Pac 10

The guys out west tried to make the bold move by grabbing Texas and Oklahoma and making the first mega conference. It didn't pan out, but that sort of realignment is bound to happen in the next year or two.

USC is in a pile of trouble with the NCAA and they hired Lame Kiffin to replace Pete Carrol. The Trojans are stockpiled with talent and have Lame's dad running their defense, but the NCAA sanctions will keep them from being ranked or playing in a bowl game this season. They MAY have the best team, but since they are disqualified, lets take a look at the real contenders. Oregon repped the Rose Bowl last time, and lost to Ohio St. They have a lot of kids back, but lost the QB. The Ducks have to be the front runner, but cross state rivals, the Beavers of Oregon State have the Rogers brothers back. The thing I like about the Pac 10 is that they play exciting offense, and you have to have good QB play for that. The Pac has Barkley at USC, Andrew Luck at Stanford, Jake Locker at Washington and the kid from Arizona is pretty good too (Nick something). Stanford and Washington have to be in the PAC conversation, because of their great QB's and great young coaches. This may be the hardest conference to pick in 10. Oregon is so well coached that they will overcome the loss of Massoli. Stanford and Oregon State will fight it out for 2nd, while Arizona could surprise. Don't think Wash has enough around Locker, Wash St is hopeless and Cal will down IMO. UCLA and Arizona State are the interesting teams. UCLA is improving, but it is a tough conference and they play at Texas. Arizona State seems to take 2 steps forward and one back under Dennis Erickson.

Big games out of conference include:

USC vs Notre Dame
Arizona hosts Iowa (upset alert?)
Oregon State opens this weekend against TCU in Dallas Cowboys stadium
Washington plays at BYU to open the season and hosts Nebraska on 9/18
UCLA plays K St, Houston and Texas...
The Sun Devils go to Wisconsin