The Pac-10 Is Overrated, Part II
An insider at a Pac-10 school sent in the following response to demonstrate the Pac-10 is not as strong as some anaylsts believe it is.
ARIZONA: lost to Virginia at home (1-8 and last in the ACC)....plus got swept by ASU
ARIZONA STATE: blown out by Illinois to start the season (2-9 in the Big 10 and tied for 9th).....blown out by Nebraska (3-5 in the Big 12)
CALIFORNIA: lost to another Big 12 team in Kansas State.....lost to a middle of the pack Mountain West team in Utah at home....played a pretty mediocre non-conference schedule
STANFORD: lost at Siena
OREGON: gave up 99 points to St. Mary's in a blowout lost.....lost at Oakland and Nebraska
OREGON STATE: lost to Colorado State to start the season (Colorado State is 0-9 and last in the Mountain West)....lost to Alaska-Fairbanks....lost to Iowa State, Tennessee Tech, and Montana State at home
UCLA: lost at home to Texas.....the Big 12 might be a tad better than the Pac-10 based on head-to-head results, nevermind Kansas beating both USC and Arizona
WASHINGTON: lost via blowout fashion to Oklahoma State (2-7 and last in the Big 12)
I agree. A lot of the Pac-10 hype is due to MSM Pundit Lag. Pundits are lazy and tend to lag behind when spotting trends, and the lag time depends upon the Pundit's specific field of expertise.
In entertainment, lag time needs to be a short as possible else said pundit is looking for work, so the lag time as about one to three months.
In politics, it's generally six to eight months, but most political pundits are smart, and if forced to, they can compress the lag time considerably.
Sports pundits, however, are the village idiots of Punditville. Lazy (even lazier than reporters!), stupid and often illiterate, lag time can be anywhere from one year to an entire decade.
The Pac 10 was the best conference last year, but it took about a year for the sports pundits to wrap their arms around the idea that quality basketball is played on the West Coast, so that's why the Pac 10 is getting props this year.
It goes both ways. A lot of the games mentioned were early in the season and on the road. A lot of good teams (Arizona, Arizona St., USC, UCLA Washington and more) are heavily depending on freshman that are playing to their capability now but just getting acclimated to the college game in only the 2nd or 3rd game of the year (Seen in Az loss to Arizona, Arizona St. loss to Illinoi, USC lost to Mercer). Look at some of the more impressive OOC showings from the Pac-10
Arizona St. Beat LSU and Obliterated Xavier
Arizona Beat Texas A&M/Illinois Took Kansas to OT
UCLA - Beat Maryland/Michigan St.
USC - Beat a good oklahoma, took undefeated Memphis to OT, and took Kansas to the wire.
#9 team in the Pac-10 Washington took a HEALTHY #9 Pitt down to the wire and lsot by 1.
You have middle and bottom of the Pac-10 teams competing and beating the tops of other conferences. With how all the teams are playing now, it is easy to see by just watching that up and down Pac-10 is the best conference. (And it would be 5 times better if we could just forget Oregon State existed)
So Delta, regarding the very last sentence, are you saying it is easy to lick the Beavers?