Dwarfs no more?
Feb 16, 2007 in College Football
USC has had a nice run of dominance over the past few years. Since 2002, the Trojans have lost only 6 games, won 5 conference championships, made 2 appearances in the National Championship game, and won 2 National Titles. But they haven’t been tested much in the Pac-10. The fact that USC has won the Pac-10 championship every year since 2002 is as much an indictment of the rest of the Pac-10 as it is a statement about USC. Over the course of USC’s impressive run, the Pac-10 has been the only conference without at least two dominant powers, and the gulf between USC and the conference’s next best team is pretty wide. Ivan Maisel’s latest column discusses how that may change. UCLA and Oregon State, the two teams USC lost to this past season, each return at least 18 starters. Stanford has hired Jim Harbaugh to turn its program around. Arizona State has hired Dennis Erickson, one of the few college coaches with a resume more impressive than Pete Carroll’s. Though USC will likely remain the pre-eminent team in the Pac-10, they can no longer cruise through their conference season.