The door is wide open, unless USC closes it

The Pacific 10 Conference awoke to a glorious new sensation this week, heavily favored USC having suffered an upset loss, the race for the Rose Bowl thrown wide open.

The king is dead . . .

Or maybe not.

At least one Pac-10 coach attributed the Trojans’ defeat to nothing more than an off day. Certainly no one was ready to dismiss a program that has won six straight conference titles.

“I still think [USC] is the best team in the conference as far as, from top to bottom, their personnel,” California Coach Jeff Tedford said. “I think you need to give them that respect.”

If nothing else, there is a sense the ninth-ranked Trojans are feeling pressure to go undefeated the rest of the way.

“Most likely, everybody’s going to lose a game somewhere down the road,” Arizona Coach Mike Stoops said of the conference race. “But you start losing two . . . then it gets a little dicey.”

Loose talk

No sooner had Jake Locker, Washington’s dual-threat quarterback, suffered a fractured thumb against Stanford than speculation arose he might play in the secondary or at some other position while his throwing hand recovers.

Who would start such a rumor?

“To be very honest, probably those thoughts were initiated by Jake himself,” Coach Tyrone Willingham said. “He’s that kind of young man, he wants to get back, he wants to help his team.”

With Locker undergoing surgery, his recuperation announced at six to eight weeks, Willingham said it’s premature to contemplate an early return. However, the coach did not rule out a temporary change of position.

Consider that the 6-foot-3, 222-pound Locker started four years at defensive back in high school and was an all-state baseball player.

“He’s one of the bigger, faster, stronger members of our football team,” Willingham said. “Those are things you can’t turn away from.”

No tricks

Cal seems wary about facing a team, Arizona State, that had an open date last week.

“You always have to expect the unexpected,” Tedford said. “Of course, they can add a few wrinkles . . . they have longer to game plan against you.”

But it seems trickery wasn’t high on the list of priorities in Tempe, where Coach Dennis Erickson’s team is reeling after an upset loss to Nevada Las Vegas followed by a one-sided defeat at the hands of then-No. 3 Georgia.

The Sun Devils spent at least part of their open-date week reviewing simpler parts of the sport.

Like blocking and tackling.

“It was very physical for us,” Erickson said. “We were padded up and went against each other like spring football.”

Recruiting puddle

With Stanford visiting Notre Dame this week, a campus magazine raised a familiar argument about the difficulties of fielding a competitive team at an elite university.

Stanford athletic administrators have estimated that only 400 of the approximately 3,500 high school prospects who sign letters of intent each year would be accepted to their school.

Coach Jim Harbaugh, who has led the Cardinal to a 3-2 start this fall, believes that figure is too high. By a long shot.

“We’re probably looking at a pool of 100 to 150 scholar-athletes,” he said. “It’s a small pool. A smaller pool than anybody else has.”

Just the truth

Washington State Coach Paul Wulff certainly isn’t trying to sugarcoat his team’s 1-4 start.

The Cougars have been outscored by an average of 41 points in their losses and rank last in the conference in key categories such as passing efficiency, rush defense and turnover margin.

“If you’re a fan of Washington State, who likes to watch that?” Wulff asked. “As a coach, I don’t.”

--

david.wharton@latimes.com