Pac-12 Football: Week 10 Predictions

After picking three upsets last week and watching all three of them turn into blowouts we’re playing this week conservatively. Before we get to the picks it’s time to update our fans on the state of the Pac-12 Union.

In case you haven’t heard about the Oregon Ducks, there’s a pandemic amongst their fans this season. Apparently all of the high-fiving in Euguene after touchdowns has led to a substantial increase in carpel tunnel in the camouflage clad fans.

Some insider information out of Los Angeles is saying that the NCAA is looking into imposing more sanctions on USC for treating their match up with the Ducks as a fictitious bowl game. The reasoning being that the Trojans are banned from bowl games until 2012.

I spoke with Jeff Tedford’s psychiatrist this week and he’s recently been diagnosed as agoraphobic. This explains the awful road performances and their third blowout this year.

Texas continues to prove that they were not a good fit for the Pac-12. UCLA served them up a can of whoop ass in non-conference play, but even more embarrassing is the back-to-back home losses to Iowa State and Baylor.

Oregon State’s orange and black uniforms were the perfect Halloween costume…

On to the games

California at Washington State: The bipolar Bears will try to give this one away, but Washington State is playing to keep their conference losing streak alive. Bears 34 – Cougars 20

Washington at #1 Oregon: The Huskies are giving up 212 yards per game on the ground, expect the Ducks to triple it if they want to embarrass their uncompetitive rival. Ducks 63 – Huskies 6

Oregon State at UCLA: The Beavers have hit their midseason stride and will continue to run right over the helpless Bruins. Baeaves 30 – Baby Bears 20

Arizona State at USC: Let’s see if the salesman Lane Kiffin can get the troops to buy into another “this is our bowl game” motivational speech. The stands should have some amazing talent on display from the coeds. Trojans 28 – Sun Devils 23

Colorado at Kanas: Now that basketball season has started the Kansas fans will start disappearing from the football stadium. Cody Hawkins should have more success than his 17 of 44 performance last week. Buffs 27 – Jayhawks 21

#15 Arizona at #13 Stanford: In the game of the week the winner will move to number two in the conference power rankings. The Wildcats should be able to spread Stanford’s secondary out in space and make plays, but they’ve struggled in the red zone. Stanford will try to run the ball early and wear down the two defensive ends Brooks Reed and Ricky Elmore. Trees 37 – Cats 33

#3 TCU at #5 Utah: The game of the week nationally and the spot for ESPN’s College Gameday heads to watch two unbeatens square off. The Utes have played great defense this year and I’m expecting them to contain the Andy Dalton and the option offense. Utes 27 – Horny Frogs 24

2010 Prediction Record 54-13

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Pac-12 Football Divisions and SEC Bias

Larry Scott has finally decided how to divide the conference and they went with a North-South split to make it easier for novice fans to understand the alignment of teams. I liked the zipper plan if you were only going with two divisions, but maybe this one will grow on me. Here are some great pictures of the teams in their divisions from Pac12Cooler.com

It was widely known that Utah or Colorado had negotiated a deal to be in the same division as the So. Cal schools, which should boost their ability to recruit the hot bed of Los Angeles. Colorado has had recent success recruiting in the Golden State, and in 2008 they signed the top rated running back in the nation, Darrell Scott out of Los Angeles.

From a competition standpoint, I think the better division will alternate on an annual basis. USC will be down throughout their probationary period, but they’ll be back after Kiffin is fired in a couple of years. If the season ended today, here’s how the divisions would be split and I don’t think you could ask for a more competitive balance.

North	South
#1 Oregon	#2 Utah
#3 Stanford	#4 Arizona
#5 Oregon State	#6 USC
#7 Cal	#8 ASU
#9 Washington	#10 UCLA
#12 WSU	#11 Colorado

The changes that happened were necessary, but these incremental changes don’t do much to shape the landscape of college football. The Pac-12 is the most balanced conference between academics and athletics, and the rest of the country relies on us for answers. Our conference is set up perfectly to be the first to have three divisions based on geography. We spoke about this in our playoff article, but it’s worth reiterating that the Pac-12 is unique in its geographic landscape and the natural rivalries in six regions. The three divisions for the conference should have been California, Northwest, and Rockies.

What would have followed the three divisions is the real breakthrough, a four team conference playoff which includes the top team in each division and a wildcard team. At some point one of the conferences decided to have a championship game. Eventually one of the BCS conference commissioners is going to have to make changes that differentiate itself from the rest of pack. Once the conference has success with the four team playoff, it’s easy to expand with another conference like the BigTen (which will have 12 teams after Nebraska joins in 2011).

The current system is designed to have an SEC team in the BCS Championship Game every year. ESPN is the main media outlet and they have a $2 billion dollar media contract with the SEC. You don’t need a degree from Harvard to realize that  an investment of that magnitude needs to be protected. The evil four letter network spends almost half its time covering the SEC to provide more exposure to the conference. The entire BCS system is completely backwards and driven by ulterior motives outside of competition.

In psychology they call this the exposure effect, a psychological phenomenon by which people tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them. In social psychology, this effect is sometimes called the familiarity principle. In studies of interpersonal attraction, the more often a person is seen by someone, the more pleasing and likeable that person appears to be. What other sport has journalists as a component of which team plays in the national championship? Which other sport has computers with a secret formula that determines who plays in the championship? What kind of system has coaches vote on who gets to play in the championship? It seems blatantly obvious that they would overrate the teams in their own conference to boost their strength of schedule.

The Harris poll (which is composed of former players, coaches, administrators, current and former media) accounts for one third of the BCS equation, so naturally ESPN will want to show off their $2 billion child in the SEC. On an annual basis the Spring games are equivalent to recording your baby’s first steps. The twenty times Alabama and Florida were recorded during their summer practices were the first days of school. The start of college football season is the teenage years – teams trying to form an identity and be independent. The overprotective parents (ESPN) won’t let them fall without pumping them back up. Every time one of their teams lose a game (Florida), ESPN is right there plugging another SEC team (Auburn). The exposure effect continues the vicious cycle of SEC familiarity and guarantees one of their teams a shot at the national championship.

If Larry Scott doesn’t realize that the change needs to come within the conference, then the Pac-12 is right where it was with Tom Hansen – failing to have the foresight to be the Leader of the Pac.

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2010 Midseason All Pac-12 Team

Time for our first annual Mid-Season team and you can already see some shakeups from our preseason team, most notably Jake Locker getting cut from the team. Locker’s numbers would probably look better if Jermaine Kearse didn’t lead the Pac in drops with 9, but you take the good with the bad and he’s been productive when he holds onto the ball. The tight ends in the conference haven’t been used as much as they have in the past, but Coby Feleener of Stanford has been consistent catching the ball and solid in run blocking.

1st Team

Offense

QB	Andrew Luck	Stanford
RB	LaMichael James	Oregon
RB	Shane Vereen	Cal
WR	Juron Criner	Arizona
WR	Jermaine Kearse	Washington
TE	Coby Fleener	Stanford
OL	Bo Thran	Oregon
OL	Adam Grant	Arizona
OL	David DeCastro	Stanford
OL	Butch Lewis	USC
OL	Ryan Taylor	UCLA

Perhaps the biggest surprise on the first team defense is the freshman Justin Washington making the team. He benefits from playing alongside two of the best defensive ends with Brooks Reed and Ricky Elmore, but he’s taken advantage of his opportunities. Mason Foster will lead the conference in tackles this year, because the Husky defense will struggle to get off the field, but Akeem Ayers plays a bigger role in the success of UCLA. Sophomore Cliff Harris of the Oregon Ducks leads the conference with 4 interceptions and has a couple punt returns for touchdown this year so he makes the list as a corner back and punt returner.

Defense

DL	Brooks Reed	Arizona
DL	Jurrell Casey	USC
DL	Justin Washington	Arizona
DL	Kenny Rowe	Oregon
OLB	Mason Foster	Washington
MLB	Vontaze Burfict	Arizona St
OLB	Akeem Ayers	UCLA
CB	Cliff Harris	Oregon
CB	James Dockery	Oregon St
S	Rahim Moore	UCLA
S	TJ McDonald	USC
PR	Cliff Harris	Oregon
KR	Travis Cobb	Arizona

For the 2nd team, Matt Barkley got the nod over Nick Foles. Barkley has been impressive in his last few games and absolutely torched a solid Cal defense yesterday. Leaving JacQuizz Rodgers off the list might surprise some people, but he just hasn’t produced like the team needs him to. Part of the problem is the offensive line and combined with an inconsistent passing game, opposing defenses can stack the box. Robert Woods makes the list over his teammate Ronald Johnson and he’s quickly becoming one of the top wide receivers of the conference.

2nd Team

Offense

QB Matt Barkley USC RB Johnathan Franklin UCLA FB Stanley Havili USC WR Jeff Maehl Oregon WR Robert Woods USC TE Joe Halahuni Oregon St OL Zane Taylor Utah OL Carson York Oregon OL Chase Beeler Stanford OL Mitchell Schwartz Cal OL Colin Baxter Arizona

2nd Team Defense

DL	Ricky Elmore	Arizona
DL	Brandon Bair	Oregon
DL	Travis Long	WSU
MLB	Shane Skov	Stanford
MLB	Mychal Kendricks	Cal
MLB	Casey Matthews	Oregon
OLB	Sean Westgate	UCLA
CB	Omar Bolden	Arizona St
CB	Darian Hagan	Cal
S	Delano Howell	Stanford
S	Lance Mitchell	Oregon St
PR	Ronald Johnson	USC
KR	Kyle Middlebrooks	ASU

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Around the NCAA

SEC Sucks!

If Alabama runs through the SEC undefeated, how can you consider that the best conference in the land? There’s no way they would make it through the Pac-12 gauntlet unscathed. I have to give LSU props for scheduling like they’re a member of the Pac-12 by playing two BCS opponents in non-conference.

It also helps that Les Miles is the luckiest coach on the planet. Check out the end of the LSU game today. When they won the championship in 2007 they weren’t even the best team in the country and they got an invite to play in the BCS championship, but on their way they had an amazing game winning play against Auburn.

Here’s how the conference stacks up against the Pac-12 and by my account we have a 6-3 edge over them with three ties. This season Oregon smashed Tennessee and Colorado beat Georgia today! Even if we give Alabama the advantage over Oregon, that’s still 5-3 in favor of the Pac.

SEC		Pac-12
Alabama	–	Oregon
LSU	<	Arizona
Auburn	<	Utah
Florida	–	Stanford
Arkansas	>	USC
South Carolina	>	UCLA
Ole Miss	<	Cal
Miss State	<	Oregon State
Kentucky	<	Washington
Tennessee	<	Arizona State
Vanderbilt	–	Colorado
Georgia	>	WSU

Go Big Blue!

Rich Rodriguez is back and he has his best player since Pat White at West Virginia. Although Michigan barely escaped Indiana yesterday, Denard “Shoelace” Robinson is the most exciting player in the country and the last piece that the read-option offense has lacked. The defense will cost them a couple of games this year, but their offense can score at anytime with their big play potential. If the Heisman Trophy was awarded today he would win it. The award is supposed to go to the best player in the country, not the best player on the best team. Marc Ingram is a great player, but Alabama still would have gone undefeated without him. Toby Gerhart was the reason that Stanford was even competitive.

Hurt Locker

Last night we saw exactly why Jake locker was touted as the number one quarterback on Mel Kiper’s draft board. He led the Huskies to their first road win since 2007, dissected Monte Kiffin’s defense all night long, and finished with 410 yards of offense. All of Locker’s weapons (Chris Polk, Devin Aguilar, and Jermaine Kearse) dropped perfect passes in critical situations, but the strong-armed quarterback shook it off and continued to make plays. Whenever Sarkisian rolled Locker out of the pocket he looked unstoppable and those flashes of brilliance need to continue if the Huskies want to make a bowl game this year. The 4th and 10 play on the game winning drive was a thing of beauty and you can see other highlights here.

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Pac-12 – Week 4 Predictions

UCLA at #7Texas 12:30PM: UCLA had a gutsy win last week against #23 Houston and the Bruin secondary is designed to slow down a spread offense like Texas’, but look for Mack Brown to take advantage of his size up front by relying on the ground game. Longhorns 34 – Bruins 17

#20 USC at Washington State 12:00PM: Lane Kiffin is addicted to two point conversions, the Trojans haven’t played a complete game, and they have dropped in the rankings after all three of their victories. This should be the game where they put it all together and finally cover the spread for the first time this season. Trojans 42 – Cougars 20

#16 Stanford at Notre Dame 12:30PM: As we know from The Big Lebowski “Nobody F#cks with The Jesus!” Except maybe Jim Harbaugh and Andrew Luck of Stanford. Notre Dame’s defense will need extra prayer this week if they plan on slowing down the Cardinal offense. Trees 27 – Catholic Kids 23

#5 Oregon at Arizona State 7:30PM: ASU looked good against the big slow white guys from Wisconsin, but the Ducks have as much speed as any team in the country. The main advantage for Oregon is that they get to train with this guy. The side story for this game is the amazing talent at cheerleader that should be on display. Ducks 41 – Sun Devils 17

San Jose State at #13 Utah 7:30PM: The Utes haven’t missed a beat with the reemergence of Terrance Cain at quarterback. San Jose State doesn’t have the athletes to contain DeVonte Christopher and Jereme Brooks. A win here will bring them closer to the top ten. Utes 44 – Spartans 13

#24 Oregon State at #3 Boise State 5:00PM: This looked like a marquee game before the season started, but don’t expect it to be a close one. The Beavers might have a chance if Stephen Paea can disrupt Kellen Moore, but they haven’t been able to get to the quarterback much this year. Boise is balanced offensively and Chris Peterson should exploit the inexperience at linebacker by utilizing the tight end more. Broncos 38 – Beavers 21

Cal at #14 Arizona 7:00PM: The Bears are coming off a disappointing loss and the Wildcats just knocked off a top ten team last week. If Juron Criner doesn’t play look for Arizona to use a shorter passing game. If Cal plays to their potential and Arizona has an emotional letdown, this could be an upset. The Zona Zoo is wild at night and the Bears have struggled in Tuscon. Wildcats 31 – Bears 27 Here’s a great preview of Bears vs Housecats

2010 Prediction Record 28-4

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NASPAQ – Pac-12 Stock Report : Week 3

On Separation Saturday the Pac-12 split the four games against ranked opponents with  Arizona State losing by a point at Wisconsin, the Dawgs getting a beat down like they were facing Michael Vick, and two big upset performances out of Arizona and UCLA. Two teams (USC & Oregon State) couldn’t cover the spread against inferior opponents, and Cal had their annual national television audience letdown against Nevada. Playboy also came out with their Girls of the Pac-10 edition and it’s a must get. Leader of the Pac’s official girl is now Rachel Lorraine of UCLA (pictured below).

Quarterbacks

Let’s jump right into our competitive positional markets with the quarterbacks. In case you haven’t already heard, Jake Locker (LUCK) had a miserable day and was outplayed by a freshman on his home turf. He’s apparently unaware of the Under Armour commercials or protecting the house, and his stock is down 20% because of it. On the opposite end of the spectrum was Andrew Luck (LUCK) who had the speedy Chris Owusu back at wide receiver to help him complete 17 of 23 passes and four touchdowns. His numbers were identical to his week 1 stats except he had 100 less yards. Nick Foles (FOLE) was the runner up for top QB performance this week and saw his stock go up 8% with an impressive win over Iowa. His interception for a pick-six hurt his stock, but he still topped out at $135 this week.

	Team	Symbol	Δ	Δ%	Total
Andrew Luck	Stanford	LUCK	↑ 15	12%	$140
Nick Foles	Arizona	FOLE	↑ 10	8%	$135
Matt Barkley	USC	BARK	–	–	$120
Jake Locker	UW	LOCK	↓20	20%	$80
Kevin Riley	Cal	RILE	↓10	11%	$85
Jordan Wynn	Utah	WYNN	–	–	$55
Tyler Hansen	Col	HANS	↑ 10	25%	$40
Darron Thomas	Oregon	DARR	↑ 5	20%	$30
Kevin Prince	UCLA	PRNC	↑ 5	33%	$20
Ryan Katz	OSU	KATZ	↑ 5	33%	$20

Wide Receivers

Most of the wide receivers saw a decrease in their receptions this week, but their stocks continued to rise. Juron Criner (CRIN) had to leave the Arizona game with turf toe, but still managed a 46 yard touchdown reception. Robert Woods (WOOD)only had 4 receptions, but his 97 yard punt return for a touchdown increased his stock by $10. James Rodgers (JROD) only had 5 receptions for 22 yards, Jake Locker couldn’t get the ball to Jermaine Kearse (JERM), and Ronald Johnson (ROJO) only caught three balls, but all three finished with a touchdown. My horn needs to be tooted as I left James Rodgers off of the pre-season All-Pac-10 Team, because I predicted his numbers would drop.

	Team	Symbol	Δ	Δ%	Total
Juron Criner	Arizona	CRIN	↑ 5	7%	$70
Jermaine Kearse	UW	JERM	↑ 5	7%	$70
Ronald Johnson	USC	ROJO	↑ 5	10%	$55
Marvin Jones	Cal	MARV	↑ 10	25%	$50
James Rodgers	OSU	JROD	↓10	18%	$45
Jeff Maehl	Oregon	MAEL	↑ 10	33%	$40
Doug Baldwin	Stanford	BALD	↑ 5	25%	$30
DeVonte Christopher	Utah	DEVO	↑ 5	25%	$25
Robert Woods	USC	WOOD	↑ 10	66%	$25
Keenan Allen	Cal	KEEN	↓10	33%	$20
David Ausberry	USC	BERY	–	–	$15
Devin Aguilar	UW	AGUI	↓10	40%	$15

Running Backs

The nation already knows that the Pac-12 is the Conference of Quarterbacks, but the running backs are quickly becoming the best in college football. LaMichael James (LMJ) and Shane Vereen (VERE) saw a $20 bump in their stocks with 200+ yard performances. Vereen had multiple highlight reel runs and LMJ has speed like the Twilight vampires. We had some great running from the LA schools starting with Allen Bradford (BRAD) finally breaking through with his 12 carries for 131 yards and a 56 yard touchdown. Not to be outplayed by his cross-town rival, Johnathan Franklink (FRNK) of UCLA looks to be the man to take the SuperSoaker offense to pistol status after his 160 yards and 3 touchdowns. His stock IPO’d this week at $20.

	Team	Symbol	Δ	Δ %	Total
JacQuizz Rodgers	OSU	QUIZ	↑ 5	4%	$125
LaMichael James	Oregon	LMJ	↑ 20	19%	$125
Shane Vereen	Cal	VERE	↑ 20	26%	$95
Chris Polk	UW	POLK	↓ 5	6%	$75
Kenjon Barner	Oregon	BARN	↓10	18%	$45
Nic Grigsby	Arizona	GRIG	↓10	28%	$35
Allen Bradford	USC	BRAD	↑ 5	33%	$20
Cam Marshall	ASU	MRSH	↓ 5	25%	$15
Marc Tyler	USC	MARC	↓ 5	25%	$15

IPO’s

We had some standout performances  on the defensive side of the ball with Patrick Larimore (LARI) being the Leader of the Pac. Larimore was named the Nagurskie National Defensive Player of the week after recording 11 tackles (10 of which were solo), a forced fumble, and a pass breakup in UCLA’s upset of the Houston Cougars. While Cal was getting pistol-whipped by Nevada, DJ Holt (HOLT) notched 16 tackles forced a fumble. Rumor has it that he is the cousin of famous Arrested Development star Steve Holt so watch for him on the Berkeley campus doing something like this. Dwight Roberson (ROBE) also had a sweet 16 tackles for the Oregon State Beavers with their victory over  Louisville. Jordan Wynn’s backup – Terrance Cain (CAIN), was almost perfect by throwing 20 for 23 as the Utes knocked off UNLV. He’s proving that he might be the best backup quarterback in the conference.

	Team	Symbol	Δ	Δ%	Total
Johnathan Franklin	UCLA	FRNK	–	–	$20
Patrick Larimore	UCLA	LARI	–	–	$20
DJ Holt	Cal	HOLT	–	–	$20
James Washington	Arizona	WASH	–	–	$20
Dwight Roberson	OSU	ROBE	–	–	$20
Steven Threet	ASU	THREE	–	–	$15
Terrance Cain	UTAH	CAIN	–	–	$15
Tyler Gaffney	Stanford	GAFF	–	–	$10
Stepfan Tylor	Stanford	STEP	–	–	$10

Don’t Be So Defensive

Players Market

Our analysts thought before the season that teams could avoid directing their plays around Akeem Ayers (AYER), but his big play potential is ubiquitous. He should have scored on his 77 yard interception return but he gets style points for breaking Case Keenum’s ankles (or knee).  Mason Foster had 14 tackles and forced a fumble against Nebraska, but Taylor Martinez told him to hit the weights on his way to an 80 yard touchdown run. Foster is #40 and the guy that misses the tackle on the play. Brooks Reed (REED) may look like a blonde version of the WWE wrestling icon Undertaker, but it translated perfectly when he buried Ricky Stanzi on four consecutive plays to end their chances of a comeback. His pressure off the edge has led to James Washington (WASH) ascension to the conference’s sack leader through three games.

	Team	Symbol	Δ	Δ%	Total
Akeem Ayers	UCLA	AYER	↑ 10	11%	$95
Rahim Moore	UCLA	MOOR	↑ 10	12%	$90
Mason Foster	UW	FOST	↑ 5	6%	$85
Jurrell Casey	USC	CASE	↑ 5	6%	$85
Vontaze Burfict	ASU	BURF	↑ 5	6%	$85
Brooks Reed	Arizona	REED	↑ 10	13%	$85
Mike Mohamed	Cal	MIKE	–	–	$80
Omar Bolden	ASU	BOLD	↑ 10	15%	$75
Trevin Wade	Arizona	WADE	↑ 10	15%	$75
Tony Dye	UCLA	DYE	–	–	$55
Malcolm Smith	USC	SMIT	↓ 5	–	$50
Richard Sherman	Stanford	SHER	–	–	$45
TJ McDonald	USC	TJMC	↑ 5	20%	$30
Cliff Harris	Oregon	CLIF	↑ 5	20%	$30
Michael Thomas	Stanford	THOM	↑ 5	33%	$20

Unit Market

Oregon is #1 in the nation in scoring and total defense, but even scarier is the that all of the reps their younger players receive in blowouts make them a deeper unit each game. Cal and UW were absolutely rocked in their blowout losses, and USC did just enough to eek out the win. Nickell Robey and TJ McDonald are looking very promising in the secondary for the Trojans, but the team as a unit is still undisciplined. UCLA has proven that it has the best secondary in the conference by shutting down Case Keenum and Andrew Luck in back-to-back weeks, but they need to get stronger up front with all of the great running backs in the Pac-12. Oregon State was unable to avoid the slow start this year after losing their first game and they have an even tougher test this week when they travel to face Boise State on the Smurf Turf. A strong defensive performance is exactly what the Beavers will need to give the offense a chance.

	Symbol	Δ	Δ%	Total
Oregon Defense	ORED	↑ 10	8%	$135
Arizona Defense	ARID	↑ 10	15%	$75
Utah Defense	UTAD	↑ 5	7%	$70
ASU Defense	ASUD	↑ 5	8%	$65
USC Defense	USCD	–	–	$60
Stanford Defense	STAD	↑ 10	20%	$60
UCLA Defense	UCLD	↑ 15	37%	$55
Cal Defense	CALD	↓ 10	16%	$50
OSU Defense	OSUD	–	–	$40
Colorado Defense	COLD	↑ 5	16%	$35
UW Defense	UWD	↓ 10	22%	$35

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Pac-12 – Week 3 Players of the Week

My prediction record took a beating this week with a 9-3 record overall, but the conference’s image received some crushing blows when Cal got pistol whipped by Nevada and Washington got corn-holed at home by Nebraska. Luckily I found this picture of a gorgeous prostitute from Nebraska who exchanges sexual acts for football tickets.

Players of the Week

Despite the embarrassment of Cal’s loss to Nevada, Shane Vereen was a bright spot for the Bears. The Junior running back hadn’t played much in the first two games with Cal having both games in hand by halftime, but Vereen had some moments that reminded fans of another Cal legend – Jahvid Best, with his jukes, broken tackles and great burst. He finished the night with 19 carries for 198 yards and three touchdowns.

Those numbers would normally be good enough to be the top running back of the week, but LaMichael James was a one-upper with his 227 yards on just 14 carries and two touchdowns. We still don’t know if Darron Thomas can throw the ball, but they might not need to if they keep putting up rushing numbers like they have been (564 yards rushing vs Portland State).

The Leader of the Pac MVP this week belongs to Andrew Luck of Stanford. He continues to improve his decision making and shows great touch on his long ball. He went 17 of 23 with 4 touchdowns and also added a 52 yard touchdown run that made Wake Forest look like a pee wee football team. Chris Owusu played in his first game this season and caught 3 passes for 65 yards and 2 TD’s. My only problem with Stanford this week is that their school colors are Cardinal and White, which makes the opposite of their school colors Blue and Black. They should burn the black jerseys, but coach Harbaugh thinks his team looks tough in them.

The Week 3 Juggy Award belongs to Nick Foles of the Arizona Wildcats for his up and down play. He was managing the game efficiently until he threw the ball to Broderick Binns for a pick-six play to tie the game up at 27 all. Foles wasn’t fazed by the error and went right over the top for a 38 yard gain on the next play to put Arizona in position for the go-ahead score. It looks like the Wildcats are finally getting over the hump and getting some national recognition with the #14 ranking in both polls.

Bust of the Week

As I’ve previously documented, I thought that Jake Locker was the third best quarterback in the Pac-12, but Mel Kiper had him pegged as the #1 QB on his draft board since the off-season. While I don’t claim to know as much as Mel, you don’t need a gallon of gel in your hair to see that Locker’s draft stock is falling faster than Mel Gibson’s popularity amongst women’s rights groups. His 4 of 20 for 71 yards and 2INT’s is one of the worst games of the decade and a lot of it was poor decision making by the QB. The Huskies now have to go 5-4 in Pac-10 play to make a bowl game and they have road trips at USC, Oregon, Cal, and Arizona. Locker is the only player to ever receive the Bust of the Week award twice in the same season and it’s only week 3…

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NASPAQ – Pac-12 Stock Report : Week 2

The defensive side of the NASPAQ is starting to shape up after some incredible performances this week. The Leader of the Pac – Defensive MVP this week goes to Mike Mohamed (MIKE) of the Cal Bears for his 14 tackles and an interception returned 41 yards for a touchdown. Mohamed is third in the conference in tackles with 21. He is the leader of the #1 total defense in the country with Cal yielding only 160 yards per game. Our bullish trend this week is wide receiver of the Washington Huskies – Jermaine Kearse, after putting on a show of 9 receptions and 179 yardsin their victory over Syracuse. His stock is up 30% and he’s tied for the highest wide receiver stock with Juron Criner of Arizona at $65 per share.

Defensive Players

	Team	Symbol	Δ	Δ%	Total
Akeem Ayers	UCLA	AYER	↑ 5	6%	$85
Mason Foster	UW	FOST	↑ 5	7%	$80
Mike Mohamed	Cal	MIKE	↑ 10	14%	$80
Rahim Moore	UCLA	MOOR	↑ 5	7%	$80
Jurrell Casey	USC	CASE	↑ 5	7%	$80
Tony Dye	UCLA	DYE	↑ 5	10%	$55
Malcolm Smith	USC	SMIT	↑ 5	10%	$55
Richard Sherman	Stanford	SHER	↑ 5	12%	$45

IPO’s

We’ve had some IPO’s pop up on our radar starting with Cliff Harris (CLIF) of the Oregon Ducks. We don’t know how we missed his two touchdowns on special teams last week (Punt 1, Punt 2), but he caught our analysts attention when he pick-sixed Tennessee’s Matt Simms. His stock opens up at $25 and we see this as a bull market if you invest early enough.

	Team	Symbol	Δ	Δ%	Total
Darron Thomas	Oregon	DARR	–	–	$25
Devin Aguilar	Washington	AGUI	–	–	$25
Robert Woods	USC	WOOD	–	–	$15
Marquess Wilson	WSU	MARQ	–	–	$15
Michael Thomas	Stanford	THOM	–	–	$15
TJ McDonald	USC	TJMC	–	–	$25
Cliff Harris	Oregon	CLIF	–	–	$25

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Running Backs

The Oregon Ducks also had some of the top offensive highlights this week from their backfield. LaMichael James (LMJ) is back on the NASPAQ after his suspension and saw a 5% rise in his stock to $105. Kenjon Barner didn’t replicate his four touchdowns of week one, but he had an 80 yard punt return for a touchdown. The Ducks quarterback – Darron Thomas (DARR) IPO’d at $25 dollars this week after managing his first road game like a veteran.–

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	Team	Symbol	Δ	Δ %	Total
JacQuizz Rodgers	OSU	QUIZ	–	4%	$120
LaMichael James	Oregon	LMJ	↑ 5	5%	$105
Chris Polk	UW	POLK	↑ 5	6%	$80
Shane Vereen	Cal	VARE	–	–	$75
Kenjon Barner	Oregon	BARN	↑ 5	10%	$55
Nic Grigsby	Arizona	GRIG	↑ 10	28%	$45
Cameron Marshall	ASU	MRSH	↓ 5	20%	$20
Marc Tyler	USC	MARC	↓ 5	20%	$20

From our positional markets there were a couple outstanding defensive performances this week, most notably from Cal and Stanford. Their defenses were aggressive and applied pressure on the opponent’s quarterbacks to force turnovers. Both of their defensive units saw some coaching turnover and replaced their defensive coordinators with experienced NFL coaches. Cal is currently #1 in total defense nationally, while Stanford is #6, but the Bears will face the #1 total offense in the country against Nevada this week so we see this as a bear market that has topped out.

Defensive Market

	Symbol	Δ	Δ%	Total
Arizona Defense	ARID	↑ 10	60%	$65
Cal Defense	CALD	↑ 10	20	$60
Colorado Defense	COLD	↓ 10	25%	$30
Oregon Defense	ORED	↑ 10	9%	$125
Oregon State Defense	OSUD	–	–	$40
USC Defense	USCD	↑ 10	20%	$60
UCLA Defense	UCLD	↓ 20	33%	$40
Stanford Defense	STAD	↑ 15	42%	$50
Utah Defense	UTAD	↑ 5	8%	$65
UW Defense	UWD	↑ 5	12%	$45

Quarterbacks

Week 2 wasn’t as kind to our quarterbacks as the first week with Matt Barkley, Andrew Luck, and Kevin Riley looking like they needed to shake off some rust. Jordan Wynn sat out this week with an injury, but the Utes were able to win with their backup. Tyler Hansen was sacked six times and committed four turnovers in the first Pac-12 game between Colorado and Cal. Jake Locker finally had some success and received an 11% bump in his stock to get back to triple digit stock prices.

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	Team	Symbol	Δ	Δ%	Total
Nick Foles	Arizona	FOLE	↑ 5	4%	$125
Andrew Luck	Stanford	LUCK	↓10	7%	$125
Matt Barkley	USC	BARK	↑ 5	4%	$120
Jake Locker	UW	LOCK	↑ 10	11%	$100
Kevin Riley	Cal	RILE	↑ 5	6%	$85
Jordan Wynn	Utah	WYNN	–	–	$55
Tyler Hansen	Col	HANS	↓10	25%	$30
Kevin Prince	UCLA	PRNC	↓ 5	25%	$15
Ryan Katz	OSU	KATZ	–	–	$10

Wide Receivers

Robert Woods (WOOD) is the newest wide receiver on the NASPAQ, and even though he hasn’t found pay dirt he’s been consistent and at times looks like Barkley’s first target. Jermaine Kearse (JERM) was the top wide receiver of the weekend with 9 catches for 179 yards and three touchdowns.

	Team	Symbol	Δ	Δ%	Total
Juron Criner	Arizona	CRIN	–	–	$65
Jermaine Kearse	UW	JERM	↑ 15	30%	$65
James Rodgers	OSU	JROD	–	–	$55
Ronald Johnson	USC	ROJO	–	–	$50
Marvin Jones	Cal	MARV	↑ 5	14%	$40
Keenan Allen	Cal	KEEN	↑ 5	20%	$30
Doug Baldwin	Stanford	BALD	–	–	$25
DeVonte Christopher	Utah	DEVO	↓ 5	20%	$20
David Ausberry	USC	BERY	↓10	40%	$15

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Pac-12 – Week 2 Players of the Week

Another glorious Saturday of college football and the Pac-12 taking care of business. Oregon gave Tennessee a Pac-12 shocker that was felt through SEC country. UCLA looked lost offensively, USC can’t seem to play a complete game yet, and U-Dubb quarterback Jake Locker looked like the guy that received some Heisman hype before the season.

Jake Locker played an efficient game and even more importantly led his team to victory. The Huskies were down 10-zip before Locker started finding his rhythm and completed 22 of 33 passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns. His favorite target was Jermaine Kearse who was the recipient of 9 passes for 179 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Another player that I was extremely impressed with was Darron Thomas of the Oregon Ducks. His 17 of 32 passing for 202 yards won’t blow you away, but he was in a hostile environment and didn’t turn the ball over. He had some help out of his backfield with LaMichael James stealing the spotlight back from Kenjon Barner by running for 134 yards on 16 carries. His 72 yard run not only gave Oregon the lead, it was probably the best play of the weekend.

There were a couple other players that stepped up big time this weekend, but I prefer the two defensive performances from the Bay Area teams. Cal harassed Colorado quarterback Tyler Hansen to the tune of six sacks and 3 interceptions, and a fumble. The defense scored two touchdowns with one coming on an 82 yard fumble recovery that popped right into the hands of senior corner back Darian Hagan. When I highlighted a strength of the Cal Bears in the off-season I mentioned Mike Mohamed and Mychal Kendricks, the two combined for 25 tackles, an interception returned for a touchdown, a fumble recovery, 3 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

Stanford’s defense was even more impressive by posting a shutout of the UCLA Bruins in the Rose Bowl. Playing on the road in the Pac-12 is difficult, but shutouts are more rare than a perfect game in baseball. The Cardinal held the Bruins to only 233 yards of offense and Michael Thomas spearheaded the effort by collecting five tackles, forcing two fumbles and returning one of them for a 21 yard touchdown to blow the game open to 28-0. My research team told me that it was nearly impossible to find a picture of a good looking girl wearing Stanford apparel, but here is the one bright spot for them.

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NASPAQ – Pac-12 Stock Report : Week 1

The NASPAQ stock market is the Pac-12 version of a stock exchange, a  pioneer in electronic screen-based sports security trading. With twelve teams and approximately 50 publicly traded players, it has more trading volume than any other sports stock exchange in the world.

As the new season begins, we remain steadfast in our commitment to lever operational excellence and innovative analysis to penetrate new markets whether geographic or across conferences, and to develop new articles and ideas to meet growing fan demand and to bring powerful new articles to our readers. Every day, our markets deliver on the promise of competition. We are confident that our sports model will further our growth in an increasingly competitive sports marketplace and will ensure that Pac-12 markets remain the most attractive in the world.

Most of our savvy fans consider the NASPAQ weekly report to be the most important sports research tool available.

The most volatile stock came in the players market from Kenjon Barner (KENJ), who saw a 100% increase in his stock to $50. He was listed as LaMichael James’ backup, but mostly known for his role as a punt/kick returner last season. With James out for pushing his girlfriend, Barner made the most of his opportunity by eclipsing last season’s touchdown totals with four rushing and one through the air. I would expect him to have earned at least a few more carries per game this year and if he outperforms LMJ he could eventually turn into the starter.

I would advise buyers to purchase stock in UCLA’s Akeem Ayers (AYER) ending up as the conference’s defensive MVP. He was all over the field for the Bruins racking up 11 tackles, one sack, a pass deflection and recovered two fumbles. He’ll have plenty of opportunities for tackles this year, because the only place you saw the UCLA defensive line was in the Kansas State rear view mirrors as they gave up 350 rushing yards. His stock is up 15 points, but the bullish UCLA defensive stock is dropping.

There were some surprises in the positional markets starting with USC’s defense (USCD). Some of our analysts were bullish on this stock as it IPO’d at $100, but watching Hawaii dance around them like the girls on Dancing With the Stars was not reassuring. I couldn’t tell what was worse, the tackling or their secondary that gave up 459 yards passing – 200 of which came after the starter was injured. Their poor performance dropped them 50% after surrendering 588 yards to the Rainbow Warriors.

Players Market

Quarterbacks

	Team	Symbol	Δ	Δ%	Total
Matt Barkley	USC	BARK	↑ 15	15%	$115
Nick Foles	Arizona	FOLE	↑ 15	14%	$120
Kevin Riley	Cal	RILE	↑ 5	6%	$80
Kevin Prince	UCLA	PRNC	↓ 5	20%	$20
Andrew Luck	Stanford	LUCK	↑ 10	8%	$135
Jordan Wynn	Utah	WYNN	↑ 5	10%	$55
Jake Locker	Washington	LOCK	↓10	10%	$90

Running Backs

	Team	Symbol	Δ	Δ %	Total
Kenjon Barner	Oregon	BARN	↑ 25	100%	$50
Nic Grigsby	Arizona	GRIG	↑ 5	20%	$35
JacQuizz Rodgers	Oregon State	QUIZ	↓ 5	4%	$120
Chris Polk	Washington	Polk	↑ 5	10%	$55

Wide receivers

Wide Receivers	Team	Symbol	Δ	Δ%	Total
Juron Criner	Arizona	CRIN	↑ 15	30%	$65
Ronald Johnson	USC	ROJO	↑ 15	42%	$50
James Rodgers	Oregon State	JROD	↑ 5	10%	$55

IPO’s

Ryan Katz	Oregon State	KATZ	–	–	$10
Keenan Allen	Cal	KEEN	–	–	$25
Doug Baldwin	Stanford	BALD	–	–	$25
David Ausberry	USC	BERY	–	–	$25
DeVonte Christopher	Utah	DEVO	–	–	$25
Cameron Marshall	ASU	MRSH	–	–	$25
Marc Tyler	USC	MARC	–	–	$25

Positional Markets

	Symbol	Δ	Δ%	Total
USC Defense	USCD	↓ 50	50%	$50
UCLA Defense	UCLD	↓ 20	33%	$60
Oregon State Defense	OSUD	↓ 10	20%	$40
Arizona Defense	ARID	↑ 15	60%	$65
Utah Defense	UTAD	↑ 10	20%	$60
UW Defense	UWD	↓ 5	10%	$40
Oregon Defense	ORED	↑ 15	15%	$115

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