PAC 10 CONFERENCE

2009 Pac-10 Season Preview and Predictions

USC has finished the year with at least a share of the lead for the past 7 seasons and they look to push that streak to 8 as they are the favorite to win it again this year. However, teams like Oregon and Cal will challenge the Trojans for a shot at earning a BCS Bowl Berth.



The Pac-10 is often overlooked because fans think that it is a one team conference. The problem is that being on the west coast, the games start later and east coast fans are often unable to see how good this conference truly is. While the SEC is undoubtedly the best conference in the country, the Pac-10 will make a case for themselves this season as they prove that they are the second best conference in the country.



Arizona Wildcats: Arizona is coming off of its first winning season in 10 years. It will be interesting to see how the Wildcats respond to success. They will no longer sneak up on teams and the expectations will be greater than ever. I expect the Wildcats to have a good, but not great season and finish at 7-5.



Arizona State Sun Devils: The Sun Devils were a national contender in 2007 and had a very disappointing 2008 as they lost their final game to rival Arizona giving them a 5-7 record to finish the year. Like Arizona, ASU will begin the year with a new quarterback, but I feel that they will improve to 6-6.



Cal Golden Bears: The Golden Bears look to have a great season. The expectations are high in Berkeley as Kevin Riley has shown promise at the quarterback position and Jahvid Best is a playmaker on offense. Best is explosive and will create plenty of scoring opportunities, if Riley is consistent and limits the interceptions the Bears will have a very good season. Cal will finish the year at 10-2.



Stanford Cardinals: The Cardinal have been improving every year. They help themselves this year by scheduling winnable non-conference games. While I think they will finish at 5-7 again, the Cardinal might be able to steal a game and finish the season bowl eligible for the first time since 2001.



Washington Huskies: The Huskies had a disappointing season last year as they actually went winless. However, the have a new coaching staff and Jake Locker at quarterback. Locker is extremely underrated because he plays at Washington, but he is a good quarterback who will find a way to get Washington to improve to 2-10 this year.



Washington State Cougars: Hard to imagine a 2-11 team getting worse, but I think the Cougars will do it. The only 3 games that even appear winnable are Notre Dame, SMU, and Washington but two of these games are on the road. Cougar fans make sure to attend the SMU game because it may be the only chance to see Washington State win this year.



Oregon State Beavers: Jaquizz Rodgers is a playmaker. Everyone learned about him last year in the USC game and this year the nation will be watching. Oregon State should finish fourth in the Pac at 9-3. It is unfortunate for them that they play all 3 of the best conference teams on the road. I expect the Beavers to lose to USC, Cal, and Oregon.



Oregon Ducks: With Jeremiah Masoli and Legarrette Blount returning, the Oregon offense will score plenty of points. The defense has question marks, but Oregon's defense is always questionable. They outscore their opponents, and the spread attack will be very successful this year. Oregon will finish 10-2 and second in the conference.



UCLA Bruins: Rick Neuheisel has this team headed in the right direction, but he still has a lot of work to do. The Bruins are yet to find a proven effective quarterback and that will hurt them. They will improve this year but will only finish at 5-7.



USC Trojans: I predict them to win the Pac-10 this year. They are losing a lot of talent, but they always lose talent and they always find ways to reload. Pete Carroll said that he feels the Pac is the best conference in the country so I feel that he will make sure to prove it in his non-conference games. The Trojans will finish 11-1 and win the conference for the 8th straight year. As for the Trojans single loss? The Trojans have lost in their past three visits to the state of Oregon. The Ducks have a great team this year that has the offense capable of beating USC. Finally, Autzen is one of the toughest places to play in all of college football and the crowd will make it difficult for the first year starter at quarterback for USC.



Pre-Season Predictions

USC 11-1
Oregon 10-2
Cal 10-2
Oregon State 9-3
Arizona 7-5
Arizona State 6-6
Stanford 6-6
UCLA 5-7
Washington 2-10
Washington State 1-11

Dec. 22, 2009


Congrats to the 18 Stanford players who got recognition on the Pac 10's All Academic team and the 7 Oregon State players.

WALNUT CREEK, Calif.--Linebacker Mike Nixon of Arizona State has been named named a first-team selection on the Pac-10 All-Academic Football Team for the third straight year. Last week, Nixon also was named a first-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American. In addition to Nixon, nine other players were named to the Pac-10 academic team for the second time. To be eligible for selection to the academic team, a student-athlete must have a minimum 3.0 overall grade-point average and be either a starter or significant substitute. Following is the 2009 Pacific-10 Conference All-Academic Football Team.

FIRST TEAM PAC-10 ALL-ACADEMIC
Pos. Name Year GPA Major
QB Andrew Luck, Stanford RFr. 3.55 Undeclared
RB Josh Catron, Stanford Sr. 3.48 Economics
RB Toby Gerhart, Stanford Sr. 3.25 Management, Science and Engineering
WR Casey Kjos, Oregon State Jr. 3.63 Psychology and Sociology
WR Alex Lagemann, California Jr. 3.68 Media Studies
TE David Paulson, Oregon So. 3.68 Business Administration
OL Mark Boskovich, California Jr. 3.73 Political Science
OL Micah Hannam, Washington State Jr. 3.59 Civil Engineering
OL Andrew Phillips, Stanford Jr. 3.53 Classics
OL Chris Prummer, Washington State Jr. 3.88 Zoology
OL Carson York, Oregon RFr. 3.70 Journalism

DL Kevin Frahm, Oregon State So. 3.24 Political Science
DL Kevin Kooyman, Washington State Sr. 3.16 Management and Operations
DL Erik Lorig, Stanford Sr. 3.12 Public Policy
DL Tom McAndrew, Stanford Sr. 3.58 Science, Technology and Society
LB Mike Mohamed, California Sr. 3.43 Business Administration
LB Mike Nixon, Arizona State Sr. 4.07 Political Science
LB Will Powers, Stanford Sr. 3.48 Classics
DB Victor Aiyewa, Washington Jr. 3.36 Sociology
DB Cameron Collins, Oregon State So. 3.37 Business
DB Jay Matthews, Washington State RFr. 3.68 Undeclared
DB Chima Nwachukwu, Washington State Jr. 3.45 Political Science

PK Nate Whitaker, Stanford Jr. 3.38 Engineering
P Jeff Locke, UCLA RFr. 3.69 Undeclared
RS Taylor Kavanaugh, Oregon State Sr. 3.28 Construction Engineering



SECOND TEAM PAC-10 ALL-ACADEMIC
Pos. Name Year GPA Major
QB Nate Costa, Oregon Jr. 3.46 Sociology
RB Tommy Vardell II Stanford 3.32 Human Biology
RB Paul Homer, Washington Sr. 3.19 Biology
WR Ryan Whalen, Stanford Jr. 3.43 Science, Technology and Society
WR Jared Karstetter, Washington State So. 3.49 Undeclared
TE Logan Paulsen, UCLA Sr. 3.68 History and Political Science
OL Steven Ayers, Washington State So. 3.44 Social Studies
OL Chase Beeler, Stanford Jr. 3.42 History
OL Joe Eppele, Washington State Jr. 3.42 Psychology
OL Marcus Perry, Oregon State So. 3.56 Exercise and Sport Science
OL Matt Summers-Gavin, California RFr. 3.36 Political Science

DL Damien Holmes, UCLA RFr. 3.15 Undecided
DL Thomas Keiser, Stanford S0. 3.11 Undeclared
DL Gabe Miller, Oregon State Jr. 3.07 Construction Engineering
DL Ernest Owusu, California Jr. 3.12 Undeclared
LB Josh Garrett, Washington State RFr. 3.30 Undeclared
LB Riley Showalter, Oregon Sr. 3.10 Business Administration
LB R.J. Young, Arizona So. 3.40 Pre-Journalism
DB Delano Howell, Stanford So. 3.19 Undeclared
DB Kyle McCartney, Washington State RFr. 3.87 Undeclared
DB Alterraun Verner, UCLA Sr. 3.08 Mathematics/Applied Sciences
DB Greg Walker, Washington RFr. 3.45 Pre-Engineering

PK Giorgio Tavecchio, California So. 3.57 Undeclared
P Johnny Hekker, Oregon State So. 3.47 Science
RS Chris Owusu, Stanford So. 3.13 Undeclared


HONORABLE MENTION

Arizona: QB Nick Foles, So.; HB/TE Chris Gronkowski, Sr.; DB Corey Hall, Sr.; WR David Roberts, So.; TE A.J. Simmons, Jr.
Arizona State: OL, Matt Hustad, So.; PK Thomas Weber, Jr.
California: TE Skylar Curran, Sr.; C Chris Guarnero, Jr.; Mitchell Schwartz, So.
Oregon: WR Rory Cavaille, Sr.; OL Nick Cody, RFr.; C Jordan Holmes, Jr.
Oregon State: TE Howard Croom, Sr.; CB Brandon Hardin, So.; PK Justin Kahut, Jr.; C Alex Linnenhohl, Jr.; WR Aaron Nichols, Jr.; OG Gregg Peat, Sr.
Stanford: TE Coby Fleener, Jr.; OT Chris Marinelli, Sr.; C Zach Nolan, Jr.; TE Konrad Reuland, Jr.
UCLA: OG Nick Ekbatani, Sr.; WR Gavin Ketchum, Sr.; LB Patrick Larimore, RFr.; TE Ryan Moya, Sr.; P/H Danny Rees, Jr.; FB Trevor Theriot, Sr.; LB Sean Westgate, So.
USC: OG/C Jeff Byers, Grad.; PK Jordan Congdon, Sr.; FB Adam Goodman, Sr.; QB Garrett Green, Grad.; S Drew McAllister, So.
Washington: LB Cort Dennison, So.; PK Erik Folk, So.; OT Cody Habben, Jr.; OG Morgan Rosborough, Sr.
Washington State: C Kenny Alfred, Sr.; WR Daniel Blackledge, Jr.; S Eric Block, So.; OL Brian Danaher, So.; S LeAndre Daniels, RFr.; LB Hallston Higgins, Jr.; TE Andrei Lintz, RFr.; TE Skylar Stormo, RFr.

I HATE UCLA.

But I sure LOVE their women.

Macc24Est89 wrote:

I HATE UCLA.

But I sure LOVE their women.

that's the great thing about women, if there cute, they can cross our disgust for teams...

I wouldn't mind ripping those ASU girls in half either.

WOW is all I have to say..The West Coast is a B-E-A utiful thing

bump....The PAC-10 is tha shiznit!!!!!

luvtotha9s wrote:

bump....The PAC-10 is tha shiznit!!!!!

forgot about that post, was so long ago lol...i need to do one for the women of the ACC