New Pac-10 order?
Most of the preseason football magazines are out and I see that Southern California is expected to win the Pac-10 again for the seventh straight time. It kind of makes you wonder if it is ever going to stop.
You would think that after having a college-best 10 guys drafted into the NFL – including seven in the first two rounds – there would be a down year every now and then for the Trojans. But coach Pete Carroll's ability to reload great players year in and year out keeps USC a notch above everyone in the league and quite often everyone else in the country.
When it comes to the Pac-10, there is USC and then there is everybody else. But the question is, is there anyone out there who can challenge the Trojans? Is there anyone out there who can knock them off their pedestal as the premier team in the conference?
There are other good teams in the league and there are definitely other good coaches, but when it comes to a school that has the heritage, coaching, and recruiting base to actually challenge Southern California on a consistent basis, I believe the only team that can do that is UCLA.
Those who argue that UCLA is a "basketball school" and therefore can't ever be great in football are ignoring the facts. The University of Florida has won a football championship and two basketball titles in the past three years and Ohio State wins consistently in both sports as well.
UCLA has won in football before and they have won big.
Over the past 25 years, UCLA has split its games evenly with USC at 12-12-1. I realize Southern Cal has won eight out of the last nine, but before that, the Bruins were dominant over the men of Troy winning eight straight. More importantly, UCLA is in the same geographical recruiting area as USC … and those are the most fertile recruiting grounds in America. There are more top division football recruits (over 200 in 2008) in the Los Angeles metropolitan area than in any other city in the U.S.
Many of you will argue that it doesn't matter how close UCLA is to USC because the great players will always choose USC. However, when UCLA is winning it is just as likely to get those athletes out of Los Angeles as is USC. And, when they have the right guy at the helm they have won a lot of football games.
From 1976 to 1995 UCLA coach Terry Donahue won 151 games, five Pac-10 championships and three Rose Bowls. Donahue was also 10-9-1 against USC. Terry Donahue was the right guy at UCLA and as far as recruiting goes, he owned the city of Los Angeles.
That makes Rick Neuheisel's hiring at UCLA quite probably the most important one in the Pac-10 since Pete Carroll. Like Donahue, Neuheisel is a UCLA graduate and as a senior led the Bruins to a victory over USC and a Rose Bowl championship. He knows the territory and he knows what is expected of him. More importantly, Neuheisel has proven himself as a very good football coach on the field at both Colorado and Washington where he had some big years and big victories.
Although Rick made some poor off-the-field decisions in his first two head coaching jobs, I suspect he will make the same successful "game-day adjustments" in his career that he has made on the sideline.
Neuheisel is a very good football coach and UCLA is a very good fit for Neuheisel. That ought to make for a very good future for the Pac-10.
And that's not good for USC.
