Pac 12 is damn good. Best its ever been?

Stanford, Oregon (although not today!), Arizona State, UCLA are all damn good teams.

USC, Arizona, Washington and Oregon State are all capable of being pretty damn good on the right day.

Washington State, Utah, Colorado all seem to be improving.

Cal is the current doormat.

From top to bottom, is this the best pac 12 we've seen? I really like the coaches (for the most part) in our conference right now.

Washington State has beaten two of the teams that you claim to be "pretty damn good." Just pointing that out.

CurryStopstheRuns":2mszwjm9 said:

Washington State has beaten two of the teams that you claim to be "pretty damn good." Just pointing that out.

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No, they've beaten two of the teams that I said are capable of being pretty damn good at times.

JSeahawks":2m88unov said:

CurryStopstheRuns":2m88unov said:

Washington State has beaten two of the teams that you claim to be "pretty damn good." Just pointing that out.

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No, they've beaten two of the teams that I said are capable of being pretty damn good at times.

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Except when they lose to a Washington State, Utah, or Colorado, correct? Safe play there.

USC losing to Washington State was an aberration. Look how the team has played under Coach O. Imagine if the team had a full complement of scholarship players.

sc85sis":ixfsr5x9 said:

USC losing to Washington State was an aberration. Look how the team has played under Coach O. Imagine if the team had a full complement of scholarship players.

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Imagine if they had not broke the rules.......

I can do would have should of could of all day with UW also, we have never recovered from a non alumni giving Hobart a loan.

This is the best I have seen the Pac-12 personally. In the past, the powerhouse team (USC) would stand WAAAAY above the rest of the group. This year the powerhouse teams feels mortal every week, even though they are very nearly as dominant as USC was. Even middle of the pack teams have multiple blowout wins on their resume this season.

So many forget the years that USC, UCLA, UW, Wash State when Price was there, Stanford, and Arizona off and on. Yeah Oregon and Oregon State were the patsies of the league but their were decades of this slate of teams being competitive. How Price kept the Cougs competitive is still amazing, yeah they would look like crap one year but then in it the next. Rest of teams were always mentioned as challangers. Cal was seemingly always bad or good enough to create problems but never challange.

chris98251":1o7oq7h7 said:

sc85sis":1o7oq7h7 said:

USC losing to Washington State was an aberration. Look how the team has played under Coach O. Imagine if the team had a full complement of scholarship players.

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Imagine if they had not broke the rules.......

I can do would have should of could of all day with UW also, we have never recovered from a non alumni giving Hobart a loan.

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Imagine if people ever get their facts straight about what went down.

USC deserved sanctions because they had a single player and his family receive extra benefits. They received an all-out bombing when they should have gotten a single gunshot.

Yes, UW was also unfairly hit. Two wrongs don't make a right.

sc85sis":23d87nqp said:

Imagine if people ever get their facts straight about what went down.

USC deserved sanctions because they had a single player and his family receive extra benefits. They received an all-out bombing when they should have gotten a single gunshot.

Yes, UW was also unfairly hit. Two wrongs don't make a right.

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They do when it turned out prominent SC boosters were at the heart of the witch hunt against Don James and the UW.

The only real problem I have with sanctions that limit scholarships i that there is a trickle down effect so that in the end, you've got ten borderline kids who miss out on a scholarship, and potentially, a chance at a degree.

The guys USC doesn't sign just go to another Pac 12 school, but that pushes another 10 guys down to MWC schools, which another 10 guys down to Div2, etc etc. Eventually at the bottom of that pile, you have 10 kids screwed out of college scholarships because a school they were never going to attend got sanctioned by the NCAA.

chris98251":1gmecusa said:

So many forget the years that USC, UCLA, UW, Wash State when Price was there, Stanford, and Arizona off and on. Yeah Oregon and Oregon State were the patsies of the league but their were decades of this slate of teams being competitive. How Price kept the Cougs competitive is still amazing, yeah they would look like crap one year but then in it the next. Rest of teams were always mentioned as challangers. Cal was seemingly always bad or good enough to create problems but never challange.

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Price had the advantage of running a distinct system, the one back, on offense and having a distinct style of defense. It was the perfect style for a school without a lot of money and a solid recruiting base. He recruited guys that could grow into and fit the system, when they hit, you had years like 94,97 and 01-03. When they didn't, you had 98 and 99. He also worked the JC circuit a bit, which is a crapshoot.

As far as great years in the conference, I think 97 can be considered one. WSU was great, UCLA was great, UW had one of its most talented teams ever(certainly not the deepest though). Seven of the 10 teams were bowl eligible.

2000-2002 was probably the best the Pac10 has ever been, at least in my lifetime.

2013 is the best its been since then, easily. Utah is probably the best team in the country that won't be in a bowl game.