Big volleyball weekend

It's hard to remember a weekend when more top teams have gone head-to-head.

Of the top 11 teams in this week's AVCA coaches' poll, only #7 Hawaii and #10 Washington are not playing at least one ranked team. (The Huskies face Arizona State tonight and Arizona Sunday.)

The weekend's biggest showdowns are in the Bay Area, where #2 Cal and #5 Stanford look for revenge against #6 UCLA and #4 USC. The SoCal schools went 4-0 against the NorCal schools in LA last month, with USC earning two sweeps. My prediction is that USC goes 2-0, Stanford goes 0-2, and Cal beats UCLA leaving both 1-1 for the weekend.

Nebraska rose to #1 after knocking off Illinois; it now heads on the road to face #23 Ohio State and #8 Penn State. I expect Nebraska to win both.

Illinois, now #3, is home against unranked Wisconsin and #15 Minnesota. The Golden Gophers have a lot of losses for a Top 20 team, but that's because they've knocked off some bigger opponents. They could do it again.

#9 Texas hosts #14 Iowa State; in an otherwise weak conference, they are the two leaders. I give the nod to the Longhorns, but only because they're at home.

#11 Purdue could struggle on the road against #22 Michigan; #13 Florida faces a rare weekend of two road matches against ranked teams: #20 Tennessee and #24 Kentucky. One of the Gators' earlier losses this season was to the Volunteers, and that was in Tallahassee. I think Florida will go 1-1.

All season long, San Diego has been one of my favorite under-appreciated teams. Earlier this week, they made me look bad, with losses to #18 Pepperdine and unranked Saint Mary's.

Let the games begin!

[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

[NOTE: CORRECTIONS MADE TO EARLIER VERSION ... NEBRASKA AND PURDUE ARE BOTH ON THE ROAD]

Pac-12 forecast:Weekend #1

When a single conference has half its members ranked in the top 16—and four in the top six—that league is bound to have must-see matchups every week.

Such is the embarrassment of riches so far this season in the Pac-12, where Top 20 (or Top 10 or even Top 2) matches should be on tap every week.

Last Friday, #6 UCLA kicked off the first-ever Pac-12 season by mauling #13 USC, 3-0. On Tuesday, #1 Cal scored an equally-impressive 3-1 win against #2 Stanford.

This weekend, the Bay Area schools get a breather, hosting the Rocky Mountain newcomers, Utah and Colorado, in what should be four 3-0 victories for the home teams.

The Arizonas visit the Oregons, where the Ducks should prevail in both, and where the Beavers could get a win against Arizona State.

The big matches are in Seattle, where the Los Angeles schools try to break a recent pattern: When Washington plays USC or UCLA, the home team usually wins. Last season, three of the four matches went five sets, with the home team victorious in each. The home crowd might be an advantage: Washington had the fourth-highest home attendance in the nation (trailing only Hawai’i, Nebraska and Wisconsin), and led the Pac-10 in attendance for the sixth time in the past seven seasons.

Don’t be surprised if the Hec Ed Pavilion/Alaska Airlines Arena matches each go five, with advantage to the home Huskies. In Pullman, WSU is up-and-coming, but likely no match for the Bruins or Trojans.

Friday, Sept. 16 ARIZONA at #16 OREGON ARIZONA STATE at OREGON STATE COLORADO at #1 CALIFORNIA #6 UCLA at WASHINGTON STATE #13 USC at #4 WASHINGTON UTAH at #2 STANFORD

Saturday, Sept. 17 ARIZONA at OREGON STATE COLORADO at #2 STANFORD #6 UCLA at #4 WASHINGTON #13 USC at WASHINGTON STATE UTAH at #1 CALIFORNIA Sunday, Sept. 18 ARIZONA STATE at #16 OREGON