Pac-10’s bowl season disappoints

It’s funny the difference a year makes.

Approximately 365 days ago, the Pac-10 conference was on top of the college football heap. Of the five Pac-10 schools that made bowl games last season, Arizona, Oregon, Oregon State, USC and California, each won, giving the Pac-10 an unblemished 5-0 postseason record.

Sweet.

That was 2008. So when 2009 came around, you can imagine how high the expectations were for the Pac-10 to dominate the bowl season once again.

And to be honest, everything pointed toward the Pac-10 having another “bomb” showing. Instead of having five teams reach bowl games like in 2008, the conference boasted seven teams in the postseason mix, with Stanford and UCLA joining the aforementioned five from 2008.

In addition, five of those seven teams were ranked in the top 25. Surprisingly, the highest-ranked team was not the almighty USC Trojans, who came into their bowl contest ranked No. 24. Instead, No. 7 Oregon was the Pac-10’s premier squad.

Yeah, it was shaping up to be a great bowl season for the Pac-10. Once again, the Pac-10 would prove that it is the most underrated and in fact the best conference in the nation.

Yeah, that’s what was supposed to happen. 7-0. Yeah.

But now that the bowl season is nearly over, with the national championship the only game left to be played, Pac-10 fans have been forced to swallow the big pill that is 2-5.

2-5? How is that possible? That sounds like the record of some of our Pac-10 basketball squads … I don’t know, say UCLA.

Sorry, Bruin basketball fans. I’m hurting, too.

But I digress. No one saw 2-5 coming. No one thought No. 14 BYU would blast No. 18 Oregon State, 44-20. And let’s not talk about “No. 20″ Arizona. I put “No. 20″ in quotations because the Wildcats certainly are not the 20th best team in the land, not after what I saw last Wednesday when they got their butts handed to them 33-0 by No. 22 Nebraska.

By the way, Nebraska football has two of the best names in collegiate sports within their football organization: Ndamukong Suh and Bo Pelini. You’re probably sold on Ndamukong Suh as the best name ever, but Bo Pelini just rolls off the tongue. Try it.

But what happened to the Pac-10 this year? To make matters worse, two of the five losses were to the Mountain West Conference, a conference not known for having dominant football programs. They definitely earned points for owning the Pac-10 in December. And the other three losses came at the hands of the Big 12 and Big Ten, the Pac-10’s archrivals for college football conference supremacy.

Come on Pac-10, I know you were 5-0 last year, but what have you done for your fans lately? Step your game up.

Speaking of stepping your game up, let’s talk a little Brian Price. Better yet, throw in a little Akeem Ayers and some Rahim Moore.

Now we’re talking.

You guessed it. UCLA gets credit for putting a vertical line in the “W” column for the Pac-10 this bowl season.

Way to go, Slick Rick! You’re our idol, and if you keep going at this rate, my colleagues and I will come up with a new, more distinguished nickname for you.

After a less than impressive first half against the Temple Owls in the EagleBank Bowl last Tuesday, the Bruins completely owned the Hooters in the second half, not allowing a single point, while scoring 23 of their own.

And throughout the second half, some huge plays were made on the defensive side of the ball. Moore notched his nation-leading 10th interception of the season. Ayers made the play of the game when he picked off Temple quarterback Vaughn Charlton on Temple’s two-yard line and scored a touchdown to give the Bruins the lead in the fourth quarter. And Price was a staple in Temple’s backfield, proving that he is ready for the NFL and deserving of his projected first-round pick potential.

Oh, and the other win for the Pac-10 came when USC beat Boston College. Anywho …

But in the Pac-10’s defense, there were some huge factors that could have possibly swayed the outcomes of a few of the games. For instance, injuries.

Cal was forced to play without running back Jahvid Best, the team’s best player, for a good chunk of the season because of a scary neck injury he suffered against Oregon State.

And if you watched the Oklahoma versus No. 21 Stanford game, then you probably can imagine why I would say the Cardinal would have won if Andrew Luck, their starting quarterback for the entire season who injured his hand prior to the bowl game, would have played. Not only did Stanford not have its starting quarterback, the backup was terrible. And Stanford only lost by four.

And in all honesty, there is no shame in losing to a Big 12 or Big Ten school because those conferences are famous for their success on the gridiron.

But if you want to be mentioned in the same breath with those conferences, you have to beat them.

That means you, Pac-10. … Better luck next season.

If you still think the Pac-10 is king, then e-mail Watson at [email protected].