FanHouse OregonStateBeavers

Coming up with a list of the best players in the Pac Ten conference is no easy task. It would be very easy just to go down the roster of the University of Southern California and pick at random and you'd probably come up with five players that are arguably among the best at their position. We tried to resist the urge...but came up short. Enjoy the list.

1. John David Booty, QB, Southern California

If the Heisman Trophy is going to return to the West Coast this year, it will be going to Trojan quarterback John David Booty. In his first year as a starter for the Men of Troy, Booty only led his team to a Pac Ten title and a win in the Rose Bowl. Not shabby, but not quite what Trojan fans have come to expect. If Booty hopes to finish his career with as few losses as his predecessor, he'll have to run the table and he just may. Booty is not without his shortcomings, however. His mechanics mean that the Trojan signal caller has a low trajectory when he releases the ball--which can lead to some inopportune tipped balls in key situations, especially with a short field. What's more, Booty lost his two favorite targets--receivers Dwayne Jarrett and State Smith--to the NFL, meaning he'll have to earn every plaudit laid upon him in the 2007 season.

2. DeSean Jackson, WR, California

Expectations are high for the University of California's DeSean Jackson. Rivals.com and The Sporting News have him ranked as the nation's leading receiver and Rivals says he is the best special teams player in all the land. Jackson is on several watch lists for post-season honors, including the Belitnikoff and Randy Moss Awards--and something in the air in Berkeley has his name being touted as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate. Last year, Jackson averaged 18 yards a catch on 59 receptions and was the lone bright spot in the Bears' loss to Arizona, with a career-long 62-yard touchdown catch and a 95-yard punt return en route to 285 all-purpose yards. Nearly one out of ever five times the ball is punted to Jackson, he returns it for a touchdown--making him a dual threat for the Golden Bears.

The Pac Ten Conference entered the 2006 season with one mandate: prove that they're worthy of their best team, the USC Trojans. For three consecutive years, the Men of Troy had steamrolled the competition in the Pac Ten leaving many to wonder just how good the rest of the conference was--and in 2006 the Pac Ten proved that it was, with a couple notable exception, able to hang with the best of the College Football universe.

Opening weekend amounted to a miniature Pac Ten-SEC challenge, with the Southeastern Conference coming out the winners. Although USC took eventual SEC West Champion Arkansas to task in Fayetteville, Washington State lost to Auburn and California barely put up a fight on Rocky Top.

By the end of the season, both Oregon State and UCLA had proven that the Trojans were fallable, and the bottom of the conference took its best shots at the top--with Arizona scoring one of the season's greatest upsets defeating conference co-champions California. Along the way, there was a cluster of five teams which were all battling to avoid third place in the Conference and the "coveted" Las Vegas Bowl invitation that went with it.

New special teams coach Dave Ungerer's to-do-list just grew by a few rather large items. The biggest news for the Beavers' opening of fall camp came in the surprise of special-teamers who are no longer with the program, as starting punter Kyle Loomis, special teamer and backup corner Coye Francies and starting holder Jon Strowbridge have all left the Oregon State football team.

Francies is a loss that is, well, disturbing. He was dismissed from the team after being arrested carrying a loaded firearm. Not a real smart move. A pretty good player on kickoffs, the senior-to-be was also slated to be a factor in the defensive secondary as a likely backup at corner. So not only have they lost a key special teams guy, the team now has to hold it's breath that the depth will hold up in the defensive backfield this year, because losing an experienced, physical senior from your secondary is never a good thing.

You'd be hard pressed to find a more complete offensive threat in the PAC-10 better than OSU's Sammie Stroughter. Need proof?

• Stroughter was third in the nation in punt return average at a whopping 15.7 yards per return, including three TD's as he earned All-Pac-10 honors.
• He averaged over 17 yards per catch, tops in the conference and good for 10th in the nation, on his way to a 74-catch, 1,293 yard season.

With the departure of top-shelf WR's such as USC's Dwayne Jarrett and WSU's Jason Hill, Stroughter is the top returning wideout in the conference in terms of yards and catches from 2006, ahead of players like Oregon's Jaison Williams, WSU's Michael Bumpus and Cal WR DeSean Jackson. If you want a big play, there is no question Stroughter is the guy, and if you ask Stroughter, that's the way he wants it:

His motto is one any coach would love: "Every time I touch the ball, I want to score."

But there's more to the story than pretty offensive numbers. Stroughter is regarded as a great kid off the field as well. The Portland Tribune's Kerry Eggers raves about Stroughter, who is a great athlete of course, but carries a first-team All-PAC-10 academic placement that he is quite proud of. Add in all that, and combine his leadership and enthusiasm that other players basically celebrate on the team? Stroughter is the complete package in every way.

Thrilling news from wherever Oregon State is located:

Oregon State aims to separate itself from the other OSUs - Ohio State and Oklahoma State. From now on, Oregon State officials said Wednesday, the Beavers will be the only major college athletic program featuring an "OS" logo.

You're probably thinking this is stupid, but the logo (at right) actually looks pretty good. The move will help distinguish Oregon State from the actual OSU, and dropping the U from OSU... er... OS's sports teams is a long overdue move since no team in the country churns through more football recruits than the Beavers, who have remained impressively shady through all sorts of different coaches. Maybe they should just call themselves "FC Oregon" or "Oregon State University and Loosely Affiliated Football Conglomerate" or something.