For Once, Pullman Is the Place to Be

Like most of you, I’ve had Washington State-Arizona State circled on my Pacific 10 pocket calendar for, what, hours?

Never in your wildest dreams could one imagine in August that Saturday’s game in Pullman, Wash., would mean so much for both schools and maybe for USC.

Washington State we knew about because us media types are deft at switching stories so long as we eventually look good in print.

Last year, Washington State was picked to finish last and ended up 10-2. The only thing the scribes got right was the Cougars playing home games in Pullman.

This year, naturally, the media tabbed Washington State to win the conference, but fumbled on Arizona State, an allegedly going-nowhere program led by a second-year coach with a name, Dirk Koetter, that sounded so phony it could have served as a pseudonym for any B-actor in Hollywood.

Updated media poll-taking scoreboard: Wrong on Washington State last year, wrong this time on Arizona State, picked to finish ninth.

As it worked out, this weekend’s game pits the Pac-10’s lone unbeaten schools in a matchup so huge ABC’s Keith Jackson would have come out of retirement to broadcast it, if he hadn’t already done so.

Do not adjust your television sets or those Pac-10 standings, Washington State is 4-0 in conference and 7-1 overall while Arizona State is 4-0 and 7-2.

This week, in Pullman, fans waited in line for hours to snag remaining seats in cozy, 37,600-seat Martin Stadium.

“This town is just jumping,” Coach Mike Price said. “ABC’s here, Keith Jackson’s here, we’re rocking.”

Of the two teams, Arizona State is toughest to get a read on. The Sun Devils opened with a thud at Nebraska, rebounded to win four in a row, including a 41-point victory over Stanford, then lost at home to North Carolina (2-6 overall and a 31-0 loser to Wake Forest last week).

The Tar Heel defeat nearly sent Koetter to the not-so-funny farm.

“I’ll be honest with you,” he said, “I was the one going in the wrong direction because I was in the tank longer after that loss than probably any loss we’ve suffered in a long time. I felt horrible after the North Carolina game. I think the players are the ones that got me out of the tank more than me getting them out.”

Since, Arizona State has ripped off victories against Oregon, Oregon State and Washington and has a chance Saturday to get one step closer to the Rose Bowl.

Meanwhile, down south, enjoying the peace of an off week, USC Coach Pete Carroll and his players will be rooting vociferously for Arizona State.

Some have suggested temporarily changing the name of that famous statue in the campus quad to Tommy Tempe.

And while it’s a little early to get into all the possibilities, we here at Scenario Central can offer at least one.

If Arizona State defeats Washington State, and USC beats Arizona State on Nov. 16, and the schools end up in a three-way tie for the conference lead at 7-1, and USC defeats Notre Dame on Nov. 30, USC goes to the Rose Bowl.

How simple is that?

The Pac-10 champion is determined by a points system if the issue can’t be settled by a head-to-head tiebreaker. A team gets four points for a conference win, three points for a nonconference win against a Division I-A opponent and two points for a nonconference victory against a Division I-AA team.

If you tally the points in our mock draft, USC gets 37 while Washington State and Arizona State end up tied at 36 because both played Division I-AA opponents.

Arizona State wins the tiebreaker with Washington State because, in this scenario, it beat the Cougars. That would leave USC and Arizona State, with the Trojans getting the nod for having won the head-to-head.

A USC loss to Notre Dame, however, knocks the Trojans out of Pasadena and puts Arizona State in.

Stay tuned for more tiebreaker bamboozlers.

Pac Bits

More fun with scenarios: Do you think a USC vs. Notre Dame rematch in the Rose Bowl would draw any interest? It is one of several possibilities still in play. Say USC wins the Pac-10 title in the scenario we proposed, highlighted by a season-ending victory against 11-0 Notre Dame. If a 13-0 Ohio State ends up No. 1 or No. 2 in the bowl championship series rankings, the Buckeyes have to play in the Fiesta Bowl, leaving the Rose Bowl with the option of filling the Big Ten’s slot with any BCS-eligible at-large school.

If USC wins out but loses the Pac-10 title to Washington State, the Trojans are going to be a rock-solid candidate for one of two at-large BCS berths. Still, you’d have to rate USC’s chances as longshot for the usual geopolitical reasons.

First, Notre Dame probably would secure one of the two at-large spots, leaving several possible candidates to grapple for the other berth: one-loss Miami, Virginia Tech, Texas, Ohio State or maybe Georgia. Second, with the Fiesta Bowl hosting this year’s national title game, USC could go only to Sugar or Orange bowls, which haven’t traditionally courted Pac-10 teams.

It was tough enough two years ago for the Pac-10 to get Oregon State placed in the West-Coast friendly Fiesta Bowl, Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen threatening withdrawal from the BCS if the Fiesta didn’t take the Beavers. USC packs a much more powerful national punch, and there are scenarios in which the Sugar or Orange would be forced to take the 10-2 Trojans, but don’t hold your breath.

Arizona State defensive end Terrell Suggs leads the nation with 17.5 sacks and has a good chance to eclipse the Pac-10 record of 19.