This Week in Pac-10 Football - Week 12
Light Docket Has Just Three Games
Courtesy of The PAC-10
November 14, 2007

THIS WEEK IN PAC-10 FOOTBALL: An abbreviated schedule in the Pac-10 with just three games on the slate, including a Thursday evening contest. OREGON is at ARIZONA for a Thursday evening ESPN contest followed on Saturday by CALIFORNIA at WASHINGTON and OREGON STATE at WASHINGTON STATE. ARIZONA STATE, STANFORD, UCLA and USC all take the week off.


SERIES NOTES FOR THE GAME OF THU., NOV. 15:
OREGON (8-1) at ARIZONA (4-6) - 7:00 MST/6:00 PST - ESPN national cablecast - The Series: Oregon and Arizona have met 32 times with the Ducks leading the series 19-13. Arizona won at Eugene last year to snap a seven-game Oregon winning streak in the series. In 17 games played at Arizona Stadium, the Ducks hold a slim 9-8 lead by virtue of winning the last five meetings on the Wildcats' home turf. UA's last home win in the series came in 1998 (38-3). . . . Last Year: Arizona and Oregon met late in the season at Eugene and the Wildcats ended the Ducks' eight-game home winning streak with a dominating 37-10 win. Arizona rushed for 230 yards and the Wildcat defense forced six turnovers, including picking off four passes.

SERIES NOTES FOR THE GAMES OF SAT., NOV. 17:
CALIFORNIA (6-4) at WASHINGTON (3-7) - 12:30 PST - ABC regional telecast - The Series: Washington and California have met 86 times dating to 1904 with the Huskies holding a 45-37-4 series lead. California has won the last five games and has never defeated Washington six times in a row. Included in that streak is three straight wins at Husky Stadium with the last UW home win coming in 2000 (36-24). . . . Last Year: California and Washington met at Berkeley and the No. 11-ranked Golden Bears ran their record to 7-1 with a 31-24 overtime victory. Cal, which had trailed much of the game, seemed ready to take the win when TB Marshawn Lynch scored on a 17-yard TD run with 1:52 to play to give the Bears a 24-17 lead. However, Husky QB Carl Bonnell, making his first start of the year in place of injured Isaiah Stanback, connected on a desperation 40-yard TD pass as time expired to send the game into overtime. Lynch scored on a 22-yard run on the second play of overtime and Cal intercepted Bonnell for the fifth time in the game to seal the victory. Bonnell passed for 284 yards and two TDs and ran for a third, but was hurt by the five Golden Bear picks.

OREGON STATE (6-4) at WASHINGTON STATE (4-6) - 3:30 PST - FSNNW local cablecast - The Series: Washington State and Oregon State have met 91 times dating to 1903 with the Cougars leading the old Pacific Northwest series 47-41-3. The teams have split the last 10 games. In games at Pullman, WSU leads 32-15-2 and has won nine of the last 10 dating to 1984. The lone road victory for Oregon State in that span came in 1999 (27-13). . . . Last Year: Washington State and Oregon State met at Corvallis with the Cougars hanging on in a defensive struggle for a 13-6 win. WSU QB Alex Brink passed for 270 yards and the games only touchdown, which provided the winning margin. The Cougar defense held an opponent without a touchdown for the first time since 2003.

PAC-10 NOTES:
ARIZONA: QB Willie Tuitama had another big game in Wildcats' 34-27 win against UCLA passing for 341 yards and three TDs. He extended his UA single-season record for TD passes to 24 and with 3,145 yards passing this year needs just 183 more to establish a new Wildcats' single-season passing yardage mark. . . . Tuitama has tossed 10 TD passes in the last two games. . . . OLB Spencer Larsen is the only Pac-10 player averaging double digits in tackles as he has posted an even 100 stops in 10 games for 10.0 per contest. He is the first Wildcat to reach the century mark in tackles in a season since current Chicago Bear LB Lance Briggs finished with 113 in 2000. Larsen has posted 51 of those tackles over the last four games. . . . PK Jason Bondzio has made at least two field goals in eight straight games. Bondzio is a remarkable 7-for-7 from 40 to 49 yards this season.

ARIZONA STATE: PK Thomas Weber booted a career-long 53-yard field goal in win at UCLA. It was the third-longest field goal in ASU history. Weber leads the nation in field goal percentage by virtue of connecting on 19-of-20 attempts. He leads the Pac-10 in kick scoring at 9.4 points per game. . . . Sun Devil defense has forced at least one turnover in 12 straight games. ASU has picked off a league-high 15 passes this year and is second in Pac-10 in turnover margin at +6. . . . ASU is outscoring opponents 68- 12 in the fourth quarter. Devils have shut out opponents in the fourth quarter in seven of 10 games this year. . . . Rudy Carpenter is 20-8 as ASU's starting quarterback. Carpenter's current streak of 28 consecutive starts trails only WSU's Alex Brink (38) among Pac-10 QBs. . . . ASU defense has allowed a league-low six rushing TDs in 10 games.

CALIFORNIA: TB Justin Forsett ranks second in the Pac-10 in rushing at 116.9 yards per game and leads the league in TDs with 13, all on the ground. In last two games (USC & Washington), Forsett has carried 63 times for 296 yards and three TDs. He has topped the 100-yard rushing mark in seven of 10 games this season. . . . WR Robert Jordan has extended his school-record consecutive game receiving streak to 39. . . . Cal offensive line has allowed the fewest sacks in the Pac-10 with just nine in 10 games. . . . Jeff Tedford is going for his 50th win as Cal head coach in game at Washington this week. Tedford stands at 49-24 in his sixth year at the Bear helm. . . . Cal is outscoring opponents 172-94 in the first half. . . . Cal's defense has forced at least one fumble in all 10 games this year and has recovered a fumble in nine of 10 contests.

OREGON: The Ducks have moved up to No. 2 in all the polls and rankings that count and have knocked off two consecutive top 10 opponent in defeating USC and Arizona State in back-to-back games. It is the highest ranking for Oregon since ending the 2001 season ranked No. 2. . . . QB Dennis Dixon named Pac-10 co-offensive player of the week after throwing four touchdown passes in Ducks' showdown win against Arizona State. Dixon has taken the honor three times this season. . . . Ducks pulled off a double as DE Nick Reed was named Pac-10 defensive player of the week for his 11 tackle, five tackles for loss, 3.5 QB sacks performance vs. Sun Devils. Reed leads the Pac-10 in both QB sacks (11.0) and tackles for loss (18.5). . . . ROV Patrick Chung has led Ducks in tackles the last two games with 13 and 15 stops. He ranks second in the league in tackles at 9.8 stops per game. . . . TB Jonathan Stewart easily leads the Pac-10 in rushing at 126.9 yards per game.

OREGON STATE: PK Alexis Serna accounted for 17 points in Beavers' 29-23 win against Washington. Included was a perfect 5-for-5 on field goal attempts, including one from 51 yards. Serna has 78 career field goals, most among current active kickers in the NCAA, and just seven shy of the Pac-10 career record of 85 by John Lee of UCLA (1982-85). Serna has moved into sixth place on the Pac-10 career scoring list with 362 points. He needs just five more points to become OSU's career scoring leader. . . . Beavers have outscored opponents 92-9 in the first quarter. . . . TB Yvenson Bernard has moved into 11th place on the Pac-10 career rushing chart with 3,611 yards. Ricky Bell of USC (1973-76) is 10th with 3,689 yards. . . . Soph QB Lyle Moevao got his first career start filling in for injured Sean Canfield (shoulder) vs. Washington.

STANFORD: QB Tavita Pritchard got his first 200-yard passing game with a career-high 263 aerial yards at Washington State. . . . Cardinal defense has posted 24 quarterback sacks in the last six games. Stanford's season total of 30 is tied for second in the Pac-10 and more than doubles last year's total of 14. . . . OLB Pat Maynor posted three tackles for loss at Washington State, lifting him into second in the Conference with 13 stops behind the line. That is the best mark among linebackers in the league. Maynor ranks seventh in the league in overall tackles and combines with OLB Clinton Snyder (10) and FS Bo McNally (4) to make the Cardinal the only team to have three players listed among the top 10 in tackles.

UCLA: Matthew Slater ran back his third kickoff return for a touchdown this season vs. ASU. That is a UCLA single-season and career record for most touchdowns scored on kickoff returns. It also ties the Pac-10 single-season mark, matching the three returned for TDs by USC's Anthony Davis in 1974. It marked the second straight game Slater had brought back a kickoff for a TD. . . . In addition to a kickoff returned for a TD at ASU, Bruins had a 68-yard punt return to the one-yard line by Terrence Austin to set up another TD. . . . Osaar Rasshan got his first start at QB vs. ASU and put up 222 yards total offense (181 passing, 41 rushing). . . . UCLA is 23-7 at the Rose Bowl since 2003. . . . Bruins are tied for second in Pac-10 with 30 QB sacks led by DE Bruce Davis, who ranks second in the league with 9.5 sacks.

USC: TB Chauncey Washington earned Pac-10 offensive player of week honors after bulling for a career-high 220 yards in win at California. . . . Trojans have won 64 of last 70 games. SC remains undefeated in November (22-0) under coach Pete Carroll. . . . Trojans lead the Pac-10 in scoring defense (16.0), total defense (267.9), pass defense (175.7) and pass efficiency defense (95.8) and are second in rushing defense (92.2). Those figures land USC in the national top 10 in all of those categories. Trojans also are tied for second in Pac-10 in QB sacks with 30. . . . Troy defense has limited last two opponents (Cal and OSU) to just 7-of-30 (23.3%) third down conversions. . . . SC ranks second in Pac-10 in rushing at 185.6 yards per game and has topped the 200-yard rushing mark in six of 10 games this year.

WASHINGTON: QB Jake Locker has rushed for 807 yards, second-most ever for a Pac-10 quarterback, at least in the modern era. UCLA's Jeff Dankworth holds the mark with 815 yards in 1976. USC QB Morley Drury rushed for 1,163 yards in 1927, but in that era the quarterback functioned more as a tailback would today. . . . Locker and TB Louis Rankin make Washington the only team to have two rushers ranked in the top 10 in rushing in the Pac-10 this week. . . . Rankin ranks second in the Pac-10 in all-purpose yardage at 168.0 yards per game. . . . Only Oregon (5.6) averages more than the 4.8 yards per rush Washington averages among Pac-10 teams. . . . Washington's average of 46.3 yards per game in penalties is lowest figure in the Pac-10.

WASHINGTON STATE: FS Abdullah Husain named Pac-10 defensive player of the week for his 14- tackle plus an interception return for a TD performance in win against Stanford. It marked the second consecutive game Husain posted 14 tackles. . . . QB Alex Brink threw for 449 yards and one TD in Stanford game. The 449 passing yards is the fourth-best single-game performance in WSU history and made Brink the eighth player in league history to top the 10,000 career passing mark. With 10,200 career yards, Brink stands eighth on the Pac-10 career chart. His 71st career TD pass gave him sole possession of the WSU career record in that category. . . . PK Romeen Abdollmohammadi converted all four of his field goal attempts vs. Stanford. He became the first Coug to boot four field goals in a game since Drew Dunning in 2003. Abdollmohammadi has made his last seven and 10 of his last 11 field goal attempts. . . . WR Michael Bumpus is now the WSU career reception leader with 183 catches.