Elite teams pack for Pac
Every conference likes to claim a place among the nation’s elite, but rarely does a conference get an opportunity to do so convincingly like the Pac-10 has on Saturday.
Nine of the conference’s 10 teams are playing at home this week, and Pac-10 schools are facing marquee opponents from the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Big East, among others.
“I would say it’s a pretty big weekend for the Pac-10, and hopefully we’re all successful,” said UCLA head coach Karl Dorrell, whose team hosts Oklahoma on Saturday. “It’s going to be great exposure for our conference.
“Obviously we’re worried about our own issues more than anyone else, but you want to represent the conference well, show that we have very good football here on the West Coast.”
In addition to the UCLA-Oklahoma game, Oregon State will travel to No. 12 Louisville, Oregon will host No. 24 Fresno State and Arizona will host No. 13 Purdue.
“I think this’ll be a great test to see where we’re at and how we go against a top-25 team,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “I think any time you’re playing ranked teams or ranked BCS opponents you have a chance to make a name for yourself, and this week we’ll have a chance to know more about the Pac-10.
“I think it’s an improved league. … (but) we have to show up this weekend.”
When in doubt, punt
Arizona State head coach Dirk Koetter defended a decision to call for a fake punt against LSU, one that turned into a worst-case scenario when LSU ended up picking up a loose ball and taking it to the end zone.
“It wasn’t a straight fake punt. It was a run-kick option. When you’re playing in a game, you’ve got to try to make some plays happen,” Koetter explained, although he said that he takes ultimate responsibility for the failure.
The Sun Devils were up 17-14 on their 41-yard line early in the fourth quarter when Koetter called on punter Chris MacDonald to run that option play. MacDonald got hit on the play, fumbled, and LSU’s Craig Steltz went 29 yards to give the Tigers a lead.
“If you execute the play correctly in practice and then you go out in the game and get the same look you get in practice, then you should feel good about calling it,” Koetter said. “This was a case where we worked against that look, we had the look we wanted. You’ve got to give the guy from LSU some credit. He made a nice play.”
Notes
UCLA running back Maurice Drew’s grandfather passed away Saturday night after suffering a heart attack in the Rose Bowl during the Bruins’ win against Rice. Bruins coach Karl Dorrell said Drew will practice with the team this week and play on Saturday. … Oregon State is practicing during mornings this week to prepare for a noon start at Louisville, the equivalent of a 9 a.m. start in Corvallis. … Oregon coach Mike Bellotti expressed some concern about his red-zone offense after having to kick six field goals against I-AA Montana last week. “We’re just not converting plays down in the red zone,” he said. “(Kicker) Paul Martinez is obviously a great weapon that we have, but we’d like him to kick a lot more extra points.” … Bellotti also said defensive end Devan Long and running back Jonathan Stewart are 50-50 to play because of injuries. … Arizona will face Purdue this week without starting defensive ends Marcus Smith (ankle) and Copeland Bryan (foot). The Wildcats plan to rotate a number of players in their places, including true freshman Mike Shelton.