Game of the Week 

#24 Oregon State at #6 TCU

Saturday, September 4^th (7:45 PM EST, ESPN)

When Oregon State has the ball: Despite the departure of QB Sean Canfield, all signs point to another solid season for the Beavers offense. RB Jacquizz Rodgers and his elder brother James (WR) have accounted for the majority of the Oregon State offensive production for the past two seasons...and that's not going to change. Behind a veteran line, and with plenty of weapons to work with, sophomore QB Ryan Catz should have no problem moving this unit down the field. But this will be a hostile test to start the season. The TCU defense is simply dominating, with seven starters returning from a 2009 unit that led the nation in total defense (239.7 ypg). DE Jerry Hughes is playing on Sundays, but TCU will reload with more speedy defensive players to put helmets to footballs. If TCU can contain the running game of Rodgers (not an easy task), they will stand a good chance of keeping the Beavers out of the end zone.

It's that time of year again, and I couldn't be more excited about the upcoming college football season. It's the last season for the Pac-10 as we know it, as offseason additions of Utah and Colorado will be forthcoming in future years. While the Pac-12 will provide a unique landscape for this conference, I have to say I'm excited for the conference race in the "traditional" Pac-10 (with teams that are actually somewhat NEAR the Pacific). As I do every season, I will break down every team and give my assessment of whether the team will be refining, reloading, or rebuilding this season.
It's a wide open conference race with defending champion Oregon returning most of their talented 2009 squad, USC will be strong once again despite the NCAA sanctions that will prevent them from postseason play, and Oregon State and Stanford are both poised for strong seasons. And there are legitimate Heisman candidates in Washington QB Jake Locker and Oregon State RB Jacquizz Rodgers.