Pac-10 Vs. the "Big Boys": Football Fares Well in Non-Conference Matchups

Scheduling, which has been bolstered in recent years by the successes of mid-majors, is something the Pac-10 takes seriously from top to bottom. 

Last season featured Washington and Washington State—who won two games between the them—playing Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, BYU, and Notre Dame. 

Is this a good thing?

Most would say no, since they went 0-4 with scores averaging about 38-15—this with a one point Washington loss to BYU. However, if you want to improve, you have to challenge yourself. Right?

On the other hand, do games handing out 20-plus point thrashings become detrimental for a teams psyche? Or is being on the same field with the best of the best constructive and used as a learning process?

You'll have to ask Paul Wulff and Ty Willin...oops...Steve Sarkisian about that.

The common conception is that the SEC schedule is too weak out of conference, the Pac-10 schedules too tough, and both lose some credibility for doing so.

The Big Ten and Big 12 are somewhat lost in the wash when it comes to non-conference scheduling. Mixes of local schools and a Big East or ACC team seem to be commonplace in the three games slated before conference play.

A true measuring stick for BCS worthiness is how you perform against the teams vying for top 25 spots, and furthermore, against BCS conference teams.

No offense Utah, TCU, Boise State, and BYU.

Team by team, here's how the Pac-10 has fared against BCS-conference teams since 2002.

Arizona

2002 - (0-1) Lost to Wisconsin

2003 - (0-2) Lost to No. 2 LSU and No. 13 Purdue

2004 - (0-1) Lost to Wisconsin

2005 - (0-1) Lost to Purdue

2006 - (0-1) Lost to LSU

2007 - N/A

2008 - N/A

Little steps: In the five year span from 2002-2006, Arizona went 18-40. With limited success against big names out of conference—as well as in conference—the Cats felt what it was like to be on the big stage, win or lose. In 2007 and 2008 saw the Wildcats improve to 13-12 and make their first bowl game in a decade; beating a good BYU Cougar team in the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl.

Arizona State

2002 - (0-2) Lost to Nebraska and Kansas State in the Holiday Bowl

2003 - (0-1) Lost to Iowa

2004 - (3-0) Win over Iowa, Northwestern, and Purdue in the Sun Bowl

2005 - (2-1) Lost to LSU, Beat Northwestern and Rutgers in the Insight Bowl

2006 - (1-0) Win over Colorado

2007 - (1-1) Win over Colorado and loss to Texas in Holiday Bowl

2008 - (0-1) Lost to Georgia

I'll split it with ya': A split 2-2 bowl record and 6-4 non conference record isn't much to brag about, however at .500 or better you can't be called a loser, now can you? Can Dennis Erickson right the ship in 2009? Or will it be three and out for DE and the Devils?

California

2002 - (2-0) Wins over Baylor and Michigan State

2003 - (2-1) Lost to Kansas State and wins over Illinois and Virginia Tech in the Insight Bowl

2004 - (0-1) Lost to Texas Tech in the Holiday Bowl

2005 - (1-0) Win over Illinois

2006 - (2-1) Lost to Tennessee, beat Minnesota and Texas A&M in the Holiday Bowl

2007 - (1-0) Win over Tennessee

2008 - (2-1) Lost to Maryland, beat Michigan State and Miami (Fla.) in the Emerald Bowl

Golden against the big boys: The Bears have posted a very respectable 3-1 bowl record against BCS teams and are 7-3 in regular season non-conference matchups.  California has been in the top half of the conference for a while, and their non-conference record shows they deserve a shot at the nation's best.

Oregon

2002 - (0-1) Lost to Wake Forest in the Seattle Bowl

2003 - (1-1) Beat Michigan and lost to Minnesota in the Sun Bowl

2004 - (0-2) Lost to Indiana and Oklahoma

2005 - (0-1) Lost to Oklahoma

2006 - (1-0) Beat Oklahoma

2007 - (2-0) Beat Michigan and South Florida in the Sun Bowl

2008 - (2-0) Beat Purdue and Oklahoma State in the Holiday Bowl

Defenses "Duck!": Oregon has fared well as of late (5-0 since '06) versus BCS schools. Their last two bowl victories saw the Ducks plaster 98 points on the scoreboard. The spread offense has the Ducks ready for any defense they see.

Oregon State

2002 - (0-1) Lost to Pittsburgh in the Insight Bowl

2003 - N/A

2004 - (1-1) Lost to LSU and beat Notre Dame in the Insight Bowl (Notre Dame is not in BCS conference, but I include them.)

2005 - (0-1) Lost to Louisville

2006 - (1-0) Beat Missouri In Sun Bowl

2007 - (1-1) Lost to Cincinnati and beat Maryland in the Emerald Bowl

2008 - (1-1) Lost to Penn State and beat Pittsburgh in the Sun Bowl

Chew on this: For whatever reason, OSU can not figure out BCS-quality non-conference opponents until after December. The Beavers are an embarrassing 0-4 in the regular season, yet turn it around come December, posting an impressive 3-1 bowl record. It's not how you start it's how you finish, but it sure would help if OSU would start better.

Stanford

2002 - (0-2) Lost to Notre Dame and Boston College

2003 - (0-1) Lost to Notre Dame

2004 - (0-1) Lost to Notre Dame

2005 - (0-1) Lost to Notre Dame

2006 - (0-1) Lost to Notre Dame

2007 - (0-1) Lost to Notre Dame

2008 - (0-1) Lost to Notre Dame

Carpal Tunnel anyone?: Clearly Stanford has scheduling issues. About all I found for non-conference match-ups included Notre Dame—whom they should clearly never schedule again—and San Jose State. 

I had to go as far back as 2000 to find a team not named TCU, San Jose State, Notre Dame, BYU or Boston College. Texas (who lost in 2000 to the Cardinal) was the only other BCS team that's broken through the apparently stingy Stanford scheduling.

UCLA

2002 - (1-1) Lost to Colorado and beat Oklahoma State

2003 - (1-2) Lost to Oklahoma and Colorado and beat Illinois

2004 - (1-1) Lost to Oklahoma State and beat Illinois

2005 - (2-0) Beat Oklahoma and Northwestern in the Sun Bowl

2006 - (0-2) Lost to Notre Dame and Florida State in the Emerald Bowl

2007 - (0-1) Lost to Notre Dame

2008 - (1-0) Beat Tennessee

Hot/cold? Can't tell: The Bruins are the model for inconsistency over the past seven years. Starting in 2002, UCLA's records read like this: 8-5, 6-7, 6-6, 10-2, 7-6, 6-7, and, finally, 4-8 in 2008.

The only consistency has been the steady decline since 2005. Not sure what that can be attributed to, I can't imagine it's not being able to keep players in the program because they're making an early exit for the NFL; at least not lately.

USC

2002 - (4-1) Lost to Kansas State and wins over Auburn, Colorado, and Iowa in the Orange Bowl

2003 - (3-0) Wins over Notre Dame, Auburn, and Michigan in the Rose Bowl

2004 - (3-0) Wins over Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, and Oklahoma in the National Championship Game (Orange Bowl)

2005 - (2-1) Wins over Notre Dame and Arkansas and Lost to Texas in the National Championship Game (Rose Bowl)

2006 - (4-0) Wins over Notre Dame, Arkansas, Nebraska, and Michigan in the Rose Bowl

2007 - (3-0) Wins over Notre Dame, Nebraska, and Illinois in the Rose Bowl

2008 - (4-0) Wins over Notre Dame, Virginia, Ohio State, and Penn State in the Rose Bowl

Get the bucket: I knew the track record of USC but did not fully realize their utter dominance until this tid-bit of research was done. It nearly made me sick. Anyone outside the Pac-10 care to challenge the Trojans this decade? They are 23-2 over the past seven years against BCS quality teams...are you serious??

Washington

2002 - (0-2) Lost to Michigan and Purdue in the Sun Bowl

2003 - (1-1) Lost to Ohio State and beat Indiana

2004 - (0-1) Lost to Notre Dame

2005 - (0-1) Lost to Notre Dame

2006 - (0-1) Lost to Oklahoma

2007 - (1-1) Beat Syracuse and lost to Ohio State

2008 - (0-2) Lost to Oklahoma and Notre Dame

Dawg-gone-it: What once was a storied program and a potential Rose Bowl team from week one, is now a mere afterthought in the nation's eyes. The question posed again, do the matchups with Nebraska, LSU, and Colorado in the future get the Dawgs where they need to be?

Washington State

2002 - (0-2) Lost to Ohio State and Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl

2003 - (2-1) Lost to Notre Dame beat Colorado and Texas in the Holiday Bowl

2004 - (0-1) Lost to Colorado

2005 - N/A

2006 - (1-1) Lost to Auburn and beat Baylor

2007 - (0-1) Lost to Wisconsin

2008 - (0-2) Lost to Oklahoma State and Baylor

Crimson cringin': Since the early 2000's Pullman, Wash. has been the little town that couldn't. The Cougars have gone 22-34 since their last bowl trip and don't look to be bowling any time soon. At least the crimson and grey will always look good!

To summarize, the Pac-10 has done better than many probably thought in non-conference matchups posting a 61-60 record.

Again, not off the charts impressive but worth another look.

It's not bottom-level BCS teams being scheduled, it's the Oklahoma's, Michigan's and Nebraska's of the college football world, and the Pac-10 holds a better than .500 record against the stiff competition.

Take away Notre Dame for the sake of using strictly BCS competition and the record goes to 54-47.

Of course USC's impressive 23-2 mark will slightly skew these numbers, but it's evened out by the 0-14 mark thanks to Arizona and Stanford.

Let's take just the top 4 teams from last year—OSU, U of O, Cal, USC.  They have combined for a 43-16 record against big-time competition. Even with USC taken out the next three are still 20-14.

More than respectable.

Individually, the Pac-10 has gone 15-22 against the Big 12 (40.5 percent), 23-14 against the Big Ten (62.1), 6-5 against the SEC (54.5), 5-3 against the Big East (62.5), and 5-3 against the ACC as well.

Notre Dame has beaten up on the Pac-10—except for USC and OSU—to the tune of a 7-13 Pac-10 record.  Along with Notre Dame, the Big 12 is the only conference to hold a better than .500 record against the Pac-10.

2009 and on will be no different than years before.  The relationship between other BCS conferences and the Pac-10 is growing and quality non-conference games are scheduled as far into the future as 2015 including Wisconsin, Kansas State, Tennessee, Louisville, Minnesota, Virginia, LSU, Nebraska, and Ohio State.

The Pac-10 is a great football conference and to say otherwise is a joke.  Look at the numbers and the competition.  The Pac-10 is right there with every other conference in the nation over the past seven years.