The Washington Huskies - Cal Golden Bears recruiting showdown continues

It is no surprise that in a conference like the Pac-10 where all of the schools are so close together and share many of the same academic qualifications that prospective football recruits tend to look at multiple Pac-10 schools before making a final decision.

However, recently there as been a recruiting “battle” between the Washington Huskies and the California-Berkley Golden Bears. The Golden Bears. Both Cal Golden Bears head coach Jeff Tedford and Washington Huskies head coach Steve Sarkisian run strong programs that rely heavily on bringing in the best. So it was quite an upset when the Cal Golden Bears recruited a top defensive lineman prospect who had already verbally committed to the Huskies. Although there are not NCAA rules against this, to me it seems like poor-form to court someone else’s boyfriend.

But karma may come around to rear its ugly head for the Cal Golden Bears. Tevin Carter, an all-star wide receiver made a verbal commitment to Cal for the class of 2010, and it is rumored that the Huskies are already trying to woo him away. Carter would be an excellent recruit for any team and the Huskies certainly do not want to see him play on the Cal Golden Bears roster.
This Pac-10 fan is guessing that by the time letters of intent are being signed for this recruiting class everything could look a lot different.

ESPN releases the Top 5 hardest non-conference Pac 10 games

While typically I like to stay just to the Pac-10, I recently read an article by ESPN staff writer, Ted Miller who gave his thoughts on the Top 5 Scariest Non-Conference Pac 10 Games… it struck me as interesting and since half of every match up is one of “my” teams I guess I will break my strictly Pac-10 talk and share with you what Mr. Miller feels us Pac-10ers need to focus on:

1) Central Michigan vs. Arizona (September 5)
2) Purdue at Oregon (September 12)
3) Oregon State at UNLV (September 12)
4) California at Minnesota (September 19)
5) USC at Notre Dame (October 17)

Now I don’t know too much about these other teams, but I can say that the California at Minnesota game is sure to be a tough one with the Minnesota Golden Gophers playing in their new home TCF Bank Stadium. In my experience Midwest football fans are about as hearty as it gets and our Cal Golden Bears will have their hands full for sure! The USC at Notre Dame game is always a good one, with the long time Trojans-Fighting Irish rivalry, it is almost always a fan favorite for both seasons. This year with the game in South Bend, I do worry that the Trojans won’t hear their fan support as loud as the Irish will, hopefully it won’t mess with their concentration too much!

Most of these games should be televised so if you can’t make it to the games, make sure you watch and see if Mr. Miller is right about these tough match-ups!

Can the USC Trojans grasp the Pac-10 Conference Title for the 8th straight season?

The University of Southern California Trojans are a football dynasty, with records and titles that could fill an entire wing of most football stadiums, the Trojans have established themselves as not only the powerhouse team in the Pacific 10 conference but also a national threat. The last 7 seasons, the USC Trojans have won the Pac Ten Conference Title. All of the teams in the Pac 10 prepare for their match up with the Trojans and in this Pac 10 fans opinion most of the teams prepare to have it handed to them.

Many football critics are saying that this may be there year that the Trojans fall from glory. The USC Trojans schedule this season is an extremely tough one that is sure to challenge this high caliber team. The USC Trojans caught a rough break with road games and many are speculating that just an upset or two on the road could take the Trojans out of the running due to the fact that other teams drew much “easier” schedules.

The USC Trojans schedule includes away-games with the Ohio State Buckeyes, the Washington Huskies, the California Golden Bears, long-time rivals the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the Oregon Ducks and the Arizona State Sun Devils. Another challenging factor is that all of the road games are grouped in twos. Some pessimists are saying that with road games in pairs, if there first game does not go well it is hard to turn team moral around without the support of a home crowd and the second game is almost always a loss.

One thing is for sure, this team will not go down without a brutal fight, if I were a gambler I would be putting money down on more than one of these games being extremely close right to the end. There are still tickets left for many of these games, however fans will scoop them up fast so buy USC Trojans football tickets today and be there for the action!

The UCLA Bruins getting ready to return to the Rose Bowl

For most college football teams and fans there is a level of prestige and honor that comes with saying that you have played in the Rose Bowl, but for the UCLA Bruins the Rose Bowl is simply home. After spending several seasons in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum where the UCLA Bruins shared home turf rights with rivals the USC Trojans the UCLA Bruins football team moved to their program in 1982 to Pasadena, California to play their home games in the historic Rose Bowl Stadium.

While most of the off-season practices, training camps and scrimmages take place in either the Acosta Athletic Complex or Spaulding Field the UCLA Bruins roster would tell you that the Pasadena is home and the Rose Bowl is where they belong. Rose Bowl Stadium is also the host however of the famous BCS series Rose Bowl game, the oldest and most famous college football bowl game. The 96th Rose Bowl game will be played on January 1, 2010. This year there is great speculation that the UCLA Bruins may return home after the regular season to play in the post season game, with former Pac 10 leaders taking on difficult schedules and a recruiting class full of talent many Bruins fans are eager to see how far their team can go this season.

One thing is for sure, any game played in the Rose Bowl is a good one and should not be missed.

The Pacific Ten football schedule is full of rivalry games

While all conferences have their rivalries and “big-games” the Pac-10 is the only conference in the NCAA where every team has an in-state, conference rival. Pac-10 fans know that these games are often the best of the season and are always worth buying tickets for way in advance.
The Pac-10 rivalry Schedule this season is as follows:

Cal Golden Bears vs. Stanford in the “Big Game”: Nov 21

Arizona vs. Arizona State in the “Duel in the Desert”: Nov 28

Washington vs. Washington State playing for the “Apple Cup”: Nov 28

UCLA vs. USC playing for the “Victory Bell”: Nov 28

Oregon vs. Oregon State in the “Civil War”: Dec 3

All of these games draw in fans from across the Pac-10 for lots of unique traditions and rituals. Each school has its own superstitions about the game and most participate in messing with the other guy before the game. In Arizona the two schools paint the opposing schools “A” on the school sign in their own colors. The Oregon-Oregon State rivalry has been known to get so heated that police have to be involved and in several past years students have been “kidnapped” and forced to do embarrassing acts for their return, this kidnapping once included the nabbing of the Oregon State homecoming queen and forcing her to ride a child’s scooter in the town square while begging to be released. While most of the traditions surrounding the Pac-10 rivalry games are in good fun some of the pre-game traditions are under review by university officials and are strongly discouraged.

Nike partners with the University of Oregon Ducks for the latest in football jersey innovation

Over the last few years the University of Oregon Ducks have taken a lot of flack for their flashy uniforms and endless jersey-pants combinations. The University of Oregon partnered with Nike in 1997 in order to take advantage of brand recognition in hopes of boosting Oregon Ducks ticket sales but the Ducks also chose Nike as its official outfitter because Nike is known for its innovation and unique approach to sporting apparel.

One advantage of the University of Oregon Ducks jerseys is the light-weight water wicking material. With laminated designs that do not absorb moisture and a fabric that is designed to be light, the 2009 Oregon Ducks roster will be playing in uniforms that are 25% lighter than the 2006 Oregon Ducks jerseys, something players recognize makes them faster on the field.
Another cutting edge change to the Oregon Ducks apparel is the fact that instead of stuffing pads into pockets of the jerseys like most teams do, the Oregon Ducks uniforms have pads built directly into them. The Nike Corporation calls this design “Pro Combat” pads. The University of Oregon Ducks head coach Mike Bellotti who took over as athletic director on July 1st spoke about the uniforms in a recent press conference, “(the uniforms) are some of the best looking, fastest playing, most efficient uniforms ever made.”

While the Oregon Ducks may get crap about what they wear from critics and haters, the players seem to recognize that although the uniforms are great and have advantages ultimately it is about who is wearing the Ducks jersey that counts. Oregon Ducks Defensive End Will Tukuafu told reporters, “We pride ourselves on going out there and playing hard. It doesn’t matter what we’re wearing we’re going to go out and compete. It’s just a plus to have the best stuff out there.”

No matter what the Ducks wear, this season is sure to be an impressive one.

Pac 10 TV Schedules are set

ABC, ESPN, Fox Sports Net and Versus have set their 2009 Pacific Ten Conference Schedule of games to be aired. The four networks will in total televise 38 Pac 10 regular season games. Other road games and non Pac-10 Conference games will be aired on ESPN, NBC, CBS College, the Conference television packages and local over-the-air and cable access channels.
Some games have been locked in as televised games with the remainder of the TV Pac-10 Schedule being decided 12 or 6 days prior to the game as the season progresses. Games already set include:

Saturday September 5: San Jose State at USC, Maryland at California, and LSU at Washington

Saturday September 12: Purdue at Oregon

Saturday September 19: USC at Washington, Utah at Oregon, Cincinnati at Oregon State,
Kansas State at UCLA

Saturday September 26: California at Oregon

Saturday October 3: USC at California

Saturday October 17: Washington at Arizona State

Saturday October 24: Oregon State at USC, Arizona State at Stanford

Saturday October 31: USC at Oregon

Saturday November 7: USC at Arizona State

Saturday November 28: Notre Dame at Stanford, UCLA at USC

Thursday December 3: Oregon State at Oregon

Saturday December 5: Arizona at USC

Can the Stanford Cardinal football team pull through this season?

Last season Pac-10 fans know that the Stanford Cardinal football team had several almosts but ended its season with a disappointing 5-7 record overall with a 4-5 record for conference games. However, three of those 7 losses came down to a touchdown or less. Something that the 17 returning starters from the 2008 Stanford Cardinal roster are sure to remember. Cardinal football fans are hopeful that with the returning players there will be a continued momentum that carries on from last season and translates into wins. Along with several returning players the Stanford Cardinal roster is going to be boosted by an incoming class that is incredibly athletic and extremely talented. Stanford University head coach Jim Harbaugh is hopeful that this new “competition” will push the returning players into playing their best in order to retain their starting position.

One of these new-comers to the Cardinal program is Andrew Luck, the redshirted freshman who will take over as starting quarterback. In the spring game Andrew Luck passed for 352 yards and 5 touchdowns, something that caught the attention of not just the Stanford Cardinal fans sitting in the stands but also the coaching staff on the sidelines.

With the new freshman class and a returning line that has NCAA Division-I experience under their belt, the Stanford Cardinal football program has a good shot this season of seeing a winning record and a postseason experience. In this Pac-10 fans opinion, what the Stanford Cardinal need to focus on now is their pass defense. If the Cardinal secondary can learn to pull down passes and pick up interceptions, I think they have a shot at going all the way this season! Catch Stanford Cardinal games this season to see coach Jum Harbaugh and the Stanford Cardinal take on the Pacific Ten Conference!

Welcome to Pac 10 Football Headquarters

Welcome to my Pac 10 Football Headquarters! Here you will find everything you need to know about the Pac 10 Football Teams with a special focus on the Pac 10 Football Schedules!

Keep Checking Back for Team Schedules and News on all your favorite Pacific Ten Conference Teams!

Arizona Wildcats
Arizona State Sun Devils
California Golden Bears
Oregon Ducks
Oregon State Beavers
Stanford Cardinal
UCLA Bruins
USC Trojans
Washington Huskies
Washington State Cougars