ShareThisIn the big scheme of things, Pacific-10 Conference football coaches haggle with this on-going inferiority perception. Goes something like: a cozy conference out west, where teams can score but don't defend, and yada, yada.
Heard that, defended it.
The only coach not irked by this is Pete Carroll, leader of the Southern California dynasty. The Trojans score, defend, dazzle and reach Bowl Championship Series games. The rest of the conference looms in Troy's considerable shadow, but you can spot the other coaches waving their arms to the rest of the country, reminding that the Pac-10 went 5-0 in bowl games last season.
"This league is incredible, from top to bottom," Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson said. "It's more difficult than people outside the conference seem to understand. I guess they don't see us enough on the West Coast."
Some conference story lines to ponder:
-- Can Best be best?
Really now, can a Pac-10 athlete take home the Heisman Trophy if he isn't wearing USC colors? Maybe, if he has Best on the back of his jersey. Cal's explosive tailback, Jahvid Best, is being touted for the game's greatest honor, though the last Heisman not from USC from this conference was Jim Plunkett of Stanford in 1970.
-- How's Tricky Rick?
Rick Neuheisel is the second-year UCLA coach determined to whittle away at the USC dynasty, starting with recruiting and personality (strengths for USC, by the way). Early in his first season, he appeared on a poster declaring, "The Football Monopoly in Los Angeles is Officially Over." Neuheisel also has an interesting rebuilding history. His second year at Colorado? A 10-2 record. Second season at Washington? Went 11-1.
-- Unsung guns
Clearly a runner's conference, the league race could come down to poise in the pocket. Oregon has Jeremiah Masoli to run the spread option. USC will go with a pup in freshman Matt Barkley. UCLA has a frosh in Kevin Prince, and so does Stanford with Andrew Luck.
-- Rose Bowl bound?
There's a Rose Bowl drought in the Pac-10. Take Oregon State. The Beavers last made it in 1965. And Cal. The Bears have been to the Rose Bowl eight times, the last coming when Joe Kapp had black hair in 1959.
-- Comedy U
Carroll keeps things loose at USC. Comedian Will Ferrell once burst onto the practice field, with a mask and painfully tight briefs, as Captain Compete. This month, Carroll enlisted Bill Withers, he of the famed "Lean on Me" tune, to pose as an NCAA representative bearing bad news of a fungus. Then Withers alerted the team they had been "punked" before the team joined him in his tune.
-- Best player you still don't know
Jacquizz Rodgers is a dart of tailback for Oregon State who stunned USC last season after impressing virtually no one as a Texas touchdown machine. He scored 136 times in high school and had just two scholarship offers.
-- Wulff's woes
Can it get any worse for Paul Wulff, the second-year Washington State coach? Sure. The Cougars could go winless after managing two victories last year. Defense is a priority, as the Cougars were outscored in their 11 losses by an average of 50-9, one of the most lopsided showings in major college football history.
-- Washington woes
You remember the Huskies, once national powers and now losers of 14 consecutive games, the longest losing skid in the nation? Idaho in Week 2 looks awfully inviting for new coach Steve Sarkisian.
(Contact Joe Davidson at jdavidson(at)sacbee.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit Sacramento Bee
