Results tagged “UCLA” from The Sports Desk

USC stays on top and little else changes either in my Pac-10 Conference football rankings. They're based foremost on how many wins each team has above or below the number an average major-college team would have if it faced the same schedule. A "half" game plus or minus is the result of winning or losing a game that looked like a tossup going in. Essentially I divide college teams into three groups: top-25 teams; teams with sub-.500 records, and everyone in between. A school should win home games against sub-.500 teams and middling teams, and lose road games against top-25 teams and middling teams; home games top-25s and road games against sub-.500s are toss-ups. It's not the most scientific method in the world, but a fair way to estimate how satisfied or dissatisfied fans should be with their team's results so far. Ties (and there are a lot this week) are broken by looking at raw won-lost records and performance against the spread and over-and-under line.

1. USC (+1; 2-1 in conference games, 4-1 overall)
2. Cal (+0.5; 2-0, 4-1)
3. Oregon (+0.5; 23-1, 5-2)
4. Arizona (+0.5; 2-1, 4-2)
5. Stanford (+0.5; 3-1, 4-3)
6. Oregon State (+0; 2-1, 3-3)
7. UCLA (-1; 1-2, 2-4)
8. Arizona State (-1.5; 1-2, 2-4)
9. Washington (-2; 0-3, 0-5)
10. Washington State (-3.5; 0-4, 1-6)

Here's an update of my Pac-10 Conference football rankings. Again, they're based foremost on how many wins each team has above or below the number an average major-college team would have if it faced the same schedule. A "half" game plus or minus is the result of winning or losing a game that looked like a tossup going in. Essentially I divide college teams into three groups: 1. top-25 teams; teams with sub-.500 records; everyone in between. A school should win home games against sub-.500 teams and middling teams, and lose road games against top-25 teams and middling teams; home games top-25s and road games against sub-.500s are toss-ups.

1. USC (2-0 record, +1 win compared to average)
2. Arizona (3-1, +0.5)
3. Cal (2-1, +0.5)
4. Oregon (3-1, +0)
5. Stanford (2-2, +0)
6. Oregon State (1-2, -0.5)
7. UCLA (1-2, -0.5)
8. Washington (0-3, -1)
9. Arizona State (2-2, -1.5)
10. Washington State (1-3, -2)

Let's see how closely you read the Daily News sports section Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Ten-question quiz. Answers at the end.

1. What got UCLA coach Rich Neuheisel upset during football spring practice?

a. Offensive linemen kept losing focus against the defense's third-down nickel package
b. Players ditched Tuesday's practice in keeping with the school's "Going Over the Wall" tradition
c. He needed Memphis in the NCAA tournament final