Pac-10 Conference gaining respect in polls

Pac-10 Conference gaining respect in polls

By Kevin Clerici
Arizona Daily Wildcat
September 17, 1996

Arizona Daily Wildcat
Arizona had an easier time with Arizona State's Keith Poole (3) last season than North Texas had with him last Saturday. But despite Poole's four touchdown catches over the weekend, he didn't earn conference player of the week honors.

The Pacific 10 Conference is the top conference in the nation this week, if you believe the national polls.
Seven Pac-10 teams received votes in The Associated Press Top 25 poll, topping the Big 12's six.
Southern Cal is ranked No. 15 to lead the Pac-10, with Arizona State at No. 17. Both teams improved one spot from last week. Washington entered the AP Top 25 for the first time this year after its 29-17 win over then-No. 14 Brigham Young. Oregon rounds it out at the No. 25 spot.
Arizona and UCLA both have eight votes and are tied for the 32nd ranking with Utah. California received its first three votes of the year, entering the top 40.
The Pac-10 was 7-0 against non-conference teams last week, upping its record to 13-6 for the year.

Arizona State's Keith Poole scored four touchdowns - three receiving and one running - in the Sun Devils' 52-7 win over North Texas.
Poole had not caught a touchdown pass at Sun Devil Stadium since 1994. All seven of his touchdown catches last season were on the road.
Poole's career night, however, was not enough to claim the Pac-10 offensive player of the week. Oregon's Ryan Perry-Smith took the honors with 27-of-46 passing for 395 yards and two touchdowns against Colorado State in the Ducks' 35-28 win.
Perry-Smith, playing for the injured Tony Graziani, was making only his second start of his college career. It marked the most yards for an Oregon quarterback in a regular-season game since 1990. The Ducks are now 3-0 for the third time in four years. The last time the team started 4-0 was in 1988.
California's Tarik Smith also had four touchdowns last week, his longest coming on a 90-yard run. It was the longest Cal run since a 92-yard run by Joe Kapp in 1958.

Washington's Jason Chorak was named the Pac-10's defensive player of the week.
The outside linebacker recorded three sacks against BYU's Steve Sarkisian, improving his Pac-10-leading sack total to four. The Huskies finished with eight sacks and limited the potent Cougar offense to 293 total yards.
The win upped Washington's consecutive home-opener win streak to 11. Washington's next home victory will be the 300th at Husky Stadium. Arizona travels to Seattle on Saturday.

California's Ryan Longwell leads the nation and the Pac-10 in punting with a 51.1-yard average on 11 kicks, his longest a 61-yard boot against Utah.
Four other Pac-10 punters are in the top 15 in the nation, with USC's Jim Wren and Stanford's Kevin Miller in the top 10. Wren averages 47.73 yards; Miller, 47. 2. Washington State's Jeff Banks and UA's Matt Peyton are No. 14 and No. 15, respectively.
Longwell was the special teams Pac-10 player of the week.

Washington State has given up 71 points in two games, but not due to a lack of effort from middle linebacker James Darling. He has already recorded 40 total tackles, 24 of them solo. Darlings' 20-tackle average is five better than Washington's John Fiala. Darling is currently on a pace to finish the season with 220 tackles, 63 better than the Cougar single-season record, held by Brian Forde and set in 1986.