For those who prefer Mike Patrick over Juan Roque

Here's the 12 minute ESPN broadcast of the game. Enjoy.

New BCS Standings: 11/4/07

Ohio State retains #1, while LSU is bumped up to #2 with their win over Alabama.

Oregon assumes the number 3 spot with their win over Arizona State, while Kansas surprisingly takes the 4 hole after destroying the Sam Keller-less Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Arizona State dropped only five spots to #9. The Sun Devils dropped to #9 in both human polls as well but are still a #5 computer average.

Boston College, after their loss to unranked Florida State, drops six spots in the BCS to #8.

So, to recap, here's the top 10 in the new 11/4/07 BCS, with previous rank in parenthesis:

1: Ohio State .9949 (1)
2: Louisiana State .9411 (3)
3: Oregon .9180 (5)
4: Kansas .8431 (8)
5: Oklahoma .8393 (6)
6: Missouri .7431 (9)
7: West Virginia .7419 (7)
8: Boston College .6980 (2)
9: Arizona State .6932 (4)
10: Georgia .6075 (10)

The rest of the standings shake down as follows:

11) Virginia Tech, 12) Michigan, 13) Connecticut, 14) Texas, 15) Florida, 16) Hawai'i, 17) USC, 18) Auburn, 19) Virginia, 20) Boise State, 21) Clemson, 22) Alabama, 23) Penn State, 24) Tennessee, 25) Kentucky

BREAKING: Lute Olson taking leave

BREAKING NEWS FROM DOWN SOUTH: Lute Olson is leaving the Arizona Wildcats Men's Basketball team indefinitely. Not making this one up. No word on who is replacing him, but I'm guessing it's going to be 1997 Most Outstanding Player from the NCAA Tournament Miles Simon. We'll have a recap of his 12:30 press conference on here later.

According to the poll conducted by PitchforkNation this week, 19% of you are wrong about what the football team's final record will be. Still, that means 81% of you are not wrong. I'll put up a new poll in a few days.

If you get bored today with the NFL, check out what the EV Tribune put together about the safety of Sun Devil Stadium.

UPDATED 1:02 PM by Justin: Taking Olsen's place on the bench will be assistant coach Kevin O'Neill, who joined the program this season after spending time coaching with the Toronto Raptors.

Thoughts from Saturday

• I'm grabbing Jaison Williams off the waiver wire early next year in fantasy football.
• I could say the same thing about Mike Jones in another year.
  
• Lou Dobbs is going to do a "Broken Borders" special on our offensive line this week. That was embarrassing.
  
• If Rudy Carpenter plays another year in Maroon and Gold, he better take out an insurance policy on himself like Willis McGahee and Michael Bush did. Seriously. After that performance by the O-Line, I wouldn't blame him for declaring early, even if it means getting picked on Day 2.
  
• Thomas Weber was bound to hook one with the form he uses kicking the ball.
  
• I miss Ryan Torain
  
• Did not expect Brent Miller to come up big. Good job man.
  
• Tyrice Thompson has come up with some big receptions this year...that one just didn't go our way.
• Dennis Dixon is your Heisman winner if he can come back healthy.
• 2 for 13 on 3rd down is not going to get it done the rest of the way.
• Main reason I don't want this team to struggle against UCLA...I just don't want to hear it from U of A fans. Plus, I remember how much it sucks to have a lame duck coach...if the Sun Devils destroy them Dorrell could be fired immediately, which would be more of a gift to UCLA fans than anything.
  

Time to Regroup

Well, the undefeated dream is over. We're now all left to wonder what could have been had the Sun Devils emerged from Eugene victorious, but the Nation recognizes just how difficult it is for a team to go 12-0 in this day and age of NCAA Football, especially with the parity we've seen in the Pac-10 this season.

Arizona State lost to and was outplayed by, frankly, a better team. And we all knew it going in. Oregon has, without a doubt, one of the most amazing offenses I have ever seen. I lost track of how many times I turned to a friend today and said, "You just can't stop that!"

Oregon is a hard-playing, fast-moving and, most importantly, very disciplined team. ASU learned that for the third consecutive season today. I wish best of luck to the Ducks for the rest of the season and our friends over at Addicted to Quack because I now would LOVE to see Oregon take on all-comers in the National Championship.

A few observations:
1) While it seemed like there were no physical ill effects of Rudy Carpenter's sprained thumb, you could see it was messing with his head. He was sacked nine times, and I counted at least six of them in which he curled up to protect the injured hand. Otherwise, Rudy had a very fine game. You can't argue with his two touchdown passes and over 370 yards.
2) Remember a few weeks ago when I said on this blog that losing Ryan Torain wasn't the deal-breaker for ASU? I still stand by that statement. They might have probably still lost with the Train in the backfield, but he certainly would have made some sort of difference tonight between the tackles.
3) I really do think Arizona State played a good football game today. While the final score read 35-23, the Sun Devils were in it. Don't lose sight of the fact that the game was still 21-13 at the half, and the team was showing all signs of their usual post-1st quarter domination. The only difference is...well...the Devils were not going to hold Oregon scoreless in the 2nd half.
4) I said today that the winner of the turnover battle would win this game. The Devils turned the ball over twice in pivotal moments where they could have scored points, and that was your ball game.
5) If you don't think Dennis Dixon is a Heisman front-runner, you might as well not be watching American football.

More detailed analysis to come later this week, along with a preview of UCLA, who looked like Karl Dorrell-style trailer trash down in the Old Pueblo today.

That Other ASU Game Today

The Men's Basketball team tipped off today for an exhibition against Grand Canyon University and put up a solid win with a final score of 80-53. The exhibition offered fans a free look at Herb Sendek's new roster which features seven newcomers. Sendek started a young lineup of 3 freshmen, a sophomore, and a junior. The starting lineup of Jamelle McMillan, James Harden, Ty Abbott, Eric Boateng, and Jeff Pendergraph gave us a glimpse of the talent that we will see in Wells Fargo Arena this season, but this lineup was quickly dismantled within the first 5 minutes of the game. Sendek made 4 substitutions, leaving only Pendergraph, and showed a bit of the depth that this year's Sun Devils will enjoy. This substitution was the first of many as Sendek trotted out at least 15 different lineups by my count. Last year, the Devils had a rotation of basically 7 players. In today's game, Sendek played 11 different players -- 10 in the first 8 minutes. This is to be expected in the first exhibition of the season as Sendek wants to see which lineups are most effective.

The excitement surrounding the team's newcomers is warranted as they showed flashes today of a bright future. The most noticeable difference between this year's starting guards and last year's is the ability to create shots before the shot clock is nearing zero. Harden led the team with 19 points and 9 rebounds and showed his ability to get to the rim with extreme ease as he continually slashed into the lane. He also showed his ability to draw contact and repeatedly get to the foul line, shooting 16 free throws. The only problem with his strength in getting to the line was his inability to convert the free throws. This is a problem that Harden will need to remedy as his ability to get to the foul line could mean the difference between wins and losses in all of those close Pac-10 games.

Much of the Sun Devil scoring came from the backcourt as McMillan and Abbott showed an affinity for the 3-pointer as McMillan hit two early treys and Abbott hit a couple more with his lightning-quick release. McMillan and Abbott combined for 17 points and 5 three pointers. The duo also had 3 steals each, contributing to ASU's 15 steals for the afternoon. Pendergraph and Boateng didn't show much offense today but did both display their shot blocking ability and how strong the help side defense can be when both are in the lineup together.

Things to work on: The defense is still susceptible to the 3-pointer as Sendek ran a 2-3 zone for most of the game, which left GCU's outside shooters open. Just about everyone struggled to finish inside as the Devils were repeatedly turned away near the rim. This team will improve greatly as the season progresses since many of the inconsistencies in today's game will lessen as the team gets more comfortable playing together.

Play of the Game: Freshman Kraidon Woods throwing down a monster dunk over a defender for the And-1 with 30 seconds left in the game.

Next Game: Wednesday, November 7 at 7:00pm vs. Western New Mexico

All of a sudden, U of A doesn't look completely atrocious.

Hopefully it's just because they're playing a leaderless UCLA team.

27-14 Arizona, 6 minutes left in the first half.

Not to say I'm scared that U of A has a chance against us this year, but they finally have a heartbeat.

Little over an hour and a half until kickoff in Eugene. Go Devils.