Answer Wednesday! (Part 4)
Finally wrapping things up.
Q: Hashi said:
SC can't win the Pac-10 title straight up, nor do they deserve it, but there are some intriguing 3 or 4 way tie scenarios that could cause havoc (a la 2008 Big XII South)on the Rose Bowl berth.
SC, Cal, or Stanford win out
Arizona wins out with a loss to SC or Cal
Oregon State wins out
Oregon loses to any 2 of @Stanford, ASU, @Arizona, Oregon St
I'm expecting Oregon to roll and would like to see them get a shot at the BCS and up Pac 10 credibility, but those are tough games for them. They obviously deserve the Rose Bowl over SC and Cal, but would a 3 or 4 way tie with an Oregon collapse mean SC lucks into another co-championship and (at 10-2 vs 9-3 teams) end up in another Rose Bowl, prolonging the status quo?
A: With four weeks left, anything remains possible. Of course two years ago USC got lucky when Dennis Dixon was injured and ruined Oregon's season. There is still a chance to tie for the title and win a tiebreaker, but the odds are quite long, unless Jeremiah Masoli gets hurt, I guess.
Masoli is not the kind of dominating player on his team the way Dixon was. I'd give Oregon a good chance to continue to win games without Masoli given the other talent available to the team.
There is no decent backup to Masoli. Costa has been around for years, I think he started back before Masoli got the job. Costa was bad then, and he still is.With Costa, even Ucla gave Oregon a game when Masoli was hurt.