Pac-10 teams have questionable QB situations
If experienced quarterbacks truly do rule the Pac-10, then this could be a season in which a lot of preseason prognostications are made to look silly.
With four of the conference’s highest-profile starting quarterbacks graduated, many of the teams that most onlookers expect to be near the top are taking the field with an inexperienced quarterback.
Some of them don’t even have the situation settled.
Cal coach Jeff Tedford said Tuesday he hasn’t decided if sophomore Nate Longshore or senior Joe Ayoob will start. Arizona State’s Dirk Koetter made a notable – and perhaps notorious – move in choosing senior Sam Keller, then changing his mind and going with sophomore Rudy Carpenter last week. (Keller has since transferred to Nebraska.)
At USC, John David Booty held off the threat posed by freshman Mark Sanchez, but no one knows how well Booty will play. Oregon is playing it by ear, planning on using both Dennis Dixon and Brady Leaf as their play dictates. UCLA is resting its hopes on highly touted but unproven Ben Olson.
It all has some coaches wondering, where have you gone, Matt Leinart?
“We had some guys like that in the conference who had played a lot of football,” UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said. “They’re kind of waiting and seeing who’s going to step up. It’s kind of been a transitional year for everyone.”
No warm-up needed
Oregon and Stanford are getting a jump start on the new nine-game Pac-10 conference slate this week by playing each other to open the season.
Neither team will play another conference game until late September – nor does anyone else – but instead of playing a handful of non-conference games to start, the Ducks and the Cardinal will play for a guaranteed stay atop the conference standings.
“We’re going to open up and have that record on the books for several weeks before anyone else plays,” Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said. “What has – I hope happened – is that the players take a much more serious approach to it.”
Both Bellotti and Stanford coach Walt Harris said having a conference game doubling as the season opener hasn’t changed their preparations. But the jitters that are standard for the first game could be exacerbated, knowing that the conference standings at season’s end will include this game that’s nearly kicking off in August.
“It puts a little more pressure on us,” Harris said.
Notes
Oregon State coach Mike Riley said Clinton Polk has emerged as a No. 2 running back. Riley added that he’d like to get Polk 10-15 carries a game while starter Yvenson Bernard gets about 25. … Koetter said Rudy Burgess, who played at tailback last season, will play wide receiver, special teams and some cornerback this fall.