Back to take another whack at hopefully having a better-than-.500 week.

Winning two (called taking the easy way out by going against the Cougars and Huskies) and losing two (missing on Arizona's win over Cal and UCLA's win over Stanford) had us again treading water for the week.

That leaves us at 34-12 straight-up and 26-20 against the spread.

As always, point spreads from the Seattle Times.

USC AT ARIZONA (Trojans by 16): The Wildcats have played the Trojans tough the last three years, losing all three games but beating the spread each time, including a 20-13 loss as a three-touchdown underdog in LA last year. Now Arizona has USC in Tucson, and with the momentum of the Cal win last week. But all of that also surely has the Trojans' attention, as does the memory of its loss at Oregon State a few weeks ago. Arizona doesn't have the running game to take pressure off its passing game against the Trojans, and Mark Sanchez should have a big day against UA's secondary. USC 45, ARIZONA 21.

OREGON AT ARIZONA STATE (Ducks by 3): Sun Devils coming off a much-needed bye week to heal some wounds and try to find a running game. RB Keegan Herring may be back to full health, and if so, the Devils may be able to mount a little bit of a running attack. Even so, the matchup of Oregon's front seven against ASU's O-line just doesn't look good. Weird to see a Dennis Erickson offense this inept. Oregon may go with two QBs, but assuming the running attack does what it usually does, Ducks should prevail. OREGON 31, ASU 20.

UCLA AT CAL (Bears by 17): The home team has won eight straight in this series, and there's little reason to think that will change given that UCLA is 3-12 on the road in its last 15 and that few road teams are winning in the conference this year --- and I'm already picking the road team to win the other two conference games this year. Cal's in another dangerous position coming off a tough loss, a scenario the team hasn't handled all that well the last few years. But if you simply look at this game on its own, no reason to think the Bears won't roll. CAL 35, UCLA 17.

As always, the UW-Notre Dame pick will come a little later.