It became official moments after the fourth quarter ended and
USC’s clean drubbing of Oklahoma mercifully ended.
The game was built up as a treasure of a national title game,
with four Heisman finalists and two undefeated teams that were the
undisputed top teams in the country facing off against one
another.
And when all could attest to the dominance of the Trojans’
defense, the precision of Matt Leinart’s passes, and the
explosiveness of Reggie Bush, USC was a collegiate dynasty ““
a juggernaut that overshadowed the rest of the country, let alone
its own conference.
With Leinart and Bush back for a third helping of a national
championship feast, football fans and pundits alike have debated
whether it is good to have one dominant team in its conference as
USC has been over the past three seasons.
Sitting around a pool of fidgety sports writers questioning the
overall strength of their conference, every single Pac-10 coach
except USC coach Pete Carroll grudgingly admitted that USC’s
success has brought exposure to an otherwise overlooked Bowl
Championship Series conference.
Among them was UCLA coach Karl Dorrell, who held true to form as
the vague contrarian by citing some of the negatives of West Coast
college football.
“I don’t think it’s good to have our
conference to be viewed as having the one powerhouse and everybody
else beneath them,” Dorrell said. “(The Pac-10)
doesn’t get the same kind of coverage that maybe the SEC or
the Big-12 gets because we aren’t on national television as
much.”
The way Dorrell sees it, there is a group of teams that is
perceived as being a notch or two below USC and therefore gets less
publicity during the season. The perception of the Pac-10 has
always been that it’s a soft place for football, with no real
defense and inflated offensive numbers.
Whether there’s any validity to the belief that football
on the eastern half of the country is predominantly tougher seems
preposterous, especially considering all the east-coast media that
has perpetuated such an idea.
The Pac-10 does have a group of teams that have failed to keep
pace with USC’s recruiting bonanza. UCLA is no exception.
The Bruins, along with the Oregon Ducks and the Washington
Huskies, were solid programs in the late ’90s but have been
unable to compete with the Trojans in recent years. And the
media’s SEC-oriented coverage creates an uphill battle for
Dorrell and his fellow coaches to take their Pac-10 program to the
next level.
“The other teams probably only have one game a year to
show the rest of the country what kind of a team they are,”
Dorrell said. “Cal last year was a good example because they
had a great year, but a lot of people only saw the Southern Miss.
game or the Holiday Bowl and might have underrated them because of
those two games when they weren’t as sharp.”
For all intents and purposes, Dorrell is right on the money. A
Pac-10 team not wearing cardinal and gold could have a terrific
season when nobody’s watching, only to lay an egg in a bowl
game and lose all credibility.
For instance, UCLA’s loss to Wyoming in the Las Vegas Bowl
doesn’t exactly give the country a good impression of where
the Bruin program is at right now.
But it also works the other way. For every team that could
underperform when it gets the rare opportunity to share the
spotlight with USC or another powerhouse, an overacheiving squad
could take advantage of the exposure and pull an upset.
Whether or not Dorrell wants to admit it, he’s got to be
hoping that his team will fill that role this season. The Bruins
have two games you can circle on the calendar as the
“Let’s coach ’em up and see what happens”
games: Oklahoma at the Rose Bowl on Sept. 17 and USC at the Los
Angeles Coliseum on Dec. 3.
The sweet irony of only having a couple nationally televised
games, albeit against the top two teams, is the chance to play
above yourself and actually be overrated.
The Bruins can do this, and if they want to take their program
to the vaunted next level, they must beat at least one team they
aren’t supposed to. During the still-young Dorrell era, the
Bruins have only been able to beat the teams they were supposed to
and lost to a few they couldn’t afford to.
If UCLA can take advantage of an overlooked Pac-10 behind the
legs of Maurice Drew, it they might be the team that changes the
current landscape of the conference with a nine- or 10-win season
and second- or third-place finish. Maybe even a Holiday Bowl
berth.
If that happens, there will be less debate about the overall
health of the Pac-10. Quieting those chirpings would be sure to
bring a smile to Karl Dorrell’s face.
E-mail de Jong at adejong@media.ucla.edu if you think Mo
Drew needs to stay healthy for a Holiday Bowl bid.