ESPN Pac-10 Blog

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

An early mailbag because we're taking Friday off for the Fourth of July weekend.

May your fireworks be mind-blowing.

To the notes...

Andy from Spokane, Wash., writes: About a month ago or so I asked you a question regarding Paul Wulff at WSU and how long you think he should be sticking around. You said to give it a few years that it will take awhile to turn around. I have a follow up to that.....With all the recent arrests of WSU players and Wulff seemingly doing nothing to suspend or even kick them off the time (much to the disappoint of long time Cougar fans like myself) and instead saying "This happens all the time at other Schools." He has to be on a shorter leash now.....right? All these arrests and him not doing anything about it is getting embarrassing to the program and the university as a whole.

Ted Miller: First of all, I think it's admirable that a majority of Cougars fans -- in the blogs and in my e-mail -- are taking a hard line: They want the off-field issues to stop. Now. Even if it costs football talent.

I mostly agree. And you know what -- and I'm reading his mind here -- I bet Wulff does, too.

He's in a pickle, though. He's got a team that is extremely talent-thin and he can't afford to lose a handful of likely starters/contributors -- for whatever reason -- and expect to be competitive.

My suggestion is to wait and see how everything works out. The last I read, charges in the latest incident -- an alleged attempt to steal four bikes -- hadn't been filed.

As for whether this shortens Wulff's leash -- it certainly doesn't help him. I still feel, however, that the sample size is too small to judge Wulff's tenure.

---

The Tree from Palo Alto writes: When I read Andrew Luck would start, my first reaction was "no! another jimmy clausen", but then thought "yes! another john elway".First Question: Does luck have the supporting cast to at least be better than Clausen in his first year?Second Question: In the "conference of QBs" how have true freshmen QBs fared?thanks!

Ted Miller: Wait... how can you type? You have no arms.

Of course... a celebrity like you has "people."

First, Luck is a redshirt freshman -- that's a huge difference than a true freshman. He's had an entire year in the system. As for the Clausen comparison, let's just say Clausen's celebrity and Notre Dame's place in the media galaxy made that perhaps the most pressure-pack situation in college sports. Not the same thing for Luck at Stanford.

As for Luck's supporting cast, seven starters are back on offense, led by running back Toby Gerhart. That should take some pressure off him.

I've got a hunch Luck will do well. He's going to take some lumps, of course, but he's also going to show a lot of promise.

As for the history of freshmen quarterbacks in the Pac-10, the Seattle Times did an outstanding job on researching that in 2007 before the Huskies started then-redshirt freshman Jake Locker.

The ultimate conclusion? While redshirt freshmen don't often do that well, some of the biggest names at the position in conference history started as redshirt freshmen.

---

Pado from Portland writes: You said that Oregon would have finished second in the SEC last year, where do you think they would finish this year?

Ted Miller: You guys...

Ask me again a few games into the season. I want to see how the nonconference games go in both conferences.

Now California... The Bears would be playing Florida in the SEC championship game. And they'd be unbeaten if they lucked into Ole Miss' schedule.

Release the hounds! (I just... couldn't... resist).

---

Francis from Oakland writes: I am a Cal Bear fan, and I have often made the argument that USC (and to a lesser extent, UCLA) have a huge advantage over all major BCS football programs in that they draw from a pool of 25 million people in an area (southern Cal) where there are only 2 major BCS colleges to bond with when these kids are growing up.I know that recruiting is not quite that simple, and both colleges recruit nationally, but it seems to my mind to be a huge advantage in terms of a almost built-in first choice for so many kids, especially as USC has effectively functioned as LA's pro team for many years now. All other states or regions with a similar population as Southern California have 2 or 3 times the number of BCS programs to vie over a similar number of top recruits.Maybe this is not commented on since it might be as obvious as saying water is wet, but I can't remember seeing this aspect of recruiting (demographics) discussed. Do you think my theory holds water?

Ted Miller: Your argument does hold water. USC and UCLA do have an advantage.

But if I wanted to start a program in an urban population center, I'd plop it down in Atlanta. Or Miami. Or Dallas.

Population is a huge advantage in recruiting, but demographics also are important. If you have a large Hispanic population, for example, soccer might be the No. 1 sport. We also, obviously, could wade into areas of race. Suffice it to say, we all know that not many BCS running backs hail from Montana. Or have family in Tokyo.

Moreover, how much does said population love football? My feeling is there is a much bigger football culture in other areas -- urban and quasi-urban -- compared to LA and Southern California.

For example, you're writing to a guy who joined about 18,000 fans at a Vigor-Blount high school game in Prichard, Ala., back in the 1990s and watched the town of Brewton, Ala., shut down -- completely -- so T.R. Miller and W.S. Neal could conduct the annual "Battle of Murder Creek."

Folks in Alabama obsess about football. And don't even get me started about south Georgia. Or south Florida. Or along I-77 through Ohio. And did you ever watch "Friday Night Lights"? There's a reason that show -- and the book -- isn't based in southern California.

There's great athletic talent in southern California, don't get me wrong. But it's dispersed throughout many sports. In certain other areas of the country, you play football. And if you don't want to play football... you still play football.

These "intangibles" balance out a recruiting advantage based on pure population figures.

Meanwhile, eight other Pac-10 teams know that the best talent on the West Coast is in southern California. So they all hit the region hard.

All the Pac-10's non-California schools have more Californians on their rosters than players from their home state. There's a lot of competition, and USC and UCLA sometimes lose out on guys they want.

In the SEC, the home state produces the largest percentage of players for almost every team, and there's far more pressure for recruits to stay home and play. It's a major story when they leave, too. A big-time guy from Long Beach Poly is not going to become a local pariah because he chooses Arizona State over USC.

So, sure, USC and UCLA have a built-in advantage due to their location, and Trojans coach Pete Carroll obviously has figured out how to take advantage of that advantage.

But I don't think it's as extraordinary as you might think.

---

Anthony from Chico, Calif., writes: Is there any reason you chose not to give credit to BB King or the song writer who originally wrote the lyrics that you quote to begin your article? Literary rules require you to give credit to copied material when you incorporate it into your article, doesn't it? Many people have suffered when found out that they plagiarized. I wouldn't use your original material and claim it as mine. I believe that you owe Mr. King/and or the lyric writer for stealing their lines.

Ted Miller: Anthony, I bet you are a lot of fun at cocktail parties.

I never credit the quotes I use to open the daily links (did you not notice before; or was this your first visit?). And there is a reason.

I want it to be sport for those who care. As in: Do you know who said, sung or wrote the quote/excerpt? Those who know feel smart. Or amused. Or nostalgic.

Those who don't -- and, again, who care -- can cut and paste into a Google search and... Bingo! There it is!

I'm sure a lot of Pac-10 football fans skip over the quote. Or think them worthless or even pretentious.

But I get a handful of notes each week from folks who particularly enjoyed a quote. I also get a big kick out of the people who catch some of the more obscure stuff and who try to theorize patterns to my selections.

It's supposed to be fun. Like a B.B. King lyric.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

Busy day for UCLA.

First, UCLA announced a home-and-home series with Rutgers. The Bruins will open the 2016 season at Rutgers on Sept. 1, and the Scarlet Knights will make a return visit to the Rose Bowl the following season on Sept. 2.

The teams have never met before.

Second, UCLA announced that safety E.J. Woods and offensive lineman Sonny Tevaga are no longer members of the football team. The release from the school said Woods plans to transfer to a local junior college and Tevaga is "exploring his options."

Woods is facing some legal issues. Brian Dohn, who previously reported Woods' transfer, wrote on his blog that Tevaga, a junior, appears to be an academic casualty.

Neither was expected to start in 2009, though hopes were high for Woods, a redshirt freshman.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?

• This is an Arizona State baseball story, but a Sun Devils football player makes a strong cameo. 
• The Gainesville (Fla.) Sun believes there are 18 teams better than California. Hmm.
• An early look at Oregon's incoming recruits.
• It seems Sean Canfield's money maker is very accurate.
• A Stanford preview here.
• News and video of UCLA's latest commitment.
• Might the NCAA want to make an example out of USC?  
• Sagging ticket sales and donations are hurting Washington State. Are the Cougars often a victim of big-market bias?
• There was a significant Pac-10 coaching presence in Hawaii for the all-Poly football camp. A look at the prospects on hand.
• Who are the Pac-10's "sleepers" at running back.
• Buster Sports' No. 2 all-time Pac-10 football coach might surprise you.

ESPN.com's Ivan Maisel and Ted Miller discuss the Pac-10's red-hot rivalries for '09..

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

Tenth in a series of Pac-10 thoughts that might come from unusual angles.

Don't be surprised if ... Pac-10 quarterback play is significantly better in 2009.

How could that possibly be?

The two highest rated passers from 2008, USC's Mark Sanchez (No. 6 in the nation) and Arizona's Willie Tuitama (No. 22) are gone.

	Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE
	Oregon's Jeremiah Masoli will lead an improved group of Pac-10 quarterbacks this season.

The highest rated returning passer? Oregon's Jeremiah Masoli at No. 45.

Remember the glory days?

In 2002, seven Pac-10 quarterbacks were rated between No. 5 and No. 43. Six averaged more than 254 yards passing per game, with two, Washington's Cody Pickett and USC's Carson Palmer, averaging over 300 yards per game.

In 2008? Zippo. Sanchez led the way with 247 yards per game.

Moreover, eight teams will be starting a different quarterback than the guy who opened last season as the starter. And those two teams starting the same guy, California and Washington, didn't start the same guy all season, though for very different reasons.

Finally, five teams will turn to a quarterback with zero starting experience.

So, again: How could anyone forecast improvement?

Well, it's legitimate to expect seven teams to improve their quarterback play in 2009, and the three teams trending downward have valid reasons for optimism.

And, yes, a significant part of the rationale in many cases is: "It couldn't get any worse, right?"

Let's walk through it.

Arizona: Down.
And yet... Matt Scott and Nick Foles look fairly good this spring, but the real reason not to bet against the Wildcats is offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes.

Arizona State: Down.
And yet... Rudy Carpenter had a mostly miserable 2008 in large part due to poor offensive line play. If the Sun Devils improve up front, Danny Sullivan should provide little drop-off from Carpenter's pedestrian numbers.

California: Up.
The assumption is Kevin Riley will be better with experience. And let's not forget the same goes for a corps of receivers, talented but completely green in 2008, that returns intact.

Oregon: Up.
Masoli was the best quarterback in the Pac-10 over the final quarter of the season. If he improves, he could end up first-team All-Pac-10... and maybe more.

Oregon State: Up.
The Beavers have two proven, experienced starting quarterbacks in Sean Canfield and Lyle Moevao. If Canfield prevails this fall, as expected, he's the more skilled passer.

Stanford: Up.
Sure, Andrew Luck is a redshirt freshman, but he has as much natural ability as a passer as anyone in the conference. Beyond that, the Cardinal passing game couldn't get much worse than 2008. And having experienced senior Tavita Pritchard as a backup can only be a good thing.

UCLA: Up.
This situation is much like Stanford. Kevin Craft battled last year, but setting a school record with 20 interceptions almost guarantees this year will be better with redshirt freshman Kevin Prince.

USC: Down.
And yet... A new quarterback and a new coordinator, so there are questions, but with nine starters back on offense, including a potentially dominating offensive line, it's hard to imagine the Trojans will get bad quarterback play for the first time since 2001.

Washington: Up.
If Jake Locker stays healthy, the Huskies won't be anyone's patsy this fall. He looked good transitioning from a spread to a pro-style scheme this spring, and he's got a solid, experienced crew of receivers back. He might make a move for All-Conference honors.

Washington State: Up.
Washington State produced some of the nation's worst quarterback play last year. Little to no experience. New system. Injuries. Not a lot of talent. There will be less newness this go-around, and Marshall Lobbestael won't be the wide-eyed freshman he was in 2008. And, honestly, things can't possibly be worse, right?

The Pac-10 still won't revert to its previous and long-held status as the farm system for future NFL quarterbacks this fall.

The expectation here, however, is that 2008, one of the worst seasons in conference history at the position, was an embarrassing blip and not a new trend.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

USC safety Taylor Mays and Trojans center Kristofer O'Dowd have been named to the Playboy All-American team. 

Mays joins Arizona State kicker Thomas Weber as the Pac-10's two-time Playboy honoree this season.

Mays, a senior and four-year stater, had 53 tackles last year with a team-high nine deflections.

O'Dowd, a junior and three-year starter, earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors in 2008.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

Some weight room warriors are born. Others are made.

Oregon State defensive tackle Stephen Paea is 298-pound freak of nature. He has only been lifting weights for three or four years -- about as long as the native of Tonga has been playing football. He estimated his max bench press this week was "525 or 530 pounds." He also squats 720 pounds.

Paea might be the nation's strongest college football player.

Beavers offensive guard Gregg Peat observed what most folks around the Pac-10 already know: Paea is about ready for his national close-up.

"He's pretty incredible," Peat said.

As for Peat, he arrived at Oregon State in 2005 as an unheralded recruit, the Beavers the only Pac-10 team to offer him a scholarship. He bench pressed about 225 pounds. According to Peat, "I was a soft 285 pounds."

Peat is now a solid 295 pounds, a team co-captain and is slated to start at guard for the second consecutive season.

Paea was born to lift weights. "He's a freak," Peat said.

Peat used weights to reinvent himself physically. "He's a guy I see working hard," Paea said. "He sets a great example for other players."

Peat now bench presses 350 pounds, squats 450 and -- most impressive -- power cleans 330. He has also dramatically increased his speed, quickness, agility and flexibility.

Oregon State almost never signs a highly rated recruiting class. Nonetheless, it has finished ranked in the top-25 three consecutive seasons.

I wonder if what happens inside the $16 million Sports Performance Center has anything to do with the unheralded Point A transforming into the nationally ranked Point B?

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

For the second consecutive season, Arizona State's junior kicker Thomas Weber, the 2007 Groza Award winner, has been named to the Playboy All-American team, the magazine announced today. 

Weber becomes only the second Sun Devil to be named to the Playboy All-America team twice. Cornerback Mike Richardson made the team in 1981 and 1982.

Weber becomes the 14th Sun Devil to be named to the Playboy All-America team, according to a release from Arizona State. It is the 16th time an ASU player has been named to the squad. Former Sun Devil head coach Bruce Snyder was named to the team in 1997 as the National Coach-of-the-Year.

In 2008, Weber connected on 19 of 25 field goals, including a long of 49 yards. Three of his field goal tries were blocked. He was 29 of 30 on extra points and scored 86 points to lead the Sun Devils. He also punted duties, averaging 41.4 yards per boot.

Over the past two seasons, Weber has hit 43 of 50 field goals, including a career-long 53-yarder. He has scored 204 points and sports a 40.5 yards per punt average on 106 punts. He is 33 of 36 on field goals inside 40 yards in his career.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

He once told me that the art of getting ahead in New York was based on learning how to express dissatisfaction in an interesting way.

• Arizona defensive coordinator Mark Stoops and brother Bob, Oklahoma's head coach, helped out at a football camp that is close to their hearts. 
• A list of Arizona State's "Scholar Ballers." The Sun Devils also got a commitment from a receiver, which leaves their recruiting class looking like this.
• Not much can Hinder this California quarterback recruit from Colorado. 
• Do Oregon's uniforms distract from what the program has accomplished on the field? Former AD Pat Kilkenny, replaced by former coach Mike Bellotti, is now back to being a Ducks fan. Two reserve players are gone due to ineligibility.
• Oregon State center Alex Linnenkohl is featured in this story about offseason conditioning. And the Beavers got two commitments.
• Why did this recruit from Gainesville, Ga., pick Stanford? That slip of paper they hand him when he graduates. And Stanford recruiting seems to be going quite well.
• USC, Florida and Tennessee are battling for one of the few remaining uncommitted elite quarterbacks.
• A preview of the Washington Huskies.
• Four of the nation's top-10 nonconference schedules are in the Pac-10, according to this list.
• Beware of Twitter and Facebook, Pac-10 athletes.
• Ranking Pac-10 schedules, with some interesting info about how Washington's got so hard.
• Here's a Pac-10 all-decade team. Discuss.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

For 26 years atop the Pac-10, commissioner Tom Hansen has been an advocate for change as well as a defender of tradition.

Both qualities have earned him admirers and critics.

During his tenure, the conference has become an all-sports powerhouse that annually piles up national championships, though some argue at the expense of the sport that pays for it all: football. 

Hansen steps aside today, and Larry Scott, former chairman and CEO of the Women's Tennis Association, takes over.

	AP Photo/Paul Sakuma
	Pac-10 commisioner Tom Hansen is stepping down Wednesday after 26 years at the helm.

Ahead for Hansen: golf, travel and quality time with grandchildren.

But before he does that, he looks back, looks forward and assesses the Pac-10 present.

Think back to when you started 26 years ago: Did you imagine then that college football would look like it does today?

Tom Hansen: I probably hoped it would because I think it looks wonderful today. But I really didn't envision it being as important as it is, as good as it is, holding its TV ratings as well as it has during the fragmentation of the television audience. The in-stadium attendance -- I don't have these numbers exactly -- but I saw recently that in 1979 that attendance was 26 million and today it's 38 million. And the attendance at bowl games last year was very good and bowl game ratings were very good. I think that back in 1983, none of us was really sure what television would do. There were uncertainties with what the future would hold.

If you could change one thing about college football -- across the entire landscape of teams and conferences -- what would it be?

TH: As always, you'd want to make it safer for the student-athlete. That's something we constantly seek. It is a violent game and unfortunately participants get hurt. Beyond that, I like a lot where it is. We probably have too many bowl games but teams and players who get to participate probably have a good time and feel like it's a reward for 12 months of hard work.

There was a report in the Seattle Times about the Pac-10 talking to the Alamo Bowl: Where does that stand?

TH: We've talked to quite a few bowls in the last six months, particularly in the West. This is the last year of the current [non-BCS] bowl cycle. We tried to move quickly this year for a number of reasons having to do with bowls' television agreements and bowls' sponsorship agreements. We would certainly be interested in the Alamo Bowl, if we could fit it into our bowl lineup. We had two games there [1993 and 1994] and had an excellent experience and people love to go to San Antonio. It would be a very attractive destination for Pac-10 fans.

Do you imagine significant changes in the Pac-10 bowl arrangements over the coming years?

TH: Not very significant because we know from history that the Florida bowls, the Southeast bowls, are not interested in our teams because of the travel distances for fans and our probable inability to sell tickets in that area. So we are pretty well restricted in where we would have opportunities.

The SEC and Big Ten are making a lot more money than the Pac-10 and other BCS conferences: Are we developing have- and have-not conferences within the BCS?

TH: I think that is a possibility and a danger and we are going to be studying our opportunities to step up in television to try to keep pace with those two conferences. We need to try to find ways to match what those two conferences are doing. Our athletic directors have been studying the television marketplace for the last year with an eye on that.

Is a Pac-10 network a sure-thing for increasing revenue?

TH: I think if we were to decide to do that, yes, revenue would definitely increase over what we have now. Whether that's the best approach for increasing revenue is something that the directors will be looking at in the next year or two. We have TV contracts -- ABC/ESPN in football and Fox Sports Net in football and basketball -- through the 2011-2012 academic years. So our contracts are not concluded through three more years. So there is time. Also, the formation of a network is a complex undertaking and would take quite a bit of time and energy and attention.

What advice would you give incoming commissioner Larry Scott?

TH: The first thing I've already told him is he's extremely fortunate to be involved with 10 great universities and the people on the campuses. I think it's a very positive thing that he's acquired this job. I wish him the very best. I think he'll be a fine leader.

What would you rate as your best memory during your tenure?

TH: That's hard. I think winning the NCAA basketball championship, which happened twice. And winning any Rose Bowl game. And plus USC's football national championship in the Orange Bowl.

What about your biggest accomplishment -- what most satisfies you when you look back on your tenure?

TH: That the conference has been so successful while approaching intercollegiate athletics in the best possible way. It's had a balance with the academic element of our enterprise, which has been very important to the Pac-10. And yet we've been so successful on the field. I think that's a thing I can be proud of. The other thing that I think stands out is the magnificent programs for women that we have developed since I arrived and how successful they've been. And the creation of the television [broadcasts] that we've had to do, starting in 1983, that we had to do with football.

Every leader gets criticized. You've received your fair share. Did the criticism get to you?

TH: Not in a general sense. The criticisms of the BCS I find are mostly from people who really don't understand the negatives of a playoff. All they want to do is see a playoff, like the basketball tournament, and they completely fail to understand how different football is from basketball. Probably some of the criticism of officiating when people don't understand how difficult it is, particularly in basketball, and don't appreciate how well they do, given the difficulties. Sometimes those criticism, particularly when the fan really doesn't understand the rule or how it was applied, those rankle. But generally if you are confident you made the best decision you could, given the information you had, then I think you feel good about what you did. I also have said to people that you are criticizing me, but you have to understand that almost every time I've expressed a position, it's been that of the conference, not my own personal viewpoint -- even though, philosophically, I am very, very compatible with the philosophy of the Pac-10. But I don't adopt positions. The conference does. I just express them and explain them the best I can. So to personalize it is a mistake.

For the final time, can you say to fans what is the biggest road block to a college football playoff?

TH: The fact that members of the Football Bowl Subdivision, by a wide majority, prefer a bowl system where 6,800 young people get to have a post-season experience and the aversion to a playoff that would quickly go to 16 teams. People talk about a one-game playoff or a four-team playoff -- it can't happen. We were forced in the BCS from political pressure to expand from eight berths to 10 berths. Were there to be a playoff, you'd have to have 11 automatic berths [for every conference] and you'd have to have a berth for Notre Dame, and that would cut you down to just four at-large berths. Most years you'd have an argument about that. Then, with that many games, you'd have to play on the campuses of the higher seeded teams. You couldn't possibly travel teams week by week to a neutral site -- the NFL doesn't even do that. And no one really stops to reflect upon the fact that the NFL has all the playing slots through December and January [on the weekends]. So finding attractive playing times and dates and television availability would be a great challenge. So there are so many negatives to a playoff, to say nothing of probably the most important one which is the presidents do not want football being played into the second semester. It's not just missing class. It's the impact it has on the academic program of the institution. There's a long list of reasons these institutions favor having one game per team in the post-season and stopping it at that.

Has USC's dominance been good for the Pac-10? Or has their seven-year run atop the conference hurt the national perception?

TH: I think that's a two-sided question. On one hand, the fact that a member of the conference has been very much a part of the national championship picture for these seven years and has played in the national championship game twice and shared it another time, I think that's very good for the conference. You have at at least one team as good -- and I think we've had others through the years -- that is as good as any team in the country. On the other hand, the era in the 1990s when we had seven different teams win the championship and play in the Rose Bowl was very good for the conference from another aspect because it showed we had many teams that had good programs and it was quite obvious nationally that we had that kind of depth. One of the things that I think has been a strength of Pac-10 football is that we have not very frequently had non-competitive teams. Usually, it's been pretty competitive from top to bottom. So it's both good and unfortunate because during this run by USC some of our other teams haven't been recognized as having been as good as they are. Yet USC, I think, by in large has had a more difficult time winning its conference games than it has had winning its bowl games.

Do you have any feeling when the NCAA and Pac-10 will announce its findings in the USC-Reggie Bush case?

TH: It is still an active case and that is the extent to which I can comment on it.

Perception -- how a team or conference is viewed by the nation -- has always been a huge part of rating college football programs. The BCS has transformed those perceptions into a high-stakes game. Have other conferences been better are controlling -- or manipulating -- their national perception?

TH: I think that's hard to judge. I don't think anybody's manipulated that particularly. I think the SEC has been quite good at extolling its own virtues. I think our people do that too, but perhaps we don't have it carried to the East Coast as much as some of the others. I think we've done fine that way. When our teams are good, I think they get well-recognized and well-rated.

I ask that because round-robin scheduling, while the most equitable way to determine a champion, seems to have hurt the conference as much as helped it?

TH: I do think it can be hurtful. We see in the other conferences when a team may miss the two other best teams in that conference, just by happenstance. I think it happened with Kansas two years ago when it didn't play either Texas or Oklahoma when those were two of the top half-dozen teams in the country and Kansas emerged as a [highly rated] team. It's been very good for the conference for two reasons. First of all, you really do want to play and settle on the field who is the best team and who should be the champion. And the other thing is, our conference games are much more attractive than what probably would be the team on the schedule if you played [a fourth nonconference foe]. It's increasingly difficult to find quality opponents, particularly in the West, because institutions that are willing to accept a road game for a payout are primarily located in the Midwest or the Southeast. They don't need to to travel to the West at great expense to do that. Scheduling is a real challenge for our members. That's been another positive in having nine conference games. The puzzle to me is it doesn't seem like the BCS system has penalized the teams that play very poor nonconference schedules in addition to a lesser conference schedule. I'm puzzled by that.

If you were going to predict, what will be the next tweak to the BCS?

TH: First of all, we're going to go through the 2011-14 cycle without any changes as of this time. I think the next change may well be expanding the board -- the presidential oversight committee that sets BCS policy. Expanding that to include all 11 conferences plus Notre Dame is probably the next tweak, which isn't a tweak to operations but it's an important internal change.

It's the fall of 2025: If you were to guess, will college football be using a playoff?

TH: That's too far out to predict with any sense of confidence or accuracy but it's going to be quite a while, if ever, for that to happen, just because of all the negatives that I mentioned earlier. When people talk about a playoff, they don't talk about the details or the structure, or participation. They just say, 'Let's have a playoff because we have a playoff in every other sport.' Well, every other sport isn't football. We've looked at all the playoffs in America, pro and college, and any playoff that ever started has grown exponentially, including [NCAA] basketball, NFL, hockey, NBA and Major League baseball. All of those playoffs started relatively small and grew because the pressure to include more teams is so great that the organization can't withstand the pressure.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

Ninth in a series of Pac-10 thoughts that might come from unusual angles.

Don't be surprised if ... UCLA's offense is much better in 2009.

OK, this one doesn't exactly come out of left field.

There is one obvious and overwhelming reason that this one is a near-certainty: UCLA's offense will be hard-pressed to be any worse than it was in 2008.

The Bruins ranked 109th or worse in the nation in five major statistical categories. The prime problems were turnovers (29) and poor offensive line play (83 yards per game rushing; 35 sacks surrendered).

The reason to project at least a modest turnaround are plentiful, though:

1. No way a Norm Chow offense lays another egg like this one. In the quarter-century-plus he's been coaching offenses, he's never had one as bad as 2008.
2. The offense welcomes back nine starters, though redshirt freshman Kevin Prince has unseated Kevin Craft at quarterback.
3. Five players who would have started last year but were unavailable for various reasons -- injuries, suspension, transfer rules, etc. -- will be good to go in 2009: running back Christian Ramirez, tight end Logan Paulsen, center Kai Maiava, fullback Trevor Theriot and offensive tackle Sean Sheller.
4. That beleaguered offensive line not only welcomes back Sheller, it also gets six guys back who started at least five games last fall. What's more, incoming freshmen Stan Hasiak and Xavier Su'a-filo, as well as JC transfer Eddie Williams, represent one of the nation's best recruiting hauls of O-linemen.

A modestly improved offense -- paired with an above-average defense -- should be good enough to get to 6-6 and bowl eligible. And if things fall into place ... well, at least one highly respected college football pundit projects a top-25 finish, which requires eight or nine wins.

The key for pushing into the top-half of the Pac-10 likely hinges on the Bruins producing a respectable running game. Chow would probably say "Deal!" on 150 yards per game.

That rushing threat not only would take the pressure off Prince, it would burn some clock and allow the Bruins' defense to rest (Chow did a commendable job of burning the clock and trying to shorten games last year, as the Bruins' average time of possession was 30:07 per game).

While it would be premature to project Chow's offense making a dramatic transformation, the entirely realistic goal of becoming merely mediocre probably will be enough to get the Bruins' win-loss ledger back into the black.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

The human species, according to the best theory I can form of it, is composed of two distinct races, the men who borrow, and the men who lend.

• USC quarterback Mitch Mustain has been cleared to play this fall.
• California fans might want to know about Minnesota's new stadium, which the Bears visit on Sept. 19.
• More on Mike Bellotti moving up to athletic director at Oregon. Some injured Ducks are getting healthy.
• Previewing Stanford's quarterbacks in 2009. And the Cardinal hits Georgia again for a recruit.
• Checking in on UCLA's recruiting.
• Some USC numerology here.
• Washington gets a commitment just for kicks.
• Jim Moore isn't happy with his beloved Cougars and their off-field issues.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

Jeff Byers has been around a long time at USC and he's seen a lot. He started games for the 2004 team that won a second consecutive national championship. And he's seen his promising career almost end due to injuries, which killed two of his seasons.

"Old Man Byers," as some of his teammates hail the sixth-year offensive guard, will anchor perhaps the nation's best offensive line this fall as a sixth-year senior. Yet his chief reason for hanging around for so long might surprise you.

"I came back because I wanted to finish my masters' degree, first off," said Byers, who will turn 24 in September.

	Icon SMI
	USC guard Jeff Byers has been smart about his career and education.

Let's just say that Byers has used his time at USC wisely. While many yakety yak endlessly about college athletes not getting paid, Byers has parlayed his football scholarship into a bachelor's degree in business administration and tossed in an MBA for good measure.

That would cost most folks around $350,000.

Of course, when you are a conscientious student that long, you pick up some quirks. Byers, for example, often answers questions in outline form: "A. B. C."

Such as: "Jeff, are you guys already thinking about the marquee matchup at Ohio State on Sept. 12?"

Byers: "No, because: A. We've got to get through summer workouts; B. We've got to get through camp; and, C. We've got to beat San Jose State before we can start thinking about Ohio State."

Byers is one of five returning starters from a line that: A. Gave up only 18 sacks in 2008, fewest in the Pac-10; B. Led a rushing attack that averaged 195 yards per game and 5.0 yards per carry; and, C. Is very deep considering the entire 2008 two-deep is back, and touted sophomore Tyron Smith is pushing to eclipse Butch Lewis at right tackle.

More than a handful of publications have ranked the Trojans line as the nation's best unit, not that Byers cares.

"It's hard to be called the best when you haven't played a down of football yet," he said. "It's like getting ranked No. 1 in the preseason. What does it matter? If you don't finish No. 1, it doesn't matter. It puts a target on your chest, but at the same time, you've got to remember it truly means nothing right now. Just because they say you're the No. 1 offensive line right now doesn't mean you are going to play like it."

That's sort of how Byers is. He's not flashy. He doesn't self-aggrandize. He's skeptical of hype.

Given an opportunity to join the chorus of USC fans who griped -- not without justification -- about the Trojans getting left out of the national championship discussion in 2008, Byers instead just scoffed.

"If we wanted to play for the national championship, we should have beaten Oregon State," he said. "That's the way it goes. If you lose, then you let your fate be in other people's hands. If you go 12-0, you've got a pretty good shot of getting to the national championship game. All it would it would have taken for us was beating Oregon State. Then there's no questioning. I'm not upset about it. Worrying about that is not going to help anything. It's not going to change it. It's the way the system works."

That sense of perspective probably comes from seeing just about everything in his career since he was a consensus prep All-American out of Fort Collins, Colo., in 2003: a national championship, a 34-game winning streak, major back and hip injuries, Vince Young going super-human to stop the Trojans from three-peating, a loss to 41-point underdog Stanford and five consecutive Pac-10 titles.

Things are never boring around the Trojans. It's not easy to leave that behind. So Byers applied for and earned a sixth year from the NCAA.

Said Byers, "If you've got an opportunity to keep playing in college, A. It's not going to hurt you in the NFL; and, B. Playing for one of the best teams in the country, and arguably the best coach in the country, you can't go wrong with that. The NFL is going to be there next year."

Byers is heading into a third consecutive healthy season, which should help his draft prospects. He also played at a light 285 pounds last year. Now he's just under 300, and he thinks his quickness and flexibility are better.

As for the Trojans offense, it welcomes back nine starters. The pregunta gigante, of course, is who plays quarterback: Can true freshman Matt Barkley beat out sophomore Aaron Corp, who was tapped No. 1 coming out of spring?

"Whoever plays between those two, we're going to have a great shot of winning a lot of football games," Byers said.

But Byers also echoes what just about everyone else says when assessing Barkley: He's special.

"Barkley is very mature for his age -- I forget all the time that he is only a freshman," Byers said. "We'll be sitting there wanting to give the younger guys a hard time and it's like, 'Wait a second. Barkley is with these guys!' Regardless of whether he plays this year or not, he's going to have a very bright future."

As for his future, Byers hasn't decided how he's going to use his MBA just yet. He interned at Toyota's North American headquarters doing strategic planning. There's always consulting. And investments and portfolio analysis are also intriguing.

Oh, and there's the business plan of getting a fat NFL signing bonus, not that Byers is planning to go all fleet-of-Bentleys on us.

That's not Old Man Byers' style: "I'm happy with my '98 Nissan Maxima," he said.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

It's not just the preview magazines that signal the approach of another glorious -- cue up Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" -- college football season. It's also something dreadful.

It's another bushel of stories about USC's embarrassment of riches at tailback and the counterintuitive but entirely defensible idea that too much of a good thing might become a bad thing.

	AP Photo/Chris Carlson
	Once again, Pete Carroll's backfield is full of potential stars.

Or at least a less good thing than it could be if there were, say, merely three future NFL draft choices in the backfield instead of six.

Look. Here's one already! (A good one, in fact).

To let you in on a little secret: Sportswriters don't like doing the same story over and over again. And I've hit this one a few times over the years.

I've got a hunch, too, my boss is going to call me up at some point soon and say ... USC running backs ... think ... we ... need to... hit that one ... again.

And I'll waddle off like Igor and write another one.

So instead of: Joe McKnight, Stafon Johnson, C.J. Gable, Allen Bradford, Broderick Green and Marc Tyler from 2008, it's McKnight, Johnson, Gable, Bradford, Curtis McNeal and Tyler (Green transferred to Arkansas).

And when Pete Carroll rolls his eyes at me when I ask him again about it, he'll again say something like, "It's never been a problem for us. It's a problem for everyone else that they can't figure out why we do it that way."

But let me throw out one point that should matter most to the young men who opt to compete for carries at USC, though not as much to Trojan fans.

See, the redundant line of questioning here is: "Why join the crowd at USC when if you went to Another Team U then you'd be, 'The Man'?" (Reporters throw out terms like "The Man" to showcase their hipster roots, an effect that is often ruined by the cookie crumbs constellating the wrinkled golf shirt we got for free after covering some event).

Yet consider: Running backs have a very limited shelf life. They take a lot of hits. And each hit knocks a bit out of them. That's why so few do well in the NFL past 30.

...

(Read full post)

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

Not that we'd ever egg on juvenile behavior among fans... but...

It appears that the Washington-Washington State rivalry has invaded Twitter.

First there was "Fakecoachsark", which we linked yesterday.

Now there is "Fakecoachwulff", which for some reason chose Ryan Leaf for its wallpaper. No idea why.

Do you get the idea that we haven't seen the last of this among college football fans? Of course, those interested in parody might want to be careful.

By the way, here's the real Twitter page for Steve Sarkisian. And for here's the real one for Paul Wulff.