FanHouse Willie Tuitama

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.

Mike Stoops was on the proverbial hot seat before last season. After all, his Arizona Wildcats bumbled to a 17-29 mark in his first four seasons in Tucson. Fans were impatient and the pressure was beating on Stoops like the unrelenting desert sun. Stoops, whose brother Bob is the head coach at Oklahoma, finally found on-field success in 2008, leading UA to a 31-21 Las Vegas Bowl victory over favored Brigham Young, securing his job and giving the once downtrodden a program a boost.

Arizona has a chance to consistently compete with the second tier teams in the Pac-10 -- there is one top-tier team, USC -- and perhaps challenge the Trojans with some consistent recruiting classes fueled by the bowl win.

On the same weekend Charles Barkley was spending three days in jail for his DUI, a star college football player out of Tucson, Ariz., was getting arrested for the same crime.



Arizona senior quarterback Willie Tuitama was pulled over and charged with suspicion of extreme drunken driving. According to the Arizona traffic laws, a DUI is when your blood alcohol level (BAC) is between .08 and .14, with an extreme DUI at .15 or higher.

Tucson police arrested Tuitama early Sunday after a McDonald's worker flagged down a police sergeant, saying a customer who just left the drive-through window may have been impaired.

Police spokesman Officer Chuck Rydzak says the officer saw Tuitama run a red light and pulled him over.

Each week, FanHouse's Rollercoaster Report will take a look at several NFL Draft prospects to find out which players' stocks are on the rise, and who's stuck in freefall.

More than 300 prospects begin workouts at the NFL scouting combine on Saturday in hopes of improving their draft stock. But what about the guys that didn't get the invitation to Indianapolis? The event features the best of the best, of course, but that does not mean there's no value to be found in the players staying home this weekend.

After the jump, a breakdown of five college stars that could hear their names called in April, despite being left off the Indianapolis invite list, and another handful who missed out on the combine for a reason.

Each week, FanHouse's Rollercoaster Report will take a look at several NFL Draft prospects to find out which players' stocks are on the rise, and who's stuck in freefall.

More than 300 prospects begin workouts at the NFL scouting combine on Saturday in hopes of improving their draft stock. But what about the guys that didn't get the invitation to Indianapolis? The event features the best of the best, of course, but that does not mean there's no value to be found in the players staying home this weekend.

After the jump, a breakdown of five college stars that could hear their names called in April, despite being left off the Indianapolis invite list, and another handful who missed out on the combine for a reason.

If Mediocrity had a football team, its mascot would most likely wear a giant foam Mike Stoops head

Ahhh, mediocre college football. Three words that go together like turkey, gravy, and stuffing.

While the majority of space here at FanHouse and on every other college football publication will be focused on the Top 25, season after season a huge slice of the college football fan pie (mmmm...fan pie) find themselves supporting a team who would most aptly be described as thoroughly mediocre, at best. I'd venture to guess that for every legit contender, there are probably three teams with a couple of flaws so glaring that only those blinded by the partisanship of homerdom can pretend their team's downsides won't inevitably sabotage any hopes of playing in a bowl of even moderate respectability.

And therein lies one of the most cruel realities of the college football landscape: winning 6 or 7 games is no small feat, and yet every year coaches and players around the country will be abused for achieving that very milestone. Of course, when you play in a conference like the Pac 10 -- who rewards its third place finisher with a December 31 game in El Paso's Sun Bowl -- can you really be that surprised when fans and pundits are critical of barely topping out above .500?

Who from the Pac 10 will slide to the middle of the pack in 2008? Here's a quick rundown of the leading candidates for Pacific time zone mediocrity this season.

Personally, I don't see it happening but let's take a look at something interesting here.

What jumps out at me is this Las Vegas Sports Consultants' Top 30 ranking. Scroll down the list a bit. Ok, maybe scroll down all the way. See that, right there at #30? That's Arizona (! ! !)

They're not a terrible team, but Arizona clearly has its issues as their coach may get fired and as recently as three games ago lost 21-20 to Stanford. However, Las Vegas obviously sees something in them and even more notable is the company they keep.

Nearby to them in the rankings are two solid teams who have already knocked off a #1 team this year. There's #28 Kentucky who knocked off #1 LSU a few weeks back. There's also #27 Illinois, victors over #1 Ohio State last weekend. Hmm . . .

Not convincing enough? Well, keep in mind that Arizona is at home and they're red-hot these last two weeks, scoring 48 and 34 points in victories over Washington State and UCLA. As noted by the wise guys, Arizona has turned things around with their offense in a hurry and they are dangerous.

Normally, total overhauls like this take at least a season or two to start showing progress – see Nebraska. However, in Arizona's case, the year-over-year difference is obvious. The Wildcats offense has scored almost 13 more points per game this season, going from 16 points last year to 28.5 points this year.

Finally, this is a weird setting for both teams. The Pac-10 doesn't play very often on Thursday nights so the unfamiliar prep times may cause sluggish play for one or both teams. The last time we saw a Pac-10 team on Thursday, Oregon State was getting manhandled by Cincinnati. Anyway, just something to keep an eye on. This season has been madness and an Arizona victory over Oregon - improbable as it seems - only adds to the insanity. Be sure to stop by our First and Second Half Live Blogs of tonight's game.

Oh, and let it be known that Oregon isn't alone in these worries - Kansas better be on the lookout as well.

The projected airshow hit Tucson alright, but it was extremely one-sided. Arizona's Willie Tuitama absolutely shredded the hapless WSU passing defense to the tune of 346 yards and five TD passes in the 48-20 domination. All told, Arizona would total an astounding 567 yards of total offense against a WSU defense that is, without a doubt, completely overmatched against above-average competition.

It's not so much that Arizona had success through the air. You knew going in that they would rack up yards in bunches against this Cougar pass defense. But Arizona's ground game took off behind true frosh running back Nicholas Grigsby, who had 186 impressive yards in his first home start of his career. Grigsby averaged 6.2 yards per carry, and oh yeah, he led Arizona in receptions with nine, including a touchdown. Arizona only punted one time, and that's now just one punt over the last eight quarters that the WSU defense has "forced". When you can't get the other team's offense off the field, how can you ever expect to win?

The Cougar offense did what it could, and Alex Brink kept them in the hunt into the 3rd quarter. His TD pass to Brandon Gibson would tie it up at 20 on the first drive of the second half, and it looked like momentum swung WSU's way. But Arizona just kept doing whatever it wanted to, possession after possession, and when the WSU offense stalled, that was all she wrote. Brink would finish with 347 yards and three TD passes, very respectable numbers against a veteran Arizona defense. And WR Brandon Gibson continued his excellent 2007 start with 11 catches for 127 yards and a TD. Gibson is one of the best WR's in the conference and even an all-conference cornerback like Arizona's Antoine Cason couldn't slow him down.

Meanwhile Mike Stoops can at least dial down the temp on his hot seat to medium after Arizona's best offensive show in Stoops' four-year tenure. This new Texas Tech spread offense seems to fit Tuitama like a glove, and after some bumpy spots early in the season, there's no telling how many good things are coming for Arizona the rest of the way. In the offense-happy Pac-10, the Wildcats have the look of a team that could cause some major headaches over the rest of the season. But the temp on WSU's Bill Doba's hotseat is now officially turned up to the max. With Arizona State up next, and the ASU offense under Dennis Erickson rolling into Pullman next Saturday, the 2007 season for WSU is now on life support. A couple of more nights like this one and it will be plug-pulling time in the Palouse.

If you are a fan of prominent passing attacks, then tune in Saturday night as WSU faces Arizona down in Tucson. Both teams love to air it out, and while the Cal-Oregon game gets the hype this week for Pac-10 offensive fireworks, the Cougars and Wildcats aren't to be overlooked.

Arizona leads the Pac-10 in passing offense, at just over 318 yards per game. But WSU is third, at 282 yards per game, so, doing a little math, that's 600 total passing yards combined that is a regular day at the office for these teams. With the game starting at 7 PM pacific time, Bill Doba quipped "We might not get back until Monday".

However, often in match-ups like this, it's not necessarily the obvious strengths that will decide this one, but more so it's how teams handle their weaknesses that factor in the most. The most troubling thing from a Cougar angle is that WSU's defense, especially against the pass, has been not only among the worst in the conference, but one of the worst pass defenses in the nation so far this year. As we pointed out earlier this week, WSU is 101st in the country in passing yards allowed, and dead last at 119th in opponent third-down rate, allowing an unfathomable 57.9 percent. That third down rate is especially troubling, as everyone knows, in that it shows how long the opposing team can keep their offense on the field. That's really bad news in that it also plays keep-away from the WSU offense, which is clearly the strength of the team in 2007.

With perennial BCS contender USC at the top of the Pac Ten, it is hard to draw the line between "contenders" and "pretenders"... In 2006, the Pac Ten faced the very real possibility of having five teams tied for fourth place in the conference--and 2007 looks like there could be eight bowl-eligible schools fighting for six mediocre bowls.

While these schools aren't quite worthy of being grouped in with Stanford among the conference "dregs" you won't see any of them traveling to Pasadena in January, either.

Oregon Ducks

Last year: 7-6 overall, 4-5 Pac Ten WHY THEY'LL WIN: The Oregon Ducks have consistently been "contenders" for the Pac Ten crown but have consistently come up short in recent years. They have brought the spread-option to the Pac Ten and will continue with QB Dennis Dixon at the helm in 2007. Rivals' eyes are still adjusting to those wacky uniforms. The Ducks get conference favorites USC at home the week after the Trojans travel to South Bend for what could be a trap game. WHY THEY WON'T: Oregon has consistently challenged for the Pac Ten crown but have consistently failed to pull it out. The Pac Ten has allegedly improved the quality of their referees this year, which won't give the Ducks that little something extra that propelled them ahead of Oklahoma in 2006. PROGNOSIS: Oregon may not even be the best team in their own State, let alone their own conference. They should be able to hang with the Conference contenders, but on paper there are just too many schools that seem better than them.