The most important weekend of the season in the Pac-10 kicks off Saturday afternoon in Eugene, Ore., when No. 9 Southern Cal visits No. 5 Oregon. Both teams are 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the Pac-10, with the Ducks 3-point favorites at WagerWeb.com.
It's a true battle of opposites, with Oregon, behind Heisman hopeful Dennis Dixon, ranking second nationally in total offense, averaging 550 yards a game, 6.94 yards a play and 46.6 points.
Dixon, a senior quarterback, is the team's second-leading rusher with 416 yards and seven touchdowns, and he has completed 69 percent of his passes for 1,728 yards and 16 touchdowns with only three interceptions.
"They're the best offense we've seen probably since we've been here," USC coach Pete Carroll said.
Oregon is the nation's third-best rushing team behind Dixon and tailback Jonathan Stewart, who is averaging 134 yards a game and rushed for a career-best 251 yards and two touchdowns in Oregon's 55-34 victory over Washington last weekend.
"They run the ball. That's the main thing we're going to focus on. ... Stop the run and make them pass," USC cornerback Terrell Thomas said. "It's going to come down to everyone doing their job. We're going to have to execute, no matter what they call.
"That's our No. 1 goal, that's our main job, to shut the run down."
Southern Cal counters with the nation's third-ranked defense, allowing only 252 yards a game.
"They're unbelievable. They're a real active D-line up front, and they got the best defense we'll face in a long time," Oregon center Max Unger said."We've got our work cut out for us. We'll pretty much have to play a perfect game. It's going to be a barn-burner. It's going to be cool."
This will be by far the biggest test of the season for the preseason No. 1 Trojans, whose seven games this season have come against teams that have a combined record of 15-38; of those teams, Nebraska (4-4) has the best record.
And USC will go into hostile territory with Mark Sanchez at quarterback. He will make his career third start in place of John David Booty, who has a broken middle finger on this throwing hand.
"(Booty) will be able to go if we need him, it's just the uncertainty that John feels. Hopefully Mark can make it through the game, we can get a win," Carroll said.
Sanchez passed for 130 yards and a touchdown but was intercepted twice in a 20-13 victory over Arizona. He improved in last weekend's 38-0 victory over Notre Dame, throwing for 235 yards and four TDs with no interceptions.
"We need this ball game," Carroll said. "We need to get back into Pac-10 play and do something about our situation that we face with a front-running team and a team that's really out there."
Oregon coach Mike Bellotti knows the challenge his team faces, even if the Trojans have lost that air of invincibility after falling to Stanford.
'They're really good. They've been very good. They're still very good,'Bellotti said.
The lowdown: USC has won the last three games against the Ducks, including last year's 35-10 victory in Los Angeles. The Trojans have won their last two in Eugene, and this will be the first time in Autzen Stadium's 41-year history that two top 10 teams will meet. For the first time since Nov. 17, 2001, USC is an underdog in a Pac-10 game. The last time USC was an underdog in any game was to Michigan in the Rose Bowl in January. USC won 32-18. Look for the Ducks, and Dixon, to make a statement in this game and pretty much knock USC out of the conference race.
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