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Up And Down The Coast, Pac-12 Lunch Links: Trojans' Trip To Palo Alto A Trap Game?

By Joey Kaufman
<strong>Trap game</strong>: Could David Shaw lead the Stanford Cardinal to its fourth straight win over USC this season?
Trap game: Could David Shaw lead the Stanford Cardinal to its fourth straight win over USC this season?

It's Friday and it also marks the beginning of an important stretch for Pac-12 baseball. Let's go ahead and get started.

  • It's a big weekend for ... Pac-12 baseball. Yes, this is the final weekend of the regular season, which is particularly key for teams atop the conference standings: Oregon (19-8 in Pac-12 play), as well as Arizona (18-9). The No. 5 Ducks are looking to clinch the conference crown and secure a national seed, as they face Oregon State in the hardball version of the Civil war. Similarly, the Wildcats, along with Arizona State, Stanford and UCLA, who are all 17-10, are looking to inch their way toward the top.
  • There will be ample opportunities to discuss these sorts of things, but Kevin Gemmell and Ted Miller from ESPN's Pac-12 blog got started early, posing the question of which is the "best" Pac-12 trap game this season. The early responses? Gemmell tabs USC at Stanford on Sept. 15 (week three), and Miller picks Oregon against Washington on Sept. 29 at CenturyLink Field in Seattle. What say you, readers?
  • USC players visited Haiti last week as part of a humanitarian effort to help build homes for the country devastated by an earthquake in January 2010. Center Khaled Holmes on the trip: "They are such a beautiful people. For them to smile through all their adversity is really inspiring."
  • Remember the Sports Illustrated expose on UCLA basketball this year? Well, Reeves Nelson does and he filed a lawsuit this week against SI and writer George Dohrmann, who authored the piece, rejecting various claims the story makes.
  • There has been plenty of talk regarding a college football postseason, including the possibility of a four-team playoff. Whatever happens, however, it appears as if some decision will be made by late June.
  • But what kind of format are we going to see? According to Larry Scott, the "plus-one" model is back on the table.
  • The summer can be an important time of year for Pac-12 basketball in regards to recruiting. With that in mind, Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar is making a run at consensus top recruit Jabari Parker.
  • And lastly, here's a nice story from ESPN.com's Blair Angulo on former Cal standout and current U.S. women's national soccer team star Alex Morgan.

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