One Loss Helps the One-Loss Teams

College football rewind: What we meant to say a while back was that there has never been a better chance for the Pacific 10 Conference to win a national title....

Funny what a funky Wednesday night cable game pitted against the World Series can do to reshape the landscape and buoy a beleaguered conference’s hopes.

West Virginia’s 28-7 victory over previously unbeaten Virginia Tech in Morgantown, W.Va., was a serious blow to Hokie hopes but a shot of adrenaline to several one-loss teams vying to stay in national title contention.

Two of those teams, USC and Washington State, reside in a conference that had been written off after the Trojans and Cougars suffered overtime losses.

As they say in the college football racket, though, if you’re going to lose, lose early.

The Pac-10 is the only BCS conference that has failed to advance a team to the national title game, but perhaps its time has come.

A week before Halloween, there are only two undefeated teams in title contention still playing, Oklahoma and Miami (no offense, Northern Illinois and Texas Christian).

One bobble from the front-runners will turn the race for the Sugar Bowl into a mad-dash scrum involving one-loss schools.

USC, which thought it was finished after its triple-overtime loss at California, is suddenly in excellent drafting position, while Washington State, which squandered a 19-0 lead in its season-opening loss at Notre Dame, is also in the chase.

Virginia Tech’s shocking defeat makes weekend games featuring USC and Washington State all the more important. USC plays in Seattle against resurgent Washington, and Washington State hosts Oregon State.

Victories by the Cougars and Trojans would set up a critical top-10 showdown Nov. 1 at the Coliseum between defending Pac-10 co-champions.

USC was No. 7 in the first BCS standings and Washington State was No. 9.

That might seem like a lot of ground to make up, yet both schools figure to move up with No. 3 Virginia Tech losing.

A look at what a one-loss USC-Washington State winner must overcome to challenge for one of two BCS title-game berths:

Oklahoma (7-0): The Sooners appear the team least likely to lose, yet consider they have lost each of the last two years to Oklahoma State and the teams face each other Nov. 1 in Norman.

Miami: (7-0): Pac-10 fans will be rooting hard for Virginia Tech to stick a first loss on Miami when the teams meet Nov. 1 in Blacksburg.

Georgia: (7-1): The most serious one-loss threat to USC’s chances, but Georgia still has to play Florida, Auburn, at Georgia Tech and the Southeastern Conference title game. Georgia is No. 4 in the first BCS but holds only a .84-point lead over No. 7 USC.

Florida State(7-1): The Seminoles still have to play at Notre Dame and at Florida.

Ohio State (6-1): The Buckeyes remain in the BCS race thanks to a No. 4 computer ranking and the fifth-toughest schedule.

Purdue (6-1): The Big Ten’s hottest team but still must play at Michigan and at Ohio State. The No. 8 Boilermakers are only one spot behind USC in the BCS, but trail the Trojans by a whopping 7.67 points.

Other one-loss teams with a chance include Nebraska, Louisiana State and Michigan State.

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Pac Bits

* While Chris Lewis’ once-promising career at Stanford never fully materialized, the fifth-year senior gets the start at quarterback against Oregon with one last chance to make his mark.

Lewis was Stanford’s opening-day starter this year but was pulled after two series in the San Jose State opener and replaced by redshirt freshman Trent Edwards. Second-year Coach Buddy Teevens clearly wanted Edwards to be his man, but the quarterback has struggled in a three-game Stanford losing skid. So it’s back to Lewis.

“His attitude has been tremendous, and he’s stayed focused,” Teevens said of Lewis, the one-time prep star from Long Beach Poly. “We talked to him about being prepared, and I believe that he is.”

Lewis’ career has been erratic, yet he has turned in some heroic efforts. In 2000, he threw game-winning touchdown passes in the waning seconds to beat Texas and USC. In 2001, he relieved injured starter Randy Fasani and led Stanford to a 49-42 comeback victory at Oregon. It was the Ducks’ only loss of the season and ultimately cost them a shot at the national title.

* Flag day: Saturday’s game between Oregon State and Washington State will feature the conference’s two most penalized teams. Oregon State averages 116 penalty yards per game and Washington State averages 105.

First-year Oregon State Coach Mike Riley inherited his penalty-plagued team from Dennis Erickson -- the Beavers led the Pac-10 in penalties last year -- and has pulled what hair he has left trying to put a stop to the mental errors.

“I like this team,” Riley said of his 5-2 Beavers. “We usually play with a lot of emotion, and at times we go over the edge and get into something that’s not really football, and we’re all disappointed in that.”

Last week, Oregon State was penalized 15 times for 141 yards in the Washington defeat.

* Push comes to shove: Washington State, which leads the conference in rush defense, faces the league’s top tailback this week in Oregon State’s Steven Jackson. The Cougar defense has given up only three rushing touchdowns all season. Jackson has scored 10.

* Kasey Dunn, a former Washington State assistant who followed Mike Price to Alabama but lost his job after Price was fired, has been named interim cornerbacks coach at TCU. Dunn is filling in for Willie Mack Garza, who was suspended after his arrest last month on suspicion of drunk driving.