The Pac-10 power poll hasn't been around very long. But since its humble beginning, two things have remained constant. USC has never missed out on a first place vote, and the Cougars have never been ranked higher than 10th.

Not anymore.

The Washington State Cougars have made arguably their greatest achievement of this season by moving up into a tie for ninth (!) in the power poll following a spirited effort against the Arizona Wildcats.

And who would vote USC the second best team in the conference? Well... it was me. But I have my reasoning: both teams have one conference loss, and Oregon State beat USC head-to-head. If the Beavers run the table, they are the true champions of the Pac-10. It's simple, really.

Below USC and OSU we have a mishmash of three teams separated by three points. That's something that will have to be worked out during these final few weeks of football. For now, pop open that bottle of champagne. The Cougars are no longer alone in last.

	Team	Record	Comments	Rnk/Chg
	USC (5)	8-1	What happened to the highly touted USC offense? They've been held to 21 points or less three times in conference play.	59 E
	Oregon State (1)	6-3	Jacquizz Rodgers is the antithesis of the Cougar run defense: he set the Pac-10 freshman rushing record with three games still to go.	52 +1
	California	6-3	The Pac-10 game of the week has to be OSU versus Cal at 12:30. Cal needs a win, and a lot of help from USC if they want a Rose Bowl.	44 -1
	Oregon	7-3	Did you know the Ducks are doing a blackout this Saturday? How original!!!	43 E
	Arizona	6-3	Arizona at Oregon is not televised. UCLA at Washington is. I can't think of a better example of how awful this conference's TV contract is.	42 E
	Stanford	5-5	The Spokesman is reporting that Stanford is still struggling with attendance. Perhaps you'd like to switch teams with WSU?	30 E
	Arizona St.	3-6	Believe it or not, with WSU, UCLA and Arizona on the schedule, the Devils still have a shot at bowl eligibility.	24 E
	UCLA	3-6	Do you think Jerramy Stevens will be in attendance to watch Neuheisal coach against the program they helped destroy?	18 E
	Washington State!!! (t-9th)	1-9	We scored eleven more points (28) than USC did (17) against Arizona. I have no idea what that says.	9 E
	Washington (t-9th)	0-9	It probably helps that I didn't get a ballot in my G-mail from the UW blog. Oh well... get a coach, losers!	9 E

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

CougCenter

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

UW Dawg Pound

no ballot this week

California Golden Blogs

oregon over asu because 3 of us like the ducks better, but the points work out the same

USC    50
Cal    42
OSU    38
Oregon    35
Arizona    35
Stan    25
ASU    18
UCLA    17
UW    9.5
WSU    4.5

Addicted to Quack (Oregon)

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

Conquest Chronicles (USC)

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