Arizona played a near perfect game on defense

They looked like a well-oiled machine hitting on all cylinders, minus the interception.USC had one good touchdown drive in the first half. They were able to put several drives together, but Arizona was able to stop the Trojans. USC only scored 10 points.Every time USC got the ball, they would seem to start hot on a drive before Arizona would stop them at midfield.Arizona on offense was awful in the second half. They were unable to move the ball and seemed to be outmatched by USC's defense.That was until the final drive. 4.

Stoops Exorcises Final DemonWith Arizona's win over USC, Mike Stoops has now officially beaten every team in the Pac-10.Pete Carroll had been undefeated over Stoops Stoops and Co. had a good game plan and were able to pull it out.Arizona played a near perfect game on defense. While the second half wasn't what Cats fans had hoped for offensively, the defense was spectacular.For every chess move USC made, Arizona matched it. Just when it looked like USC was about to put together another big drive, Arizona was able to stop them on third down.Considering how long the defense was on the field in the second half makes it that much more impressive.Now it seems the only step Stoops has to complete in Arizona is win to get over the Wildcats' final hump, the Rose Bowl.Of course, he has to beat Nebraska first. 5 Arizona Is No.

2 The Cats finished in second place in the Pac-10 after Washington defeated Cal.Arizona finished 6-3 in the Pac-10, tied with Stanford and Oregon State. Arizona held the tiebreaker over both Stanford and Oregon State.The Cats defeated both teams in the first half of the season, holding off late game surges from teams in order to get the win.The last time Arizona finished in second place was 1998, when, yes, they played Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl.. Coming into Pittsburgh who would have thought our Oakland raiders would knock off the former champions, out of the playoff race. Let’s be honest no one really gave us a chance except for the true raider fans. I really can’t be any happier with the play from Bruce Gradkowski and has receiving core, which has really struggled. They really picked up on offense this week getting fourteen passing first downs, and three rushing first downs. The raiders were six of thirteen on third down. Compared to Steelers who were three of nine on third down. Ben Roethlisberger played one of the best games I’ve seen him play but somehow the defense only let him score in the fourth quarter. The defense was topnotch for the first 3 quarters only allowing ten points, but the fourth quarter both defense’s fell apart which allowed a great game. It was back and forth back and forth throughout the fourth quarter. I'm so happy for the young kid because you can tell that he really wants to be good. But let’s go back to the game winning drive, Gradkowski got rushed he threw up for grabs and Louis Murphy made a magnificent catch and took it away from the defender robbing him of a interception, and of course he got the game winning td in the back of the endzone. But the main point of my article is to stress the importance of keeping Bruce Gradkowski as starting quarterback of the Oakland raiders throughout 2010 season. I just don’t think it Jamarcus Russell has which takes to be starting quarterback in the NFL. Jamarcus has no pocket or would awareness or accuracy which are the two most important things to have I the NFL. But both of these things Bruce Gradkowski brings to the table. I can’t just tell how much better the offense looks when Bruce is out there because they do not look confused everybody is doing there thing and there scoring. That’s the most important thing in the NFL, and I don’t care how much money was spent on Jamarcus Russell. But when anybody mentions Bruce Gradkowski as the future 2010 starting quarterback of the Oakland raiders they all say he’s too short, why does it matter because he’s proving that he can still throw accurate balls and throw touchdowns, which is what really matters. I say the day when Al Davis decides that he made a horrible pick is the day the raiders start winning. I say the stick with Bruce Gradkowski and get quality offensive and defensive lineman next year. Gradkowski is two of three as a starter so I say we stick with him get rid of Jamarcus Let's hope we win out and my prediction is right 8-8 . Gradkowski is now 2-1 as the starter and some light is now shining on the Black Hole known as the Oakland Raiders!You just got the feeling Jamarcus Russell didn't care about winning and losing.His inability to lead from the front of the line was so obvious that Tom Cable had no choice but to sit the LSU bust in favor of the more composed, more poised Gradkowski who seems to relish in the spotlight as an NFL starter.While Russell has all the physical tools, he seems to lack the intangible skill of leading and winning. Bruce Gradkowski has seized his chance and it's time Tom Cable reward him with a vote of confidence by shipping Jamarcus Russell away from the Bay Area once and for all.Gradkowski may not be a fantasy favorite, but he now has 854 passing yards and six touchdowns.

His ability to inspire confidence is the ultimate intangible in any leader.Bruce Gradkowski has the Raiders believing they can win in the most improbable of situations and the Steeler upset truly lays the groundwork for this team to compete in 2010. . Mike Smith had perhaps his best game as goaltender of the Tampa Bay Lightning while the slumbering Bolts offense finally rumbled to life in Tampa Bay's 4-0 blanking of the New York Islanders.The Bolts dominated as the rumor mill begins to churn once again with the rumor that seemingly never dies Vincent Lecavalier to Montreal. More on that in a second.First let's talk about Smith, who was Jekyll last night instead of Mr Hyde. Smith stood on his head, making save after brilliant save against the Isles."Personally, I've been working really hard lately and I haven't been rewarded for it. I've played some good hockey, but pucks have gone in the net and ultimately we've been losing hockey games that we need to win," Smith said "I think more importantly it's big for our team. We've been sliding a little bit right now in the standings and it's important to stay close to the pack at this time of year and not separate yourself too far.""Mike Smith was excellent," coach Rick Tocchet said "He made some really good saves out there.