Here’s a look at who each of the contenders has left on the schedule:
Oregon: Arizona St., at UCLA, Oregon St.
Washington State: UCLA, at Arizona St., at Wash, Colorado
Washington: Stanford, at Oregon St., Wash St., at Miami
Stanford: at Wash., at AZ, Cal, ND, at San Jose St.
UCLA: at Wash. St., Oregon, at SoCal, AZState
Here is what would have to happen for each team to capture the Conference Title:
Oregon: They may not have to win out, but they’ll definitely want to beat UCLA.
That Stanford loss hurts bad. They already lose the tiebreaker to Stanford, so they’ll want
to be able to hold it against the Bruins. They do, however, hold the tiebreaker against WA
State. The Ducks do not play Washington.
Washington State: The Cougars were not expected by many to be in this situation
right now. They hold the tie over Stanford, but would lose it to Oregon. The good news
for the Cougars is that they still get to play UCLA and Washington. They basically have
most of their destiny in their hands. They need to win as many as possible and hope that a
tie between themselves and Oregon alone doesn’t occur.
Washington: Washington would lose any tiebreaker with UCLA, and they do not
play Oregon. They still, however, must play Stanford and Washington State, both at
home. As long as a tie between only Washington and UCLA does not happen, things look
OK for Washington.
Stanford: Stanford has already played WSU, OR, and UCLA, losing only to
Washington State. Then, this week they play Washington. Does anyone in the country
have a more difficult 4-game (and in 4 weeks, I might add) stretch than that? I’d love to
know who. Anyway, if the Cardinal beat Washington this week, they look good for the
stretch run. A tie between the Cardinal and WSU is the worst case scenario for Stanford.
They do need the big win this week, though.
UCLA: The Bruins lost a crucial game to Stanford last week, which created a
mess in the PAC 10. They have already beat Washington and still have Washington State
and Oregon left on the schedule. Unless a tie between Stanford and UCLA occurs, why
can’t the Bruins win it?
Summing it up:
This is the coolest conference of them all! What a mess!?!?! Who knows what’s going to
happen? After looking at the schedules, I would say Oregon has the easiest road
remaining, with Stanford not too far behind. However, the Ducks and Cardinal each only
play 1 of the 4 teams they’re competing with for the PAC 10, which could be considered a
disadvantage (???). The other 3 teams play 2 each. I think UCLA will lose another game,
but don’t ask me which one. So let’s count them out. That’s good news for Washington.
Washington/WSU will be huge, but I’ll have to give the advantage to the home team (right
now). Out goes WSU, which is good news for Stanford. Stanford plays at Washington
this week. Stanford is on a roll, but Washington always seems to pull it out. The winner
of this game will be up against Oregon for the title. Remember this is all a big, fat, huge,
Halloween guess. I have no clue what’s going to happen (but boy it sure will be fun to
watch!). Washington does not play Oregon, so if that tie occurs, who knows! Stanford
has the tiebreaker over Oregon. So, in conclusion, I would say that if Stanford wins this
week, they’ll be in the driver’s seat. If not, what a mess to sort out for, for, uh, for
whoever it may concern (again, that’s Oregon, Washington State, Washington, Stanford
and UCLA!).
The Mad Dash for the Bowl Games
The Teams with a shot (with their remaining games):
--Oregon: (4-1, 7-1) Arizona St., at UCLA, Oregon St.
--Washington State: (4-1, 7-1) UCLA, at Arizona St., at Wash, Colorado
--Washington: (4-1, 6-1) Stanford, at Oregon St., Wash St., at Miami
--Stanford: (4-1, 5-1) at Wash., at AZ, Cal, ND, at San Jose St.
--UCLA: (3-1, 6-1) at Wash. St., Oregon, at SoCal, AZState
--Oregon State: (2-3, 3-4) at USC, Washington, at Oregon, N.AZ
--Southern Cal: (2-3, 3-5) Oregon St., at Cal, UCLA
--Arizona State (1-3, 4-3) at Oregon, Washington State, Arizona, at UCLA
--Arizona (0-5, 3-5) at Cal, Stanford, at AZState
Here’s what needs to happen for each of these teams:
Oregon, Washington State, Washington, Stanford, and UCLA: With the
exception of Stanford, who still needs one win (which they should easily get), they’re all in
a bowl. And they’ve all got a shot at the BCS. Depending on what happens, they’ve all
got a shot at the national title game. They’re playing for as good a bowl as possible.
Oregon State: They need to win 3 of the last 4 games to go bowling. I don’t see
it happening. The game at USC will be tough, and Washington is probably a loss. They’ll
need to upset WA or OR to have a shot. Don’t look for OSU to go bowling this
year.
Southern Cal: They’ll need to win their last 3 games. It’s not gonna happen.
The OSU and UCLA games are too tough. And Cal won’t be an easy win.
Arizona State: They need to win 2 of the last 4 to go bowling. They should beat
AZ, but you never know. That’s one win, but the other will have to be an upset.
Washington State is a possibility, but I don’t think it will happen.
Arizona: The Cats need to win the last 3. The Stanford game won’t be easy at
all, and they way they’ve played so far, don’t look for AZ to go bowling.
Have any comments or questions? Email me here!