Chris Dufresne
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USC-UCLA rivalry no longer channels the same electricity
November 25, 2009
The UCLA-USC football rivalry has really changed . . . channels.
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There was an Oregon trail in the desert, but time erased it
November 23, 2009
Time ran out on Arizona against Oregon but also on a columnist trying to chronicle the year's best game (so far) as Saturday night sprinted toward a Sunday newspaper deadline.
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Pac-10 games stand out on an otherwise dull day
November 22, 2009
The top 10 this weekend was a stomp 10 -- predictable as a Harlem Globetrotters game.
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Chris Dufresne's top 25 rankings
November 19, 2009
Rankman read the shampoo bottle this week and decided to go lather, rinse and repeat with the top eight. There was no change at the top, unlike what might soon happen at Notre Dame.
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Ohio State is Rose Bowl-bound. No, really
November 19, 2009
Ohio State is coming to the Rose Bowl, and this time it's going to stick.
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For what it's (Fort) Worth, TCU, Boise State are in BCS club
November 16, 2009
It seems clear now that Texas Christian and Boise State are not victims of an illegal cabal conspiring to keep them out of the BCS national-title game.
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Pete Carroll suffers another Stanford home invasion
November 15, 2009
Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden says the epitaph on his tombstone should read " . . . but he played Miami" for all the times the Hurricanes crushed his heart and cost him national titles.
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How about a Boise-TCU matchup?
November 12, 2009
We've heard some crazy projected Bowl Championship Series matchups, and some could even happen.
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Chris Dufresne's top 25 rankings
November 12, 2009
Rankman is starting to wonder whether he has had the wrong Texas at No. 1 all season, what with Texas Christian having won at Virginia and Clemson and Brigham Young this year and Texas having won at Wyoming. But one thing you learn in this business is never look back . . . unless you're Oregon's defense trying to chase down Stanford's Toby Gerhart. We salute Navy's poll debut this week after the Midshipmen punched Notre Dame in the midsection. And here's a Rankman first: having to come up with a comment . . . for Temple.
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Has the Pac-10 dropped the ball on how it picks a champion?
November 11, 2009
The fairest way to determine a champion may cost the Pacific 10 Conference a chance of earning an additional $4.5 million by getting a second team into a Bowl Championship Series game.
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Season is more inevitable than incredible
November 9, 2009
The season seems stuck in third gear. It has been good, but not great -- more interesting than compelling.
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Trojans make a statement, though not an emphatic one
November 8, 2009
Pete Carroll's USC team bounced back again after a loss.
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Chris Dufresne's top 25 rankings
November 5, 2009
Rankman cleaned house with the extra time he had this week not having to move USC below Oregon in his rankings order. Anyone else already have Oregon ahead? Nothing personal, Trojans, but we had seen both defenses play. We originally ruled on the field that Iowa's knee was down at No. 12, but the Big Ten replay crew overturned it and placed the team inside the 10. And, remember kids, have an ophthalmologist picked out in advance before jumping into a pile with Florida's Brandon Spikes.
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The more unbeatens, the merrier for the BCS
November 5, 2009
Memo to the enemies of the Bowl Championship Series state, saboteurs, seekers of subterfuge, plotters, pamphleteers, "Hatch's Hecklers," lobbyists, fomenters, "Barack's Bracket Brigade," and mercenaries for the MAC:
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Oregon and Arizona have shaky perches atop Pac-10
November 4, 2009
It might seem like a new day in Pacific 10 Conference football, but we're still a long way from judgment day.
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Something doesn't smell right around the BCS
November 2, 2009
The Bowl Championship Series can probably survive controversy and silliness and talk-radio arguments and, more than likely, political bullying from windbag representatives interested mainly in their reelections.
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These Ducks are filling the bill
November 1, 2009
The best team in the country right now wears green and goes "quack, quack."
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Leaving the USC football team in a sorry state
October 31, 2009
Where they are now, as if anyone who follows USC gives a load of lumber:
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Rose Bowl's dream scenario is as easy as 1-2-3-4
October 29, 2009
The Rose Bowl brain trust doesn't publicly cheer for schools, but it can shake 100 pompoms for number sequences, and the dream countdown for this season's two-game extravaganza is, without question, 4-3-2-1.
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Chris Dufresne's top 25 rankings
October 29, 2009
Memo to Associated Press, Harris and USA Today voters: excuse me? Florida escapes two weeks in a row with help from the officials and stays No. 1? Alabama almost loses to a team UCLA (0-4 in the Pacific 10 Conference) defeated and stays No. 2? And Texas finally plays like No. 1 but stays at No. 3?
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USC-Oregon is the game to watch in conference -- for some
October 28, 2009
Pacific 10 Conference coaches can't wait for Saturday's marquee matchup, USC at Oregon, the game of the week in college football.
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One play can turn the tide of a college football season
October 26, 2009
If Alabama and Iowa end up playing for the Bowl Championship Series title in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 7, a game that probably would end up 3-3 on its way to overtime, remember Saturday.
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Nobody should be No. 1 in college football
October 25, 2009
Forget what you may have heard, read, said, e-mailed, faxed or tweeted -- there is no No. 1 in college football right now.
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College football season reaches halftime with a full slate of surprises
October 22, 2009
It has been a strange season and you only know the half of it.
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Oregon-Washington: the Uncivil war
October 21, 2009
Oregon at Washington isn't just an interesting game with title implications and bowl ramifications: It's probably the Pacific 10 Conference's nastiest annual encounter.
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For USC, it's a fright at the finish against the Irish
October 18, 2009
It was USC versus Notre Dame so you knew who was going to win, but at least it wasn't 81-0 or 45-2 or Irish fans crying their eyes out.
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Charlie Weis' Irish may need to win one for the skipper
October 17, 2009
No one can deny fifth-year Notre Dame Coach Charlie Weis' dedication or intellect.
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Chris Dufresne's top 25 rankings
October 15, 2009
Rankman plays Texas "hold em" (barely) at No. 1 after the Longhorns' shaky win over Colorado, but Mack Brown's band of punt blockers can get back in good graces with a win over Oklahoma. Also came close to dumping Texas Christian, a three-point winner over Air Force, for Alabama at No. 6, but realized how good service academy schools were after Army beat Vanderbilt, a Southeastern Conference bowl team.
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Get ready for a Bunch of Crazy Stuff to hit college football
October 15, 2009
The Mercury Astronauts were introduced in 1959, graced the cover of Life Magazine, conquered space and were mythologized in film.
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Coaches fear a freaky Saturday
October 14, 2009
League coaches, control freaks that they are, watched in horror Saturday night when Washington defeated Arizona, 36-33, on an intercepted pass that deflected off an Arizona receiver's foot.
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Ducks are under control
October 12, 2009
Woke up Sunday never expecting to see the Angels on television right after sunrise services, or these unexpected college football story lines:
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Tim Tebow returns, cautiously, for Florida
October 11, 2009
There is nothing left to see, folks, please clear the area.
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Alabama, the home of Southern hostility
October 10, 2009
Chris Dufresne takes time out (he gets two per half) each Friday during the season to answer questions on college football.
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Answering the big Florida questions
October 8, 2009
It feels like the humid old days, when FBS stood for Florida Bowl Series and Saturday in America tilted like a teeter-totter toward Tallahassee.
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Stanford unranked? That's a Cardinal sin
October 7, 2009
Maybe all these pollsters need is a weekend visit to a Palo Alto think tank.
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Notre Dame benefits from, yep, luck of the Irish
October 5, 2009
Back from Berkeley in time for a landscape recap, with inspiration from Joe Kapp.
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The going will get tougher for Trojans
October 4, 2009
It was separation Saturday for two ranked Pacific 10 Conference schools on a chilly East Bay evening at Memorial Stadium.
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UCLA at Stanford is the Bay Area showdown to watch
October 3, 2009
Tension mounts for the important Bay Area game featuring two three-win teams, a rookie quarterback, a quarterback named Kevin and one of the nation's leading rushers.
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The Times' Top 25
October 1, 2009
Booking manager at "Puns, Pizza and Polls" instructs opening act Rankman to keep introduction short to make way for dancing penguins, so give me an "A" for Alabama moving up one spot, a "B" for Boise State proving it belongs and a "C" for Cincinnati. OK, my time's up, you've been great.
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BCS standings have some practice runs before they're still not ready
October 1, 2009
Harris Interactive wasn't about to be Harris Hyperactive like those other polls that haphazardly published in August, before anyone knew who was who or what was Washington.
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Pac-10 is suddenly earning A's in D
September 30, 2009
Arizona State ranks third nationally this week and USC is sixth, with UCLA checking in at No. 15 and Arizona at No. 25.
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Experts were wrong? Anyone could've predicted that
September 28, 2009
In pool it's called a re-rack, in cards it's a re-shuffle, in the wilderness it's retracing your tracks and in college football, well, it's just ridiculous.
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Cal's new appointment with disappointment
September 26, 2009
Two thoughts to take out of Saturday: Never, EVER trust an e-mail that says you inherited millions, or California football.
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