Oregon’s got it.
Nope, the Ducks lost to Stanford, so it’s all UCLA.
Wait, with that Bruins loss, Washington State really has a shot at this.
Not so fast, the Ducks beat the Cougars, so Stanford controls its own destiny.
And back to Oregon.
So goes the story of the weekly favorite in the ever-changing and oh-so-tight Pacific-10 Conference race for the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz.
But there’s one team that has been rolling right along week after week, victory after victory, practically unnoticed.
That would be the eighth-ranked Washington Huskies. With their win over Stanford on Saturday, the Huskies remained in the thick of things. As it stands now, Oregon, Washington and Washington State are all knotted up at the top of the Pac-10 with 5-1 league records.
The Ducks hold the tiebreaker advantage over both teams and control their own destiny, but the Huskies still have a strong shot at winning the league. Washington wins the conference crown if it beats Oregon State this week in Corvallis and Washington State at home on Nov. 17, and, of course, it needs the Ducks to lose once.
“We like our position,” Washington head coach Rick Neuheisel said. “I don’t know what is going on elsewhere, but we’ve still got a chance, and that is all I can ask for in the month of November.”
There’s also the quiet talk of one of these Northwest schools potentially sneaking up and having a chance at earning one of the spots in the Jan. 3 Rose Bowl, the site of this season’s national championship game. To do so, a team would have to be ranked first or second in the final Bowl Championship Series rankings that will come out on Dec. 9.
The latest BCS rankings were released Monday, with Oregon moving up to the sixth spot, Washington at eight and Washington State cracking the top-10 in the ninth position. Stanford is the only other Pac-10 team in there at No. 11, while UCLA dropped out after its loss to the Cougars.
Ahead of the Ducks, from fifth to first, is Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Miami and Nebraska.
“It’s nice to be (in the BCS), but the greatest thing is that we’re in control of our own destiny in terms of the Pac-10 race,” said Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti, who admitted Monday that he hadn’t even looked at the BCS rankings. “That’s the most immediate thing. Any thought beyond that is wasted time and wasted effort, in my opinion.”
A year ago, Washington and Oregon, along with Oregon State, all shared the Pac-10 co-championship. And this season, with the Cougars taking the Beavers’ spot, the Northwest teams are again reigning supreme over their southern rivals.
“It’s been that way for awhile so I’m OK with that, and I’m just glad we’re a part of it,” Bellotti said.

Harrington earns

Player of the Week
Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington helped out his Heisman Trophy campaign Saturday by throwing for six touchdowns and 319 yards in the Ducks’ 42-24 win over Arizona State.
For his efforts, the senior was honored as the Pac-10 offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season. Harrington also received the award after the Oregon win at Arizona.
On the defensive side, Washington State safety Lamont Thompson was recognized for his four interceptions in the Cougars win over the Bruins. The four picks tied a Pac-10 record. Southern California’s Troy Polamalu, a junior from Tenmile, Ore., was the special teams honoree for his blocked punt against Oregon State.