PAC 10 Preview

By John P. Wise
One Great Season

NEW YORK -- What do you call a USC team that loses its quarterback and a host of stars on defense?

USC.

Until someone else wins the PAC 10, the league belongs to the Trojans, winners of seven straight conference crowns. And while USC is certainly down this year, it still will win seven or eight games in blowout fashion, and let its colors, its name, its Yankees-like mystique get it over the hump in a couple of others.

But the problem for the men of Troy, even with its stacked teams of recent years, has been a tendency to just not show up for one or two games each season under Pete Carroll, otherwise known as the best coach in the sport the last decade.

Southern Cal will get a large boost of confidence with an early season win at Ohio State, and will march through its conference foes -- not unblemished -- successfully enough to claim another league championship and earn a spot in yet another BCS bowl game.

Another full stable of backs, led by Stafon Johnson and Joe McKnight, will take the pressure off whoever wins the quarterback job at USC. They'll need to score bunches of points to overcome the loss of eight defensive starters, but when was scoring a problem for the Trojans?

As has been the case in many recent seasons, California and Oregon will be Southern Cal's toughest competition, and the Trojans pay each a visit this season. USC won't stumble at Cal on Oct. 3, though, because the Bears don't win big games, and then when the Trojans visit Autzen Stadium on Oct. 31, it will be too late in the season for USC not to appreciate what's at stake.

Cal returns 15 starters and features Jahvid Best, one of the nation's top running backs, as well as a defense that will likely be the league's top unit. Meanwhile, the skill-position parts and a generous schedule are firmly in place for Oregon, but the offensive line could be problematic.

Arizona and Oregon State also will be playing for bowl games. It would be nice if Washington could be Washington again, but that's far from happening this year.

PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH

USC
Oregon
California
Oregon State
Arizona
UCLA
Arizona State
Stanford
Washington State
Washington

BEST GAME ON THE SCHEDULE: USC at Oregon, Oct. 31