By Fred Delkin

Both Oregon and Oregon State grid programs failed major opportunities for advancement in national prestige last Saturday, and both accomplished their collapses before millions of television viewers. 

Worse yet for Pacific Northwest fandom, our teams were done in by stalwarts from southern California. This scribe foolishly forecast a Duck upset of USC (following on the heels of Oregon State's triumph over Troy), but a rash of mistakes removed the lustre we've seen in Webfoot ranks. The winning die was cast when the Quackers aborted an impressive opening drive by failing on 4th and 1 in the SC red zone. Then penalties and turnovers united to run up the Trojan margin over the mistake-prone Webfeet. Oregon QB Dennis Dixon utterly failed to ignite what had been the Pac10's most productive offense, with a subpar performance featuring fumbles and interceptions. His backup Brady Leaf performed admirably in the second half after coach Mike Bellotti gave up on Dixon, but it was too late.

The Beavers returned to early season form, led by QB Matt Moore's 3 fumbles that gave the game to UCLA. Now the locals can only aspire to low level bowl games when we thought before the season began that Oregon was a title threat and BCS bowl material. At least Oregon State has exceeded our preseason expectations. The 2006 Pac10 title will now be decided this week in Los Angeles when SC and Cal, both 6-1 in league play, clash. We think the Golden Bears have the edge in this one, but our crystal ball has become besmirched this season.  (OMED: Take solace, Pete, in the fact that two years ago I told Jayne Carroll that the 06 mid-term elections would result in virtually no political change in America.)

SC, Cal and Oregon have overall records that have already qualified these programs for post-season play. Oregon State, Washington State and Arizona State teeter on the edge of bowl invites, each with six wins to date. Arizona, next foe for the Ducks, has reached a .500 overall record after a miserable start and shocked the grid world with an upset of Cal Saturday last. However, the matching of talent on the respective rosters clearly favors an Oregon rebound in the friendly confines of Autzen Stadium. 

Tyrone Willingham's coaching resurgence of Washington Husky football came a cropper in Seattle when a previously winless Stanford came up with a defense that knocked a pair of Dawg QB's into benchdom. We are all dutifully reminded that collegiate football outcomes are often dependent upon the emotional vacillations of teenage performers.

Here's how we (now tentatively) tag this week's Pac10 outings:

Oregon over Arizona by 14
Oregon State over Stanford by 14 
Arizona State over UCLA by 3
Washington State over Washington by 7
Cal over USC by 3 

© 2006  Oregon Magazine