Steve Sarkisian has Saturday night planned out: trick-or-treating with his kids on Halloween after an early Seattle sunset, followed by a quick return home hopefully before too much of the Pac-10 showdown between No. 4 Southern California and No. 10 Oregon has passed.
“It’s got a lot of implications in our conference and I’m a big college football fan. That’s why I’m in this profession,” Washington’s head coach said. “I think these games are why we coach and why kids want to play, for moments like that.”
Saturday night’s showdown at Autzen Stadium between the Ducks and Trojans is getting plenty of national attention, plus a curious eye from many around the Pac-10.
While both USC and Oregon have plenty of potential obstacles between now and the end of the regular season, the winner will be firmly implanted as the leader in the chase for the Rose Bowl.
Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh will be watching it from a few perspectives. With the Cardinal having the week off, Harbaugh will be watching as a fan, but also as a coach whose team faces the Ducks and Trojans in consecutive weeks next month.
Stanford hosts Oregon on Nov. 7 then plays at USC on Nov. 14.
“I’ll be dissecting it and enjoying it because it’s going to be a matchup of two top 10 teams, two teams that are playing very good football right now,” Harbaugh said. “Both are playing very physical and Oregon plays the spread but it’s a physical spread and I respect the way they’ve achieved that. I’ll definitely be watching it, watching Oregon and SC, both sides of the ball and special teams. And we’ll be watching it live and watching the tape, a lot.”
Many coaches in the conference are interested in seeing the dynamic between the two different offenses: Oregon’s spread that uses everything from drop-back passing to the triple option, versus USC’s traditional pro-style and its stable of running backs.
Oregon State coach Mike Riley saw that Trojans’ running attack up close last week. USC rushed for 227 yards in its 42-36 win over the Beavers.
“Their offense is appearing to be more balanced each week,” Riley said of the Trojans. “Matt Barkley is really stepping up. I was impressed with how poised he is for how young he is. … With his growth then you couple that with their ability to run the ball.”
But Oregon’s defense is on a roll, holding its last four opponents to a combined 38 points. Last week the Ducks allowed 395 total yards to Washington, but forced three turnovers and blocked a punt for a touchdown.
y have exceptional team speed on defense,” California coach Jeff Tedford said. “They don’t give up many big plays. They are very athletic and anytime you have that type of team speed it gives you a chance.”
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DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS: With just three wins in the last two seasons, Saturday might be the closest Washington State comes to feeling like they’re in a bowl game for quite a while.
The Cougars will play a neutral site game against No. 25 Notre Dame at the Alamodome in San Antonio. It’s only the second time Washington State and Notre Dame have met, the first coming in 2003 when the Irish pulled out a 29-26 overtime win at home.
The genesis of playing the game in Texas is exposing the Notre Dame brand to other parts of the country and making games more accessible to its fans. The Irish will play games in Orlando, Fla., in 2011 and 2014.
“There is a bowl feel to it for some people,” coach Paul Wulff said. “There is a great opportunity for our players to feel this.”
Though the game will have a bowl feel, the Cougars aren’t altering their regular routine. The team will fly to San Antonio on Friday and Wulff said there isn’t any scheduled time put aside to do any of the touristy things like seeing the Alamo.
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BYE BYE: Washington and Stanford become the final two conference teams to get a bye this week, and each seems headed in opposite directions.
nal rebounded nicely from their shootout loss at Arizona with a convincing 33-14 win over Arizona State last Saturday. The Huskies’ fatigue and lack of depth was exposed by Oregon in the Ducks’ 43-19 rout in Seattle, their fourth loss in five games.
Sarkisian said the break comes at a perfect time after weeks of up-and-down emotions for his team, from the overtime loss at Notre Dame to their quirky win over Arizona.
“Much-needed bye for a lot of reasons, but I think we’ll take advantage of it and use it as a positive and benefit and rest mentally and physically as we move forward,” he said.
Harbaugh said much of practice this week would revolve around reviewing fundamentals and that any game planning for Oregon would wait for the weekend.
“It’s an improvement week for us. We don’t talk about it as a bye,” Harbaugh said.
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HONORS: For the second time this season, USC wide receiver Damian Williams was honored as Pac-10 player of the week for his efforts on special teams.
Williams returned a punt 63 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter that proved to be the winning points in the Trojans’ 42-36 win over Oregon State last Saturday.
Teammate Allen Bradford was named offensive player of the week after running for a career high 147 yards and two touchdowns in the Trojans’ win. Bradford averaged nearly 10 yards per carry against the Beavers and scored from 2 and 43 yards.
Arizona safety Cam Nelson was named defensive player of the week after the Wildcats beat UCLA 27-13. Nelson had six tackles, two sacks and forced two fumbles in the Wildcats victory. Arizona held UCLA to zero offensive touchdowns, just 10 first downs and only 211 yards of offense.
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