From: crs@stein.u.washington.edu (Cliff Slaughterbeck)
Subject: Pac Ten Preveiw (Bowl Edition)
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 17:27:28 GMT

This is the final "week" contest for the Pac Ten Pundits Pool.  Since Bowl
Games count for double, the contest is wide open.  Without further ado,
here are the games:

The Freedom Bowl (Anaheim, CA 12/29) Southern Cal and Fresno State

Most people in the United States who follow college football regularly are
asking how the WAC managed to get five post season bids (third behind the
SEC and Pac 10).  My feeling is that the WAC is a big draw for the West
Coast bowl games where the fans can drive to the game (even if it takes a
couple of days).  Thus, with five WAC teams eligible for bowls, we get to
see five WAC teams play in them.  In this game, Fresno St. will have a
lot more problems passing the ball than they are used to, as USC has one
of the better defenses in the Pac Ten, which really dominates the
national statistics in defensive categories.  FSU doesn't have the sort of
game breaking back like Marshall Faulk that has given the Trojans fits this
year, so I expect USC to win handily--so do our pundits.

The Copper Bowl (Tuscon, AZ 12/29) Washington State and Utah

Game #2 between the pass happy WAC and the defense minded Pac Ten.  Utah
likes to throw the ball--a lot.  WSU likes to intercept the ball a lot.
On the other side of the ball, WSU has solid rushing and passing games
with Shaumbe Wright-Fair running the ball and Drew Bledsoe throwing the
ball, respectively.  Just about everybody picks WSU in this one...

The Independense Bowl (Shreveport, LA 12/31) Oregon and Wake Forest

The Demon Deacons haven't been to a bowl game since 1979, but their 7-4
record earned them a shot this year.  Coach Bill Dooley's team overachieved
this year, and takes on Oregon in the only matchup of the ACC and Pac Ten
this year.  Oregon has a talented defense which held the USC Trojans to
under 300 yards of total offense, and is particularly good at stopping the
run.  Offensively, the Ducks like to run the ball, with Jr. tailback Sean
Burwell taking the load offensively.  They can also pass, but Danny O'Neil
can be a bit erratic at times, especially if he is under pressure.  The
Ducks lost that game to USC by giving up 11 sacks, a school record.

The John Hancock Bowl (El Paso, TX 12/31) Arizona and Baylor

Coach Grant Teaff has led the Bears to a bowl game for the second straight
year after losing to the Indiana Hoosiers in the Copper Bowl 24-0 last
year.  The Bears have some outstanding running backs and run the veer-I
offense.  The Wildcats like to--you guessed it--play defense.  Arizona
is ranked #2 nationally behind Alabama in most defensive categories, and
was absolutely magnificent against the run this year.  Arizona's offense
isn't that spectacular, but they don't have to be, as they consistently
win the battles on the defensive and special teams fronts.  Look for NG
Rob Waldrop and the rest of the defense to wreak havoc on the Bear offense.

The Blockbuster Bowl (Miami, FL 1/1/92) Stanford and Penn State

The powers that be chose Penn State for this game last May--the earliest
selection of a bowl team ever.  Penn State had been left out in the cold
by the Bowl Coalition, and won't start competing for the Rose Bowl as a 
member of the Big Ten until next year.  Everybody thought that the Penn
State team was really screwed by the BC at the time, but to be honest they
haven't really looked that good this year in losing to every team they have
faced with a winning record (Notre Dame, Miami, BYU, and Boston College aren't
all pushovers, however).  The Blockbuster people decided to go for the big
"coaching matchup" featuring Joe Pa and Mr. 49er, Bill Walsh.  The Pac Ten
Cochamps like to (surprise!) play defense.  The Cardinal is led by Ron George,
who is one of the best LB's in the country and plays all over the field.
The Cardinal likes to mix the run and pass offensively, with Steve Stenstrom
throwing the ball (he led the Pac Ten in QB efficiency in 1991) and Heisman
wannabe Glyn Milburn doing just about everything--running, catching, returning,
and drivng the team bus.

The Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA 1/1) Washington and Michigan

The grandaddy of them all features the same to two teams as last year, without
all of the national championship implications of the '92 game.  The Wolverines
are undefeated at 8-0-3, but they beat eight teams with losing records and tied
the three teams with winning records that they faced.  They also struggled late
in the year, escaping West Lafayette with a victory against the Boilermakers and
tying Illinois and Ohio State to close out the year.  The Huskies have also had
their late season problems, losing two out of their last three at Arizona and
Wazzoo to finish the regular season at 9-2.  Neither team is as good as last
year, but both teams are still quite formiddable and are in the top 10. 
Interestingly, both teams look quite a bit alike, with solid defenses and mixed
offenses.  Michigan likes to hand the ball off to a plethora of good running
backs featuring Tyrone Wheatley and allows Elvis Grbac to throw to a good if
not spectacular corps of recievers.  Washington likes to hadn the ball off to
a plethora of good RB's featuring Napolean Kaufmann, and Mark Brunell throws
the ball to a good but not spectacular set of recivers.  Sounds familiar?
This should be a really good game, perhaps one of the best matchups of the
bowl season.

Pac Ten Pundits Pool

Pundit			USC/FSU	WSU/Ut	UO/WF	UA/Bay	St/PSU	UW/UM
Gidi Avrahami		25/17	30/20	19/17	20/6	24/23	25/27
Bob Willers		33/20	31/17	30/21	16/9	17/24	31/21
Eric Jaderlund		28/7	38/17	21/24	9/0	23/17	35/10
Brian Hiegel		31/28	42/21	17/29	17/6	37/27	17/28
Randall Rhea		41/21	25/27	31/10	19/6	16/14	24/27
Marc Tremblay		28/13	31/17	24/21	17/6	27/24	20/17
Greg Garbe		24/3	54/21	21/10	13/3	21/13	35/31
Eric Arendts		34/24	38/30	16/17	17/6	20/14	24/20
Yong-Qin Lu		37/28	35/21	24/14	17/6	31/17	34/14
Cliff Slaughterbeck	31/10	35/7	17/14	21/3	33/28	21/20
Vegas Line		USC-8	WSU-8	UO-4	UA-6	even	UW-2.5

Current Standings in the Pac Ten Pundit's Pool:

Marc Tremblay:		36-14-0	(1-0 last week)
Yong-Qin Lu:		35-15-0	(0-1)
Eric Jaderlund:		34-16-1	no entry last week
Eric Arendts:		33-17-0	(0-1)
Gidi Avrahami:		33-17-1	(1-0)
Cliff Slaughterbeck:	36-20-1	(0-1)
Greg Garbe:		24-18-0	(0-1)
Bob Willers:		32-24-1	(0-1)
---------------------------------------  not enough games to qualify (yet)
Brian Hiegel:		21-10-0	(0-1)
William Tell:		20-16-0	(1-0)
Dave Bakken:		12- 9-0 (0-1)
Mark Choi:		 9- 2-0	no entry last week
Shaham Parrin:		 4- 2-0	no entry last week

Minimum 2/3 games necessary for qualifiying for the grand prize
of a hat given to the winner of pundits picks poll.

****************************************************************************
Cliff Slaughterbeck           * 
Dept. of Physics, FM-15       *   There is no such thing as "rock bottom".
University of Washington      *   
Seattle, WA 98195             *
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Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.college