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- Arizona, Arizona State, California and Oregon: The competition was questionable, sure, but all four looked good in specific ways that suggested optimism over preseason expectations is entirely reasonable.
- Receivers: Arizona's Juron Criner, California's Keenan Allen, Oregon's Jeff Maehl, Stanford's Doug Baldwin, USC's Ronald Johnson and Washington State's Marquess Wilson turned in big-time performances.
- Matt Barkley, Nick Foles and Andrew Luck: Three of the four QBs who went to New York to represent the conference to East Coast media turned in big performances in the opener.
- Kenjon Barner: Is there a nickname for the Oregon backfield combination of Barner and LaMichael James? The Electric Company? LaFast and the Grand Kenjon? The Accelerating Anatidaes?
- Mason Foster: The Washington linebacker had 14 tackles at BYU and looked like the best defensive player on the field.
- UCLA, USC, Washington and Washington State: These four showed us less than we expected to see in Week 1.
- Run defense: Not to beat a dead horse or anything, but Oregon State, UCLA and Washington State got run over in their openers.
- Jake Locker: Locker had solid numbers at BYU, but his Heisman Trophy candidacy needed a victory and it didn't get it.
- USC's defense: Monte Kiffin's lauded Cover 2 got sliced and diced by Hawaii.
- Paul Wulff: Although there were hints of potential, there's no getting around the fact that Washington State wasn't competitive at Oklahoma State.
Ted Miller | email
College Football- ESPN.com Pac-12 blogger
- Covered college football since 1997
- Wrote for Seattle Post-Intelligencer
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Ted Miller
Miller has been covering college football since 1997, starting with Auburn and then heading West to Washington and the Pac-12. His columns for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer won first place in the 2007 APSE Best Writing contest. The Atlanta native and University of Richmond graduate presently lives with his wife in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Kevin Gemmell
Gemmell covered San Diego State and the Mountain West Conference for three years before joining ESPN.com. As a Santa Clara graduate, his hope is that the Broncos will one day re-institute football. Until then, he lives vicariously through his readers. Gemmell lives in California with his wife and son.
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