IN PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH

1. WASHINGTON

Coach: Rick Neuheisel, second season

1999 record: 7-5, 6-2

Case for: If, after warming up against Idaho on Sept. 2, Tuiasosopo lights up Miami and Colorado on successive Saturdays, look for the Washington to start a Heisman Trophy campaign. It’s a longshot, but games like his 207-rushing-yard, 302-passing-yard effort against Stanford last season are certainly selling points. And his having tailback Paul Arnold and an offensive line that returns four starters to work behind should make Tuiasosopo’s job even easier.

Case against: Losses of leading receiver, Chris Juergens (broken leg) and NFL-quality tight end Jerramy Stevens (rape investigation) mean fewer targets for Tuiasosopo. A defense that generated only 13 sacks last season and lost starting cornerbacks Roderick Green (academics) and Anthony Vontoure (apparently an attitude problem) could struggle at times.

If it all breaks right: Tuiasosopo gets through the season unscathed and the Huskies get through the Miami and Colorado games without injury. Then Washington can negotiate a Pac-10 schedule that doesn’t include USC.

2. USC

Coach: Paul Hackett, third season

1999 record: 6-6, 3-5

Case for: Zeke Moreno and Markus Steele are big-play linebackers. Both are physical, both have speed and both can dominate a game as witness Moreno’s performance a year ago against Oregon State when he scored on a 17-yard fumble return and 71-yard interception runback. All Steele did against San Diego State was to make nine tackles--two for lost yards--intercept a pass and force, then recover a fumble. With a defense that returns 10 starters, USC can handle most of what the Pac-10 throws at it.

Case against: Opening against Penn State and Colorado is admirable, if a bit foolhardy for a team trying to claw its way back from mediocrity. And USC learned a year ago what can happen when a team is so dependent on its quarterback. Carson Palmer should be taken over to nearby Dedeaux Field and given sliding lessons.

If it all breaks right: Nothing on Palmer breaks at all and the Trojan tailback-by-committee gets a chairman, instead of three guys wanting more carries. And USC finds a way to win back-to-back games against UCLA and Notre Dame for the first time since 1978.

3. OREGON STATE

Coach: Dennis Erickson, second season

1999 record: 7-5, 4-4

Case for: Ken Simonton has successive 1,000-rushing-yard seasons and he’s only a junior. That has folks in Corvallis almost as excited as the Beavers earning the first winning season since 1970 and going to their first bowl since 1964. Erickson could be elected mayor of Corvallis and would get votes for governor after lending legitimacy to a program that has been written off for more than a generation.

Case against: Quarterback Jonathan Smith struggled in a Saturday scrimmage against the Oregon State defense, and the Beavers need him to be sharp to take some of the pressure off Simonton. Erickson’s suspension of three receivers--Robert Prescott, James Newson and Junior Adams--after they were charged with assault speaks well of the program, but all three return for league play, against USC at Corvallis on Sept. 30.

If is all breaks right: The Oregon State offense catches up to the defense in time for Pac-10 play, and the Beavers go into their game against USC with a 3-0 record. Then new T-shirts will come out defining history as a time when Oregon State couldn’t win.

4. UCLA

Coach: Bob Toledo, fifth season

1999 record: 4-7, 2-6

Case for: DeShaun Foster is back on two feet and will run behind an offensive line that returns intact--discounting Oscar Cabrera’s ankle injury that will keep him out a while--and for all of the attention given the quarterback competition, the running game is the key. Last season was the first in which Toledo didn’t have a 1,000-yard back since he came to UCLA, and that can’t happen again if the Bruins are to be successful. When receivers Freddie Mitchell and Brian Poli-Dixon are covered, look for Cory Paus to get the ball to Foster with some room to run.

Case against: Some day UCLA is going to recruit a 6-foot cornerback. The Bruin defense, which could have been called The Sieve a year ago, has a lot of the same bodies back that gave up 55 points against Oregon State. And opening against Alabama, then playing hungry Fresno State before Michigan doesn’t help in developing confidence in a unit that needs some.

If it all breaks right: UCLA finds a way to compete with Alabama, beats Fresno State and survives the Michigan game. After that, conference games look like a series of breathers.

5. OREGON

Coach: Mike Bellotti, sixth season

1999 record: 9-3, 6-2

Case for: No Pac-10 team has the experienced depth the Ducks do at quarterback with Joey Harrington and A.J. Feeley. When Feeley was injured, Harrington won win the final four games of the season. Feeley passed for 1,951 yards and 14 touchdowns, with six interceptions; Harrington for 948 yards and nine touchdowns, with only three picks.

Case against: Bellotti insists there is no quarterback controversy. He also insists that Harrington is the starter. Either will be able to throw to receivers such as Samie Parker, a Long Beach redshirt freshman who can fly. But either will have to work behind a patchwork line in which three projected starters sat out a Saturday scrimmage because of injuries.

If it all breaks right: Maurice Morris becomes the third junior college transfer in a row to take Oregon bowlward (the previous two: Saladin McCullough and Reuben Droughns), and Morris has the credentials to do it. He ran for 3,708 yards and 45 touchdowns in two seasons at Fresno City. And the Ducks are able to keep a winning streak alive. The won their last six games last season.

6. ARIZONA

Coach: Dick Tomey, 14th season

1999 record: 6-6, 3-5

Case for: Finally, it’s Ortege Jenkins’ team, after two seasons of sharing time at quarterback with Keith Smith. Now if the conservative Tomey will take some of the shackles off Jenkins and let him use some of his ability to throw the long ball, the Wildcats can take some pressure off their defense and can also develop a tailback to replace Trung Canidate, the Pac-10’s leading rusher last season. Four starters return on the offensive line.

Case against: They’re still in the desert, but Arizona’s defenders hardly swarmed last season, giving up 30.3 points a game and generating only 11 turnovers all season. Tomey is trying to put some swagger back into a unit that features Joe Tafoya, who had 10 sacks last season and probably will be turned loose a big more this time around, with Keoni Fraser to watch his back. Pressuring the quarterback is going to be extremely important, because Arizona’s back seven is inexperienced.

If it all breaks right: Arizona escapes the Ohio State game without serious injury, because dealing with USC and Washington on the road is going to keep Tomey up nights.

7. STANFORD

Coach: Tyrone Willingham, sixth season

1999 record: 8-4, 7-1

Case for: DeRonnie Pitts has spent so much time in Troy Walters’ shadow that he should be called Mushroom. Walters is gone to the NFL, and Pitts is the leading returning Pac-10 receiver, with 58 for 853 yards and eight touchdowns last season. He has 2,060 receiving yards and 16 touchdown catches over three seasons and still nobody has heard of him. That changes.

Case against: This is a team with 15 returning starters, but six of them are on a defense that gave up 69 points to Texas in Stanford’s first game last season. The Cardinal had 46 sacks but gave up 31.4 points and 453 yards a game. Moving Chris Wire from running back to safety could help because he’s an athlete. Also, lost from the offense are four all-Pac-10 starters.

If it all breaks right: Randy Fasani learns quickly and Stanford scores enough points to overcome its defense. Fasani became the quarterback when Joe Borchard took more than $3 million from the Chicago White Sox. The learning process must be quick because the Cardinal opens its season with a conference game at Washington State.

8. ARIZONA STATE

Coach: Bruce Snyder, ninth season

1999 record: 6-6, 5-3

Case for: Linebacker Adam Archuleta has had 39 tackles for losses over the past two seasons and he leads a group of ‘backers so deep that Stephen Trejo was moved out of the middle to fullback, giving way to Solomon Bates. Archuleta averaged 10.2 tackles a game last season.

Case against: Make that cases, because quarterback Ryan Kealy remains suspended after a DUI incident in July. He has started 31 games for the Sun Devils, even with five knee operations. And Delvon Flowers, who backed up J.R. Redmond last season at tailback, blew out his knee in training camp, leaving Arizona State with Davaren Hightower and a couple of freshmen whose shirts won’t be red after all this season.

If it all breaks right: Arizona State gets some breaks. Training camp was truncated because it rained--that’s right, rained in Arizona--so much the Sun Devils returned to Tempe early. And redshirt freshman Jeff Krohn proves himself capable of replacing Kealy, a tall order because Krohn--a walk-on--wasn’t even on scholarship until after Saturday’s scrimmage.

9. CALIFORNIA

Coach: Tom Holmoe, fourth season

1999 record: 4-7, 3-5

Case for: When your most important player is punter Nick Harris, it says a lot about your team. Harris, who was all-Pac-10 last season. averaged 44.65 yards per punt, and he has averaged 83 punts a year in his three seasons at Cal, a testimony to the Bears’ offensive inability. A defense that includes Andre Carter and Jacob Waasdorp up front has to be reckoned with. They combined for 35 tackles for loss and 17 sacks last season.

Case against: An offense that was held to one touchdown or less four times last season is led by sophomore quarterback Kyle Boller, who could have used a redshirt season. Instead, he took his lumps. Boller is back with tons of potential, but few targets. Only 27 catches are spread among the returning receivers.

If it all goes right: Boller grows up quickly. But the schedule is a killer (Illinois and Fresno State as nonconference road games; USC and Washington as Pac-10 trips). Holmoe has held off signing a contract extension for a year because he didn’t want “mediocrity” rewarded. Mediocrity is generous and the extension is still on his desk.

10. WASHINGTON STATE

Coach: Mike Price, 12th season

1999 record: 3-9, 1-7

Case for: Jason Gesser is a sophomore who figured to start last season, then broke his hand. He came back to lead the Cougars past Hawaii, 22-14, in the season-ending game, then had such a good spring that teammates voted him one of Washington State’s captains. He breaks the mold in Pullman, where quarterbacks are generally the size of basketball forwards. But Gesser (6-1, 200) can scramble and probably will have to.

Case against: Price figures he did Hugh and Linda Raymond a favor by recruiting twins Reed (6-8, 310) and Ryan (6-7, 302) and taking them away from the dinner table. Ryan was to be at right tackle but has a knee ligament injury that is going to keep him out a while. Reed will be at right guard, but otherwise the offensive line is a multiple-choice affair charged with allowing Gesser room to operate and tailback Deon Burnett some room to run.

If it all breaks right: Washington State learns on the run and beats Stanford, then handles Utah, Idaho, California and Boise State before the real league schedule starts. The Cougars’ Rose Bowl visit in 1997 is becoming a distant memory.

RETURNING CONFERENCE LEADERS

RUSHING

Ken Simonton, Oregon State

TCB: 294

NYG: 1,486

Avg.: 5.1

TD: 18

Deon Burnett, Washington State

TCB: 209

NYG: 974

Avg.: 4.7

TD: 12

Joe Igber, California

TCB: 148

NYG: 694

Avg.: 4.7

TD: 2

Brian Allen, Stanford

TCB: 115

NYG: 604

Avg.: 5.3

TD: 4

Marques Tuiasosopo, Washington

TCB: 149

NYG: 571

Avg.: 3.8

TD: 6

PASSING

Jonathan Smith, Oregon State

Att: 425

Comp: 207

Yds: 3,053

Int: 7

TD: 15

Marques Tuiasosopo, Washington

Att: 322

Comp: 189

Yds: 2,418

Int: 12

TD: 13

Ryan Kealy, Arizona State

Att: 267

Comp: 148

Yds: 1,976

Int: 10

TD: 10

A.J. Feeley, Oregon

Att: 259

Comp: 148

Yds: 1,951

Int: 6

TD: 14

Mike Van Raaphorst, USC

Att: 258

Comp: 139

Yds: 1,758

Int: 9

TD: 8

RECEIVING

Kareem Kelly, USC

REC: 54

YDS: 902

TD: 4

DeRonnie Pitts, Stanford

REC: 58

YDS: 853

TD: 8

Todd Heap, Arizona State

REC: 55

YDS: 832

TD: 3

Richard Williams, Arizona State

REC: 38

YDS: 624

TD: 5

Robert Prescott, Oregon State

REC: 49

YDS: 614

TD: 2