Though it may have been tough to admit, most Pac-10 football
coaches believe that USC’s reign as two-time defending
national champions has been beneficial to the Pac-10. They also
agree, however, that even the Trojans’ dominance, including a
55-19 thrashing of Oklahoma in the national title game last season,
has done very little to erode the inferior image of the conference
at large. While each of the conference’s 10 coaches took last
Tuesday’s Pac-10 Media Day at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel as
an opportunity to make an opening statement for their team, it
didn’t take long for the conversation to shift immediately
back to USC’s success, while putting the rest of the
conference on the defensive. Among the list of positives of
USC’s ascendance to the top of college football that coaches
mentioned included the increased television exposure for the
conference, and the very fact that the national champion in each of
the last two seasons has come from the Pac-10. According to UCLA
coach Karl Dorrell, however, there exists a growing and unhealthy
perception around the country that the Pac-10 is comprised of one
great team, USC, and a host of other teams not quite on the same
level. “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. “I’m not sure
(the rest of the country) wants to understand,” said Oregon
State coach Mike Riley. “I know I feel good about Pac-10
football and the reputation it should have around the
country.” While USC, which is riding a 15-game conference win
streak, was the unanimous pick to win the Pac-10 in the pre-season
media poll for the second consecutive year, most coaches and
players at media day agreed that the Trojans are far from
unstoppable. USC comes into the 2005 season having lost six
starters on the defensive side of the ball and encountering a much
more difficult schedule than last year’s, having to face
California, Arizona State and Oregon all on the road. “No one
is invincible, everyone is beatable,” said Oregon State wide
receiver Mike Hass, whose team is the only Pac-10 foe the Trojans
won’t play on their schedule. “They lost players, just
like everybody else. There are teams in the conference that can
knock them off and I wouldn’t be surprised if it
happens.”
SCHEDULE CHANGE: Starting in the 2006 season,
Pac-10 teams will be allowed to form a 12-game schedule in which
they play every other team in the conference. Under the existing
format, teams evade one conference opponent a year, meaning a
Pac-10 champion is crowned every season without having played all
the teams in the conference. The change was welcomed with open arms
by the conference’s coaches. “It’s a great league
the way it’s laid out, especially now that we will play
everyone next season,” said first-year Stanford coach Walt
Harris.
MOORE INVESTMENT: Former UCLA and current
Oregon State quarterback Matt Moore was named as the starter for
the 2005 season, according to Beaver coach Mike Riley. Moore, who
left the Bruin program after a turbulent season in which he and
current UCLA quarterback Drew Olson battled for the starting
position, gets to face off against his former team on Oct. 22 at
the Rose Bowl.
PLAYING KEEP AWAY: After a season in which his
team ranked near dead last of the 117 Division I-A teams in punt
return defense, Arizona State coach Dirk Koetter may not have had a
handy explanation for it, but he did offer a remedy.
“We’re just going to try not to punt this year,”
Koetter said. “I knew it was bad when my special teams coach
told me to go for it on 4th and 20.
QUACKING ON THE DOOR: Though Oregon coach Mike
Bellotti was ready to attend his press conference at Pac-10 Media
Day, he still needed to get past security. The Ducks’ coach
was stopped from entering the door of the Grand Ballroom in which
the press conferences were being conducted because he was not
wearing a Pac-10 sticker.
EXTRA POINTS: The Bruins’ 2006 and 2007
season schedules have been officially finalized. Along with facing
each opponent in the Pac-10, UCLA will feature home-and-home series
with Utah and Notre Dame over the course of both seasons.