Duck and Beaver gridders visit southern California this weekend sporting 
identical 4-2 records in Pac10 play. A surprise standing for OSU, which 
faces UCLA, while Oregon attempts to equal the Beaver upset of USC.
Had the Ducks won as expected last month at Washington State, they would be playing the Trojans for second place in the conference. Now, the 
Quackers  aim for an upset win to tie with Troy for a runnerup postion 
behind Cal. The Golden Bears are undefeated in league play and expected to stay that way on their visit to Arizona. 

We believe Oregon will stun the L.A. Coliseum crowd by repeating their
Beaver brethren's upset of SC. The Ducks returned to their expected 
seasonal stature by whipping Washington last week behind the churning legs of Jonathan Stewart and a return to consistency by QB Dennis Dixon. The Duck defense showed its finest form yet, inspired by the return from injury of several stalwarts. SC currently ranks #7 in the Bowl Championship Series ratings, while Oregon trails at #20 (and OSU enters the BCS @ #24). 

Saddest story in the Pac10 is being told in Palo Alto. The woebegone 
Stanford squad is 0-9 and should extend that misery in a visit Saturday to 
Husky Stadium. We foresee this as the last year for Cardinal head coach Walt Harris, who went 5-6 in his initial outing last season. UW head grid
honcho Tyrone Willingham should find little challenge in dumping his former charges who have yet to produce any gratitude for the upgrade this season of their antique stadium.

Another Pac10 coach failing all forecaster's predictions of a strong season is Arizona State's Dirk Koetter, who unlike Cal compatriot Jeff Tedford, hasn't seemed to benefit from any lessons learned while serving as an Oregon 
assistant.

Pigskin's picks for Saturday's soirees: 

Oregon over SC by 3
OSU over UCLA by 7
UW over Stanford by 20
WSU over Arizona State by 3
Cal over Arizona by 14 

© 2006  Oregon Magazine