As far as he is concerned, Stanford quarterback Randy Fasani doesn't view his team's 3-0 start -- it's best since 1986 -- as anything unexpected.

"I'm not surprised by this at all," he said. "And that is mainly because I knew that our defense would be a lot better.

"They've been been able to stop opposing offenses and then our offense is so explosive and we've been able to put up a lot of points."

A huge part of that equation has been Fasani, who has seemed to do nothing but win since taking over Stanford's quarterback job last season. Fasani, who missed three games last season due to injury, is 8-3 as a starter.

	Stanford QB Randy Fasani has thrown 10 TDs this year.

And this season, his senior leadership has been a key part in the Cardinal's impressive start. He is the fifth-most effective passer in the Pac-10 this season, throwing for an average of 240.3 yards per game while tossing 10 touchdowns versus just one interception.

Fasani leads a potent Stanford attack, which ranks third in the conference in scoring offense with a 36.7 points per game average.

ASU coach Dirk Koetter came away a believer after his team lost a 51-28 shootout to Fasani and Co. earlier this season. But Koetter did not need that game to prove Fasani's worth after trying unsuccessfully to recruit him out of high school when he was an assistant at Oregon.

Koetter believes Fasani has been somewhat overlooked.

"I just think the combination of his athleticism, his strength and his experience make him one of, if not the most dangerous quarterback in the Pac-10 right now," Koetter said. "I think he's underrated. There are some excellent quarterbacks and some guys really playing well in this league, but I think Randy Fasani is underrated."

Cardinal coach Tyrone Willingham has been pleased, especially with his quarterback's work ethic.

"I think anytime you start to talk about your quarterback, I would hope that one of the first things mentioned is that he is a leader and Randy has indeed been that," Willingham said. "He's an excellent leader.

"He's a guy who comes in and puts in extra hours to prepare and he's a guy who works the hardest on the field. So he's given us all the leadership things that we've needed from our quarterback position."

Fasani and Stanford face their greatest challenge so far this season on Saturday when they go against also undefeated Washington State (5-0) in one of two Pac-10 battles of unbeatens this weekend.

"Washington State is an excellent team," Fasani said. "Their offense is putting up a lot of points against everybody that they play and their defense plays extremely well.

"Overall, this is an extremely important game for both teams."

But for Stanford, Saturday is only the beginning of a difficult stretch of games. The Cardinal's next four opponents are a combined 19-0. After Saturday game at The Farm, Stanford has a home game against UCLA sandwiched between road games at Oregon and Washington.

So any talk of Stanford's first Pac-10 title since 1999 will have to wait.

"We're taking this one step at a time," said Fasani, who is completing 54 percent of his passes this season. "We know that we have a lot of tough teams down the road."

Around the Pac-10

Arizona
The Wildcats have an even bigger concern than trying to snap a seven-game Pac-10 losing streak when they travel to Oregon State on Saturday. There is real concern about who they will to put on the field after a rash of injuries to front-line and reserve players have left them depleted. Listed as doubtful for the game are whip linebacker Joe Siofele (hand and wrist), defensive tackle Keoni Fraser (knee), defensive end Austin Uku (knee), inside linebacker Ray Wells (shoulder), offensive guard Reggie Sampay (leg) and defensive end Eli Wnek. Reserves Shelton Ross, Pat Howard, Scott McKee, Zaharius Johnson and long snapper John Vorscheck are all also not likely to play. "We're going to play anyone who can help us," said coach John Mackovic. ... It doesn't help that the bulk of injuries fall on the defensive side of the football where the Wildcats have struggled the most this season. The Cats have surrendered 111 points in their last two Pac-10 games. Their 34.2 points average for scoring defense is 103rd nationally, their 397 yards of offense allowed is 87th and they rank 98th in passing defense with a 258 yards per game average. ... Mackovic is 1-13-1 against Top 10 teams after previous stops at Wake Forest, Illinois and Texas...Tailback Clarence Farmer is third in the Pac-10 in rushing at 97 yards per game and he is averaging six yards per carry.

Arizona State
The Sun Devils have run roughshod over the San Diego States, San Jose States and Louisiana-Lafayettes of college football, but they begin a slate of seven straight Pac-10 games on Saturday at USC. "We're excited to get into Pac-10 play," said first-year ASU coach Dirk Koetter, whose team is coming off a 63-27 win over Louisiana-Lafayette last Saturday. "Make no mistake, we fully realize the teams we play the next seven games. ... This conference is loaded top to bottom. So we're taking a huge step up in competition starting this week and we're excited about that." ... Wide receiver Shaun McDonald turned in a record-breaking performance last week against Louisiana-Lafayette. He tied Pac-10 single-game standard for touchdown receptions in a game with four. McDonald caught touchdown passes of 45, 57, 19 and nine yards last weekend. For the season, he has caught 14 balls, seven of which have been for touchdowns. ... Quarterback Jeff Krohn leads the Pac-10 in passing efficiency (180.9 rating) and is second nationally. Florida's Rex Grossman leads the nation. ... Place-kicker Mike Barth has converted nine straight field goal attempts dating back to last season.

Cal
There are signs all over the place that the Bears have improved offensively, despite a dismal 0-4 beginning. They are averaging 383 yards of offense per game, which is a boost from their 317.5 yards per game average last season. Cal leads the Pac-10 in third down conversion at 45.2 percent. The problem for the Bears is their -13 turnover margin, which ranks last in the league. They have turned the football over 14 times while collecting just one turnover in return. "We're doing well on offense in just about every category (but turnovers)," said Cal Coach Tom Holmoe. "Obviously, if you turn the ball over that many times then you're not going to be scoring many touchdowns." ... Wide receiver Charon Arnold is second in the Pac-10 in receiving with 5.3 catches per game.

Oregon
After struggling early, the Ducks ground game has began showing signs of promise during the last two weeks. Senior Maurice Morris has rushed for over 100 yards in the last two games, including a 110-yard performance last Saturday against Arizona. And last week, sophomore Onterrio Smith got into the act with a 131-yard rushing performance against the Wildcats. The Ducks rank third in the Pac-10 in rushing offense with a 178.6 yard per game average to go along with 11 rushing touchdowns. Morris (447 yards) and Smith (356) both rank in the Top 10 in the conference in rushing yards. ... The Ducks at 5-0 are off to their best start since 1998. They have not started a season 6-0 since 1964. ... Oregon is outscoring opponents 38-13 in the first quarter. ... Quarterback Joey Harrington is 19-2 as a starter for the Ducks. His six touchdowns against Arizona (three passing, three running) were one shy of a Pac-10 record for a regulation game. Harrington was named the Pac-10 offensive player of the week on Monday.

Oregon State
OSU coach Dennis Erickson hasn't lost faith in starting senior quarterback Jonathan Smith, but last week he gave heralded true freshman Derek Anderson an extensive look and vowed to give him time this Saturday against Arizona. Anderson, the heir to the job, finished last week against Washington State with 96 yards and an interception on 6 of 14 passing. ... "We just weren't getting anything going offensively against Washington State and decided to make a change to see if we could put a spark into what we were doing offensively," said OSU coach Dennis Erickson. ... Running back Ken Simonton has gone from Heisman Trophy hopeful to a near bust this season. After ranking at the top of the conference the last three seasons in rushing, the senior is ranked 10th in the Pac-10 in rushing this season with a 64 yards per game average during the first four games. Simonton is coming off the worst performance of his career last week against Washington State, a 19-yard rushing effort on 12 carries." ... Cornerback Terrell Roberts recorded the Beavers' first interception of the year with two picks last week against WSU. ... Middle linebacker Richard Siegler got in on 18 tackles last week against the Cougars.

Stanford
It seems that the Cardinal has had the number of Washington State in recent years, winning the last three straight meetings, which includes last season's 24-10 decision. Stanford also has not lost to the Cougars in Palo Alto since 1988. The two meet on Saturday in a battle of the undefeated at The Farm. "I'd probably say we've been lucky because within that stretch has been a couple of close games where the breaks have gone our way at the right time," said Stanford coach Tyrone Willingham. ... The Cardinal has a five-game winning streak going and a four-game winning conference win streak. Stanford's last five-game winning streak occurred in 1996. ... The 3-0 start is Stanford's best start since it went 4-0 to begin the 1986 season. ... Wide receiver Luke Powell is leading the nation in punt returns with a 25.5 yards per return average. Powell also ranks third in the conference in receiving yards with 91.7 yards per game and is also third in the conference in all purpose yards with a 125.7 yards per game average.

UCLA
The Bruins continue to be one of the most dominant defensive teams in the country this season. They have not allowed an opponent to score more than 17 points this season. Opponents are averaging 11.8 yards per game. The 47 points allowed are the fewest allowed by a Bruins team in the first four games since 1980. ... Senior tailback DeShaun Foster leads the Pac-10 in rushing with a 128 yards per game average. UCLA is also atop the conference in team rushing with a 197.3 yards per game average. ... The Bruins pace the Pac-10 and rank in the top 12 nationally in pass defense (151.5 yards per game), total defense (271.5) and scoring defense (11.8).

USC
The Trojans suffered another blow along their defensive front this week with loss of junior nose tackle Bernard Riley for the season. He suffered ligament damage in his knee during last Saturday's loss to Washington. Freshman Michael Patterson will take his place in the lineup, leaving USC with possibly three freshmen starting along its defensive front. ... "It calls for us to step up and kind of mix and match a little bit," said USC coach Pete Carroll. Freshman defensive tackle Shaun Cody and redshirt freshman defensive end Kenechi Udeze filled in for injured Bobby DeMars (stinger) and Ryan Nielsen (separated shoulder), respectively, last week. Both could be called upon on Saturday against Arizona State, though DeMars and Nielsen are listed as questionable. ... The Trojans have lost four straight games by a combined 14 points to all Top 25 teams. ... USC's 1-4 start is its worst beginning since 1958. ... Tailback Sultan McCullough came away from the Washington game with 132 yards on a career-high 32 carries. McCullough has also scored six of the Trojans' nine offensive touchdowns this season.

Washington
True freshman receiver Reggie Williams is gaining a reputation as a big time player in the Pac-10 already. The 6-foot-4 speedster is coming off of a five catch, 101 yards performance against USC last Saturday. "He is definitely blessed with a unique playing ability," said Washington coach Rick Neuheisel. "He has the and he can run and he has good hands." Williams ranks second in the Pac-10 in receiving yards with 93.8 yards per game average. ... It appears that junior college transfer quarterback Taylor Barton will get his first start Saturday against UCLA with starter Cody Pickett sideline with a separated shoulder. Barton actually helped guide the Huskies to last week's come-from-behind victory after Pickett initially went down. Barton's backup is freshman Casey Paus, who is the younger brother of starting UCLA quarterback Cory Paus. ... The Huskies winning streak has now reached 12, which is the third-longest current winning streak behind Oklahoma (18) and Miami (13). Included in that are nine straight Pac-10 wins. ... Washington has not allowed a rushing touchdown this season. ... Linebacker Ben Mahdavi was named Pac-10 defensive player of the week on Monday and place-kicker John Anderson was named the special teams player of the week after making the game-winning 32-yard field goal.

Washington State
Cougars coach Mike Price has hinted that the calm atmosphere at The Farm may have been his team's problem over the years against Stanford. But he says that this year's team quieter and works off less emotion. And as far as him never winning at Stanford since coming aboard in 1989, Price said, "I'm 0 for 5 down there so maybe it's me and it doesn't have anything to do with the players." ... The Cougars are gaining a reputation for their fast starts after jumping on Arizona for a 28-0 lead in the first eight minutes two weeks ago and then they went up 31-0 early in the second quarter against Oregon State last week. ... Washington State's average margin of victory in five games has been 23 points. ... WSU held Oregon State to just 24 rushing yards, which is the lowest rushing total allowed by the Cougs since 1995. They rank first in the Pac-10 and seventh in the nation in rushing defense (59.8 yards per game) with no team breaking the 100-yard barrier against them this season. ... Slotback Nakoa McElrath leads the Pac-10 in receiving (6.8 catches per game) and receiving yardage (119.6 yards per game).

Terrance Harris covers the Pac-10 for the Arizona Daily Star.