This past weekend dropped Oregon’s Ducks into an also-ran position to our surprise.

We had forecast a pleasant trip to Pullman for the Quackers, but Washington State had other plans...the Cougs mounted a quick and insurmountable lead with domination on both offense and defense. The Ducks contributed powerfully to their own demise, with QB Dennis Dixon having his worst game of the season and running star Jonathan Stewart coming up with a severe case of the fumbles. The Cougar motivation was undoubtedly fueled by locker room bulletin board pregame postings quoting Duck players speculations about achieving a one loss season and a top 10 ranking.

UO coach Mike Bellotti replaced Dixon with Brady Leaf in the second half, but it was too late for Duck redemption, though Leaf did lead a two touchdown comeback. There will be a Duck makeover this week, with patsy Portland State coming to Eugene. However, BCS bowl hopes and a lofty national ranking are now beyond reach. We still believe Oregon can upset USC in Los Angeles November 11 and return to some national attention.

Oregon State kept faint bowl hopes alive with an expected victory at Arizona. Those aspirations should be well erased come Saturday, when undefeated Southern Cal visits Corvallis. The Bevos will likely lose at least thrice more in a tough November schedule that includes Arizona State, UCLA and Oregon.

Coach Tyrone Willingham has a very willing audience of Washington Huskies. The Dawgs carried California to the wire without their star Isaiah aStanback, felled for the season by Oregon State the week before. His replacement at QB, Carl Bonell, apparentely needed only a week of practice before mastering a UW offense he seemed lost in when he replaced Stanback in the OSU debacle.

Pac10 ranks have been reduced to a pair of probable qualifiers for BCS post season glories, and we nominate Cal’s Golden Bears as superior to Southern Cal, with an opportunity to underline that with a victory over SC the week after the Trojans meet Oregon. This week, we expect Oregon to romp over PSU by 40, OSU to lose to SC by 20, Washington to edge Arizona State by 3, Washington State to drop before UCLA by 7, while floundering Arizona and Stanford enjoy byes.

© 2006  Oregon Magazine