As the football season nears its end, this week holds potentially enormous implications for bowl selections. For the most part, the games feature some unbalanced matchups, but if any of the underdog teams can come up with wins, there could be quite a shakeup in the conference standings.

Washington at Oregon State
Oregon State (3-5 overall, 2-4 Pac-10) could really help the Ducks this weekend with a win against Washington in Corvallis. In order to beat the No. 8 team in the nation, the Beavers need to pull out of the funk that running back Ken Simonton and the rest of the team has been mired in most of the season.
Oregon State is coming off an overtime loss to Southern California, a game in which Simonton rushed for 96 yards. In addition to Simonton, the Beavers’ Steven Jackson gained 119 yards, so Oregon State’s head coach Dennis Erickson said he will see quite a bit of playing time against Washington. The combination of Simonton, Jackson, quarterback Jonathan Smith and a strong wide receiver corps lead by James Newson will give the Washington defense a tough test.
Oregon State will also be looking for some revenge after losing its only game last year to the Huskies.
“We are going to be playing an inspired football team, a very talented football team, that hasn’t quite hit its stride,” Washington head coach Rick Neuheisel said.

Washington State

at Arizona State
This game marks the 11th-ranked Cougars’ last game before the Apple Cup, and they are still not getting the respect they deserve. After beating UCLA last week 20-14, Washington State (7-1, 5-1) is only favored to beat the Sun Devils by two points.
Quarterback Jason Gesser is leading the Pac-10 in total offense and is leading the Cougar offense to 38.3 points per game and 310.4 passing yards per game, both top numbers in the conference and near the national leaders.
The Washington State defense is another strong-suit for head coach Mike Price. They have intercepted a league-leading 20 passes, thanks in large part to Lamont Thompson, who has seven interceptions.
Leading Arizona State is their offensive triple threat of tailback Delvon Flowers, wide receiver Shaun McDonald and quarterback Jeff Krohn.

Stanford at Arizona
Last week’s win over California snapped Arizona’s 10-game conference losing streak, but with Stanford’s rush defense, which is the best in the Pac-10, and powerful offense, the Wildcats will probably begin another streak.
Wide receiver Bobby Wade caught three touchdown passes from Jason Johnson in Arizona’s win last week, and they should be able to connect often against Stanford’s struggling secondary. But with Arizona’s defense ranking near the bottom of conference in points allowed, Stanford’s offense, lead by the running of Brian Allen, should keep the scorekeeper busy.

Southern California

at California
The Golden Bears (0-8, 0-6) are still looking for their first win with three games remaining — this week’s contest against USC, next week at Stanford and Nov. 23 at Rutgers.
Statistically, Cal has the worst scoring offense and defense in the Pac-10, while USC brings the worst total offense to Saturday’s heated contest.
The Trojan defense will be the deciding factor in the game, though, as they are second in the conference in points allowed.