Sure, the Washington State Cougars are getting a bit thorny, but they have their sights set a little bigger.
One win away from securing a trip to the Rose Bowl, the Cougs have not given up hope of playing for the national championship at the Fiesta Bowl. After defeating Oregon 32-21 Saturday in Pullman, Wash., the Cougs jumped to No. 3 in the latest Bowl Championship Series poll, released Monday.
Just two teams, No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Miami, remain unbeaten in college football. At the end of the regular season, the top two teams in the BCS will play for the national title.
WSU is ranked No. 3 in The Associated Press poll — its highest ranking ever — and No. 4 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll.
“We’re in unchartered territories now and it’s kind of exciting,” WSU head coach Mike Price told The Seattle Times.
With their romp through the Pac-10, the Cougs are also on the brink of making history.
At 6-0 in the Pac-10, Washington State (9-1 overall) could become just the sixth team to finish the regular season undefeated since the Pac-10 was formed in 1978. UCLA was the last team to go undefeated, in 1998.
The Cougars take this week off before hosting Washington on Nov. 23 for the Apple Cup. WSU finishes the Pac-10 season Dec. 7 at UCLA.

Trojans rising, too
At No. 8, USC (7-2, 5-1) is the only other Pac-10 team ranked by the BCS.

With three games remaining — against Arizona State, at UCLA and against Notre Dame — the Trojans could be headed for a BCS bowl. But USC will likely have to get past Notre Dame, No. 7 in the BCS, to earn a major bowl bid.
Even if the Trojans get to a big bowl, they may not be happy with it. They haven’t been content with much lately.
After crushing Stanford, 49-17, in Palo Alto, senior quarterback Carson Palmer — who set the school record for career touchdown passes in the win — acted like the Trojans had lost.
“I’m mad, I’m frustrated, and I’m angry. The whole offense is,” Palmer told reporters. “We should have scored every time we had the ball.”
Imagine what he would have said if they did lose.

Passers passing records
With four touchdown passes against Oregon, Jason Gesser tied Cade McNown (UCLA, 1995-99) for third on the Pac-10 career touchdown list with 66. John Elway (Stanford, 1979-82) heads that list with 77 career TD passes.
Palmer has 61 career TD passes, seventh-best in conference history. He also stands second in career passing yards (10,622) and total offense (10,421).
California’s Kyle Boller, who tossed five TDs in the Bears’ win over ASU, has 60 career touchdown passes, which ties him with former Oregon quarterback Bill Musgrave for eighth on the Pac-10’s all-time list, one ahead of former Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington.
In the race for the Heisman Trophy, Palmer and Gesser jumped to fourth and fifth, respectively, in an unofficial poll of ESPN.com college football analysts. Oregon’s Onterrio Smith is no longer listed on the poll’s top-14 candidates.

Huskies still barking
After three straight Pac-10 losses, the Huskies (5-5, 2-4) finally got back in the win column Saturday against Oregon State.
Oregon State’s Richard Siegler, like Oregon’s Keith Lewis, provided the Dawgs with plenty of motivation after disparaging comments last week.
“We proved you can’t run your mouth in Husky Stadium and get a win,” Washington receiver Reggie Williams told The Seattle Times. “It definitely made us a little angry, all the disrespect that was going on.”
Oregon State quarterback Derek Anderson threw five interceptions in the 41-29 Husky win. Meanwhile, junior quarterback Cody Pickett threw for 262 yards against OSU to become Washington’s all-time passing leader with 5,917 yards.
“It’s going to get us on a roll. We’re definitely on a roll now,” UW cornerback Chris Massey said.
The Huskies roll right into Autzen Stadium on Saturday.

Stat

of the week
The five Pac-10 winners Saturday put up 55, 49, 41, 37 and 32 points, an average of 42.8 points.
A defensive coordinator’s nightmare. An offensive coordinator’s dream.

BCS standings

1. Ohio State
2. Miami
3. Washington State
4. Oklahoma
5. Texas
6. Georgia
7. Notre Dame
8. Iowa
9. USC
10. Michigan

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