and Pullman) but the truth is they are all really good academic institutions. Adding the schools that were being discussed would have diminished that high standard. The Pac-12 is very strong going forward, and right now the collapsing leagues are envious of that. Keeping newcomers out and working with what they have is by far the best option.

• Greg Normand, shut up about Tiger Woods. You cheated on your ex-wife with a flight attendant, so who's to judge?

• A Boston Red Sox wild card collapse would be great. Those Bean Town fans got so arrogant after the 2nd world series title. I liked that town a lot better during that 86 year drought. Maybe a complete collapse will bring them back to earth a little bit.

My Fantasy Team Update That You Probably Don't Give a Crap About...
    

• "Worst2First" moved to 2-0 this week, despite tight end Antonio Gates getting me a whopping 0 points. Looking ahead, the next 2 weeks are looking pretty easy, so count me in for 4-0. 

I Will Leave You With This...
  
In case you haven't seen this video yet, it was during the Monday Night Football game between the Gaints and the Rams. The Rams no-huddle offense was smashing down the field, so veteran safety Deon Grant decided to do something about it. That something was a very pathetic "injury" flop. He clearly won't be getting into acting once his career is over. It was so bad, the league sent out a memo to all players and teams today, warning them of fines and penalties for faking injuries in order to effect game play. Take a look...

WEEKLY 12-PAC(K)

A Look Back At The Week That Was...

• USC Defeats Utah in The Very First Pac-12 Game, in What Will Most Surely be Remembered as The Game That Screwed a lot of People Over in Vegas: After the Trojans blocked a kick in the final seconds and returned it for a TD, the officials decided the points would not count and the final score would be USC 17, Utah 14. Hours later, Conference officials said there was a miscommunication between referees and coliseum press box officials, and the touchdown should have counted. Making the final score USC 23, Utah 14. The line for the game was at 8 or 9 all week in Vegas. Those who took Utah and were given the points thought they had won the bet, and those who had actually won, thought they lost and probably ripped up their tickets. It left the league with a brand new slogan, " The Pac-12, where you can still score points even after the final whistle."   

•  The Oregon Ducks Bounce Back From a Week 1 Loss to #3 LSU, Demolishing Nevada 69-20: Now, it was only Nevada. And they are not nearly as good as they were last year when they knocked of Boise State. Even that shouldn't have happened, just ask Boise's kicker. Still, the Ducks offense looked like, well, the Ducks offense. Highly touted Frosh Running back De'Anthony Thomas, who looks like a young, slimmer version of one Don Cheadle, caught 2 touchdown passes and had some very electric moments. I have said all along, sooner or later the country will catch up to Chip Kelly's offense. These things go in phases. No one could stop Tony Sparano and the Dolphins when they first unveiled their Wildcat attack. Now look. I thought maybe this was the year when teams began to slow down the Ducks,  and still could be. But, from the looks of last week, Darron Thomas and company will be high flying once again.  

•  Arizona Continues The Horrible Out of Conference Play For The League, Then ASU (kind of) Makes it Better: On Thursday night, on national television, Arizona was man-handled by #9 Oklahoma State, 37-14. From the very beginning, it looked as if it were going to be a lot worse than the final score indicates. Arizona threw for 398 yards, which was actually 1 more yard than the spread attack of OK State produced. It was a lot of dinking and dunking, which is what they do best, but they were not able to produce much inside the redzone. The surprise here was that the Cowboys were able to run for 197 yards on the Wildcat D.  If that is a sign of things to come, it could be a long winter, and a lot of crazy faces from Coach Stoops, in the desert this year.  On Friday night, ASU tried to maintain some sense of national respect for the Pac, once again on ESPN, facing #21 Missouri. In a wild, back and forth battle, the Sun Devils were able to fight off the Tigers in overtime to improve to 2-0. Quarterback Brock Osweiler continued his torrid start, throwing for 353 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also ran for another score. With a stingy defense and a big play offense, The Pac-12 better be on alert; this Sun Devil team looks to be talented and dangerous.

The Winners...

• Washington State QB Marshall Lobbestael. Having to replace the very talented, annointed program savior Jeff Tuel should not be and will not be easy. Especially for a guy who already had his chance, never showed any promise, and eventually lost his job to Tuel. Can you say, full circle? Lobbestael had no problem on Saturday, albeit against UNLV.  He threw for 361 yards, 5 touchdowns, and 0 INT's. And in case you were wondering, Andrew Luck has a career high 4 TD passes. I'm not saying WSU should be sending out Heisman candidate postcards...YET. Wait until week 3 at least.

• Oregon RB De'Anthony Thomas. After losing a couple of big fumbles in the week 1 loss to LSU, the highly-touted recruit from LA, who spurned his backyard Trojans at the last minute to go to Eugene, came up big in his first Autzen appearance. He rushed for 81 yards on 8 carries, and had 93 yards receiving on 2 catches. Both of those wound up in the endzone. Another year, another dangerous weapon out of the backfield for Chip Kelly's gang. 

The Losers...

• Oregon State Beavers. After losing in week 1, week 2 was no better for the Beav's, getting shutout 35-0 on the road to #8 Wisconsin. I hate to be the bearer of bad news here, but I think the over-achieving, compete with anyone party in Corvallis might finally be over. It worked for a while under Mike Riley, they competed every weekend and surprised a lot of folks in the process. I just don't think they have the talent right now, and the rest of the conference has quickly caught up to them, and those who have not passed them yet soon will. Yes, even the Cougars will have a better football team over the next 5 years than the Beavers. Sorry people.

• The Entire PAC-12 Conference. Despite ASU pulling out the upset in overtime against Missouri on Friday, the conference has not looked good in out of league games to begin the year. As we have already touched on, Oregon St. got crushed by Wisconsin, and Arizona did the same against Oklahoma State. Even the teams that pulled out victories didn't look so hot, with Washington having to cling on against Hawaii after storming the gates for an early 21-0 lead. And San Jose st. almost escaped with a victory over the Bruins. This conference expanded in the off-season, has a record television deal, and wants to be recognized as one of the best major conferences in the country. Well, they need to start earning that respectability where it really counts, and that is between the lines. 

A Look Ahead...

• Washington Heads to Lincoln For The Rubber Game.  After throttling the Dawgs 56-21 in Seattle last September, it almost seemed as if it were a joke that the Holiday Bowl committee selected the Cornhuskers to go up against UW a mere 3 months later. The University of Washington had the last laugh on that one, as they came to San Diego and shutdown the same Husker offense that torched them the previous game, winning 19-7. Some say Nebraska didn't show up to that 2nd game, and Husky coach Steve Sarkisian will tell you his team didn't show up for the 1st game. This weekend, hopefully both teams show up and we can finally conclude who is better. My guess, rooting interests aside, is that once again the Husky defense stacks up and stops the run, has an efficient enough day on offense, and takes the best out of three series. What we will come to find out though, is that more than the Huskies being that good, this Nebraska squad has been over rated since the first rankings came out. They are just not that good this year. 

•  Is WAZZU For Real? The talk in Pullman before the season began was that this team had a chance to come out and have a quick start, with the easy schedule they faced. Then, Jeff Tuel broke his collarbone. Things seemed to still be on track last weekend against UNLV. Now comes the first real test, a road game against San Diego State, and their very talented QB Ryan Lindley. It isn't super superior competition, but SDSU will be favored. If Washington St. comes out and dominates, it would be safe to say this team has improved dramatically. If they get dominated, questions of Paul Wulff and his future will begin to be asked once again. But for now, the Cougars are 2-0 and have an offense that looks dangerous. Oh, and did I mention, leads the nation in scoring?!? I know, I had to confirm that a couple of times myself. I would love for the Cougars to lose just to shut my Cougar friends up, but they will get the win. Let the National title talk begin on the Palousse.

•  Is Arizona a Has-Been? The past few years, the Wildcats were a team that always showed up for big games, and always surprised people. With a nasty defense, and a quick-throwing offensive attack, they have been a perennial Pac-10 contender. Times have changed, it is now the Pac-12, and this team seems to have maybe taken a step back. This weekend, fair or not, will tell us a lot. They host #6 Stanford at home in what will be a very tough test against Mr. Luck and his Cardinal. But, if Arizona can pull off the major upset, things will be back on track in Tuscon just like that. The way I see it though, that doesn't happen. Luck does what Heisman Quarterbacks do, and shreds the Zona' defense for 400 yards passing.

My Random Sports Thoughts of The Week...

• The Seattle Seahawk offense is bad. Really bad. If I was in Vegas, it wouldn't be too far fetched to put my money on the aforementioned Luck (no pun intended) to be wearing the Seahawks blue and green come next year. Although, he will have to switch numbers. 12 belongs to the fans. It is the least we can have through these tough times. 

• Floyd Mayweather will knock Victor Ortiz out on Saturday. And Sunday morning, Pacman will have no choice but to take the damn tests and schedule the fight of the century. 

• Manny Ramirez; Roid Rage at it's finest. 

• The NBA season is not going to happen. And to be honest, I really don't give a crap. 

• Here is a thought for when Major League Baseball renegotiates their CBA; if a team is more than 15 games out when football season begins, they should pack up their things and go home. I went to my buddies house the other day, during the ASU-Mizzou game, and was shocked to see him watching the Mariners and Royals battle it out for draft position.  That shouldn't even be allowed. I would rather watch Central Michigan State play Georgia Eastern. And I don't even think those are real schools. 

My Fantasy Team Update That You Probably Don't Give a Crap About...

• "Worst2First" is 1-0, and leading the league after week 1 in total points. Not a real shocker, really. We expect to win. Props to Cedric Benson for getting out of the can and cleaning up right away. And props to my fellow league members who were all too stupid to pick up Mario Williams on defense. I call that a STEAL.

I Will Leave You With This...

So a guy said a swear word while sitting around with his buddies talking about football. Big deal. I loved it!
 

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