FanHouse Jeremiah Masoli

Cal might've been looking ahead to next week's showdown with suddenly vulnerable USC, but they certainly sucked all the excitement out of it after getting whipped by the throwback jersey-wearing Oregon Ducks, 42-3.

They probably did just as much harm to Jahvid Best's Heisman campagin. The Ducks shut down the star running back, holding him to 55 yards and also battered Bears' quarterback Kevin Riley into a feeble 123-yard outing.

Saturday's victory is part of a stunning turnaround for Oregon, following its opening night embarrassment against Boise, a game marred by offensive ineptitude and LeGarrette Blount's sucker punch heard 'round the world. Since then, Oregon has beaten Purdue, Utah and now California. Amusingly, the Ducks dominated Cal in a manner similar to how Boise State handled them.

LOS ANGELES -- Only the Pacific 10 Conference can show some muscle but take a step back on the same day.

Highlighted by Washington's victory over No. 3 USC on Saturday, the Pac-10 proved once again that it's not a conference dominated by one team. It was the fourth consecutive season that the highly-regarded Trojans -- who are 33-1 in their last 34 games against non-conference opponents -- were knocked off by an underdog Pac-10 squad.

Fill in the blank of that now-cliche setup. The new Monday Night Football. The new black. The new upset machine. The new everything. Thursday has long been a quiet part of the college football landscape but with ESPN's growing presence as a business partner, it is now kind of a big deal.

In a sport where Saturday is king, Thursday night is grabbing an increasing share of the starring role as the home to nine season-opening games including two that will be nationally televised. For several years now at FanHouse we've been live blogging Thursday night games and it's apparent they've gained a certain cult status for the football-mad folks who can't quite wait a week until their next fix -- this after waiting through a torturous eight month offseason.

So is this the year someone besides USC wins the Pac-10 title and gains the automatic BCS bowl berth?

If there is ever a year for USC to get chased from behind and caught, this is this year. The Trojans are breaking in a new quarterback in Aaron Corp and replacing several departed starters to the NFL draft.

So who's it going to be? Cal? Can the Golden Bears overcome early-season trap games and win the games they are supposed to and make it interesting? Can Oregon beat USC at home and win difficult road games and take the title? And how about Oregon State? Do Mike Riley teams always have to start 1-3 before getting into high gear?

And what about the rest of the field? Is this Stanford's breakout year? Is UCLA ready to become a Pac-10 factor again? And is Arizona really the third worst team in the conference as it was picked by the media? These are all intriguing questions that will be worked out in the coming weeks.

Our standings preview and records predictions are after the jump.

LOS ANGELES -- USC was picked to win the Pac-10 football title for the seventh consecutive year by the media, and yet the coaches from all nine competitors -- including Arizona's Mike Stoops (right) and even USC coach Pete Carroll -- touched on the uncertainty of the Trojans this season.

USC received 28 of the 32 votes with California receiving three while third-place Oregon collected one vote. The Trojans will be breaking in a new quarterback and several new defenders since 11 players were taken in the NFL Draft. Perhaps this is the year another school emerges and takes the crown out of Los Angeles, but they approached Thursday precariously and with respect. There were no declarations that USC is going down or the reign is over -- not even from UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel.

Chip Kelly has yet to coach a game for the Oregon Ducks, and in this much-anticipated season, he is already three players down following recent transfers. Kelly took over for Mike Bellotti, who moved on to athletic director after 14 seasons, and the first thing he did was name QB Jeremiah Masoli the starter for next season. That prompted the transfer of Justin Roper, who started the first three games last season before a knee injury against Purdue.

Receiver Aaron Pflugrad then followed Roper out of the door, and Tuesday the school announced WR Chris Harper was leaving to be closer to his Wichita, Kan. home. Harper was a true freshman last season and will have three years of eligibility remaining.

With their 65-38 win over the Oregon State Beavers tonight, the Oregon Ducks became heroes to a lot of people in some far-flung places. Boise, Idaho is one of those places, as well as Columbus, Ohio, and a lot of other locales in Big Ten country.

The Ducks left little doubt about who was the better team tonight, rolling up almost 700 yards of offense. Two guys named Jeremiah were at the center of it all. Running back Jeremiah Johnson ran for over 200 yards, while quarterback Jeremiah Masoli passed for 277 more, including three touchdowns. Not even 13 penalties against them could slow down the Ducks.

The loss ends Oregon State's hopes of making it to the Rose Bowl. That's unfortunate. Beaver quarterback Lyle Moevao was as brilliant tonight as he has been all season long, passing for five touchdowns against two interceptions. Throw in two lost fumbles and a Duck offense playing completely over the moon and it's not hard to figure out how Oregon wound up winning so convincingly.

Now Southern Cal will head to the Rose Bowl to face Penn State in a matchup that absolutely no one outside of LA or State College will be looking forward to. Oh, and there's a BCS at-large slot open now.