Pac-10 football recruiting wrap-up and ranking Part I

I’ve sifted through much of the information and went on to rank the 2010 recruiting classes.

Let me start off by saying I do realize these rankings mean very little and the kids will have to prove themselves on the field. Many of them may not have an impact for the next year or two.

So let’s get on with the rankings.

10) Washington State
Coach Wulff has a long way to go before the Washington State Cougars are going to be competitive again in the Pac-10. But each year it helps to get some fresh meat on the team who just might make an impact on the turn-around.

This season it’s C.J. Mizell out of Florida. Mizell is a four-star linebacker and  I was really surprised when the Cougs announced his letter of intent. A kid like Mizell will do wonders for the Cougs defense — that is if he’s around long. Seems the kid has had some real issues in the past including legal and academic.

Mizell originally signed with the 2009 Florida State recruiting class.

9) Oregon State
No real surprise here as the Beavers generally rank low when it comes to recruiting. But you know what? I don’t think the Beavs really care where they rank in recruiting as long as they put a solid product on the field that wins.

The Beavs didn’t have any really eye-popping recruits sign, but again, that’s just not the Beavers way typically.

The one who was committed that may hurt them is defensive tackle Happy Iona as it looks like he’s going to end up at a junior college due to academics.

The one who wasn’t committed and really hurt the Beavs is defensive end Owamagbe Odighizuwa. He’s an Oregon native who had Oregon State, along with Nebraska and UCLA, on his short list — he chose UCLA.

Linebacker Shaydon Akuna is Hawaii’s number one rated high school player. And let’s face it, Hawaii puts out some big, tough kids that come to play.

Arizona
This is another recruiting class that just doesn’t have many big names. The Wildcats really needed to fill some holes — mostly on defense. And that’s what it looks like they were trying to do.

There is one “name” in the class — it’s McKnight. As in USC running back Joe McKnight’s younger brother, Jonathan. Jonathan is a cornerback and doesn’t seem to be quite the athlete Joe is.

7) Arizona State
The Sun Devils went out and signed 26 players for the 2010 class. Of those 26 there were six junior college transfers. That’s right, six. Dennis Erickson needs to win right away and doesn’t have to for player development. This could be the year that Erickson is really in the hot seat his team doesn’t make some noise in the Pac-10.

Of those six j.c. transfers five are on the offensive side of the ball. Makes sense to me since the Sun Devils offense ranked ninth in the conference last season. Oh, and the 20 kids who aren’t j.c. transfers — 15 of them are on the offensive side of the ball as well. Do you see the pattern here?

6) Washington
How can anyone not like what Steve Sarkisian is doing with the Huskies? He’s bringing a winning attitude back to the once proud purple and gold and getting the fans, administration and Huskies players to buy in to what he’s teaching. More importantly (because it’s the future) he’s able to get potential recruits to buy in to him and the system as well.

It’s been a few years since the Huskies have really seen a class so well-rounded — and with talent — roll in to town.

Unlike Arizona State, which had six j.c. transfers, Washington has zero. And it’s a big class, too, with 30 total new recruits. Sarkisian is really making his mark with this class.

Yes, Jake Locker is returning for for the 2010 season. And that bodes well for one of the young QB recruits — Nick Montana. Montana is Washington’s future and having a year to learn under Locker will do wonders. Oh, and did we mention Nick is the son of NFL great and Hall of Famer Joe Montana? Yeah, that probably doesn’t hurt.

It sounds as though the Huskies are expecting safety Sean Parker to get plenty of playing time right away and get into the starting lineup.

For numbers five through one be sure to check out Pac-10 football recruiting wrap-up and ranking Part II.

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 Pac-10 Bowl Schedule

MAACO Bowl Las Vegas
www.lvbowl.com

No. 18 Oregon State Beavers vs. No. 14 BYU
Tuesday, December 22nd – 5:00 pm PDT – ESPN

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San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl
www.poinsettiabowl.com

No. 23 Utah vs. California
Wednesday, December 23rd – 5:00 pm PDT – ESPN

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Emerald Bowl
emeraldbowl.cstv.com

Boston College vs. No. 24 USC
Saturday, December 26th – 5:00 pm PDT – ESPN

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EagleBank Bowl
www.eaglebankbowl.org

UCLA vs. Temple
Tuesdaym December 29th – 1:30 pm PDT – ESPN

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Pacific Life Holiday Bowl
www.holidaybowl.com

No. 20 Arizona vs. No. 22 Nebraska
Wednesday, December 30th – 5:00 pm PDT – ESPN

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Brut Sun Bowl
www.sunbowl.org

Oklahoma vs. No. 21 Stanford
Thursday, December 31st – 11:00 am PDT – CBS

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Rose Bowl
www.tournamentofroses.com/rosebowlgame

No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 7 Oregon
Friday, January 1st – 1:30 pm PDT – ABC

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 Timeouts are a passing fancy for the USC-UCLA crosstown rivalry.

For 59 minutes this crosstown rivalry was like many other football games played throughout the season.

Nothing special. Just two teams slugging it out.

But then, with less than a minute to play, and as USC head coach Pete Carroll’s team was taking a knee to end the game, a timeout was called.

Down two touchdowns, Rick Neuheisel decided enough wasn’t enough. He called a timeout. And, sure, he still had all three timeouts left. But what could he had really accomplished?

By the time the UCLA Bruins might have gotten the ball back they wouldn’t have had more than a few seconds remaining. Certainly not enough time to score two more touchdowns.

So what does Pete Carroll do after that first timeout was called? Well, he did what any many would do. He dialed up a 48-yard pass down the middle of the field for a touchdown. Matt Barkley three a strike to Damian Williams who caught the ball in stride and raced into the end zone.

A brawl almost ensued as the Trojans players cheered and taunted. They moved toward mid-field — as did the Bruins players. Words were said and the two teams were separated.

The stage is certainly set for next season’s version of this rivalry which takes place on the UCLA Bruins’ home field of the Rose Bowl.

For more on this story read Bill Plaschke’s story on LATimes.com:
Sportsmanship takes a timeout in USC-UCLA game — latimes.com

For a game recap read the ESPN recap:
USC-UCLA ESPN Game Recap

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 Arizona retains Territorial Cup with 20-17 win over Arizona State

Arizona should have crushed Arizona State for the 2009 Territorial Cup, but this is a rivalry game. And, as with many rivalry games, this one proved to be a good one no matter how much better one team seems to be over another.

The Wildcats came out and started off well. They opened up a 14-0 lead and many thought it was all over. any thought this was going to be one boring game.

But that wasn’t the case. This game kept me intrigued and it didn’t let me down when time was ticking away.

The Sun Devils didn’t lose the fight that was in them. They didn’t lower their heads and give up. Instead, they fought back, made some adjustments and made a game if it. The team’s number two ranked defense kept the Wildcats in check and really set their team up for a win.

But, with 1:10 left to play in the game and the game tied 17-17, Arizona State’s Kyle Williams fumbled a punt return which was recovered by Arizona on the Sun Devil’s 22-yard line leaving a short field for Arizona to finally put this game away.

After three offensive plays, kicker Alex Zendejas came in to kick a game winning 32 yarder — ‘Cats win.

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 Stanford’s Gerhart in the Heisman hunt

Quietly, it seems, the Stanford Cardinal worked their way up to be a top-tier Pac-10 team. Cardinal running back Toby Gerhart, too, has quietly been working his way on to many Heisman lists as well.

Gerhart is currently second in the nation with 1,531 rushing yards and he leads the nation with 23 rushing touchdowns.

Stanford faces off against Notre Dame this Saturday — a game that will be shown on ABC — giving Gerhart one final chance to impress voters.

Leading the Heisman race on many lists is Alabama running back Mark Ingram. But Ingram didn’t put up very good numbers (30 yards rushing, 21 receiving) against rival Auburn. That could really work in Gerhart’s favor should be put on a good showing against Notre Dame.

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