Bud Withers’ Pac-10 power rankings and picks
Pac-10 picks
Washington 35, Stanford 20: Cardinal shouldn’t be able to match points with Huskies.
Cal 38, WSU 21: Keeping up with Bears receivers will be major problem for WSU.
Oregon 34, ASU 24: Oregon simply looks better than relatively untested Devils.
USC 17, OSU 16: Shouldn’t be your garden-variety, Pac-10 shootout.
Arizona 27, UCLA 17: Bruins don’t have a lot of bullets in their holster right now.
Last week: 1-4. Season: 23-15.
A shout out …
Marcus Smith, New Mexico receiver, was nominated by the Football Writers Assn. of America for its courage award after his mother Sheila, 52, died in her sleep only hours after Smith caught 11 passes for 164 yards in a September upset of Arizona. Donors helped Smith pay $6,000 in funeral costs through a fund.
Boos
Kansas may be legit, but who would know? The eighth-ranked Jayhawks (8-0) haven’t played anybody in the top 33 of The AP poll.
Stat central
The Big 12’s offensive player of the week has come from the team that played Nebraska four weeks in a row.
Bud Withers, Seattle Times staff reporter
Pac-10 power rankings
By Bud Withers, Seattle Times college football reporter
Team (last week)
Comment
1
Oregon (1) 7-1
And competitive cheer team doing well, too
2
Arizona St. (2) 8-0
Campus cops probing Erickson’s theft of pitchfork
3
USC (3) 6-2
Clearly, Trojans not spending enough on recruits
4
Oregon St. (6) 5-3
Last win at USC, Beavers took train to game
5
California (5) 5-3
By end of season, Bears may fall to Division I-AA
6
UCLA (4) 5-3
Good thing is, not many gimmes left on schedule
7
WSU (10) 3-5
Fake punt on 4th-and-inches should be there at Cal
8
Stanford (7) 3-5
“GameDay” decided against Cardinal-UW meeting
9
Arizona (8) 3-6
Kicker’s leg strained; too many PATs at UW
10
Washington (9) 2-6
More UW loses, the worse the mess Ty inherited