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Another year, another strong collection of running backs, even with the departures of Toby Gerhart and Jahvid Best.

While Pac-10 quarterbacks will grab most of the preseason headlines -- that's what happens when the two best NFL prospects at the position play in the same conference -- the class of running backs is nearly as strong.

Three 1,00o-yard rushers are back, and that doesn't include California's Shane Vereen, who piled up 952 yards as a backup, nor does it including Arizona's Nic Grigsby, who rushed for 1,153 yards in 2008. Six of the top-nine running backs will return this fall, and more than a few teams are decidedly deep at the position.

By the way, you might note there is more mention of incoming freshman at this position than others. Two reasons: 1. The Pac-1o had a strong haul of RBs in recruiting; and, 2. RB is often the easiest place for a young player to break into the lineup.

Great shape

• Oregon: While the Pac-10 blog rates Oregon State's Jacquizz Rodgers ahead of LaMichael James as an individual player, the Ducks have a decided edge in depth, and not only because James' backup, Kenjon Barner, is one of the conference's most explosive players. The incoming recruiting class also features Lache Seastrunk and Dontae Williams, the No. 6 and No. 13 prep running backs in the nation in 2009.
[+] Enlarge
Rick Scuteri/US PresswireJacquizz Rodgers may be the most talented individual running back in the Pac-10 this year, but Oregon has the best group.
• Oregon State: Jacquizz Rodgers is a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate as the most complete back in the conference. Depth behind him is a little iffy, though Ryan McCants turned in some of his best work during spring practices.
• Washington: Washington fans often note that Chris Polk gained most of his 1,113 yards last year after contact because he was running behind a young offensive line. That line, with four starters back, should be better in 2010. Good depth with Johri Fogerson and freshmen Deontae Cooper and Jesse Callier, who both participated in spring drills.
• California: As noted above, Vereen put up impressive numbers as a backup and then starter over the final four games after Best got hurt. 12 TDs on 183 carries shows he has a nose for the endzone. Depth behind him is uncertain. Trajuan Briggs, Covaughn DeBoskie-Johnson, Isi Sofele and Dasarte Yarnway are competing for backup touches.
• USC: Allen Bradford, a neglected talent under Pete Carroll, who was oddly in love with the mercurial Joe McKnight, could end up being a first-team All-Pac-10 back. C.J. Gable also will have a chance to emerge from Carroll's doghouse. True freshman Dillon Baxter was the star of spring practices, while Curtis McNeal and Marc Tyler are major talents who just need to stay healthy.
• Arizona: The Wildcats welcome back their top three running backs: Grigsby, Keola Antolin and Greg Nwoko. But Grigsby, who averaged 7.2 yards per carry last year when he wasn't hurt, needs to find a way to stay healthy.

Good shape

• UCLA: It's possible that Johnathan Franklin, Derrick Coleman and Damien Thigpen are first-rate running backs trapped playing behind a struggling offensive line. But the biggest reason that Bruins fans aren't likely fretting this position is the arrival of freshmen Jordon James and Malcolm Jones, the Nos. 5 and 8 running backs in the nation last year.

We'll see

• Stanford: The Cardinal doesn't have one guy who can replace Gerhart. But who does? The good news for a backfield-by-committee approach with Jeremy Stewart, Tyler Gaffney, Stepfan Taylor and freshman Usua Amanam in the mix is the offensive line in front of them should be outstanding.
• Arizona State: The Sun Devils must replace leading rusher Dimitri Nance, who didn't exactly scare opposing defenses in 2009. Cameron Marshall is the leading returning rusher with 280 yards. James Morrison and Jamal Miles will provide depth, though an incoming freshman might get into the mix. As has been the case for a while with the Sun Devils, the first order is improving the offensive line.
• Washington State: Leading 2009 rusher Dwight Tardy is gone. If James Montgomery is healthy -- and stays that way -- he gives the Cougars a quality runner. He was clearly the best guy last preseason before he got hurt. Logwone Mitz, Chantz Staden, Carl Winston and Marcus Richmond will compete for touches during fall camp. Whatever the pecking order, the offensive line is the biggest issue.

Happy Friday.

• Arizona's co-coordinators on both sides of the ball on video.
• Arizona State linebacker Vontaze Burfict is talented but needs to grow up. A good start would be not refusing to do interviews during spring practices. New Sun Devils assistant Steve Broussard and coach Dennis Erickson have a history together.
• California is banged up but a leading kicker has emerged. An analysis of former defensive coordinator Bob Gregory's departure to Boise State: fired or left on own free will?
• Has Oregon found its next Ed Dickson?
• Former Oregon State offensive lineman Jeremy Perry, one of the Pac-10's most physical blockers before a series of injuries waylaid him, is still trying to get an NFL shot. The Beavers are experienced at tight end.
• Stanford must upgrade its defense in order to make the next step in the Pac-10 pecking order.
• UCLA defensive end Damien Holmes has asserted himself this spring. Glenn Love is learning a new position.
• Has USC found its next Taylor Mays? C.J. Gable is fighting to get back into the running back mix.
• Another youngster impresses in the Washington secondary.
• Washington State expects more productivity out of its tight ends.

This is a Kiffin-free zone.

• Will Arizona tight end Rob Gronkowski join his two teammates at the NFL combine? Odds are he will.
• California season review: special teams. Not so special.
• Oregon season review: receivers.
• Oregon State's most important fan knew Mike Riley wasn't leaving before the rest of us did. Class act Yvenson Bernard wants to help out in Haiti.
• With all of the coaching intrigue, will coach Jim Harbaugh be long for Stanford?
• UCLA QB Kevin Prince talks about possibly losing his coach, Norm Chow, to USC.
• Nice story here from Shelly Smith on USC's biggest fan and his disappointment over Pete Carroll's departure.
• Running back C.J. Gable is returning to USC instead of entering the NFL draft.
• Some Washington State roster updates.

Your Honor, every one of these letters is addressed to Santa Claus. The Post Office has delivered them. Therefore the Post Office Department, a branch of the Federal Government, recognizes this man Kris Kringle to be the one and only Santa Claus.

• The Holiday Bowl isn't only about Tucson and Lincoln -- it's about Youngstown, Ohio. Know that Mark Stoops' tenure as the Wildcats defensive coordinator has been a success.
• Arizona State gets a couple more offensive commitments, which it needs, and four will enroll early.
• Some California notes -- there should be some Jahvid Best news soon.
• The focus isn't yet the Rose Bowl for Oregon. This competition is dead even inside the Ducks defense.
• Setting up the Las Vegas Bowl showdown between BYU and Oregon State.
• More on Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh and his contract extension.
• Temple might be distracted when it plays UCLA because its coach might not be there anymore. The Bruins are back at practice.
• USC cornerback Josh Pinkard, a sixth-year senior who missed two years with injuries, is out of the Emerald Bowl because of a knee injury. What does the future hold for marginalized running back C.J. Gable?
• Some good recruiting news for Washington State.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

It surely passed through most USC observers minds while watching Allen Bradford (finally) have his breakout game against Oregon State last weekend. As Bradford and his 235 pounds ran over and around the Beavers defense for 147 yards on 15 carries, the potential metaphor and then comparison was obvious.

He's thunder to speedy Joe McKnight's lightning.

	Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
	USC running back Allen Bradford finally had a breakout game last Saturday against Oregon State.

He's LenDale White to McKnight's Reggie Bush.

Bradford, a redshirt junior, has waited a long time for that many touches in a game. And it's been a frustrating wait. So maybe it's understandable that he's not eager to embrace a metaphor or a comparison. He'd just -- please and thanks -- like to keep getting opportunities to do his thing.

"Me and Joe will never be Reggie and LenDale," Bradford said. "All we can be is Joe and Allen, so that's what we're going to be."

Oregon coach Chip Kelly is fairly impressed with Joe and Allen. His Ducks are playing well on defense, but the Trojans will bring a lot of weapons to their trick-or-treat road trip to Autzen Stadium on Saturday night (8 p.m. EST, ABC).

Thunder and lightning?

"With their stable of running backs, they've got thunder and lightning and hurricane, typhoon -- you name any storm, they've got it," Kelly said.

It's a good line -- Kelly has at least one of those a week -- but it's not completely true. At least not presently. After all the talk the previous few years about the Trojans embarrassment of riches at tailback, a recession has hit Heritage Hall.

Stafon Johnson suffered a season-ending throat injury in a weight room accident. Marc Tyler is out for the season with a toe injury. Curtis McNeal has been riddled with injuries. C.J. Gable, who started 11 games last year, has been nicked up and in the doghouse for unexplained reasons. Fullback Stanley Havili is questionable for Saturday with a shoulder injury.

McKnight always seems to be nursing some woe, too. He severely cut his hand against Oregon State.

Still, no matter why Bradford got his opportunity, he's glad he got it. And, yes, it was an inspired performance.

"(Receiver) Damian Williams just looked at me in my eyes (before the game) and said, 'Are you ready! Let's ball out!'" Bradford said, describing the pregame scene. "He saw the look on my face. He knew something was going to happen. Then we see Stafon -- we have this handshake we do before every game -- and it made me think about how blessed I am and how unfortunate it is for Stafon to go through that."

The 147 yards was a career-high for Bradford, as were the 15 carries, which are more carries than he's had during any of his previous two seasons. He appeared poised to make his mark in 2008, but a hip injury ended that possibility after two games and he took a redshirt year.

What Bradford has mostly done throughout his career is look impressive in his uniform -- he's built like a crate of bricks -- and impressive in practice. The reporters who regularly cover USC spend plenty of their downtime debating the relative merits of USC's running backs, and Bradford's remarkable runs during practices often earned him high marks.

But reporters don't make the depth chart.

"He's always had bright spots but he's really showed great consistency the last few weeks," coach Pete Carroll said.

Now that he's (finally) getting the ball, it might not be surprising that Bradford is disinclined to complain. He's not real clear on how often he asked the coaches why he wasn't getting playing time, though word is it happened on a regular basis. Early in his career, there was talk of him moving to fullback or even linebacker.

And, yes, Bradford, a Parade Magazine and USA Today first-team prep All-American in 2005, admits his eye did wander.

"Yeah, I thought about transferring plenty of times," he said.

But a number of current and former teammates, such as linebacker Thomas Williams and safety Kevin Ellison, talked him out of it.

And Bradford knew there were some areas where he fell short. Top of the list: blocking. A running back who can't stay in the game to block on a passing play is a liability -- it's a tell for an opposing defensive coordinator.

It might seem strange that a physically imposing player would struggle with blocking -- the 205-pound Gable, for example, is better at it than Bradford -- but it's actually not about muscle. Or even want-to. To make the right block, a running back has to be able to read the defense, sniff out a blitz and then used the proper technique to meet the on-coming charge.

"There's a lot of technical aspects to it," Carroll said. "It's not just being big and tough. It's much more than that."

Bradford's blocking is still a work in progress. But it's better.

He seems comfortable with the new attention. And carries. Another big performance inside raucous Autzen Stadium in a game that features Rose Bowl and potential national championship implications might become more than a breakout.

It could thunder an arrival.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

I couldn't be fonder of you if you were my own son. But, well, if you lose a son, it's possible to get another. There's only one Maltese Falcon.

• Many happy returns for this Arizona player.
• Craig Bray is building a defensive power at Arizona State. Some injury notes.
• As Kevin Riley goes, so goes California. Can coach Jeff Tedford recover his QB development magic?
• Oregon's LeGarrette Blount talks to at-risk youngsters about second chances and making good decisions. The Ducks are in the discussion over which program is the best one-loss team. Many reasons for the Ducks to be big USC fans this weekend.
• Oregon State sells family atmosphere to recruits from Hawaii.
• Meet Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh's favorite player -- and don't be fooled by those golden curls, Owen Marecic is a bad man. But the Cardinal needs more takeaways.
• UCLA needs to get its kick coverage together.
• Notre Dame can beat USC. Really. It's about belief. Trojans injury update now includes running back C.J. Gable.
• This Washington linebacker's dream came true, came to a screeching halt and now is battling back. Some injury news isn't good for the Huskies.
• The WSU Football blog looks at bye-week Friday.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

LOS ANGELES -- There's still an "OR" to the right of Joe McKnight's name on the USC depth chart, but it's mostly a wink at the Trojans' old way of doing things at running back.

McKnight is the Trojans' starting running back. His 14 carries against San Jose State were twice as many as any other Trojans running back, and it will be a surprise if he doesn't start at Ohio State on Saturday.

	Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
	Joe McKnight's workload against the Spartans indicates he's the Trojans' starting running back.

Allen Bradford might offer a power option off the bench. And Stafon Johnson might be the man near the goal line.

But McKnight is clearly 1A, whether coach Pete Carroll, who has long defended his backfield-by-committee approach, is explicit about it or not.

"We came out of camp with the thought that we wanted to really work Joe and see if we couldn't keep him in the game and get him more used to playing on a more regular basis and not spot play him so much and see if that wouldn't position him to make some more big plays," Carroll said after the Trojans 56-3 victory over the Spartans.

Carroll was even more vague during his Tuesday press conference when asked about the rotation.

"I don't know what that rotation was [against San Jose State] -- it was everybody played," Carroll said. "But we're going in with the same idea as we had last week. Joe, and you'll see a lot of guys play."

However the "rotation" is described, it worked against the Spartans. McKnight had 145 yards, including a 54-yard touchdown jaunt, and the Trojans finished with 354 yards rushing.

That long touchdown run was even punctuated by a flip into the endzone, which looked a lot like the guy McKnight grew up admiring: Reggie Bush.

McKnight told reporters he was really trippin' on that run.

When McKnight saw a terminally unhip media giving him knowing nods, he expanded.

"I was tripping ... I was falling," he clarified. "I didn't want to fall on the 1-yard line."

McKnight played the first two series before yielding to Bradford, but it's more likely McKnight went to the sidelines because he fumbled, an issue that has sprung up a few times during his career.

McKnight, however, returned for the next two possessions.

McKnight said knowing he'll get a handful of carries in sequence -- instead of a few touches here and there -- helps him fit into the flow of the game.

"It's always good to get into a rhythm in the game," he said. "You always want to get that home run hit, but you've got to be focused and get five yards here, five yards there. It will open up for you."

If there's a reason for the philosophy shift, which is subtle but clear, it's due to new playcaller Jeremy Bates, who intimated during the preseason that he wasn't a fan of not establishing a clear pecking order at the position.

Johnson finished with six rushes for 27 yards with two touchdowns. Bradford had four carries for 53 yards, most of which came on a 43-yard scoring run. Marc Tyler and C.J. Gable took over the position when the result was out of hand, combining for 109 yards on 12 carries.

Gable was the official starter in 12 games last year, so his status has slipped the most. Johnson led the Trojans with 138 carries for 728 yards in 2008.

Whoever runs the ball, he will benefit from an offensive line that doesn't miss many assignments and has a lot of experience with zone blocking. USC running backs were stopped for a loss only once -- Gable for minus-3 yards late in the game.

That said, the Ohio State defensive line is experienced and talented. It welcomes back seven of its top eight players from last season, and the unit has combined for 78 career starts.

McKnight will get first crack. But, if he's not effective, there still will be other appealing options.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

It's not just the preview magazines that signal the approach of another glorious -- cue up Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" -- college football season. It's also something dreadful.

It's another bushel of stories about USC's embarrassment of riches at tailback and the counterintuitive but entirely defensible idea that too much of a good thing might become a bad thing.

	AP Photo/Chris Carlson
	Once again, Pete Carroll's backfield is full of potential stars.

Or at least a less good thing than it could be if there were, say, merely three future NFL draft choices in the backfield instead of six.

Look. Here's one already! (A good one, in fact).

To let you in on a little secret: Sportswriters don't like doing the same story over and over again. And I've hit this one a few times over the years.

I've got a hunch, too, my boss is going to call me up at some point soon and say ... USC running backs ... think ... we ... need to... hit that one ... again.

And I'll waddle off like Igor and write another one.

So instead of: Joe McKnight, Stafon Johnson, C.J. Gable, Allen Bradford, Broderick Green and Marc Tyler from 2008, it's McKnight, Johnson, Gable, Bradford, Curtis McNeal and Tyler (Green transferred to Arkansas).

And when Pete Carroll rolls his eyes at me when I ask him again about it, he'll again say something like, "It's never been a problem for us. It's a problem for everyone else that they can't figure out why we do it that way."

But let me throw out one point that should matter most to the young men who opt to compete for carries at USC, though not as much to Trojan fans.

See, the redundant line of questioning here is: "Why join the crowd at USC when if you went to Another Team U then you'd be, 'The Man'?" (Reporters throw out terms like "The Man" to showcase their hipster roots, an effect that is often ruined by the cookie crumbs constellating the wrinkled golf shirt we got for free after covering some event).

Yet consider: Running backs have a very limited shelf life. They take a lot of hits. And each hit knocks a bit out of them. That's why so few do well in the NFL past 30.

(Read full post)

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

Two things revealed themselves at USC's spring game: Aaron Corp is the clear No. 1 quarterback for a reason heading into the off-season and the defense is not exactly going to stink next fall.

Eleven sacks? Come on!

Corp completed 14 of 23 passes for 157 yards with a touchdown and, again, no interceptions, though he had a couple of dubious tosses. Corp threw one pick over the entirety of spring practices.

Freshman Mat Barkley, who draft guru Mel Kiper already is touting as a future No. 1 overall NFL draft pick, completed 12 of 20 for 124 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.

A third interesting sidebar emerging from USC's spring: The tailback position is no more clear and perhaps even more crowded than last year. While injuries limited the lead names on the depth chart from a year ago, Curtis McNeal and Marc Tyler turned in impressive springs.

So, for those keeping scoring at home, there's Stafon Johnson, Joe McKnight, C.J. Gable, Allen Bradford and McNeal and Tyler. And one ball.

Which means Pete Carroll will roll his eyes at me and every other reporter this summer when we write this story again.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

Pac-10 teams should be able to run the ball in 2009.

Or at least they should if we base analysis on returning talent at running back.

Only two of the conference's top 10 rushers are gone, and one of those is Stanford's Anthony Kimble, who was Robin to Toby Gerhart's Batman in 2008.

The other is Oregon's Jeremiah Johnson, who's ready-made replacement is 1,000-yard rushing LeGarrette Blount.

	Kyle Terada/US Presswire
	California's Jahvid Best rushed for 1,580 yards in 2008.

Assuming, of course, Blount takes care of the issues that got him suspended.

As it stands, five 1,000-yard rushers return, topped by California's Jahvid Best, who is a leading Heisman Trophy candidate, and Oregon State's Jacquizz Rodgers, who was only the conference's Offensive Player of the Year as a true freshman.

In fact, it's fair to say that no team is in lousy shape with its running backs.

Offensive lines? Well, that's not our topic today.

Great shape

• California: Best may be the most explosive player in the nation. He's a home-run threat every time he touches the ball, and, oh by the way, backup Shane Vereen ranked 10th in the conference in rushing and averaged 5 yards per carry.
• USC: Stafon Johnson, Joe McKnight and C.J. Gable -- and all the other guys. The Trojans averaged 195 yards rushing per game last year, and with all five offensive linemen back and a new starting quarterback, that total figures to perk up quite a bit.
• Oregon State: Rodgers will be limited during spring practices due to a shoulder injury and the depth behind him is a bit uncertain, but you cannot ignore a freshman rushing for 1,253 yards.
• Stanford: The Cardinal will be looking to bolster depth behind Gerhart during spring. Gerhart, who scored 15 touchdowns and rushed for 1,136 yards in 2008, won't be around because he's playing baseball. And therein lies a problem for Stanford fans. Gerhart might get picked high enough in the major league baseball draft -- and get offered a big enough signing bonus -- that he bolts school. That would be a huge hit.
• Arizona: Who had a better running game last year: Arizona or Oregon State? Well, the production for both was nearly identical in terms of yards, but the Wildcats had 33 rushing touchdowns -- second in the conference only to Oregon's stunning 47 -- while the Beavers had 21. And the Wildcats have a nice one-two punch in Nic Grigsby, who rushed for 1,153 yards last year, and Keola Antolin. Grigsby does have a bit of a fumbling problem, though.

Good shape

• Oregon: The overwhelming assumption is Blount will be back, which would put the Ducks in the "Great Shape" category. Still, that uncertainty is an issue heading into spring practices.

We'll see

• Washington State: The Cougars fall just short of good shape because they were awful running the ball last year -- 2.7 yards per carry -- and California transfer James Montgomery is unproven. But everyone on the 2008 depth chart is back and Montgomery was a touted recruit, so this is one position coach Paul Wulff probably isn't losing sleep over.
• Washington: The good news is everyone is back -- Terrance Dailey, Brandon Johnson, David Freeman, etc. The bad news is the running game was terrible last year. It's tempting to promote the Huskies just because a healthy Jake Locker should dramatically improve the rushing totals, but until someone tells us otherwise, Locker is a quarterback.
• UCLA: The good news is it would be hard for the running game to get any worse than 116th in the nation (82.75 yards per game). Still, while Kahlil Bell is gone, there's tons of young talent at running back, led by Derrick Coleman and Aundre Dean. Of course, there's that offensive line ...
• Arizona State: Said the Sun Devils: Thank God for UCLA. Otherwise, their 89 yards rushing per game -- 113th in the nation -- would rank last in the Pac-10. Keegan Herring is gone, but the rest of the depth chart is back and some folks in Tempe are intrigued with redshirt freshman James Morrison, a walk-on sensation who might have seen a lot of carries last year if he didn't get hurt. Still, the tailbacks suffer here because of the woeful offensive line.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

In a fairly big surprise, All-American safety Taylor Mays will return to USC for his senior season, according to the LA Daily News.

The Daily News also reported that cornerback/safety Josh Pinkard and running back C.J. Gable also will return for the 2009 season.

"They are all returning," Trojans coach Pete Carroll told the Daily News.

Mays likely would have been selected in the top half of the first round if he had entered the NFL draft.

USC now awaits quarterback Mark Sanchez's decision.

The deadline for declaring for the NFL draft is Thursday.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that running back C.J. Gable will return to USC next fall.

Gable, who will be a fourth-year junior in 2009, had expressed frustration late in the season when he was benched for fumbling.

Perhaps the most versatile of the Trojans running backs, Gable's return means the backfield will continue to be crowded, with Gable sharing carries with Joe McKnight and Stafon Johnson, as well as Allen Bradford, Marc Tyler and fast-rising Curtis McNeal.

Meanwhile, Mark Sanchez's father, Nick, told the Orange Country Register Monday afternoon that his son has yet to make a decision on whether he will bypass his senior season and enter the NFL draft.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

What? No more Pac-10 games? Gahhh!

• Bill Plaschke thinks USC's dominant Rose Bowl win over Penn State deserves consideration for No. 1 votes. Safety Taylor Mays, who's almost certainly bolting for the NFL, and quarterback Mark Sanchez aren't the only Trojans mulling their future plans.
• More on California coach Jeff Tedford's contract extension.
• Oregon coach-in-waiting Chip Kelly is making a few changes within the Ducks' staff. Some roster notes: Both lines are the primary areas of concern.
• Steve Sarkisian's USC offense put on a show, and now he's off to save the day at Washington. Molly Yanity has some insights that Sark might want to read.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

Another dominant but workmanlike and unspectacular win for USC, this time over rival UCLA, 28-7.

The Trojans will face Penn State in the Rose Bowl, which will be an interesting game.

But, of course, not the game.

It would have been fun to see USC's defense vs. a fancypants Florida offense. Or one of those Big 12 quarterbacks.

Not going to happen.

USC outgained the Bruins 457-157. The Trojans had 32 first downs, UCLA 7.

There was never a moment when this one was in doubt, even when the Bruins took advantage of a C.J. Gable fumble on the Trojans first play to score their only points.

But three missed field goals and a failure to finish drives prevented the final tally from being particularly impressive.

The big question going forward: Will offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian leave for Washington in advance of the bowl game and how would that affect the offense? Or will he try to do two jobs... and how will that affect the offense?

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, Oregon State defensive tackle Stephen Paea and kick returners C.J. Gable of USC and James Rodgers of Oregon State are the Pac-10 players of the week.

Masoli, a sophomore from Daly City, Calif., accumulated 387 yards total offense and five touchdowns in Oregon's 55-45 win over Arizona. He completed 21 of 26 passes (80.8 percent) for 298 yards and two touchdowns and no interceptions and also rushed 10 times for 89 yards and three touchdowns. This is Masoli's second Pac-10 player of the week honor.

Paea, a sophomore from Los Altos, Calif., keyed Oregon State's defensive effort in the Beavers' 34-21 win against California that kept their Rose Bowl hopes alive. He posted six tackles, three solo, including two tackles for loss and one quarterback sack.

There had not been a kickoff return for a touchdown in the Pac-10 this season until Oregon State's James Rodgers and USC's C.J. Gable did so at key times in their games.

After California scored on the opening drive, Rodgers, a sophomore from Richmond, Texas, returned the ensuing kickoff 86 yards to tie the score and the Beavers never again trailed.

Gable, a sophomore from Sylmar, Calif., took back a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown to tie Stanford 17-17 shortly before halftime and the Trojans never trailed again.

Also nominated for offensive player of the week honors were tailbacks Kahlil Bell of UCLA, Stafon Johnson of USC and Jacquizz Rodgers of Oregon State, Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter and Arizona tight end Rob Gronkowski. Also nominated on defense were Oregon rover Patrick Chung and linebackers Reggie Carter of UCLA, Mike Nixon of Arizona State and Rey Maualuga of USC. Kicker Kai Forbath of UCLA was nominated for special teams play.