David Marsh

It would take a rule change at the highest level but the ramification for sitting out with the intention of transferring should be able to result in a loss of scholarship immediately. Coaches can't make them play but it's not fair on the team if players want to sit out to transfer. The transfer port needs windows and can't just always be open. There are a lot of rule changes that need to take effect.

Or maybe a deeper hatred of USC because I really feel they are going to get exposed this weekend. I might be wrong.

These rankings are subjective and a team's record only plays part of what goes into where I place them in my ranking, some teams are just better or worse than what their record suggests. This is also a snapshot look at where I feel these teams are at this moment, as if these teams were to play tomorrow they should beat those below them and lose to those ahead of them but nothing is obviously set in stone, teams grow as the season goes on. See Week 4's rankings here. Please disagree or comment on these rankings because that is where so much of the fun is with these rankings. 12. Colorado (0-5) - Colorado is bad, so bad they have finally fired their head coach and this is now a bad team that is truly lacking leadership. It will be a shock if they win any games this year. So good news to teams playing Colorado, this is almost a bye week. 11. Arizona State (1-4) - Arizona State has more talent that Colorado but they are in a coaching search and have written off this season. Unlikely ASU will beat anyone outright but if a team sleeps on them they might make things scary as this team still has some play makers. 10. Stanford (1-4) - Stanford is bad, the transfer portal era will keep the Cardinal from being good, even if the refs seem to do everything they can to keep them in the game. It is possible this team steals a win or two in conference but they are not looking at a bowl game for the second consecutive year in a row. 9. Arizona (3-2) - Arizona has life and if they get hot they could make a bowl game, but the problem is that there aren't many teams ranked below them for "easy" wins, as they have already dismantled Colorado and they have ASU at the end of the year but they skip Stanford this year. So I see Arizona getting to 4 maybe 5 wins total. 8. Oregon State (3-2) - This is really the first change from last week's rankings. The Beavers are almost a complete team, except for quarterback where they are woefully lacking right now. They should have beaten USC but for their 4 interceptions and they weren't even supposed to beat Utah but they took far more of a beating than they should have because they couldn't take care of the ball. Their defense and run game both look solid, they just need to work out their quarterback problem. 7. Cal (3-2) - Cal has defense and their offense is better than last year with a new quarterback and runningback but they really do seem to lack some of the firepower needed to hold down some of the more prolific offenses in the Pac-12 this year. 6. USC (5-0) - USC has had an easy schedule so far but that is going to come to an end soon enough. USC gets Washington State this week, though at home. Washington State has an agressive defense and an offense that can score quickly. USC does have a good secondary but their offense has struggled with pressure. Both Oregon State and Arizona State have given USC a pretty good scare over the past couple of weeks. Washington State may be more than they can handle, but if they survive then it is worth bumping USC up at that point. Right now they feel overrated by the National media. 5. Washington (4-1) - Washington was finally challenged and they lost. They also lost on the road which will probably be a continuing trend this year. Washington has had to travel much the past two years and that will be something that will be a struggle. 4. UCLA (5-0) - UCLA beat Washington which was a meaningful win and got themselves a ranking in the top 25 of the AP poll. So UCLA moves up a spot though we will get a better sense of what UCLA is made of in the next month as they will have to play Oregon and Utah. 3. Washington State (4-1) - Washington State couged it against Oregon and survived Cal. This is an aggressive team that should stay in the top half of the Pac-12 this year, barring any critical injuries. They square off against USC this week and WSU is probably the more complete team, the only downside is that WSU has to go to USC but WSU has proved they can win in a hostile away environment this year. 2. Oregon (4-1) - Beating Stanford is a big deal for the Ducks. It has felt the past few years that Oregon plays Stanfod and the refs. Oregon was clearly the better team, even when shooting itself in the foot and getting some truly baffling calls from the refs. Oregon is still the most talented team in the Pac-12 and they are growing week to week but they still have yet to put together a solid four quarters of play. Oregon has Arizona this week which has its own risks, then a bye week, then they host UCLA. The good news for Oregon is that all their toughest games will be at home this year. 1. Utah (4-1) - Utah hasn't given much reason to doubt their top spot. However, Utah does hit one of the hardest sections of its schedule this year with UCLA, USC, and Washington State all on deck before they hit an easier part where they have Arizona and Stanford. Then they get Oregon. Utah will get truly tested starting this week and we will see where they end up. Do you agree or disagree with these rankings? Who is too high or too low?

It has become abundantly clear now to anyone that I think Helfrich gets a bad rap by a lot of Ducks fans. Was he perfect? Of course not. Was he given time to truly address some of the problems that emerged? Nope. Would he have worked out in the end... probably not to the goal of a National Championship in honest truth without some major changes along the way. But I also have no sympathies for anyone crying about Oregon needs coaches to be loyal to the program and are lifers when Helfrich was going to be a lifer in the mold of Bellotti and the fan base was calling for his head after one really really bad bowl game and a bad season. Fans want loyalty from their coaches but show their coaches no loyalty when things get tough, within reason.

In fairness that was what was said about Mariota ... And to a slightly lesser extent Herbert. But they also played at a much much higher level so they got away with it.

The standard is way to high these daya to win. Cryst had a 72% win rate. Though... As ducks fans we tossed Helfrich out on his butt after one really bad season. He had a 70% win rate. The win now culture is brutal.

I don't know if he progressed enough to regress at this point.

Knew this was coming sooner or later. I think that is 2 for 2 on coaches on the hot seat. I think all the other coaches in the PAC are actually safe at this point. Shaw is staying at Stanford, there are way too many factors going on there that have led to Stanford's problems. Zona has to be happy with Fisch as he has the program pointed in the right direction. Then Kelly and Wilcox both got extensions last year and those were perhaps the only other two who might have been on a hot seat this year and their teams don't look anywhere near bad enough for that.

It needed a yellow helmet to go with it and it would have looked better.

Refs can always throw flags at both teams. There is a heirarchy of penalties that can get applied. The refs could very easily thrown a flag or two at Stanford for unsportsmanlike conduct. And they choose not to. I don't think a flag was ever headed to Stanford for that incident.

I think it is important for backups to get reps in garbage time. What really concerns me about TT was how lost he looked out there. He didn't seem to know where he wanted to go with the ball. A few of his passes seemed more to a part of the field than actually to a player.

The refs also ignored a whole lot of holding calls against USCs online against Oregon state that had Beaver fans salty. It seems to be a trend where California schools are getting ref's protection. The lack of holding calls against USC definitely played a major role in USCs win... Granted... 4 interceptions from OSU didn't help.

There will be times when the coaches and players need to focus for the fourth quarter so I see why Lanning is trying to reel this in. Oregon was on the door knocking on another touchdown and let's face it the red zone hasn't been good to them.

I look at a bunch of non-calla by the officials when Stanford not only played through the whistle, which is fine and what is coached, but we'll behind the whistle. Seven shouldn't have done what he did but he was driven back long after the whistle was over and then slammed to the ground. Then the Stanford players still thought live ball and that led to Nix torpedoing them... Which was all apart of the side line problem. Then towards the end of the gma Stanford figured out that they werent going to get flagged for playing extra rough so they did. Then there was that Whittington slam Stanford did where yet again they played through the whistle but after the whistle they kept going and picked Whittington up and threw him in the ground for... No flag? The refs really let Stanford beat up the ducks. I had a good laugh when the refs threw a flag at Gonzo for unnecessary roughness when all he did was tackle the Stanford players to the ground through the whistle... Thankfully the refs picked that flag up but it really did feel like they were just trying to punish Oregon.

Thompson looks lost out there. He isn't even hitting his recievers terribly well. Some of those passes feel like they were more to an area of the field than an actual recievers.

Donte Moore will surpass him if that's the case.

Stanford knows they can get away with beating up in the ducks a bit and they are playing pretty rough now. Refs are happy to look the other way for the most part.

There's the reffing problem again... No flag for that? The whistle was blown and they picked up wittington and threw hint it he ground? I'm sorry that's a flag for unnecessary roughness.

Dorrell by a long shot. Stanford's problems are beyond what Shaw can actually fix. Stanford loses to the transfer portal and due to their academic enrollment policy they do. It gain from it. Stanford players used to be able to enroll in a frad program by just staying now they have to apply and get in along with anyone and everyone else. So they just transfer out..

He has one more year.

It is when the refs need to help Stanford get back in the game.

So the shoulder and arm count as horse collar tackle now?

Those refs had to pick up that flag for gonzo being too physical after not flagging Stanford blasting Seven like they did earlier..

There is another series of downs where Dillingham went away from the run and it was a mistake.

That and they are going to try and get Stanford back in the game.