The terrible showing of the Pac 10 over the weekend makes the difficult issue of conference comparison a bit more difficult. The first two weeks of the season, the Pac 10 did relatively well. Then, it all came crashing down.
Overall, the Pac 10 this year is 5-5 against major college teams (BCS Teams). For comparison, here are the other major conferences: ACC - 4-6; Big 12 - 5-3; Big East 2-5; Big 10 5-5; SEC 4-2. In addition, the Mountain West is 6-3 against the majors. So it is clear that overall, the Pac 10 is sort of middle of the road this year in terms of the overall conference strength. But the other critical aspect is that we are 0-5 against the Mountain West conference. So if we included the Mountain West against the Pac 10 we are 5-10 against. Of course, the mountain west has only played Pac 10 out of conference, and generally has played the lower half of the conference (yes, including UCLA). But UNVL beating Arizona State in OT os an eye opener.
The MWC does not get a lot of opportunities to play other conferences. They have only two games against the Big 12, both of which they lost, and San Diego State played Notre Dame, and lost in OT. So for the major college football BCS division, it seems like the Pac 10 is the big opportunity for the MWC to make some noise. And they do a good job.
I think if the MWC wanted to really move to a top tier flight, as a year in and year out BCS participant, they should poach on the WAC. They should target Boise State, Fresno State, and Nevada, and have a 12 team conference, with a conference Championship game. I believe that they would have two or three in the top 25 each year, and they would be a major conference. It would not be the Pac 10, but over time they could really develop a market for their programs. And, I think the Pac 10 would have somewhat of a difficult time recruiting. Already, the folks from Eastern Washington are going to Boise, and not Washington or Washington State. If there were alternatives relatively local for kids to move to a BCS conference, there could be big consequences.
In addition, the Mountain West could have some pretty good Bowl game tie-ins. An annual BCS game at the Fiesta Bowl would be nice for them against the Big 12. The Las Vegas Bowl all of a sudden would be a much bigger deal - maybe a New Years day bowl - MTW against the Pac 10 second place teams. Or maybe that is a Bay Area bowl game on New Years Day for the second place teams in both conferences. It would be nice to have the Holiday Bowl not be our only other real bowl opportunity.
In any event, I think it is concern, but also possibly a positive that the Mountain West is doing so well. At the end of the day, losing to a decent conference like the MWC is not so bad as Ohio State playing all the crappy Ohio schools in the MAC.
I do think that the poor showing of UCLA in particular has something to do with BYUs familiarity of Norm Chows offense. Clearly they are familiar with his coaching philosophies as he was offensive coordinator there for something like 25 years. If that is what BYU did to them, I can only wait until Pete Carroll gets a hold of UCLA.
Breaking down the rest of the Pac 10 loses, the only one that really strikes me as odd is the loss of ASU to UNLV. Mostly because UNLV is not a good team. And it was at ASU. But it could be that ASU is just no that good. I think that is probably the case, and should not have been ranked as a top 25 team from the start of the season.
I do think that the Washington teams are in for a long season - both of them. Neither are any good.
We all know the legions of reasons why Cal lost - bottom line - they were not ready to play the game. But that does not mean they are going to blow the season. I think at the end of the day, the top three in the conference are going to be Cal, Oregon and USC - most likely SC going away with it. But they could lose one or two like they do when distracted, and then Oregon or Cal could sneak in there and get a share or a Pac 10 title. Even with USC going to the Championship game.
ASU, Oregon State and Arizona I think will be the second tier, and probably the bowl eligible teams. And lagging the Pac will be UCLA, the Washington schools, and Stanfurd. In some sort of order of futility.
At the end of the day, I am still positive on the Bears. i think they clearly have the talent, young though it is. They need seasoning and they need toughness. Hopefully they can be pushed into it in the weeks ahead.
GO BEARS!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
The Las Vegas bowl should never be a new years day bowl. It is pathetic. The stadium is tiny, the view of the field in some of the seats is blocked by the press box, and the parking lot is a dirt field. It's a total joke. It shouldn't be a bowl on ANY day of the year.
I agree that the stadium sucks. It would have to be part of a larger development closer into town. But that is what Vegas is good at. Spend two billion for a stadium / hotel / casino / etc, and have a super bowl and major bowl there. Maybe even a pro team. It could happen. Hell - they should try to get the Olympics there - that would be a blast.
The Bay Area would be another good site for a major bowl game.
I think that the Rose is still the king, but we need some better second tier bowls. Already, there is talk of the Fiesta Bowl being left out of the next version of the BCS, replaced with the Cotton. I think that would suck. It would be nice to have more than one major bowl on the West Coast.
Post a Comment