2001 Story of the PAC 10

The PAC 10 conference fought back and gained respectability again in 2000 with the success of the Oregon schools and Washington's Marques Tuiasosopo beating Purdue in the Rose Bowl.  Oregon knocked off Texas and Oregon State made a statement by embarrassing Notre Dame with a 41-9 drubbing.  The conference breathed easy when Rick Neuheisel turned away the pros and Mike Bellotti turned away Ohio State amongst others.  With the addition of John Mackovic, Pete Carroll, and most importantly, Dirk Koetter the conference looks to be improving on all ends. 

The Oregon schools appear to be the cream of the crop once again in 2001 with Heisman candidates Joey Harrington of Oregon and Ken Simonton of Oregon State.  Oregon State did lose a lot of talent at wide receiver, but the return of Simonton and quarterback Jonathan Smith make them a favorite for the PAC 10 title and possibly for the national crown.  The fact that they must travel to Arizona State, USC, and Oregon takes them out of the national race.

Oregon must replace it's huge losses on the defensive front seven before it travels to Arizona and UCLA along with Oregon State and Arizona State at home.  Joey Harrington at quarterback and Maurice Morris carrying the ball will make Oregon the favorite in almost every game they play and bring them into the national title picture as well.  All will be decided on December 1 in Eugene.

Now is where the crapshoot begins.  Arizona State has a chance to catch people off-guard with its new wide-open Dirk Koetter offense.  Arizona has a chance to do the same with John Mackovic at the top, just hope he has a defense because he tends to forget that part of the game is required also.  Can Rick Neuheisel perform as well in his third season without Marques Tuiasosopo as he did with him?  Remember the fall off in the third and fourth seasons at Colorado.  California's Tom Holmoe, Washington State's Mike Price, and UCLA's Bob Toledo are sitting on seats that are getting exceptionally warm, while the temperature under Tyrone Willingham's seat in Stanford will get warmer with another losing season.  Don't forget about USC and Pete Carroll.  On second thought, do forget about them.

The PAC 10 is where the line begins between a good conference and a tremendous conference.  Oregon State and Oregon both have national title hopes, while several others have great upsides that will make this an exceptionally deep conference.  The PAC 10 rise will continue to make strides in 2001 as the conference will close the gap on the SEC and Big 12.  However, the streak of no consensus national champion will continue into its 30th year.