By
Ryan Finley
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Huskies prepare for border war with Oregon
Washington State Cougars
A week after losing to lowly Idaho, the Cougars (1-2 overall 0-1 Pacific 10 Conference) will take their stalled offense on the road to Berkeley, Calif. to take on the Golden Bears. The California and WSU defenses seem to be headed in different directions.
"They have different problems than we do," WSU head coach Mike Price said. "Their defense is playing hard with intensity and enthusiasm, ours isn't ."
While the Cougars' offensive production has improved in 2000, the team's overall defensive effort seems to be lacking - WSU allowed 38 points and 462 yards to the Vandals last Saturday.
Luckily for the Cougars, Cal's offense hasn't been exactly stellar throughout the first month of the season.
"They're not running on all eight cylinders," Price said. "They just haven't clicked in a couple of places, even though they've had a chance to win the games that they've lost."
Washington's offense, led by quarterback Jason Gesser, could pose some problems for the Golden Bears.
"They have an explosive offense," Cal head coach Tom Holmoe said of the Cougars. "Jason Gesser is a dang good quarterback. We played (Utah quarterback Darnell) Arceneaux this season, and Jason has more poise than him."
Oregon State Beavers
Oregon State (3-0) has benefited from a weak non-conference schedule and will enter Pac-10 play undefeated. Saturday, the Beavers will play host to Southern California, a team that OSU hasn't defeated since 1967.
OSU head coach Dennis Erickson makes no apologies for a schedule that has included San Diego State, Eastern Washington and New Mexico.
"Right now at OSU, we're trying to build a program," he said. "Right now, it's not smart for us to play top-10 teams. It's silly for us to play top-10 teams in a non-league schedule."
Once a conference doormat, the Beavers have emerged as an up-and-coming school in the Pac-10, earning the respect of coaches around the country.
"Everybody in our conference knows what's going on at Oregon State," USC head coach Paul Hackett said. "This is a totally different Oregon State football team. We can't be concerned with the history."
Erickson claims that Southern California's 53-7-4 all-time record against the Beavers is ancient history.
"I wasn't alive for most of it," he said of the rivalry, "USC's been the best program in the Pac-10 since the 1960s, and we've been the worst. It's really not as big a deal as some people make it out to be."
Senior running back Ken Simonton will need to have a banner day against a stifling Trojan defense that includes senior linebacker Zeke Moreno.
The 5-foot-7 Simonton may be one of the most underrated backs in all of college football.
"If we win as a football team, he'll get his recognition," Erickson said. "He's as good a back as there is around."
Stanford Cardinal
Following a bye week, the Cardinal (2-1, 1-0) return to action this weekend, facing Arizona in its second conference game of the season.
The Cardinal have the ability to be either one of the conference's elite teams or an also-ran, evidenced by the team's 40-27 loss to San Jose State followed by a 27-24 against No. 6 Texas.
According to head coach Tyrone Willingham, the Cardinal's loss to the Spartans was nothing to be ashamed of.
"You have to recognize that San Jose State is a good football team," he said. "Their game (a 34-24 loss) against USC proved that. It's no sin to lose to a good football team."
The Cardinal will be forced to start quarterback Chris Lewis, a redshirt freshman, after losing senior Randy Fasani indefinitely with a knee injury.
Stanford appeared to step up against Texas because of the big-game atmosphere at Palo Alto's Stanford Stadium, leading to the victory.
"There was a difference," Willingham said. "There was the emotional drive of playing a top football team on national TV. It effects young people."
Willingham will have to find another means of motivating his team this weekend, however. The game between the Wildcats and Cardinal will not be televised live.
California Golden Bears
California will hope to put a 1-2 start and a loss to Fresno State of the Western Athletic Conference behind it when they play host to Washington State on Saturday.
The parity in Division-I college football was evident in the Golden Bears' 17-3 loss to the Bulldogs in Fresno, Calif.
"We're 1-2, but that's behind us and we have a clean slate," Holmoe said. "There are some fixable things. Our guys are disappointed about Saturday night, and right now they're angry and frustrated."
The Golden Bears' offense, led by sophomore quarterback Kyle Boller, has racked up yardage but failed to score in the season's first three games.
"On Saturday, we had one drive that went 16 plays but we only got a field goal," Holmoe said. "Another drive went 10 plays. We just couldn't put points on the board."
California, who nearly beat Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, Ill. two weeks ago, are appreciative for the new beginnings that come with conference play.
"Our non-conference schedule is over," Holmoe said. "There are some things that we're working really hard on. The (play) calling, the time - we're trying to look at every factor."
Washington Huskies
The conference's highest-ranked team, the No. 6 Huskies, travel to Oregon this weekend to engage in a rivalry that dates back through the decades. The 94th meeting between the two teams will likely be decided by how UW chooses to handle the crowd at Oregon's Autzen Stadium - renowned for its crowd noise.
According to Huskies head coach Rich Neuheisel, the fans are a factor that the team will have to learn to deal with. Throughout the week, the coach has piped crowd noise through speakers into practices to prepare his team for the challenge of playing in Eugene, Ore.
"I'm not sure you can take (the crowd) out of the game," he sad. " They're spirited, and they love their team. We need to go in there with the thought that (the crowd's) not going to make any tackles or win any games.
Neuheisel, in his second year at UW, is experiencing Autzen Stadium for the first time.
"I'm new to the rivalry," he said. "It's a classic border-war type of ballgame. The two states are next to each other. As long as it's in good taste and everyone remembers it's a game, it's good for our sport."
