Pac 10 Coaching Boards - Week 1

For more information about the coaching boards, click here.


1 Pete Carroll
Southern Cal W
Virginia may suck, but they're better than Youngstown State and Georgia Southern, and USC rolled through the Cavaliers like it was a D-II team. While Carroll still always seems to allow for the let-down game, he's got to be one of, if not the best, big game coach in the nation. Since '03, has he lost a really big, national game? Perhaps '06 UCLA is the closest that fits. Either way, he is easily the best coach in the conference.

2 Mike Bellotti
Oregon W
The Ducks blasted Washington on Saturday, but I can't give too much credit to Bellotti, other than he did it while losing QB after QB. Since Dixon's injury, it seems Oregon can't get a quarterback healthy. Bellotti has Utah St this weekend, followed by big non-conference game at Purdue and Boise State. I expect him to have an undefeated squad going into the October showdown in the Coliseum. Even a win against the Trojans prob won't get him to No. 1.

3 Rick Neuheisel
UCLA W
Very impressed with the victory over Tennessee, and half-way thought of moving Slick Rick ahead of Bellotti. Neuheisel kept his third-string QB composed even after the kid threw 4 first half interceptions, the final one returned for a TD and a 14-7 Tenn halftime lead. Can't give Neuheisel too much credit for sticking with the QB through that, since he didn't have anyone else to go to, but the kid didn't lead the Bruins back, and Neuheisel got the OT win to start his era off right. Of course, don't forget that Phil Fulmer was on the other sideline, which might have something to do with the fact that 4 turnovers lead to only 14 points.

4 Dennis Erickson
Arizona State W
Erickson's team got an easy 30-13 win in the season opener, but now has to host a motivated Stanford squad. The games in Tempe, so I don't see the chance for an upset, and I think that Erickson will have QB Carpenter ready to play. A win over the Cardinal means an unbeaten record with UGA coming to town on Sept. 20.

5 Jeff Tedford
California W
Cal won a big high-profile game against Michigan State on Saturday night and now travels to Washington State and Maryland. Tedford's team should be undefeated coming into the showdown with Arizona State, which will probably have a direct influence over the 4-5 spots.

6 Jim Harbaugh
Stanford W
Maybe I was too harsh on Harbaugh, but I think this is his ceiling. Even leading Stanford to a winning season and a bowl game probably doesn't get him ahead of the five coaches in front of him.

7 Mike Riley
Oregon State L
Riley opens an upset loss and switches with Harbaugh. I like Mike, but surely the Beavers remember that they actually won routinely in the not-so-distant past. Right? He stays here unless he loses to the three teams below him.

8 Mike Stoops
Arizona W
Arizona beat Idaho 70-0. Which means Idaho is god-awful and Arizona still thinks it hired the good Stoops brother.

9 Paul Wulff
Washington State L
Fun fact: Paul Wulff was the first Washington State coach to lose his debut since... Jackie Sherrill in 1976.

10 Ty Willingham
Washington L
Ok, who owns the rights now to www.firety.com? Can someone at ND please release it to a Huskie fan?