Good As Crystal: A Perfect Postseason for the Pac-10

As Joe Paterno walked away from the Rose Bowl a lone man, and the University of Southern California Trojan Marching Band played "Conquest" with the faithful emulating the sound of thousands of horns returning to Exposition Park with the Leishman Trophy in their possession, the writing was on the wall.

The Pacific-10 Conference, the group of universities in the west hailed as the "Conference of Champions," added another trophy to its collection: the ESPN Bowl Challenge Cup.

Not only the the Trojans do their share of the load, but four other groups of athletes plied their trades on the gridiron and regardless of the margin, they got the job done.

A gunsliging renegade by the name of Willie Tuitama donning the red and blue of the Arizona Wildcats walked into the dusty air of the Pioneer Purevision Las Vegas Bowl. He outdueled Mad Max Hall of the Brigham Young Cougar posse with a 31-21 shootout decision at the Sam Boyd Stadium.
 
With the win on December 20 over the No. 16-ranked team in the land, Arizona ended their 10-year bowl win drought. It was a sign of things to come.

AT&T Park, the stomping grounds of the San Francisco Giants, was converted into a house of nightmares for the Miami Hurricanes. Oski watched gleefully as his California Golden Bears, led by tailback Jahvid Best and pass-rushing clutch man Zack Follett, stripped the shine off Miami's "U" in a 24-17 heart-stopper in San Francisco.

The campaign for the Pac-10 continued south towards San Diego, and the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl. Mike Belotti's Oregon Ducks cuffed Mike Gundy's Oklahoma State Cowboys through one Jeremiah Masoli.

His legs and arm were the culpirts in a 42-31 offensive feast for the Ducks. Adding to the woes for the foes from Stillwater was LeGarette Blount's late score, hurling and stiff-arming the Cowboys.

The Pac-10 proved it could win through a defensive feast, too.

No, Pat Casey's baseball counterparts did not get a head start on the reast of the nation; that was just Mike Riley sneaking a smug expression to the press in a 3-0 shutout of Dave Wannstedt's Pittburgh Panthers at the Brut Sun Bowl in El Paso.

For every two punts, a sack was made. Held to only 178 yards and a goose egg, Justin Kahut's 44-yard attempt with 2:18 remaining in the second quarter was the decider.

His Panther counterpart, Connor Lee, tried a 58-yard attempt, but the cold Texas winds wanted none of it.

That set the stage for the Trojans to throw the gauntlet towards Oklahoma and Florida as they faced the Nittany Lions.

Mission Viejo's Mark Sanchez sent the bombs flying down on Penn State, throwing for 413 yards, four touchdowns, and also setting a new pass percentage record, hitting on 80% of his passes.

The defense clamped down on Penn State's Daryll Clark, pursuing him like the hounds of Hades, picking off two on his passes in the process. The latter ended the game, and confirmed the Pac-10's ascendancy as the only conference to go undefeated in the postseason.

The likes of the Big 12, Atlantic Coast and the Southeastern Conferences could blow the remaining competition off the face of the sporting universe, and because it's about percentages, they still would lose

It's crystal clear that the Pac-10 will not have the privilege of having one of its members claim the crystal football of fate as its own.

But in terms of consistency and getting the wins as a conference, whether by posting a field goal or a field goal thirteen-fold against its opponents, the Pacific-10 Confence came out as the true winner of the 2008-09 postseason by finishing perfect. And that is good as crystal.