Pac-10 Power Poll: So close, and yet so far...

I really thought that if there was any week the Cougs could climb out of tenth in the power poll and overtake the Huskies, this would be the one. I've only ranked WSU above UW twice this year - after the momentum from the Portland State win, and this week. Call me crazy, but the Cougs looked more impressive to me in a 28-3 loss to UCLA than the Huskies looked in a 48-14 walloping by Arizona. But alas, it wasn't to be, and WSU falls one point shy of surpassing their rival for ninth.

[If you want to feel better, just check out SportsCenter tonight where you can watch Spencer Hawes get completely worked by Greg Oden in his Blazers debut. Exciting stuff.]

Arizona is our big jumper this week, up two spots to #4, and I really don't get it. They lost to New Mexico, and their biggest wins are over teams ranked 8th and 9th in this week's poll.  And heck, they even got more votes than Oregon in both the AP and USA Today polls. No disrespect to Arizona, because we don't know what they can do against the elite teams in the Pac, but what the...? I'm not sold. (and yes, I'm aware they will probably beat the Cougs by 25)

And only one Pac-10 team is ranked in the AP poll this week - USC. I'm sorry, but that's completely absurd. The coaches got it right with Cal at #25, but Cal, USC and Oregon all deserve to be ranked. If the SEC had only one team in the top 25 people would be having heart attacks throughout the South. But since this is the Pac-10, don't expect anyone in the mainstream media to care.

	Team	Record	Comments	Points (RnkChg)
	USC (7)	3-1	I still feel like there's an on/off switch for the USC offense. Still, don't count them out of the national championship race yet.	70 (E)
	California	4-1	They're baaaaack. A chance for the revitalized Bears to flex a little muscle this week in Arizona.	63 (+1)
	Oregon	4-2	It has to be frustrating to watch your less talented rival perform better than you against USC (again).	51 (-1)
	Arizona	4-1	Tied with Cal for first in the Pac-10 standings. Seriously.	47 (+2)
	Oregon State	2-3	How... how... do you lose to Utah the week after beating USC?	45 (-1)
	Arizona State	2-3	First the losing, now the Rudy Carpenter injury. Things aren't looking up for the Devils.	38 (-1)
	Stanford	3-3	Stanford is a team that has to minimize mistakes to win. Something they proved in the loss at Notre Dame last weekend.	27 (E)
	UCLA	2-3	It's bad when you wonder how your team would be doing this year under Rick Neuheisel or Norm Chow.	23 (E)
	Washington	0-5	TyWatch begins. My guess is he'll be fired at the end of the season, but you never know...	11 (E)
	Washington State	1-5	The Cougs still can't beat Rick Neuheisel. Maybe we need to gamble a little more... you know, with the game plan.	10 (E)

Tip of the hat to The Helmet Project for the helmets you see here. 

Individual blog votes after the jump.

CougCenter

1. USC
2. Cal
3. Oregon
4. ASU
5. Oregon St
6. Arizona
7. Stanford
8. UCLA
9. WSU
10. Washington

UW Dawg Pound

1. USC
2. California
3. Arizona
4. Oregon
5. Arizona State
6. Oregon State
7. Stanford
8. UCLA
9. Washington
10. Washington State

1. USC
2. Cal
3. Oregon State
4. Oregon
5. Arizona
6. ASU
7. Stanford
8. UCLA
9. Washington
10. Washington State

California Golden Blogs

1. USC
2. Cal
3. Arizona
4. Oregon
5. OSU
6. ASU
7. Stanford
8. UCLA
9. UW
10. WSU

Addicted to Quack (Oregon)

1. USC
2. Cal
3. Arizona
4. OSU
5. Oregon
6. ASU
7. Stanford
8. UCLA
9. UW
10. WSU

Conquest Chronicles (USC)

1. USC
2. Cal
3. Oregon
4. Arizona
5. Oregon St.
6. Arizona St.
7. Stanford
8. UCLA
9. WSU
10. UW