If the Pacific-10 Conference is a little boy, he was just skipping along, stopping occasionally to admire oddities like Washington-Michigan and UCLA-Colorado State until, watch out, boom.
Here comes the Week 3 freight train.
The Pac-10 schedule is packed with scintillating matchups this week. The strength and national respect for the conference for this season could be determined in the space of one day, and that day will be Saturday.
Three Pac-10 teams will play top-25 squads. Five of nine Pac-10 games will be on national or regional television. More than one Pac-10 fate will be determined.
Here are the weekend’s banner games. All games are on Saturday.
USC (1-0)
at No. 18
Colorado (1-1)
12:30 p.m.,
ABC regional
If there was one thing Colorado fans hated to see last weekend, it was UCLA’s comeback win over Colorado State. Two weeks ago, the Buffaloes were trampled by CSU’s Rams and looked to be off-track early in the season.
But if Colorado fans have learned one thing over the past few years, it’s that the Buffs shouldn’t have a problem coming back from an early-season loss. Last season, Colorado came back from an embarrassing opening loss to Fresno State to make it into the Fiesta Bowl, where they met Oregon.
In Colorado’s second game of the season, the Buffs easily handled San Diego State at home, 34-14, though the game was closer than the score indicates.
USC, meanwhile, is still basking in the glow of a 24-17 victory over Auburn two weeks ago, because they haven’t played since. Fifth-year quarterback Carson Palmer was named Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Week for his 302-yard performance in that game. The aging veteran of the Pac-10 seems to be slapped with the “This is His Year” label every season, but this really could be his year, especially with a fearsome Trojan defense backing him up.
Colorado and USC have met four times, with the Trojans winning every meeting. Could the fifth time be the charm for the Buffs?
California (2-0)
at No. 15 Michigan
State (2-0)
9 a.m., ESPN2
Two weeks ago, California was a smile, nod, fall asleep, who cares? team. All of a sudden, the Bears’ trip to East Lansing is deeply intriguing.
All Cal did in the past two weeks was win two games against mediocre-to-bad teams, a ho-hum accomplishment for many squads. But this is a Cal team that hasn’t won two straight to open a season since 1997. This is a team that lost their first two games last season by a combined 88-33.
And this is a team that won their first two games of 2002 by a lot of points — a combined 104-35 over Baylor and New Mexico State — as if sending a message that the Bears are back in town.
But the Spartans will provide the first test of the season, and it’s a test that California could easily flunk. Michigan State has the nation’s top receiver in Charles Rogers and a top quarterback in Jeff Smoker, and the Spartan offense accumulated 83 points in season-opening wins over Eastern Michigan and Rice.
It was a shock when Cal won its first game of the season and a shock when it took the second, and it would be the biggest shock of them all if the Bears keep the streak rolling in Michigan.
No. 23 UCLA (1-0)
at Oklahoma State (1-1)
4 p.m., Fox Sports Net
UCLA has been engulfed in turmoil this offseason, with several players, including star wide receiver Rickey Manning, jr., allegedly involved in bar fights in Westwood. But the Bruins didn’t let that affect them in an inspired 30-19 victory over Colorado State in their first game last week. UCLA scored 23 fourth-quarter points in a spirited comeback win over the Rams, a team that beat Colorado in the first week of the season.
Oklahoma State collapsed in a season-opening loss at Louisiana Tech. Ahead 36-18 late in the third quarter, the Cowboys gave up 21-straight points and lost, 39-36. OSU made up for the loss by pounding Northern Iowa, 45-10, last week.
UCLA should continue their early-season success with a win in Oklahoma, but with that many problems, the team quickly becomes a Pac-10 wildcard.
UNLV (1-1)
at Oregon State (2-0)
4 p.m., TBS
Oregon State was a preseason favorite of many pollsters to be the sleeper team of the Pac-10 Conference, and the Beavers have done all they can to keep that stigma. Oregon State trampled Eastern Kentucky 49-10 in its first game, then traveled to Philadelphia to maul Temple 35-3 last week. The Beavers have relied on the accurate arm of Derek Anderson and a dominating defense to win their first two games, and look to continue the trend in TBS’ first game of a new, national Pac-10 cable agreement.
UNLV has an early loss to Wisconsin, a win against Kansas and a legendary coach, John Robinson, who is going for his 121st career win Saturday. Robinson, an Oregon graduate and former USC coach, has 11 career wins over Oregon State, his most against any one school.
If Robinson can continue his Oregon State dominance, the Beavers might not be the sleeper team of the Pac-10 any more.
San Jose State (1-1)
at Stanford (0-1)
7 p.m., local TV
Certainly, Stanford didn’t lose last week at Boston College because of a few long-distance phone calls, did they?
Oh, but they may have.
The Cardinal’s starting quarterback, Chris Lewis, was forced to sit out Stanford’s season opener because of a few long-distance calls he made on the company’s dime when he was an intern in the summer of 2001. Boston College edged Stanford 34-27 in the game, meaning that new Cardinal coach Buddy Teevans will be on the prowl for his first Stanford victory Saturday.
San Jose State played Washington tough last week and even led the Huskies 10-0 at halftime before falling 34-10. The Spartans have had success against the Cardinal, including a three-year dominance from 1998-2000. But Stanford broke that curse with a 41-14 pounding in San Jose last year.
Arizona State (2-1) at San Diego State (0-2)
7 p.m., local TV
Those poor Aztecs. After opening the season against a Fresno State team that almost beat Oregon, San Diego State faced a Colorado team still stinging from a season-opening loss to Colorado State. Now the Aztecs face a tough Arizona State team, and after a breather against Idaho next week, they travel to UCLA to take on another Pac-10 powerhouse.
Brutal.
The Sun Devils need to win this game in order to assert themselves as a Pac-10 title contender. Their only loss was to top-10 squad Nebraska, and ASU has blowouts of Eastern Washington and Central Florida to their credit. One of the question marks of the conference, Arizona State could answer those questions Saturday.
Utah (2-0)
at Arizona (1-0)
6:15 p.m., local TV
Well, at least there’s one Pac-10 game that nobody cares about. But wait, those in the neighboring states might care quite a bit about the game. The two teams have a rich history, including splitting the last 16 games in Tucson. Arizona has the upper hand recently, winning seven of the last eight. That eighth game, though, was the 1994 Freedom Bowl, which Utah won.
Utah has trounced Utah State and Indiana this season by a combined 63-16, and is looking ahead to a game at the “Big House” against Michigan next Saturday. Arizona took care of Northern Arizona in its opener, 37-3.
It’s a border war that may be boring to those on the west coast, but is thrilling to the in-state people all the same.
Contact the sports editor
at [email protected].