BN 2011 Pac-12 Power Poll - Week 12

Oh no! We suck again! You know, we're not prescient, or anything. We're not chicken littles either. But if there's a team that just might be worse than ASU on the road, it is our very own UCLA Bruins football team. A week that was stained by disgusting allegations in one of college football's iconic programs overshadowed the fact that, on the other coast, a program that exemplifies the term student-athlete was fighting to take a huge step towards a national championship, and they got there by doing it the right way...

Player of the Week: Connor Halliday, WSU - the Cougars' third string QB, a freshman, threw for 494 yards and 4 TDs against road chumps ASU...nice going kid! Honorable mention to LaMichael James who had 146 yards and 3 TDs in the big game against Stanford on the road.

Stat of the Week: 1-9 - Oregon was only 1-9 in third down conversions against Stanford...but they won 53-30. Who needs third downs?!

Game of the Week: Southern Cal vs. Oregon, 5:00 pm PT, ABC - the Trogans try to remain relevant by traveling to Autzen to try and make a statement. Meanwhile, Oregon is trying to get back in the national championship discussion. Bad news for Southern Cal.

On to the poll.

1. Oregon (11), 7-0: The riddle is finally answered. The Ducks dominated Stanford on the road in the second half, as they have done to most teams this year. Sadly for the Ducks, they already played and lost to #1 LSU, so it is doubtful that they would get another shot at them, unless LSU loses as well...then all hell will break loose on the BCS! For now, they'll focus on putting a pounding on the skirt wearing Trogans.

2. Stanford, 7-1: Stanford couldn't withstand the flock of Ducks in the second half. Andrew Luck was forced into one of his worst games with 2 interceptions, which allowed others to close the gap on his Heisman campaign. But I am sure the loss stings a lot more than that. Stanford was only down 6 points at halftime, but was overrun in the second half. The Cardinal must now avoid a letdown in the Big Game, with Cal visiting.

3. Southern Cal, 5-2: Lame Kitten finally got his revenge on Sarkisian as the Trogans beat the unimpressive Huskies at home, without even needing Matt Barkley so much. And the Trogans are still irrelevant. So I laugh. Now Southern Cal goes to Autzen to try and keep up with the Ducks.

4. Washington, 4-3: some offense, no defense. The Huskies were manhandled in the mausoleum as the Trogans ran all over them. Sark has some deciding to do with his DC Nick Holt. The Huskies allow 34.1 points per game, which is even more than UCLA! Granted they've already played Oregon and U$C...but that's not going to cut it. They probably won't need their D as much this week when the visit the Beavers, but they shouldn't take them lightly.

5. Arizona State, 4-3: Roach Chumps. Another baffling loss on the road is putting Erickson's seat on Chernobyl levels and gives Bruins some perspective on their victory. Of course ASU can still win the division easily since their next two games are at home. But how do you lose to a third string freshman QB? Pretty embarrassing for a unit that was supposed to be their strength. They'll likely take it out on Arizona in their rivalry game this week.

6. Utah, 3-4: The Utes are improving steadily and slowly creeping up the rankings and standings, having won 3 straight. Their latest victim were the hapless Bruins who didn't bother to try and stop the one guy on their team who could do some damage. But with an injured starting QB and a patchwork offensive line, the Utes are playing hard. They have a suddenly tough game at Pullman this week...but we've seen what happens to teams who beat ASU at home then have to play Utah...

7. UCLA, 4-3: another predictably pathetic performance on the road against a one-dimensional offense makes you wonder what exactly the coaches do during the week. UCLA can only win if Kevin Prince plays well and the defense plays average. None of those things happened against Utah. The game planning was horrendous, the preparation non-existent and the execution embarrassing. 12 penalties for 91 yards, 2 interceptions. Just a failure on all levels. It seems nails just don't do it in Neuheisel's career coffin, we'll need cement. Colorado visits the Rose Bowl this week, and the Bruins probably think they can skate by and become toilet bowl eligible...another recipe for disaster.

7. California, 3-4: relying on their stout defense (0 points allowed in the second half) and a solid running game, Cal took care of Oregon State at home. Amazingly this snapped a four-game losing streak to the Beavers. More importantly, it makes Cal bowl eligible after sitting out last year. Good thing because Cal has two tough road games coming up, the first against Stanford in the Big Game, then against ASU.

9. Washington State, 2-5: If someone had told you at the beginning of the season that Wazzu was stacked with QBs, would you have believed them? It's not clear if that's the case, but when your 3^rd string freshman QB comes and destroys a pretty good ASU defense, you will raise eyebrows. The Cougars still need two wins to become bowl eligible, a tall task against Utah and rival Washington, but doable.

10. Oregon St., 2-5: an ugly day for the Beaver offense, featuring two interceptions and only 27 yards rushing against Cal. The defense didn't play all that poorly, which might give them a little hope against the visiting Huskies.

11. Arizona, 1-7: a terrible performance by the Mildcats who went to Boulder and were thoroughly embarrassed by a previously winless (in the conference) Colorado team. Nick Foles threw 3 interceptions against a decimated Colorado defense. Meanwhile Colorado racked up 500 total yards on Arizona. I know it was a road game at altitude...but the UCLA coaching staff should be beyond embarrassed about that loss in Tucson. They should wear a scarlet letter on their outfits every day until they get fired. Arizona goes to visit ASU. They can play the spoilers, or continue to show how pathetic UCLA's loss was.

12. Colorado, 1-6: Well there ya go Buffs! All it took was a visit from horrendously bad Arizona to lift your spirits and give you your first Pac-12 win! The winds must have wreaked havoc on pass-happy Arizona, though if you watched them stomp on UCLA you would have thought they were a power running team! With a bounce in their step, the Buffaloes will stampede into the Rose Bowl...and maybe provide some cement.