A Pac-10 and Pac-12 College Football Review and Preview

This is part one of a series previewing the 2011 PAC-12 college football season. 

The roller-coaster ride continues for PAC-10, now PAC-12, Commissioner Larry Scott in 2011. When Scott took the reigns as commissioner in July 2009, all was great in PAC-10 football land. USC was coming off a dominate 2008 football season that saw the school finish with a 12-1 record (the one loss to Oregon State in Corvallis 27-21), an early season thrashing of BCS heavyweight Ohio State (35-3), a Rose Bowl win over Penn State (38-24) and their seventh straight PAC-10 conference title. 

The rest of the PAC-10 was pretty good as well.

Half of the schools in conference made a bowl, with great results going 5-0; USC beating Penn State, 38-24, in the Rose Bowl; Oregon defeating.Oklahoma State, 42-31, in the Holiday Bowl; Oregon State shutting out Pittsburgh, 3-0, in the Sun Bowl; California triumphing Miami, 24-17, in the Emerald Bowl; and Arizona beating BYU, 31-21, in the Las Vegas Bowl.

All was seemingly great for PAC-10 football. Expansion was bantered about as soon as Scott took over, but no serious discussions took place. Why would one want to expand the successful conference, and what teams would help bolster the conferences' status across the academic and sports board? The upcoming highlights and low lights no one could have predicted. 

The roller-coaster ride began in week one of the 2009 football season for Larry Scott. No. 14 Oregon lost to No. 16 Boise State, 19-8. After the game, Oregon running back LaGarrette Blount (now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) punched Boise State defensive end Byron Hout and was subsequently suspended until November 9, when he was reinstated by the school with Scott’s permission.

Nine days after the Oregon loss, UCLA pulls off a major upset at the University of Tennessee, beating the Vols, 19-15. On the same day, No. 3 USC beat Ohio State, 18-15, in Columbus on a last-minute touchdown by running back Stafon Johnson. On September 28, Johnson ended his season with a tragic weight-room accident when a barbell crushed his vocal cords, adam’s apple and tore his neck muscles. 

Parity in a tough conference ensued as each team took turns pulling upsets throughout the season. When the smoke cleared, Oregon would claim the conference championship and end the season ranked No. 11; Toby Gerhart finished second in the Heisman Trophy race to Alabama running back Mark Ingram in the closest Heisman voting ever; and No. 22 USC, at 9-4, is the only other PAC-10 team to finish the season ranked.

Seven PAC-10 teams made a bowl due to the winning capabilities each team showed during intra-conference games. The downside is only two of the seven teams won their less acclaimed bowl games: USC vs. Boston College in the Emerald Bowl and UCLA vs. Temple in the Eagle Bank Bowl.

The 2010 season kept the ride going for Scott.

In January, USC head coach Pete Carroll resigned from his position and took over as the head coach for the Seattle Seahawks. Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin, a former offensive coordinator at USC, resigned to take over as head coach for USC, after one year as the Vols head coach amongst a national college football controversy.

In February, Oregon running back LaMichael James (a 2010 Heisman finalist and 2010 Doak Walker Award winner) was arrested on charges of fourth-degree assault, physical harassment and strangulation—he pleaded not guilty.

In June, Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli was kicked off the team after being arrested for marijuana possession during a traffic stop. Masoli was on suspension during his drug arrest for the entire 2010 season after pleading guilty to second-degree burglary charges in March—he pleaded guilty to stealing two laptops and a projector from a campus fraternity house. 

June 10, the announcement day of a monumental change for Larry Scott and the PAC-10, the NCAA handed down their sanctions regarding former USC running back Reggie Bush. Sanctions included a loss of scholarships and a two-year bowl ban. On the same day, Scott wisely followed through with his announcement that Colorado will join the PAC-10 as its 11th conference member. The University of Utah’s announcement as the PAC-12's 12th member followed seven days later. 

The importance of the PAC-10 adding two conference members seemed to be overshadowed by the turmoil surrounding the programs currently involved.

Utah, a program of prominence over the past five years, including an undefeated season in 2008, was welcomed by the national media as a “great get for the PAC-10." The University of Colorado, on the other hand, had been a low-functioning Big 12 team over the previous five years with only one bowl appearance—Independence Bowl in 2007.

The addition of the two teams would finally add legitimacy to the BCS power conference by having an end of the season conference championship game. The addition of a championship game means more revenue for the conference and teams involved. Scott was able to parlay the television rights to the first PAC-12 Championship Game to Fox for $14.5 million, and the game will be aired on December 3, 2011. 

With the promise of an exciting future, little of that excitement translated into positive commentary for the PAC-10 when the 2010 Associated Press College Football Preseason Rankings came out. Only three PAC-10 teams were listed: Oregon, No. 1; USC, No. 14; and Oregon State, No. 24.

USC and Oregon State only spent a few weeks ranked, while Arizona spent the majority of the season in the top 25 before falling out of the top 25 two weeks before the season ended with a  five-game losing streak. Despite finishing the season with a 6-6 record, Arizona State would not be eligible for postseason play because two of its victories were over Football Championship Series teams, formerly known as Division 1-AA. 

The biggest surprise of the 2010 season was Stanford—yes, bigger than Oregon’s run.

After the departure of Toby Gerhart to the Minnesota Vikings, many pundits did not give the Cardinal much of a chance. The rise of Andrew Luck to All-American quarterback status would change the fortunes for the 2010 Cardinal team, and head coach Jim Harbaugh, who left Stanford to become the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers on January 7, 2011, after four years in Palo Alto.

Stanford cruised through the season with only one loss to eventual BCS National Championship runner-up, Oregon.. Harbaugh coached the Cardinals to a 12-1 record and a convincing win over ACC champion Virginia Tech, who was ranked No. 12, in the Orange Bowl, 40-12. 

Overshadowing the spot light of the Cardinals' run was Oregon. The Ducks’ second-year head coach Chip Kelly brought excitement and hope to the Oregon faithful. During the 2010 season, the Ducks were ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press College Football Rankings for the first time in school history; finished the season with a school record 12 wins; finished the regular season undefeated with no ties for the first time in school history; and Kelly won the Associated Press College Football Coach of the Year Award. 

The Ducks high-powered offense averaged 49.3 points per game, easily outpacing all of their opponents, except for the California Bears (15-13). A heartbreaking loss to Auburn in the BCS National Championship Game (22-19) only fuels the fire, and expectations for the 2011 Oregon Ducks team. 

What will become of the newly formed PAC-12 in 2011?