By the end of the season, Pacific-10 Conference officials may have to rewrite all of the league’s quarterback records.
With Arizona quarterback Jason Johnson’s 443-yard performance against Washington on Saturday, the Pac-10 has seven 400-yard passing games this season, which ties the conference’s all-time mark, set in 1998.
To put the numbers in perspective, the Pac-10 had a total of seven 400-yard games from 1999-2001.
“I can’t believe the way the quarterbacks are racking up yards,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said last week. “They’re doing a great job. They are red-hot right now. There are some great quarterbacks in this league.”
Johnson, Washington’s Cody Pickett and Arizona State’s Andrew Walter each have two 400-yard passing games this season, while Jason Gesser of Washington State has one.
Even more impressive is that the Pac-10 has seven quarterbacks ranked in the nation’s top-23 in passing efficiency.
At the top of that list is Oregon’s Jason Fife, whose 12-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio gives him a 161.2 quarterback rating, third-best in the NCAA. Gesser, who has thrown for 1,894 yards and 16 touchdowns, is eighth nationally with a rating of 155.3.
Pickett, the Pac-10 leader with 375.2 passing yards per game, is No. 11 nationally in pass efficiency. He has thrown for more than 300 yards in every game this season.
Walter (No. 12 in the NCAA), Johnson (No. 14), UCLA’s Cory Paus (No. 15), and Cal’s Kyle Boller (No. 23) round off the Pac-10’s top quarterbacks.
Not to be forgotten, USC senior quarterback Carson Palmer, while last in the conference in passing efficiency, is third on the Pac-10 career passing list. Palmer, who has 9,506 career passing yards, will likely become the third quarterback in conference history to surpass the 10,000-yard passing mark. Stanford’s Steve Stenstrom (10,911 yards) and UCLA’s Cade McNown (10,368) are the other two.

UCLA ‘flabbergasted’
Bob Toledo’s in the hot seat — is he ever not? — after another one-point loss to the Ducks.
Clinging to a 30-24 lead late in the third-quarter, the UCLA head coach called for a fake field goal on fourth-and-15. UCLA holder Garrett Lepisto’s pass was complete to Marcedes Lewis, but Oregon freshman Aaron Gipson made the tackle for just an eight-yard gain.
“Any time you run a fake, you’re open to criticism,” Toledo said after the game.
The UCLA players were not quite so eloquent.
“I think we beat ourselves,” UCLA cornerback Ricky Manning told reporters. “There’s no way that team should beat us. You’d like to show good sportsmanship and tip your hat to (the Ducks), but they just didn’t do it today.”

Slick Rick penalized
The NCAA Committee on Infractions handed down its ruling last week in a recruiting-violations case involving Colorado and former coach Rick Neuheisel, now the head man at Washington.
Colorado will have its football scholarships reduced by five for one year, while Neuheisel cannot make any off-campus recruiting trips until May 31.
Neuheisel said he did not intentionally break NCAA recruiting rules.
“I never deceived anyone, nor was I dishonest,” Neuheisel said in a statement. “While being creative in approach, I felt that I was operating within the letter of those rules.”