Trojans should retake supremacy as West's best
NCAA Lock - Southern Cal over CALIFORNIA
Both teams have suffered embarrassing losses this season (USC to Washington and Cal to Oregon), but Cal’s weaknesses were more exposed in their 42-3 rout to the Ducks. Expect USC to band together with the loss of running back Stafon Johnson to a freak weight-lifting injury in a must-win game to establish West Coast supremacy.
NCAA Upset - UNLV over Nevada
The Rebels have a two-point loss to underrated Oregon State and a three-point loss at Wyoming’s tough house. The Wolf Pack? Winless in three games, including a 35-0 shutout to Notre Dame in Week 1. Relatively unknown UNLV QB Omar Clayton leads a top 20 passing attack against a team that’s allowed no fewer than 31 points all year.
NFL Lock - Bengals over BROWNS
The magic number for this matchup is 3. Cincinnati running back Cedric Benson has quietly put himself at third amongst the NFL’s rushing leaders and Cleveland’s rushing defense is third-to-last. The Bengals should take this one after rebounding from the season-opening loss to Denver with solid wins over Green Bay and Pittsburgh.
NFL Upset - Ravens over PATRIOTS
Imagine taking the 2000 Super Bowl Champion Baltimore — which hounded teams with its superior defense all year — and adding a high-powered offense that ranks second behind pass-happy New Orleans. It’s almost not fair. Throw in the fact the Patriots have yet to record an INT and Joe Flacco could be looking at a field day.
The Big Deal West Rankings
No. 1: USC (3-1) — It appears that no one wants to stay atop these prestigious rankings after USC and Cal each dropped out of the No. 1 in the past two weeks. Undefeated Boise State would be next in line but I just can’t bring myself to believe that the Broncos could ever top the Trojans, despite their current standings in the polls.
No. 2: Boise State (4-0) — The BCS should have a conniption trying to place the Broncos among the elite despite a weak schedule producing inflated blowout numbers. The one credit Boise can hang onto is the win over Oregon.
No. 3: TCU (3-0) — The Horned Frogs finally end their cross-country campaign and come home to face Southern Methodist, who should be a gimme. TCU QB Andy Dalton is fifth in the nation in completion percentage
No. 4: BYU (3-1) — The Cougars’ BCS hopes were shattered by Florida State two weeks ago and rebounded by pounding Colorado State.
No. 5: Cal (3-1) — If the Bears want to be taken seriously again (they were laughed out of Oregon’s arena last week and fell to No. 24), they’ll have to beat USC tonight. Running back Jahvid Best’s road to the Heisman received a major hurdle with his 16-carry, 55-yard performance last week.
No. 6: UCLA (3-0) — The Bruins are coming off a bye week to challenge Pac-10-leading Stanford. Somehow this team is racking up touchdowns despite the offense accounting for only six scores, or roughly half of all points scored this year.
No. 7: Arizona State (2-1) — The Sun Devils make their first appearance on this prestigious list not because they destroyed Idaho State and Louisiana-Monroe (Lindsay football could probably do that, too), but because they lost by just three points AT Georgia last week.
No. 8: Stanford (3-1) — Stanford is the other new team taking up residency on this list after upsetting No. 24 Washington.
