The dogged five-team race in the Pacific-10, arguably the most-balanced Division I conference in the country, is nearing the finish line with Oregon and Washington the two front-runners. Trying to keep up are UCLA, Stanford and Washington State, but it looks like the Ducks and the Huskies will hold steady to the end. These five teams are almost mirror images of each other, so it's little wonder their games are so competitive.

To the Watcher, Oregon is inching ahead of the pack. The Ducks seem to improve a little each week and waddle into Saturday's game against UCLA at the Rose Bowl ranked No. 7 by the Associated Press. A fine-feathered bunch are these Ducks and the suddenly beatable Bruins will be waiting in the brushes.

A view of this week's games from the Duck blind.

USC (4-5) at CALIFORNIA (0-8) | The bottom dropped out of California's football program this week when coach Tom Holmoe announced his resignation, which takes effect after the season. The Bears are in free-fall but Holmoe's annoucement may inspire them to land right on the Trojans. Last week, USC played horrible against Oregon State and should have lost. The Beavers missed two opportunities to win the game in the fourth quarter on missed field goal attempts, before SC quarterback Carson Palmer scrambled for the winning score in overtime. Coach Pete Carroll may use linebacker Frank Strong at tailback this week. SC's running game is so banged up that Strong, who entered SC as a freshmen running back, may play both ways. The Watcher likes the Bears to get their first and probably only W of the season.

WASHINGTON (7-1) at OREGON STATE (3-5) | The Beavers suddenly have a 1-2 punch at tailback after freshman Steven Jackson's performance against USC. Jackson rushed for 119 yards in 16 carries against a good Trojan defense. So, coupled with the venerable Ken Simonton, the OSU running game could give the Huskies double trouble at Corvalis. Washington, in a three-way tie for the Pac-10 lead, has beaten Oregon State 13 straight times, so the Beavers are due. The Huskies, ranked by the AP at No. 8, could be looking ahead to next week's Apple Cup tilt against cross-state Washington State. OSU wins, 31-29.

BYU (9-0) at WYOMING (2-6) | The Cougars are trying to work their way into the BCS race and should have no problem getting by the Cowboys, who have lost five straight games, in a Mountain West Conference game at Laramie, Wyo. BYU is off to it's best start since 1984, when it won the national championship with a 13-0 record. Led by quarterback Brandon Doman, who has passed for 23 touchdowns, and running back Luke Staley, who set a single-season record of 22 touchdowns, BYU should become the second Division I team to reach 10 wins.

STANFORD (5-2) at ARIZONA (3-6) | The injury-riddled Cardinal got more bad news this week when the team announced that running back Kerry Carter and defensive lineman Austin Lee will miss the next three games with injuries suffered in last Saturday's loss to Washington. This comes on top of the concussion to safety Simba Hodari in the same game that put the senior in a Washington hospital. There was cautioned optimism when Coach Tyrone Willingham announced this week that senior quarterback Randy Fansani, who has been sidelined with a knee injury for nearly a month, may return to practice. Chris Lewis has played well in Fansani's place and should lead the Cardinal to a win in the desert.

OREGON (8-1) at UCLA (6-2) | Through their first six or seven games, the Bruins appeared to have no weaknesses, but now a glaring one has surfaced. UCLA has no deep threat on offense. Until he seperated a shoulder, Brian Poli-Dixon was filling the departed shoes of Freddie Mitchell admirably well. But since Poli-Dixon went down, quarterback Cory Paus has had trouble finding receivers down the field. This fault was exploited last week in UCLA's loss to Washington State when the Cougars dared UCLA to throw, stacking eight and nine players on the line to slow down tailback DeShaun Foster. To add to their problem, Paus, who is playing with an injured right hand, had his passes sail on him and four were intercepted. Poli-Dixon may be back for this pivitol game against the Ducks, but UCLA is finding out the hard way how much they miss Mitchell, who left after his junior year for the NFL. Oregon, behind quarterback Joey Harrington and running backs Onterio Smith and Maurice Morris, wins it in Pasadena, where rain is in the forecast.

GOING COASTAL | Speaking of the tires wearing thin, UCLA's DeShaun Foster has been declared ineligible for Saturday's game against Oregon for violating the NCAA's "extra benefits" rule, which prohibits athletes from accepting anything of value that wouldn't be available to other students. UCLA would not comment on what Foster did, but the L.A. Daily News reported that two anonymous sources revealed that Foster had the use of an automobile, a Ford Expedition. The Bruins' Heisman Trophy candidate and third-leading rusher in the country, hopes the penalty is just for one game...Meanwhile, USC announced that its top running back Sultan McCullough will have surgery on his nagging torn stomach muscle and will miss the remainder of the season... USC coach Pete Carroll and Cal coach Tom Holmoe served together as assistant coaches for the San Francisco 49ers in 1995. Holmoe's overall record at Cal is 15-37... The Trojans, who are getting several of their injured players back to good health, have a shot at a bowl if they win out against Cal, and UCLA on Nov. 17.