Traveling blues

PULLMAN – Basically halfway through the Pac-10 season, there are five teams tied atop the conference standings. All of them have one loss.

But that’s nothing new.

Since Bob Toledo led UCLA to the 1998 Pac-10 title with an 8-0 mark, only USC’s national championship team of 2004 and the 2005 team that lost to Texas in the title game have navigated the conference road without a dent in their record.

Weak or strong, there has been some parity in the conference the past 10 years, and 2008 is no different.

“I’m never surprised by the competitive nature of the conference or the parity of the conference,” Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said Tuesday during the Pac-10 coaches’ conference call. “The reality is there are five teams that have a shot at the conference title.”

One thing that is a little surprising is the ability of home teams to defend their turf – other than in the state of Washington.

Outside the two winless schools here, only one home team has failed to set a standard of perfection: UCLA, which lost 31-10 to Arizona in week three.

Other than that, no conference team has stolen a win on the road outside Washington.

“To win on the road in the Pac-10 is difficult, and in order to be a champion, you have to win on the road in the Pac-10,” Bellotti said.

Yet as recently as last season, Pac-10 road teams won 42 percent of the games. This season, it is 30 percent and drops to 7 percent if you throw out the five wins the Washington schools have presented to the visitors.

“Maybe the competition is so tough, in close games and hard competition, the edge goes to the home team, I don’t know,” said Oregon State’s Mike Riley. “It has a lot to do with the parity in the league. And when there’s parity, maybe the home team has the advantage.”

Riley’s Beavers are the reason why USC, everyone’s preseason favorite to win the conference title, hasn’t bucked that trend. The Beavers, riding a great start and a revved-up Reser Stadium crown, upset the Trojans 27-21 last month.

“If you (allow) your opponent to bank on the fact they are at home, and give them good stuff early – and give them a chance to energize their crowd – that energizes the players,” USC coach Pete Carroll said.

“It’s a very emotional game and that emotion can really swing heavily in your favor, and you can feel the effect of it. It affects everybody.”

Yet with the perceived parity, everyone still looks to USC as the favorite.

“I don’t know … that you’ve got to go out on a limb to say that,” California’s Jeff Tedford said. “I think everyone understands SC has been at the top of the conference. But as we all see (in) college football … if you don’t play well and you turn the football over, and those types of things, anything can happen.”

Yet the Trojans may have the one element that can make the home-field advantage moot.

“The old master, Bill Walsh, spoke to a bunch of coaches one time talking about how to win on the road,” said UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel, noting Walsh had the NFL’s best road record while coaching the San Francisco 49ers. “He says, ‘It’s easy. Take the best team.’ ”

Mighty mites

With Jaquizz Rodgers (5-foot-7) leading the conference in rushing and Arizona’s Keola Antolin (5-8) coming off the bench and rushing for 149 yards against Cal, will the diminutive running back be the wave of the future? “It’s just a matter of good players,” Riley, Rodgers’ coach at Oregon State, said. “I really believe they come in all different packages. They’re very good football players and that’s the bottom line.”

Arizona State vs. Oregon

Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter’s career is winding down on a losing note, with the Sun Devils (2-4, 1-2) going into their home game Saturday vs. Oregon. The record isn’t indicative of the type of team ASU has or the type of quarterback Carpenter is, according to Bellotti. “He’s tough,” Bellotti said. “He’s a competitor who will stay in the pocket and hold the ball until people get open.” ASU coach Dennis Erickson said Carpenter, who has been nicked up recently, should play this week. … Erickson calls Oregon’s Nick Reed “one of the best pass rushers I’ve been around.”

Washington

Washington faces another of coach Tyrone Willingham’s old schools, Notre Dame, which has turned a losing season from last year into a 4-2 record this year. Willingham hopes his 0-6 team won’t have to wait that long for a turnaround. “I’m really hoping to break through this year,” Willingham said. Still, he understands why young players make great strides their second year starting. “For a lot of freshmen and younger players … their whole process is, ‘I want to play.’ That’s more of a central focus on them and not necessarily a team (focus). When they’ve had added experience … then their focus changes.”

Arizona

Coach Mike Stoops said his team’s third quarter in the 42-27 win over Cal was the best quarter the school has been played since he’s been in Tucson. The Wildcats outscored Cal 28-3.

California

Tedford expects leading rusher Jahvid Best, who was pulled in the Arizona loss when his elbow injury flared, to return this week.

UCLA

UCLA barely defended the Rose Bowl last week, scoring in the final 10 seconds on a Kevin Craft pass to Cory Harkey to defeat Stanford 23-20. “You’ve just got to believe those late-minute heroics have to build his confidence,” said Neuheisel, who has led the Bruins to three wins this year. “We’ve still got a long ways to go from an execution standpoint,” he added.

Stanford

The team SAT score has to be the highest in the conference, but coach Jim Harbaugh believes his players “could play smarter.” The Cardinal were hit with 10 penalties for 103 yards against UCLA. Stanford is the third-most penalized team in the conference.