Oregon lost its season opener to Boise State in somewhat pathetic fashion and seemed to forfeit all chances for a national championship.

The Ducks have been lights out since, and they can become a dangerous, lurking one-loss team in the BCS picture if they can beat USC Saturday night in Autzen Stadium.

The Trojans are accustomed to walking into loud and frowning stadiums, after Ohio State, Notre Dame, Washington and Cal. I’m not sure they’re ready for the Ducks’ baffling spread offense and a quick, underrated defense. I’m saying Oregon by a final of 31-24.

How about you?

It sounded like too good a line for ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit to think up. Not that “Herbie” doesn’t have a sense of humor as one of the top college football analysts, but this one had a little more venom than Herbstreit seems to possess.

Anyway, another fun day of Internet fodder.

If you saw Oakland’s young pitching staff you know the Athletics only need a few noteworthy position players to become contenders again.

One of them might be Grant Desme, a Cal Poly alum who is hitting .469 with 10 home runs in his first 12 games in the Arizona Fall League.

For you OPS fans, his figure is 1.687.

It’s also six more home runs than anyone else has hit yet.

Andrew Lambo, a Dodger outfield prospect who took a bit of a step back this year, has 10 RBI’s in his first nine games, and Josh Vitters, the high pick from Cypress in the Cubs’ organization, is hitting .389 in his first eight games.

The hitter-friendly conditions haven’t helped Hank Conger, the former first round pick of the Angels. He’s at .194 currently. But that’s nine points higher than the average of ex-Stanford star Jason Castro, who is supposed to be Houston’s catcher in 2010 or 2011.

Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals has not dominated, although these are his first games since his San Diego State season ended. The highest-paid free-agent draft has 11 strikeouts in 10 and one-third innings, but his ERA is 6.97.

It was disappointing to pick up Sports Illustrated and see Baseball Prospectus going with the Phillies in seven games, since I’d picked the Phillies, too. But I was under the impression they would win it even quicker, perhaps in five.

Of course, the prediction itself lauded the Yankees superior lineup depth and bullpen, plus the lefty-lefty matchup: “The Yankees’ ability to start lefties in as many as five of the seven games is a tactical advantage to the lefty-leaning Phillies.” Actually the Phillies’ OPS is eight points higher against lefthand pitchers.

Stumped for a reason to justify its pick, Baseball Prospectus finally figures out the Phillies’ strength is manager Charlie Manuel, which will come as a surprise to many Phillies’ fans. Manuel is a much better manager than advertised but his decisions aren’t going to be the difference. The biggest upset will be if the Series goes seven games. None has since 2002 and only three have since 1991.

Weather permitting (as always), the World Series begins tonight, one night after the NBA season opens.

I’m thinking that it’s going to be short, wet and red. The Phillies’ Cliff Lee will hold off his old teammate CC Sabathia tonight for a Game 1 victory, and then the rolling thunder of the Phillies lineup will wear out the Yankees pitching.

I wouldn’t have said this three weeks ago, but the Phillies have gotten Brad Lidge straightened out, and they’re just too complete and mature to let Yankee Stadium bother them.

Let’s hear your thoughts.

Twenty-two years after Garden Grove’s Lenny Dykstra and the New York Mets celebrated a World Series championship, his financial house has done a mudslide, according to this look by CNBC.com.

The Angels risk a lot this off-season when John Lackey, Vladimir Guerrero, Chone Figgins, Bobby Abreu and Darren Oliver enter the free agent market.

Under the assumption that Lackey will simply be too expensive to keep because he’s so much the class of the starting pitchers in the class, I’d lean toward making Abreu the priority. He’s too important in counseling the other players, he’s a terrific No. 2 hitter, and he comes through in big situations.

But it’s a tough call.

Oregon is 4-0 in the Pac-10 and preparing a lively Hallowe’en party for USC in Autzen Stadium Saturday.

Its sixth straight victory over Washington once again featured an underrated defense that has held up well despite injuries, according to this Eugene Register-Guard column.

If you stand on your head, the standings in the NHL’s Western Conference make sense.

The Phoenix Coyotes, who were 50/50 to even get on the ice in Phoenix this year, are 6-2. The prime mover is goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, whom you might remember.

The Coyotes play the Ducks on consecutive Saturday nights — in Phoenix on Oct. 31, in Anahein Nov. 7.

The ex-Duck is 6-1 and leads the league’s goalies in goals-against (1.24) and save percentage (.949). Earlier this week he and the Coyotes beat Detroit in Phoenix. The game barely drew 11,000, however, which means the plagued franchise needs a few more good months, not just one, to be relevant in the desert.

However, there’s little question about the new coach, Dave Tippett, who took Dallas to the conference finals two seasons ago and has organized a defense that has given up 12 goals so far.

It’s 10:20 a.m. here in the Big Umbrella and, like last week, the forecast is witchy. The rain chance is 80 to 90 percent from gametime into midnight. The difference is that the temperature will be in the low 60’s.

The sun is on vacation somewhere in the Caymans, apparently, because it hasn’t appeared for one second when the Angels have been in town.

The suspicion is that they will play through anything short of a monsoon. The accumulation will be around three-quarters of an inch, according to the experts.

If it’s postponed Game 6 moves to Sunday, and Joe Girardi said Andy Pettitte will pitch that game, too, meaning CC Sabathia still waits for Game 7 — or, maybe, Game 1 vs. Philadelphia.