Sophomore Matt Barkley and the Trojans wil not go bowling this season.
The Pac-10 made all sorts of headlines this year by trying to turn its conference into the Pac-16, a super power which would have included the likes of the Texas Longhorns, Oklahoma Sooners and several other current Big 12 teams.
Only one of the Big 12 actually bolted west though, as the Colorado Buffaloes will be joining the conference in two years. When the "Pac-16 Plan" failed, the Utah Utes agreed to become the 12th team in this league, which at least will set up a playoff in 2012.
The other major off-the-field story to be digested in the Pac-10 was far more relevant to the college football betting lines this season. The Southern California Trojans were given a two-year postseason ban, had scholarships lifted and were placed on a lengthy probation for the whole "Reggie Bush money" fiasco a few years ago.
Head Coach Pete Carroll bolted the program as soon as the handwriting was on the wall that sanctions were about to be dropped.
With the Trojans out of the way, the Pac-10 has become incredibly wide open.
The Oregon Ducks should have immediately become a sexy choice to repeat as conference champions, right? Guess again. About the only thing that we can look forward to this season in Eugene is how many different combinations of nuclear radiation yellow and green can be made to the Ducks' uniforms.
Why is that? Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli was the biggest name that was kicked off of the team for the upcoming season, while sophomore RB LaMichael James was suspended for the season opener against New Mexico thanks to misdemeanor harassment charges. Head coach Chip Kelly has a history of keeping the Ducks competitive no matter the situation, but this is going to be too tall of a mountain to climb. Don't even think about taking the plus 250 college football betting odds on the U of O.
Instead, the school from up the road in Corvallis, the Oregon State Beavers, might be the team to go with. The co-favorites to head to the Rose Bowl at plus 250, OSU returns several key members of last year's 8-5 team, including RB Jacquizz Rodgers who ran for 1,440 yards and 21 scores.
The Beavers do travel to TCU and Boise State in the non-conference season, but considering the fact that we are only relying on those nine Pac-10 games, those aren't important. The extra game this year is at home for OSU, with the Civil War against Oregon plus USC and Cal among the five teams that are coming to Corvallis.
With QB Andrew Luck back for his second season under center, many think that head coach Jim Harbaugh's Stanford Cardinal are going to be competing for the Rose Bowl. However, losing RB Toby Gerhart to the NFL hurt a ton, as he rushed for 1,871 yards and had 28 total TDs last year.
The Cardinal ranked a pitiful 90th in the country last year in total defense at 402.7 yards per game, and unless that improves, Stanford isn't worth getting plus 800 NCAA football odds to win the Pac-10.
Quarterback Jake Locker is going to be the best player in this conference for 2010. He is projected to be a Top 5 pick in next year's NFL Draft after declaring that he was coming back to the Washington Huskies for his senior season, and head coach Steve Sarkisian couldn't be happier.
U-Dub made a marked improvement from 2008 to 2009, and it is plausible to think that a Pac-10 championship could be in the cards at plus 500. However, the schedule is brutal. Games at Arizona, Oregon and Cal are just going to be too tough to overcome. We love the Huskies to go bowling, but winning the Pac-10 is too much to ask.
As for the rest of the teams in the Pac-10, the UCLA Bruins are plus 350 and the third choice on the board to take down the conference under Rick Neuheisel, who hopes to complete the turnaround of this once proud program. Arizona took huge strides last year to become an 8-5 team, and had it beaten Oregon in overtime, perhaps the Wildcats would have been in the Rose Bowl. They are plus 500 and level with Washington for a Rose Bowl berth this year.
The California Golden Bears (+800), Arizona State Sun Devils (+1200), and Washington State Cougars (+2500) round out the rest of the conference.