Coming into the 2009 college football season, the Pac-10 boasted three teams ranked in The Associated Press Top 25 and four in the USA Today poll, putting them in the conversation with the Southeastern Conference and Big 12 Conference for best football conference in the country.
USC entered the season ranked No. 4, while California and Oregon occupied the No. 12 and No. 16 slots, respectively.
It was also decided prior to the season, by the community of genius Pac-10 college football writers, that USC would take home the Pac-10 crown once again, with Cal and Oregon serving as the Trojans’ only real competition.
Well, it’s week five, and everything that wasn’t supposed to happen, has happened … exactly how it should be.
The fact that the Pac-10 is in the state of flux that it is speaks volumes toward the unassuming strength of the conference.
Case in point, Washington pulled off what some thought to be the unthinkable when they took down the heavily favored Trojans, 16-13, two weeks ago in Seattle. But does the Huskies’ win speak more toward USC’s vulnerability or more toward Washington’s potential?
Think about it. This past Saturday, the Huskies traveled to South Bend, Ind., to face the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, a team ranked as high as No. 18 in the polls this season, in one of the toughest environments in all of college football.
Not only did the Huskies give Notre Dame all that they could handle, they gave them more.
Washington lost 37-30 in overtime, but for anyone who saw the game, it was painfully clear that the Huskies should have won. Moreover, it makes you wonder, would this game have even been close if it were on the Huskies’ home field, the same place they took down the almighty Trojans just 14 days earlier?
I would argue that if the game were to have been in Washington, Charlie Weis may be out of a job by now.
Next topic: Stanford.
The Cardinal is 3-0 in the Pac-10 so far and has trailed for only two seconds over the course of the season. It just so happens those two seconds came at the end of a heartbreaking loss to Wake Forest in Stanford’s second game of the season.
However, in that game, Stanford led 17-3 at halftime, before the Demon Deacons scored 21 unanswered points, including the go-ahead touchdown with only two seconds left on the clock.
The point is that the Wake Forest meltdown serves as Stanford’s only blemish of the season, and they could very easily be 5-0 and ranked in the top 25.
As for the Pac-10 standings, the almighty USC now sits in fourth place behind Arizona, picked to finish eighth in the Pac-10 standings, Oregon, picked to finish third, and the aforementioned Cardinal, which was picked to finish sixth.
But by far the biggest surprise? California, picked to finish second in the Pac-10 race. To put it lightly, it’s not looking so good for the Golden Bears, who currently sit near the bottom of the Pac-10 standings in eighth.
Cal was ranked as high as No. 6 in the country this season but has collapsed over the past two games.
Two weeks ago, the Bears were blasted by Oregon, 42-3, and their bad luck continued this weekend when on their home field, they were blown out by the Trojans, 30-3.
Overall, only two out of the 10 Pac-10 schools are in the position they were tabbed to fill during the preseason, those teams being Washington State, which was picked to finish last, and UCLA, picked to land in seventh.
Oh, Bruins.
But we must now go back to the burning question: Are the Pac-10 standings corrupted because the teams in the Pac-10 are overrated or because they’re underrated?
Consider this: The Pac-10 holds an overall record of 19-8 against nonconference opponents. That means they maintain a .704 win percentage against the rest of the country. To further that, if you take the three Pac-10 teams who have been ranked in the Top 25 this season ““ USC, Cal and Oregon ““ their combined record is 11-4. But only one of those losses came against a non-conference opponent, with Oregon having lost to sixth-ranked Boise State in their season opener.
In addition, only four of those three team’s 11 victories have been against conference opponents, meaning they hold a record of 7-1 against the rest of the country.
So, is the Pac-10 overrated or underrated?
I’ll take the under.
If you think he’s an overrated sports writer, e-mail Watson at bwatson@media.ucla.edu.