Campus Confidential

By Adam Abramson

I'm back. Here's No. 4 in the conference rankings. And, I promise I really took the whole West Coast Bias into account.

Pac 10

I've read and seen a lot of outlets say it's the second best conference in the country. However, there's nine other schools not named Southern California.

It's a pretty strong group, but I question the depth. Southern California is good enough to represent two good schools in any other conference, I think this was proven when the running back depth chart took no hit with Emmanuel Moody transferred. The problem is, at least it's a problem for the Pac-10, the talent on that roster only counts for one school (naturally).

Cal is strong. UCLA is good, but not great. Oregon is good, but not great. Arizona is continually improving, but not there yet. The same goes for Oregon State. And Arizona State will be good again, but not this year. Stanford and the Washington schools are as dormant as Cal's mascot during the winter months.

Again, there's a lot of promise, but there's a lot of questions. Can UCLA win more than one big game in a season? Can Oregon?

Big steps have been taken in improving the depth of the conference. Thank Jeff Tedford, Mike Stoops, Mike Bellotti and Pete Carroll.

Every year the Pac-10 is improving. This year it'll be better than 2006 (3-3 in bowl games, with some impressive wins).

And I give the nod to the Pac-10 over the Big East because of depth, in case you were curious.

Predicted order of finish:
1. Southern California
2. Cal
3. UCLA
4. Oregon
5. Arizona
6. Oregon State
7. Washington State
8. Arizona State
9. Washington
10. Stanford