The last time California beat Southern Cal at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, Bears' head coach Steve Mariucci was 15 years old.

Thirty years later, in his rookie year as head coach, Mariucci did what was almost unthinkable.

"This is very special for the kids," Mariucci said. "It has never happened in their lifetime."

Now 5-0 and tied for first place in the Pacific 10 Conference with Arizona State, the Bears are on a roll. Sophomore tailback Brandon Willis is on the biggest roll of all, having ripped the USC defense for 229 total yards, 150 coming on 33 carries. Willis, who is filling in for the injured Tarik Smith, has yet to cough up the ball and has continued the Bears' streak of eight straight games with a 100-yard rusher.

The Cal defense recorded six sacks against a USC offensive line that had allowed only three in its previous four games. The Bears have Pac-10-leading 25 sacks this season.

Cal has not started 6-0 since 1950, when it won its first nine under "Pappy" Waldorf on its way to the Rose Bowl. The Bears have a bye week and then travel to Washington State on Oct. 19.

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Washington's lone loss of the season was at No. 4 Arizona State on Sept. 7. It was a 45-42 shootout that came down to a last-second field goal for ASU to win. Washington is the only team to give the Sun Devils a game this season. Even powerhouse Nebraska was shut out.

Now the Huskies have another chance to get back into the national picture this weekend with a trip to South Bend, Ind., to take on 12th-ranked Notre Dame. That means the 16th-ranked Huskies have a date with a national audience.

Washington has already defeated a ranked team when it beat then-No. 14 Brigham Young in Seattle.

With a stingy defense that allows 314 yards per game and Corey Dillion, the Pac-10's leading rusher at 104 yards per game, the Huskies are upset-bound. Dillion had 173 yards against Stanford last weekend and is fourth in the nation in all-purpose yards, averaging 200.8 a game.

Notre Dame has beat the Huskies all three times they have met, winning last year 29-21 in a comeback win.

Down 21-14 with less than four minutes to play, a fumbled punt led to an Irish touchdown and a successful two-point conversion. The Huskies were driving on the following possession when Notre Dame cornerback Allen Rossum intercepted a pass, returning it for a touchdown to clinch the game. Washington tailback Rashaan Shehee ran for 171 yards on 32 carries and had two touchdowns in the game.

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Arizona State has defeated Washington, Nebraska and Oregon so far this season but the it has yet to leave Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe.

With seven home games, the most this season for any team in the Pac-10, the Sun Devils could not have picked a better year to contend for the national title. This weekend ASU will travel to UCLA, a team that has won 11 of the 15 meetings between the two schools. Last year, Arizona State beat a surging UCLA team 33-31 to end the Bruins' unbeaten streak at Sun Devil Stadium.

Arizona State is at home the following weekend to host Southern Cal, then travels for three of the final four weeks, to Stanford, Oregon State and wraps up the season here against Arizona.

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With only three players picked for the Pac-10 players of the week awards, rarely do two of the selections come from the same team, much less the same high school. However, both instances occurred this week.

Arizona linebacker Chester Burnett, who received the defensive player recognition, and Cal running back Brandon Willis, who got it for the offense, both graduated from Mullen High School in Denver. At Mullen, Burnett even blocked for Willis during his senior year, when the former played fullback.

"It was a well deserved award," UA head coach Dick Tomey said. "He had a tremendous performance. It feels good to see him get the recognition for all his hard work.

"We recruited Willis, too. They both are good guys."

Burnett had a game-high 13 solo tackles - four for a total loss of minus-25 yards and two sacks last Saturday against Washington State. Burnett also recovered a fumble after Armon Williams hit WSU quarterback Ryan Leaf. The junior linebacker led the Arizona defense in limiting the Cougars to 42 yards rushing.

"He played extremely well, considering we ask him to do a lot of things in as far as blitzing and in coverage," UA defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Larry Mac Duff said. "He made several big plays."

Ryan Longwell, California's kicker, received the special teams award for the third time in the five weeks. Longwell was three-for-three in field-goal attempts, connecting from 27, 39 and 22 yards. He averaged 39.2 yards on five punts and placed five of the six kickoffs in the end zone for touchbacks.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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