The worst phrase a UCLA student can hear the first week in
October ““ even worse than, “in addition to class
participation, your grade will depend on two papers, three exams,
and a three-hour final” ““ is, “USC looks like
it’s for real.”
Indeed, the Trojans are actually living up to their unavoidable,
perennial pre-season hype for the first time since Bill Clinton was
finishing up his first term. Coming out of a rigorous start to the
season, and playing the nation’s most difficult schedule, USC
is 3-1.
The Trojans made a 22-0 mockery of an Oregon State team that
many considered to be the best in the Pac-10 offensively, and the
USC defense is No. 1 in the nation with allowing just 205 yards per
game.
Could it be? Is USC once again among the conference elite,
mentioned in the same breath as Oregon and Washington?
Frightfully, it appears so. Remember that season when Randall
Cunningham suddenly looked like deity’s gift to the
quarterback position? When he led the Vikings to a 15-1 record and
seemed like he was incapable of throwing an incomplete pass?
USC quarterback Carson Palmer’s done just about the same
thing so far. Now in his senior season, fans have waited in
near-unbearable frustration for Palmer to put together a consistent
season (sound familiar?), and he’s finally looking like the
pro-type signal caller USC fans expected when he came in five years
ago.
“Carson Palmer is playing the best I have ever seen him
since he’s been at USC,” Washington State coach Mike
Price said.
Pass is the word
Doing nothing to dispel the commonly-held view of the Pac-10 as
a sissy-Mary, chuck-and-duck conference, four starting quarterbacks
rank in the top 10 nationally in pass efficiency. Arizona
State’s Andrew Walter leads the country with a gaudy 185.8
rating.
The Sun Devils’ 38-point first half blitzkrieg of Stanford
on Saturday didn’t hurt. Walter threw for 414 yards and five
touchdowns against a Cardinal defense that, remarkably, could have
played worse.
No Pac-10 teams rank in the top 25 in rushing offense.
A malaise over Berkeley
What do Cal and Jimmy Carter have in common?
Well, since 1976, when Carter was elected president and Cal beat
Washington, the two have had similar luck.
Carter sounded like the world’s biggest fun-hater with his
“malaise” speech and was trounced in 1980, while Cal
hasn’t beaten the Huskies in 19 tries.
The Bears will have a go at it once again, Saturday at 12:30,
and can at least be comforted with the news that the Huskies have
had to come back in the fourth quarter the past three years to beat
Cal.
Our Game of the Week
No. 18 USC (3-1) at No. 17 Washington State (4-1), 4:00 p.m.,
TBS (national).
A win over the Cougs in the Palouse would put USC in the
conference drivers’ seat with two solid victories early in
the Pac-10 season.
Elsewhere in the Pac-10
UCLA (3-1) at Oregon State (4-1), 12:30 p.m., ABC
(regional).
No. 8 Oregon (4-0) at Arizona (3-1), 6:15 p.m., Fox Sports Net
(national).
Stanford (1-2) at No. 9 Notre Dame (4-0), 11:30 p.m., NBC
(national).
North Carolina (1-3) at Arizona State (4-1), 6:00 p.m.
Wait, one last thing…
It appears as though the seemingly banal North Carolina-ASU
matchup has some history.
The only other time the teams met was in a 1970 Peach Bowl
snowstorm, years before warmer heads prevailed and the game was
moved inside the Georgia Dome.
The Sun Devils braved the unfamiliar frost to win 48-26 and
finish the season 11-0, but didn’t go to the Rose Bowl
because ASU wasn’t in the Pac-10 yet.