The Sports Brewery

USC owned the decade, shocking… (And hey Oregon, you’re #2)

Posted on 21. Jan, 2010 at 5:44 pm by Kinger in NCAA Football, Oregon Ducks Football, PAC-10 Football

Pac-10 programs of the decade
January, 21, 2010
Jan 21
11:21
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By Ted Miller
Ranking the Pac-10 programs over the entirety of the decade might produce a few surprises, in large part because we live in the present.

Folks may have forgotten that Washington and Washington State were once top-10 teams. And that Stanford and Arizona were awful.

Still, there will be no surprises at No. 1.

Decade record is in parenthesis.

10. Stanford (47-69): The Cardinal went to the Rose Bowl after the 1999 season but that doesn’t count. From 2002 to 2007, Stanford never posted a winning record and averaged 3.33 wins.

9. Arizona (49-69): The Wildcats have a slightly better winning percentage than Stanford and, more important, they won a bowl game this decade. From 2000-2006, Arizona was 16-48 in conference play.

8. Washington (49-71): While Washington, Arizona and Stanford are almost a push in terms of winning percentage this decade, the Huskies get the nod because they won the Rose Bowl after the 2000 season. Of course, the Huskies dominated the 1990s, so the program producing three seasons with two or fewer wins from 2004-2008 is still shocking to consider.

7. Washington State (57-63): Surprised to see the Cougars this high after the misery of the past two seasons? Well, just recall Washington State posted three consecutive 10-win seasons from 2001-2003 and finished ranked in the final top-10 three times, a better troika than any other conference team can boast, other than USC and Oregon.

6. Arizona State (65-58): Almost a push with the UCLA, with one 10-win and another nine-win season floating among poor-to-middling finishes. The Sun Devils went 2-18 in conference games in the state of California.

5. UCLA (67-57): A mediocre decade for the Bruins falls fittingly in the middle. Only one season of 10 or more wins and seven with six or more defeats. Still, the Bruins never went completely into the toilet.

4. California (71-53): Cal was hurt by winning just four games the first two seasons of the decade — the pre-Jeff Tedford years. That’s something to think about when Bears fans grouse about “not taking the next step.” That said, the Bears have gone to seven bowls under Tedford — and won five — but none of the BCS variety.

3. Oregon State (80-49): Beavers fans, pause for a moment and think about how far your program has come — from 28 consecutive losing seasons to averaging eight wins a year this past decade. A 6-2 record in bowl games isn’t too shabby either.

2. Oregon (87-37): The Ducks started the decade fast and finished fast, ending up with five seasons of 10 or more wins and two BCS bowl berths, making the Ducks the only Pac-10 team — other than USC — to go to more than one.

1. USC (102-26): The Trojans owned the decade with seven conference championships, two national titles, three Heisman Trophies and a 6-1 record in BCS bowls.

Nothing earth shattering here — SC dominated, Stanford has too many smart guys, the state of Washington is an abyss, and Oregon is the most mediocre school that likes to pretend it’s ‘big-time.’

Most Quacker fans probably fancy their last ten years as something pretty cool, eh, I am not one of them. Everyone knows that the teams led by Mike Bellotti crumpled like an origami crane the second they were hit by any semblance of adversity (see 2002, 04, 06 and 07), but maybe that changes now that the Chipster is roaming the sidelines with his flashy gimmicky offense. Though, probably not, and that should be fine with most Duck fans. After all, who needs to win in the big-time, if you can just get get there every 7 years or so? Even after getting crushed in Pasadena and making Terrelle Pryor look like Vince Young, most Ducks fans were “just happy to be there”, isn’t that right, Big Cat?

University of Oregon football; once small-time, always small-time.