(CONTINUED FROM LAST POST)
California. After Jeff Tedford left Oregon for the head coaching job with the Golden Bears, their program experienced a major swing from being at the bottom of the conference to being at the top of national consideration. Despite their tendency to struggle late in the season, they have gained recognition and have produced a number of fantastic NFL prospects like Justin Forsett and Desean Jackson, and beat Tennessee last season, one of the many Pac-10 victories over SEC opponents in the last few years.
Arizona State. With the hiring of Dennis Erickson as head coach, they too experienced a rather immediate turnaround to finish the season ranked No. 13 overall, and look to continue their streak of strong showings and bowl appearances next year.
Oregon State. While I hate the idea of writing about the Beavers in a positive light, you have to give it up to Mike Riley and his ability to take a tiny little program like OSU and make it a national contender. I seem to remember a Fiesta Bowl early in the 2000’s in which the Beavs stuck it to the very storied program of Notre Dame by a score of 41-9. Ouch. Two years ago they knocked off USC, and last season they even beat my beloved Ducks, in Autzen stadium. Again, ouch. But these guys have more passion than most teams in America, probably because no matter how good they are, they always seem to have something to prove.
UCLA was at one time a major contender, and have suffered in the past few years after the issues they had with one of their star athletes receiving illegitimate gifts (seems to be a southern Cali problem; Reggie Bush, O.J. Mayo, granted from the other side of town). But with the hiring of Rick Neuheisel, or as many Northwest football fans kindly refer to as Neu-weasal, UCLA looks poised to make some noise in the 2008 season. Let’s remember this team knocked off USC two years ago in their season finale.
I haven’t even said anything about the SEC, and I know there is a great deal to be said. But what I would like to do is find the record between the Pac-10 and the SEC in the last five years and see what is up then. But for now, I’m outtie like a belly button.
PS – this is funny, check out what the Pac-10 coaches would look like if they were characters on South Park
MOST LIKELY TO:
Bitch and moan about their tough schedule – SEC teams
Man up and deal with their tough schedule – Pac-10 teams
Have proven to be successful in their interconference record vs. SEC – Pac-10
Move a little closer to being the best conference in football – Pac-10
Debate this all year long – ESPN analysts
Show Boise State and the WAC that they are WACK – Oregon Ducks
