Pac-10 up for grabs?

For the second season in a row, the road to a BCS birth goes through Oregon... The conference as a whole will still be mid-level at best on the national scale, but there's talent in the great state of Oregon.

After last season, everyone was talking Oregon as the clear favorite for the Pac-10 title and a real possibility for a run at a national title due to a pretty easy schedule and returning 16 starters. Then, the players all start going brain dead... Masoli is booted off the team and is hanging out at Ole Miss (Costa could surprise, but I think he's pretty average) and the team is suddenly a couple of receivers, a couple of linebackers and a defensive end light for the season due to various acts of stupidity. One bright spot is that RB LaMichael James will only miss a game after alledgedly going Chris Brown on his girlfriend.

Oregone State is suddenly looking like they have a real legitimate shot at grabbing a conference title. They are returning a boat load of starters of their own and look very solid on both sides (Rodgers borthers, Bishop, Camp and an experienced line on offense and only three sophomores on defense). I think their only real big question mark is at QB where they will be rolling out a sophomore with less than a full game of experience or a true freshman.

Stanford looks solid, but not a real threat for a title, IMO. And the rest (USC, Washington, UCLA, Arizona and California) will be fighting for table scraps and a shot or two at prestigious bowls in 5,000 seat stadiums in the Dakota's. Washington State and Arizona State will be fighting for premier spots on Playboy's annual list of the nations worst football teams...

I dont think Costa is worth anything i hope Darrin THomas is the starter and we break him in cause Costa cant run that offense

god if Oregon State wins the division i will cry

You might want to keep a tissue box handy, Bird. Oregon had enough tools to make this a one team race... But, overnight they decided to become the new Hurricanes. They have no one to blame but themelves.

I saw an interview with Kelly last night and he says that the spot is Costa's to lose at this point, even though he claims it's a close race. Early in the camp, Costa was the more inconsistent but has been improving every day. Thomas has had flashes, but threw consecutive INT's in practice Friday sandwiched between Costa throwing loooong completions to Maehl and Grady. You could tell that Kelly was frustrated by Thomas' inconsistency.

As for Oregon State, they have talent to be sure but have even more question marks at QB. If someone can step up at QB, they could be damn tough to beat. I do think the Pac-10 is a 3 team race with Stanford having a very slim chance of coming out on top of Oregon or Oregon St.

think we gotta go to Oregon state this year

we definitely blew it but if anyone has fucked this team up its Kelly IMO he is a dumbass way in over his head

Remember it was Bellotti who put that roster together... Kelly was left to deal with the head cases. I applaud Kelly for dealing with the infractions in the manner he has. I think Kelly can coach, and we now know he takes a no bullshit approach to dealing with idiots on the team.

I pull for both since I didn't attend either (Just easier to pull for Oregon since they are regularly a top-20), and I think that much like last year it will be a toss up coming down to the Civil War game. Oregon has a cupcake schedule with their non-conference games being Tennessee, Portland St. and New Mexico. And they get their only real challenges in Stanford and Arizona at home before having to go down to Corvallis for the finale.

Oregon St. has a much tougher non-conference having to travel to TCU and Boise St., and they have to go to Arizona and Stanford. I think that Riley's a better coach (Might be the best in the conference with Carroll gone) and his ability to keep his team from losing games they shouldn't will be the difference. Oregon will lose a conference game somewhere along the line to offset Oregon St. losing to either Stanford or Arizona, setting up a very similar situation as last season... Too close to call this early without seeing their QB's in action, but much like last season neither is a true national title contender...

Bellotti kept the team under control and knew how to deal with people Kelly doesnt know dick in that department, no shot in hell Kelly keeps an Onterio Smith on the straight and narrow

he overreacts then goes back on his own word

hes a fucking moron for saying well Masoli lied to me , hey num nuts you want to get called to court because you made your QB possibly admit guilt

sorry know people in the program and it sounds like he is way in over his head

You really shouldn't have to keep head cases under control. With that said, you aren't very likely to field a contender without some unsavory characters on the team. It's true that Bellotti seemed to be able to handle people well, and it's true that Kelly seemed to pull back on his word in dealing with Blount. It's tough for me to point a finger though as any coach has to find his ground in his first year and these were Bellotti's players. I tend to think Kelly tried to go buddy-buddy rather than strong handed pops with the team when he took the reigns and that lead to some of the things that occurred. No one that has the respect of his players has a guy go idiot via Facebook when the coach disciplines another player. Time will tell whether or not he can reel them in and keep control and it will be interesting to see where they are with his own guys being the majority of the roster. If he isn't winning 9 or 10 and keeping players out of the news in 2-3 years, he won't last.

agree LTFG and i completely expect him to fail, he took Bellottis guy to the Rose Bowl and forced out possibly the best coach the program ever had

IMO when he bitched and said well i will leave they should have said see ya later

USC will still win the Pac10

NoRegret wrote:

USC will still win the Pac10

In what sport? Not football.

OUSOONERSOU wrote:

NoRegret wrote:

USC will still win the Pac10

In what sport? Not football.

I dont see why not. They're still gonna have the top athletes overall.

Oregon is going to take a major hit without Masoli IMO. They lost some key guys on defense as well.

I think Arizona is poised to make a pretty decent run this year as well.

Dont be surprised if Oregon is only an 8 or 9 win team this year.

What about teams like Oregon St and UCLA? I think just like the title says the Pac-10 is up for grabs this year. Most years taking USC to win vs the field is a good bet and I would take that bet all day, but not this year. I wouldn't touch that bet with a 10 foot poll.

I never said I would be willing to make a bet on it, I was simply stating my pick to win it.

I dont disagree that this conference is up for grabs, simply because this conference is weak as hell this year.

I wouldnt be surprised to see a 9 win team win this conference. Almost every team not named Washington State or Arizona State has a shot at winning this conference.

NoRegret wrote:

I never said I would be willing to make a bet on it, I was simply stating my pick to win it.

I dont disagree that this conference is up for grabs, simply because this conference is weak as hell this year.

I wouldnt be surprised to see a 9 win team win this conference. Almost every team not named Washington State or Arizona State has a shot at winning this conference.

I didn't say you would be willing to bet, I just stated that any other year I WOULD BE WILLING TO BET. But not this year. Just trying to make my point that the Pac-10 is wide open this year and that it hasn't bee wide open like this in a long time, that is all I was saying with that.
Washington also has no shot to win. I don't care how talented the QB is they aren't going from 5-7 to winning the Pac 10.

Dont sell the Huskies short. I could see them winning 7 or 8 games this year, and with how bad the conference is as a whole this year...getting a sniff at being close to 9 wins would have you in contention to win the conference IMO.

NoRegret wrote:

Dont sell the Huskies short. I could see them winning 7 or 8 games this year, and with how bad the conference is as a whole this year...getting a sniff at being close to 9 wins would have you in contention to win the conference IMO.

I can see them getting to 7 and having a shot at 8. I just don't see them finishing above 3rd in Pac 10 and that is best case scenario IMO.

Yeah, but this is definately an up for grabs year. I just cant fathom an 8 or 9 win team winning any conference...but this year it could definately happen in the Pac 10.

NoRegret wrote:

Yeah, but this is definately an up for grabs year. I just cant fathom an 8 or 9 win team winning any conference...but this year it could definately happen in the Pac 10.

Yeah a few above average teams might beat up on eachother. Might look like the Big 12 North usually looks.

Yeah...speaking of which...are they gonna have two seperate divisions anymore after this year? Orrrrr is it gonna be like what the Pac 10 and Big10 used to do?

NoRegret wrote:

Yeah...speaking of which...are they gonna have two seperate divisions anymore after this year? Orrrrr is it gonna be like what the Pac 10 and Big10 used to do?

I would think just 1 with every team playing every team or at least almost every team. By rule you can't have a Conference Championship game with less then 12 teams so having 2 divisions really wouldn't make sense.

Thats what I was thinking.

NoRegret wrote:

Thats what I was thinking.

I keep hearing people falling in love with Wisconsin this year. They seem to be everyone's "dark horse".

Regret, you are right about it being up for grabs (For a few schools). But you are wrong to think that USC is going to be leading that charge. That team has NOTHING to play for and they are weaker in the talent pool than they've been in years. 9 frosh or sophs expected to start this year. Combine that with the fact that Kiffin hasn't proven that he can succeed on any level. USC isn't contending for anything this year!

If you evaluate like you should by looking at returning talent and schedules, you can't with a clear conscience look outside of the state of Oregon for the obvious front runners. Stanford and Arizona could push a little with USC, Washington and UCLA sliding in behind them. If you care to show me some clear cut evidence to the contrary, I'm here to listen...

another thing to remember USC cant go to a bowl game, every call will go against them theydont want the champ not going to a bowl game

Pac 10 officials don't need any excuses to blow calls, they just can't help it, it's their way of life.