California Deamin'

Tough night for the California contingent of the PAC-10. All four teams from the Golden State lost. USC to Oregon in a thriller. Cal jumped out to a 13 point first-quarter lead in Tempe and then "pulled a Bruin" by getting outscored 30-7 the rest of the way. We lost to the Cougs... to nobody's surprise. Stanford got tossed by the Beavers. When was the last time all four California schools lost on the same night?

They almost did it back in 2002. USC, Cal, and UCLA all lost on 9/21/2002 but Stanford had a bye that week. No, you have to go all the way back to 10/19/1996 to find a Saturday where all four teams put a notch in the lose column. The Bruins got creamed by Washington up in Seattle 41-21. The Trojans lost to the Sun Devils 48-35 in Tempe. The Cougs squeeked past the Bears in Pullman 21-18 and the Cardinal lost 26-12 in Corvallis.

Racing back to the present, it doesn't look good for these teams in conference play. Somehow UCLA is leading this motley group with a 4-1 record. The Trojans are 3-2 in the PAC-10 and likely kissed a 7th straight conference title goodbye. The Bears, who were 2nd in the country just a few weeks ago have lost 3 straight. Stanford is just Stanford. In the end it might be a non-California team that takes the title this year. That hasn't happened since 2001 when Oregon took the crown. With the way they've been playing lately, it might be the Ducks in 2007 as well.