USC, with a lineup full of new names, remains its usual monster self. Washington, the nation’s longest losing team, stumbled again, though the Huskies were much improved. And Oregon State’s sensational Rodgers brothers have mended nicely from injuries that kept them out of the Beavers’ last bowl game. Seven member schools won their openers, six by blowouts.

For Pac-10 football, everything went together as scripted for the first week of a new season with the notable exception of LeGarrette Blount’s right hand.

While usually cradling a football, it landed in the face of Boise State defensive end Byron Hout.

Blount’s impulsive postgame actions — dropping Hout to the ground while a national TV audience looked on, which was his hot-tempered response to an opponent taunting and shoving him following a highly frustrating 19-8 loss on the road — cost Oregon’s running back the rest of his college football career.

Blount, coming off a 1,002-yard and school-record 17-touchdown season as a sub, was tossed off the team for his actions, which included punching a teammate trying to intercede and challenging Boise State fans to engage in further mayhem. The incident became an instant ESPN and YouTube weekend highlight reel and sports radio hot topic everywhere. There was not a happy ending to this ill-advised right cross. Blount, who served previous suspensions in the offseason and last season for unspecified transgressions, was informed in fairly short order by new Oregon head coach Chip Kelly that he could keep his scholarship and continue to practice with the Ducks, but he wouldn’t set foot in a game again.

Whew.

Scoreboard

Arizona 19, Central Michigan 6
Arizona State 50, Idaho State 3
Boise State 19, Oregon 8
California 52, Maryland 13
LSU 31, Washington 23
Oregon State 34, Portland State 7
Stanford 39, Washington State 13
UCLA 33, San Diego State 14
USC 56, San Jose State 3

Fine debuts

While Oregon is auditioning new starting tailback candidates this week, USC appears to have found highly capable replacements for a long list of departed headliners, starting with freshman quarterback Matt Barkley. Three days away from celebrating his 19th birthday, the youthful Barkley made a comfortable transition to the college game against San Jose State, completing 15 of 19 passes for 233 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions.

“Matt just absolutely handled this,” a satisfied USC coach Pete Carroll said. “It was just no big deal for him. He gave us no indication there would be anything other than him being cool and calm, which is exactly what he was.”

A much truer test for Barkley and his teammates will come next weekend, when the Trojans visit Ohio State.

Another person with deep-rooted USC connections who seemed to hold up well in his debut was Steve Sarkisian, the former Trojans offensive coordinator and now Washington’s new head coach. While losing to high-powered LSU, his retooled Huskies drew high marks for being competitive again, not to mention filling up the stadium in a festive manner with 69,161 fans. It helped that junior quarterback Jake Locker, who missed the last eight games last year with a broken thumb, was healthy again, completing 25 of 45 passes for 321 yards and two touchdowns. The enthusiastic Sarkisian seems to be well received in Seattle so far, with several fans dressed in “Bark for Sark” T-shirts for the opener.

“They played hard, they played physical, they fought through adversity, they competed until the last second on the clock and that’s all we could have asked for coming into this ballgame,” Sarkisian said.

However, stark Sark reality is this: Against LSU, Washington still lost its 15th consecutive game, the longest streak in the nation. Encouraging news is the Huskies will host the Idaho Vandals next Saturday and should win for the first time since 2007.

Rodgers’ neighborhood

Oregon State welcomed back Jacquizz and James Rodgers, a pair of breakaway players who were in street clothes for last December’s 3-0 victory over Pittsburgh in the Sun Bowl. Jacquizz, the Pac-10’s rushing champion as a freshman, sat out with a shoulder injury, while James, a big-play receiver, dealt with a broken collarbone. Portland State was not nearly as lucky as Pittsburgh, getting a full dose of the siblings.

They combined for 302 total yards and four touchdowns against the visiting and overmatched Vikings. Jacquizz Rodgers ran for 103 yards and scored three times. James Rodgers got loose for an 87-yard scoring pass play and nearly broke free on a 49-yard kickoff return.

Elsewhere

UCLA, Stanford, California, Arizona and Arizona State also were decisive winners. Rick Neuheisel’s Bruins and Jim Harbaugh’s Cardinal, however, will find out exactly what they’re made of this upcoming weekend. UCLA travels to Tennessee, Stanford to Wake Forest.

Meantime, while punches were being thrown, most Pac-10 teams were winning and Washington was enjoying a moral victory, Washington State continues to flounder in a big-way under second-year coach Paul Wulff. The Cougars, who were 2-11 last season, claimed they were much improved in their 26-point loss. They might have trouble locating witnesses. Just 22,386 fans showed up in rural Pullman, the worst home opener turnout in nine seasons. Granted, the campus has been socked by a swine flu outbreak. But once those students recover, will the WSU football team?

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