I see what you're saying as USC is what gives the entire conference respect. But that also demonstrates the east coast bias to college football. I dislike USC because of how easy it is for them and how they have openly laughed at NCAA rules until it got to be too much for the NCAA to overlook. Even now they have 4-5 star athletes 3 deep at every positions and put several second stringers in the NFL. Watching a team like that waste talent is sick.
Right now they do not have NFL talent 3 deep at every position. They had a plethora of kids who transfered out once the sanctions came down and recruits that verballed that chose to go elsewhere. This is the weakest USC has been depth wise in a long time.
They remind me of the Phoenix Suns from a few years back when they had Joe Johnson, Shawn Marion, Amare, etc. That team was insane offensively, and they would just run teams out of the building.
I always cheer for a Pac-10 team over a non-conference team, no matter who it is, for the legitimacy of the conference. Pac-10 football reputation has always been scoffed at by SEC, Big XII, and Big Ten fans. It wouldn't be so bad if there were a playoff, but if you look at the SEC this year, they haven't beaten a single currently ranked team outside of conference. I ask SEC friends about this, and they like to say that it's because playing in the SEC is tough enough, that they don't need to schedule strong non-conference opponents. I think it's a good conference no doubt, but then I look at some other figures. There are only four schools in all of FBS that have never played a single game against an FCS team since the split back in 1978. Three of these schools are Washington, UCLA, and USC. The other one is Notre Dame. I have to respect that, even if I really enjoy beating two of those teams. So I cheer for the Pac-10 first, and right now I'm even hoping that Utah beats TCU this week, now that they're a part of our future.
