Pac 10
The Pac 10 is stereotypically known for wide open offenses and not a lot of defense. The wide pen, west coast offense often put points on the board faster than basketball teams put points on the boards, but you rarely see shutouts unless Washington and Washington State are involved. Those two played maybe the least anticipated college football games last year since the infamous “Toilet Bowl” game between Oregon and Oregon State in the early 80’s. That game ended in a scoreless tie, and probably set the game of college football back about 30 years. Fortunately, no game can ever end in a scoreless tie ever again.
The Pac 10 has come a long way sense then. It is now one of the premier conferences in the country. The resurgence at USC in recent years has given the Pac 10 a team that will be in the race for the national championship as long as they don’t screw things up for themselves. Several other teams, such as California, Oregon, and Arizona State have grabbed plenty of national headlines for themselves with their positive recent play. That makes 2009 a great year for the Pac 10 even though everyone is likely chasing USC.
One of the teams that had a pretty good year in 2008 was the Arizona Wildcats. The Wildcats showed extreme patience with Mike Stoops. It took him five years, but he finally took the Wildcats back to a postseason bowl game in 2008 for the first time in a decade. Arizona won the Las Vegas Bowl against BYU (ironic because the Mormons are against gambling), giving them a positive note to springboard into a good 2009 campaign. For once it is nice to see some bowl merchandise show up in the Arizona Wildcat store.
The Wildcats have quite a rivalry going with the Sun Devils located just upstate from them. Arizona and Arizona State play each year for the Territorial Cup. ASU is known as a renowned party school, but they can play a little football there as well. The Sun Devils were one of many teams that missed out on a bowl game last year with a 5-7 record. It was quite a disappointment for a team that has done well in recent years. This came just a year after they were able to sell plenty of merchandise at the Arizona State Sun Devil store because they had share the Pac 10 title with USC.
California is a team that has been very good in recent years, but they have been unable to break through and get to the Rose Bowl. It has been a very long time since the Golden Bears have played a postseason game in Pasadena. They won’t measure up tot eh Pac 10 success standards until they play in the Rose Bowl again. In that time, they have had some solid squads with good quarterback play, but the folks on Tightwad Hill haven’t been able to purchase championship gear from the California Golden Bear store since California has not played in a Rose Bowl in half a century.
I had the pleasure of seeing the Oregon Ducks play in person last season. Oregon is one of those teams that is not afraid to play any team in the country on any field. They took a trip east last year to play Purdue in big Ten country. Though the Boilers struggled to a 4-8 finish, they gave Oregon everything they wanted and more in a 32-26 double overtime victory for the Ducks in West Lafayette. Hopes are high in 2009 that the Ducks can dethrone USC for the Pac 10 title. That would mean lots of Pac 10 gear being available in the Oregon Duck store.
Then there is USC. What can you say about the Trojans? They have dominated their conference like no other team in recent seasons. USC has either won outright or shared the Pac 10 title for seven straight seasons. They are a heavy favorite to get at least a piece of the title this coming season as well. You simply cannot compete with that kind of dominance. Every year you know that Pac 10 football championship gear is available at the USC Trojan store.
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